John Burgess
Member
Hello everyone,
I'm new to the forum, and another Aussie looking to wander around the US. For many years my wife and I have caravaned (towables?) around Australia. Our rigs are very different to what I've seen on the net in the US. We have a Toyota Landcruiser Prado and a 18' van (1400 kgs) getting 17-18 mpg (imperial) cruising at 60 mph on a trip. Our country, in the bush, is really a diesel environment and my car is that. Our plan is to buy a trailer and a tow vehicle and spend a few years wintering in the norther hemisphere - I have decided I am mature enough to avoid winter for the forseeable future - when we retire in a year or two, storing the car and trailer when we return to Oz for our summer. Checked out the visas, rego can occur in Arizona and all that. Now my problem is getting a handle on what sort of vehicle I look for to tow - help...
We are planning on a 21' queen bed trailer without necessarily having slides or any of that. We travel in warm weather so we find we tend to spend most of our time out of the van and trailer size isn't that important to us. In Oz I would tow that with a 3L - 4.2L diesel - Toyota or Nissan 4wd. I read on the net lots of talk about V10's and petrol pickups. I suspect Oz is a lot flatter than North America and we certainly don't have snow like you do (we're just about all desert or sub tropical jungle). It will only be the wife and I (and probably the four legged child replacement program) so we don't need a big car, but back seats have always been attractive to me. The other point is we're not looking at a new vehicle - or trailer. Perhaps around $10k worth of van and a vehicle with 50-80 thou miles on it. Bear in mind, for us, this will be a second rig for a few years that we will dispose of when we've seen enough, or anotomical decay has set in.
I am having some difficulty trying to fathom the weights and vehicle types / sizes you use in the US. Anyone over there bi-lingual and can help a bit?
thanks
I'm new to the forum, and another Aussie looking to wander around the US. For many years my wife and I have caravaned (towables?) around Australia. Our rigs are very different to what I've seen on the net in the US. We have a Toyota Landcruiser Prado and a 18' van (1400 kgs) getting 17-18 mpg (imperial) cruising at 60 mph on a trip. Our country, in the bush, is really a diesel environment and my car is that. Our plan is to buy a trailer and a tow vehicle and spend a few years wintering in the norther hemisphere - I have decided I am mature enough to avoid winter for the forseeable future - when we retire in a year or two, storing the car and trailer when we return to Oz for our summer. Checked out the visas, rego can occur in Arizona and all that. Now my problem is getting a handle on what sort of vehicle I look for to tow - help...
We are planning on a 21' queen bed trailer without necessarily having slides or any of that. We travel in warm weather so we find we tend to spend most of our time out of the van and trailer size isn't that important to us. In Oz I would tow that with a 3L - 4.2L diesel - Toyota or Nissan 4wd. I read on the net lots of talk about V10's and petrol pickups. I suspect Oz is a lot flatter than North America and we certainly don't have snow like you do (we're just about all desert or sub tropical jungle). It will only be the wife and I (and probably the four legged child replacement program) so we don't need a big car, but back seats have always been attractive to me. The other point is we're not looking at a new vehicle - or trailer. Perhaps around $10k worth of van and a vehicle with 50-80 thou miles on it. Bear in mind, for us, this will be a second rig for a few years that we will dispose of when we've seen enough, or anotomical decay has set in.
I am having some difficulty trying to fathom the weights and vehicle types / sizes you use in the US. Anyone over there bi-lingual and can help a bit?
thanks