22/08/2026
Meet the 'new' tow rig 👌 We needed something with a higher tow capacity for a pending van upgrade and I refused to pay 60k for a LC200 with over 200ks on it so the very reliable and easy to work on Prado found a new home and in comes this very painful to work on 2014 250kw/800Nm TDI V8 S-Line Q7 🤣WELL under half the cost of the equivalent 200 and with only 130ks I might add..
Euro cars gonna do euro things, so it had a bulged water pump pipe, and a weeping rear evaporator core when I got it, cheap in terms of parts but 10hrs+ labour for each job and just not pleasant to do 😅
Add a full fluid change front to back on purchase and I've already sunk bulk hours into this thing, smashed many knuckles, and bought lots of new tools 🫠
Aside from repairs/maintenance, I've swapped out the factory 21s for some 18s with a much fatter sidewall, (saving 20kg and this will be my wood carting car so having a full size spare is a must), fitted a Redarc brake controller, dropped the rear muffler for some extra V8 noise (10kg), chucked some liners in the back, and popped in a half decent phone mount for Android Auto ✅
I've got a couple Darkside Developments kits sitting on the bench, then the car will get a tune after that and fit a set of mudflaps which will complete the initial mod list 🤝
All the hard work was worth it when I used it to tow to Winton yesterday, air suspension, comfy interior, and actual torque was just bliss 😍
As Ruckus said, you will love it the 50% of the time when it works 😂
Thanks to Peter for putting me onto these bargains (he's got the 1000Nm V12!), Border BM Albury for parts/knowledge, Joog Air Racing for the AC support, and Adam/James for the group chat technical and emotional support 😅
OK, now go ahead and tell me how bad a choice this was 😂
