Banal .. Open to any topic on and off topics etc

[Mrmac1]

Dot
We flat tow a late 2010 Grand Vitara , when towing it is in park with the knob disengaged. I thought the Suzuki was the only auto that you could flat tow. WE replaced the Terios because it was a little tight across and only manual.
Darryl

[SteveW]

I think your decision is already made, Dot. You just have to come to terms with it - it's only money.

Given that all of your needs are met by the SGV - and nothing else, if you buy second hand you need to check what safety features come with a particular model you might choose. All vehicles of the last two years have the full suite of safety features but 3 to 5 years ago some versions had stability control and a full suite of air bags while others didn't. They all have had ABS for quite some time.

I'm getting excited waiting for the picture of your new daily drive!

[Dot]

Had a look at 2 of the 3 we were going to look at. 1st one had quite a lot of paint chips and they had been patched over with either a white out used on paper or the person that did it had a really gluggy paint. When I asked the man about the chips he said he could get me a touch up can of paint = bye bye to that one, he wasn't interested in selling.
The 2nd one was the exact opposite (the salesman) he was pleasant helpful and informative and if he didn't know the answers I to the Q's I asked he went off and asked When I asked him what is the best offer he could do because I spotted a very very small nick in the back seat material he said he would ask his manager what he could do.. He lives not far from us so he suggested if we wanted to see more or anything to do with the car he could bring it to us Now we have to get some info on the tow bar rating for the engineer to do some adjustments or something so we have to put things on hold at least till Tues before the engineer that put the thing on gets back from leave.. Never mind, if the car is still there we shall do more serious driving etc.. I like the little Suzuki swift, very cute (like me) Q/ does a tow car have to be AWD?

[BernieQ2]

Q/ does a tow car have to be AWD?
Short answer no, most want the 4x4 so they can go bush....but never do.
Bernie.

[BruceS]

Dot do you have an allocated GCM on that bus?
Many buses were never designed to pull anything and only had ratings for themselves. (tare & gross)
If it doesn't then you might need to have it "engineered" and that'd mean towbar rating etc etc.
I guess George would be right into that?
I doubt your bus would have anywhere near Bernie's GCM rating.
Got any figures off your rego papers?
Might mean pussy galore stays home next trip?

[Boblebago]

Q/ does a tow car have to be AWD?
Short answer no, most want the 4x4 so they can go bush....but never do.
Bernie.

Bernie we had to use 4WD yesterday, took us 2 1/2 hours to go 105 km.
Wished the bus had 4WD as we bogged it the day before.
Geoff

[generdawg]

Dot re Bruce's post; GCM = Gross Combined Mass.

If you already have a tow bar on the bus, make sure it has the capacity for the weight you wish to tow. My Coaster had and present Van has a light weight bar and would need upgrading to tow anything heavier than a Jimny. Not that I'm going too.

[Boblebago]

Camped at Observatory Turnoff Camps 7 #13 blew and rained all night, on leaving swung wide to miss tree and sank, back wheels never went down only spun with no traction, after digging and continually placing branches under back wheels and rocking through the gears we got out. We had enough supplies to wait for it to dry out.

Geoff

[T1 Terry]

Once those front wheels sink you know you are in trouble I managed to drop the right hand front through a very thin concrete driveway that turned out to be hollow under it, now that was hard to get out
Glad you managed to dig your way out and back to solid ground

[Dot]

hey Geoff, and you were bothered about the dust in the car at 40 mile How did the vacuum cope. Good pics though, well done to get out of that mess.

Brad I shall attempt to answer Bruce's Q's when I find the paperwork as G is asleep with the pussy and dog on his lap.