VIDEO: CAN A POLARIS RANGER XP1000 TOW A TOYOTA HILUX? | Shed Time | Tested

We thought we'd see if our Polaris Ranger XP1000 could tow a Toyota Hilux that weighs over 2.5 tonne. It did it with ease!

Sure, dragging a Toyota Hilux with a tow strap isn’t the same as loading it onto a car trailer and pulling it that way but towing over 2.5 tonne is still impressive! While the Polaris Ranger XP1000 is only rated to tow 1133kg, that is its hitched tow rating which puts pressure on the entire vehicle, especially the running gear. Not just the drive train.

We’ve been using the Polaris Ranger XP1000 to tow trailers full of feed and watering systems and most of the time the load has been over 1200kg. So, we were quietly confident the Ranger could tow a Toyota Hilux that’s on wheels and on flat ground.

In low range the Ranger produces incredible torque and it didn’t rev up that much either trying to get it to take off. There was a slight jerk as the much lighter, 723kg Ranger, got the wheels of the Hilux rolling. But once it was moving at about 5-10km/h the Ranger XP1000 pulled ti no problem.

We selected four-wheel drive (Polaris’ On-Demand True All-Wheel-Drive) for a little extra traction but we reckon it could have done it in single peg mode (Verstrac Turf Mode). We also chose the Work mode for throttle response because it is a little less jerky which is good thing when towing that much weight.

The steering wasn’t effected or the braking. In fact, the way the vehicle performed as a whole didn’t change much from towing items well under the 1133kg max tow load suggested by Polaris. You could feel all the weight being skull-dragged along behind the Ranger and I probably wouldn’t want to do it for long stretches, through thick mud or up a hill. And I probably wouldn’t try moving stubborn objects like a tree stump either. But, nothing overheated and nothing broke in the drive system.