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 i have got a bailey pageant vendee (2004) about 20ft body, and have been offered two differnt tow vehicles. I.  ford maverick 2.4 swb petrol 1994.    2.  land rover discovery 2.5 turbo diesel 1993  lwb.   which do you think would be the best tow vehicle? which would have the best economy? Any help would be well appreciated. Thanks. Gary. 

The Ford Maverick, apart from badges, is the same vehicle as a Nissan Terrano.  There is a current thread about Nissan Terranos and towing. 

Cheers
Andrew

Hi,

A couple of things to think about first, do you do your own maintenance? If you are thinking about a Disco you will need to, parts in the main are pretty cheap, the main issue with a disco of this age is the boot floor. They are well known for corroding in this area and if the parts are still available, it is a big job and if you cannot weld yourself to MOT standard, can turn out to be an expensive one. Rear axle casings corrode through, causing a leak, recon casings are £250 'ish and about 4 hours to exchange all the bits over. In short, if you get a good one, fine. Get a bad one and you will need a big wallet and a lot of patience. A good benchmark when looking for a towing vehicle, is to work with the recommendation of 40 bhp per ton, I think that is the Caravan Club guidlines, but I am not sure. Good luck in your quest.

Sorry to confuse you more, but we had a terrano 2.4 petrol and it drank fuel like no tomorrow, would cost us at least £90 in fuel to get from where we live in near birmingham to Cornwall!

The SWB is also quite bouncy towing, only plus side is that it had plenty of ooomph to tow.

Personally unless you have a really heavy van I'd go for a normal car

Thanks for all your help! i do have a migwelder and am an ex- panelbeater/sprayer, any rot that occurs i am able to tackle easily. On doing a bit more research, i think the maverick will do about 20mpg towing whereas the disco should do about 32mpg. I know that the diesel is dearer but feel that a long trip would be considerably cheaper. These have the old mechanical pump, so would not be too expensive to replace if neccesary. The modern electronic ones can be £2k +  if you need a new one!  Due to the price of fuel and i think that old 4x4's wont be affected by extortionate road tax(correct me if wrong) i am swaying towards the disco.  any more info very welcomed. Thanks all.  Gary

Thanks for all your help! i do have a migwelder and am an ex- panelbeater/sprayer, any rot that occurs i am able to tackle easily. On doing a bit more research, i think the maverick will do about 20mpg towing whereas the disco should do about 32mpg. I know that the diesel is dearer but feel that a long trip would be considerably cheaper. These have the old mechanical pump, so would not be too expensive to replace if neccesary. The modern electronic ones can be £2k +  if you need a new one!  Due to the price of fuel and i think that old 4x4's wont be affected by extortionate road tax(correct me if wrong) i am swaying towards the disco.  any more info very welcomed. Thanks all.  Gary

Have a read of this thread,

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/chatter/display_topic_threads.asp?ForumID=20&TopicID=154135&PagePosition=2&ThreadPage=2&ReturnPage=Search&search=&searchIn=