Four-wheel drives are now the preferred weapon for towing caravans, trailers, boats.
Their massive towing capacity means they are the best option for these duties. The demise of the Holden brand and the loss of Ford’s Falcon mean those who might once have gone for a big car or station wagon now go directly to SUVs and utes to do what is required for work or leisure.
With the warmer months returning, many will be thinking of that long weekend or holiday break. It’s not something drivers should take lightly, according to off-road racing champion and NZ4WD columnist Bryan Chang.
Bryan Chang tows his race truck thousands of kilometres each year. He has done so mostly without incident. But things went horribly wrong some years ago in an incident that landed Chang in hospital with a broken neck.
“I was towing the old truck – a V8 turbo Ford Falcon – back from an event and a wheel on the trailer broke. I did everything I could to control the big fishtail that occurred, but ended up effectively a passenger.”
The tow vehicle and its payload left the road, ploughed through a fence into a farmer’s paddock, and ended up inverted. The race truck was well tied on, and stayed on the trailer throughout. Chang’s tow vehicle – a long wheelbase diesel Nissan Safari – was battered from end to end and Chang was no better, trapped inside the wreck with two cracked vertebrae.
“I did everything right but it wasn’t enough, the mass of the truck and trailer just took control.”
An after-crash Police assessment agreed with him – the crash was not the result of a maintenance issue or driver behaviour.
Always a careful driver on the road, Chang now uses a massive box trailer to get his race vehicle to and from events and tows with a Chev Silverado.
Of course, it’s not just racers who tow. Far from it.
Our love of getting out on the water is unparalleled worldwide. New Zealand is a maritime playground with a massive 15,000 km of coastline and hundreds of freshwater lakes and rivers to explore. According to research by Maritime New Zealand. in 2020, there were approximately 1,672,920 recreational boaties in New Zealand. Most of them are getting out there using towed water craft: boats, jet skis, trailer-sailor yachts.
Take a walk through any boat trailer park in this seagoing country and it becomes obvious: somewhere around 99 per cent of all tow vehicles are four-wheel drives these days. We love boats, we love the water and we absolutely love the vehicles that get us to and from the boat ramp. There is no better way to get that fish harvesting boat into the water than a four-wheel drive. Youtube is chock full of sad/funny videos of people who really shouldn’t be allowed out on their own who get bogged in sand at the ramp, or use a RWD car to put the boat in and then have traction problems getting out. Perhaps worst of all are the ones who back their boats in with a FWD car and then have to ask a 4WD owner nicely for a tow back out.
Post-lockdown, sales of big caravans and boats went ballistic. With borders closed, the massive amounts we would have spent on overseas holidays was redirected into the local market – caravans, boats and recreational ‘toys’.
But it’s important to recognise that hitching a caravan or boat to your prized SUV or double cab ute can double the mass to be managed by the driver. That means risks can also be doubled.
Driver capability and driver behaviour become critical – and that goes for the pre-trip preparation as much as towing or heading out on the water or off to the family’s favourite camping spot.
