Caravan Weighing

I’ve been exploring new car options lately and one of the factors we need to seriously consider is the GCM limit. This is ‘Gross Combined Mass’ – the weight of caravan and car together.

Our current 2018 Holden Colorado has a 6000kg limit which works well for us, but some of our options actually have a very low GCM ruling them out of the equation.

For example, we have been looking at the V6 Amarok having heard good reports about its power, however the GCM is a mere 5500kg, which would not be difficult to exceed. Similarly the Triton is excellent value, but has a GCM of 5585kg with 3100kg towing.

By contrast the latest LDV T60 is 6030kg, although with a limit of 3000kg on the towing. And the new Ssangyong Musso has a GCM of 6370 and 3500kg towing. I know the LDV is from China (and we don’t like China at the moment) and the Ssangyong is built by a company who are in financial trouble, but the savings in purchase price over a Ford Ranger (6000 GCM and 3500kg towing) are quite significant so we are having to give them some serious thought.

GCM matters because it can be the difference between whether you can legally tow your van or not. For example the Dodge Ram 1500 has a towing capacity of 4500kg, but the GCM is only 6400 meaning that if you are towing a heavy van (4.5T) then you only have 83 kg of weight permissible in the car. That doesn’t work hey?