Towing

The Discovery TD6 tows great! Towing my 7,000 lb plus travel trailer, I get an average of about 15 mpg while towing.

I use the Prodigy wireless brake controller, which I highly recommend!

I have towed up the highest allowable by law 7% highway grades with over 7,000 lbs and I can generally keep the speed limit (55 mph in California) while climbing the steepest of grades. I am almost always slowed down by other vehicles when towing up grades.

I run my greater than stock weight capacity BFG KO2 All-Terrain tires at the max 65 lbs tire pressure while towing.

I do use a weight distribution and anti-sway hitch (E2). Land Rover doesn't recommend a weight distribution hitch or sway control which I further have no understanding why? I do understand the principles of a WD hitch however the amount of load being transferred through the aluminium "uni-body" to the front wheels is not more than a couple hundred pounds at most and these vehicle can teeter totter on two wheels in crazy off road situations where a lot more than 200 lbs of stress is being transferred through the aluminium uni-body. The weight distribution moves some of the tongue weight to the trailer wheels and the front vehicle wheels and for me I feel much safer towing with a Weight Distribution and Anti-Sway Hitch.

TRAILER STABILITY ASSIST (Standard on all Discovery's):

• Works at speeds over 50 mph
• Trailer electrical's don't have to be plugged in
• When minor trailer sway is detected the rover will first brake the wheels just on the side opposite the direction of sway. So if the trailer is swaying to the left of the vehicle the the right brakes will engage momentarily until the trailer sways past the right of the vehicle then the left side brakes will engage momentarily.
• If the above actions don't stop the sway then engine power will reduce and all four brakes will be engaged to slow the disco down to the point that the trailer sway stops or the vehicle stops.
• It is believed that the vehicle may use it's rear sensors as a means to detect trailer sway and that a trailer is connected.

TOWING CAPACITY:

7700 (Diesel) 8200 (Gas)

We have no idea why the towing capacity is greater on the gas version.

The diesel engine does weigh 200 lbs more so it would make sense if by payload weight alone the towing capacity was reduced by 200 lbs, however it is actually reduced by 500 lbs and because the payload weight is a percentage of towing weight a 200 lb reduction in payload because of the diesel engines extra weight should reduce towing capacity something like 2,000 lbs based on a 10% tongue weight to trailer weight ratio.

Land Rovers own promotional video showing the Discovery towing a 120 Tonne Australian Road Train was done using the Td6 diesel engine and not the higher towing capacity gas version. Also the gas version returns only about 10 mpg towing while the diesel version returns 13+. I can vouch that the diesel version tows 7000 lbs up the steepest 7% highway grades very well!

MY SPECIFIC TOW VEHICLE RATINGS:

CURB VEHICLE WEIGHT: 4916

GVWR: 6989

GCWR: 14704

TOW RATING: 7716

PAYLOAD RATING: 1202

TONGUE WEIGHT: 550

MY TRAILER SPECIFICATIONS:

• CROSSROADS SUNSET TRAIL SS289QB
• DRY WEIGHT: 5598
• GROSS WEIGHT: 7600
• HITCH WEIGHT: 768

General Towing Information:

• Class 1 Hitch = 2000 lbs.
• Class 2 Hitch = 3500 lbs.
• Class 3 Hitch = 8000 lbs.
• Class 4/5 Hitch = 18,000 lbs.