Quite simply, can my auto TW Magna tow a medium sized caravan? 600 - 900kgs

My car is sitting on 116k kms and is stock as a rock. My main concern is the total distance I need to tow, which at the moment is about 4000kms (melb - darwin)

I've towed vans before but always with a 100 series landcruiser
I understand things would need to be done, being in the order of external cooler, upgraded towbar, weight distribution bars etc.
But could the driveline happily perform? trans problems? The book says 1500kgs braked

I'm quite unsure of the towing capability of Magnas so any advice would be helpful.

Have seen it done, would not recommend it tho. Wouldn't want to put my car under that much stress.

You have experience with towing... 600-900kg is not a real stress if you tow the correct way. I've been towing 1tonne of dirt with a mirage the past few months and it's still going... lol (not that i give a crap about it).

Transmission cooler and some stiffer rear springs are all you could upgrade that would help.

If you are going to do it, fit an external trans cooler (especially in hotter areas, e.g. darwin) and have the trans flushed first as a bit of extra protection.

It would do it easily providing you know how to tow. Accelerating wouldn't worry me as much as the brakes if you're going down a big hill.

Transmission cooler and upgraded front brakes with good pads+fluid, and you should be set for anything below 1500kg.

i got my second car a tj auto magna towing a caravan with a weight of 1200kgs approx
i got a auto cooler and put 380 front brakes on i use a hayman reece weight distribution kit to transfer weight to the front wheels
i just need to get the 20mm raised springs for the back made by king springs
as your main question there is quite a few out there towing caravans and boat trailers
it is better off having a rear wheel drive for this but i love my magnas the distribution kit is essential and tranny cooler to but weight to the front wheels being front wheel drive
the brakes i did as the caravan does not have electric brakes just std ones
well this is my opinion anyway

"have seen it done but would not recommend it tho" hmmmm, not sure why, it is a car with the weight and ability to tow, does not make hte car stretch, fall apart etc etc

A mate of mine towed a heavy 4x4 camper arounod australia, dis 26000km with a TF Wagon about to hi 300k, only 2 issues for the whole trip...
1. rock flicked up off the trailer and broke the back window
2. starter died in Alice Springs so I express posted him a new one

When the car got back, aside from the red dust in every crevis, not even the trans fluid was dirty

What we did was
1. full service (ie 100k style service)
2. Fit trans cooler
3. fit monroe pump ups in back with King std height springs

That was all....

Seen cars+caravans in a V shape, if you did it properly like robceline has done, it would not be a problem. Personally, i wouldn't tow anything with my magna, would borrow the folks honda accord :D

Is the weight distribution kit those bars that go back from the tow ball area or is it something like front-to-rear swaybars under the car?

here it is, bars go from towbar to the a frame of trailer and can adjust the height and pivot of the tow ball to make the trailer dead straight (even}
http://www.haymanreese.com.au/
i used a verada tow bar made to fit with the hayman reece square which is a heavy duty tow bar

Ive towed some pretty heavy loads with my 3l! Probably close to a ton? I dunno, but I do know my rear was pretty close to bottoming out with my king lows :P

I remember my old man towed a 16 foot caravan on a holiday up the east coast from Geelong to Cairns and back. In his 4 cylinder - 4 speed auto. That was a TP Sedan.
After fitting the ride leveling aids and a Tranny cooler, all he did was take easy on the gear box, and fuel of course.
Coz it had under 200 Nm of torque, the magna did spend a lot of time in 3rd tho.

Last year, I travelled up the east coast from Canberra to Cairns, across to Normanton, down to Mt Isa, across to Tennant Ck, up to Darwin, then down to Adelaide & back to Canberra. All up, 11872km towing , towing my 5.5m (18ft) van, plus extra while not towing it. The van weighs 1100kg unladen - probably around 1400kg fully loaded. Towing mods include a 1500kg-rated towbar & weight distribution hitch, electric brakes and dual series-2 trans coolers. My AWD TW VRX is otherwise stock (eg no suspension mods). No problems at all on the towing front. Next week, I'm heading off again, this time across to the Flinders Ranges, then to Coober Pedy (probably via the Oodnadatta track), then up to Katherine, before turning left and going around the west coast down to Perth, Albany etc, before returning home. I estimate another 14-15,000km towing the van. Other than regular servicing, not even giving it a 2nd thought - that's how satisifed I am with the car's abilities.

While travelling up north, I did see a few FWD 3rd-end Magnas towing vans, though I don't know how well they'd get on with such a set-up. I suspect front-wheel traction under power in the wet or on dirt roads might have been an issue.

Here is a link to a roadtest report on a Magna towing a van....
http://www.goseeaustralia.com.au/article/87/Our_mate_the_Magna_makes_light_of_fuel_costs/

Thanks Hako, exactly what I was looking for.
While not the best vehicle to tow with, it's entirely possible.

A trade in to a NM/NP Paj would be nice...... hrm

The TJ I just bought has what looks like a factory fitted tow package, (which I will get rids of as soon as I have the money), ride height is very high and factory fitted towbar, also had factory alloys which are very hard and no flex whatsoever. Rated to tow 1500kg according to the specs, not the one in this picture, that's my old TF