KGM Reviews

What you might be feeling is the vehicle shifting down a gear or two on its own. But it would be a huge jolt should the vehicle suddenly shift into low-range by itself. That’s because the low-range gearing is super-low, to enable the vehicle to produce enough torque to jump over rocks and haul itself up cliff faces and all sorts of other off-road stuff.

But whatever is going on, it’s potentially a warranty issue, so a trip back to the dealership is your next move. Having a transmissions select its own gears with no pattern to things is a great way to damage something mechanical or even cause a crash.

This is a very topical issue as dual-cab utes and many SUVs now claim to be capable of towing this 3500kg load that has kind of become the industry standard. The reality is that while they may be legally allowed to do so, many of them struggle performance-wise when the full 3.5 tonnes is hitched up. The KGM with its 2.2-litre engine is one of these.

That’s not to say the Rexton won’t pull the load, but it won’t do it in a relaxed way and you’ll find you’ll be using lots of throttle lots of the time to maintain your pace. You’ll also have to plan ahead for any hills, overtaking moves and braking situations.

The old rule of thumb was that you wouldn’t hitch up any trailer that weighed more than the vehicle towing it. That advice seems to have been lost thanks to marketing departments, but perhaps it should make a return.