Kerry and I have just come back from our first real outing with the Pajero (NP 2003 3.2 DiD) and our new Exodus 14.
I had work done on the car before hand (exhaust, chip, turbo boost controller etc).
We were going on Duggies Savannah trip and there was going to be dirt, dust, and highway.
The car...performed really well. We loaded the camper up as if we were going on longer trip and the car towed it without any issues. I was able to comfortably travel at speed limits. The work done before we left really made a difference. The car Avg'd 15.2 l/100 km on the hwy up from Brissy to Duggies place near Atherton, and from Townsville down to Brisbane. It Avg'd 16.9 l/100km on the dirt roads in between. Considering I am towing over 2t, I think that was pretty good. And I didn't hold anybody up.
The car knew it had the extra weight, and I had to adjust my driving style, but it wasn't an issue. It wasn't as comfortable as those people that drive those pillow soft suspension cars (eg..Landcruiser, hey Craig/Nic, Ian/Allana) but it did the job well.
The Camper - the Exodus did really well. We tested everything out and all worked the way we wanted and expected it to. Kerry loved the kitchen and outside setup. We still have some fine tuning on the fridge to get the freezer/fridge balance right, one the the slide outs (pantry) had an issue that needed help (thanks Duggie) and we got some dust in one side door that I believe is a case of slightly modifying the latches. But everything else was totally dust free. So we are really confident our big trips coming up are going to go well.
One issue I did have is with the abusive nature of grey nomad caravan drivers. They would constantly wave at me as they were passing in the opposite direction. They either thought I was towing a van ( which I am not !!!) or they think I am a grey nomad ( which I really am not !! ) so I would get these waves from them and I would ignore them
how rude..
Anyway, it's nice when a plan works out the way intended.
Mark & Kerry
