Ssangyong Ute Range

The law in this country allows for servicing to be undertaken by somebody other than a SsangYong dealership provided the mechanic and workshop are accredited as a recognised service centre. In fact, this concept has been a point of debate in the US recently when Telsa attempted to restrict who could and couldn’t work on its vehicles.

So, provided the servicing carried out on your car has been at the appropriate intervals and the workshop was a licensed one, there should be no argument from KGM on this. However, if the car was serviced by a backyarder or even yourself, then all bets will be off and you’ll probably be on your own.

If you disagree with the dealership’s decision, you can always talk to KGM’s Australian Customer Service division, and then, if that fails, the ACCC is your next stop.

There’s a couple of things to look for here. The first is pretty fundamental and relates to how the caravan is loaded and set up. You need to check that the two-ball down-load has not exceeded its maximum (usually 10 per cent of the towed load, so about 270kg in this case). And how is the van loaded beyond that? Are there full water tanks on board? Is the bulk of the mass inside as close to the axles as possible and not stacked in the extreme front or rear of the van?

Swaying and a light front end are classic signs of a poorly loaded or set-up rig. But they’re also dangerous and contribute to many serious caravan crashes every year.

The air-bags are another matter altogether. If these are not correctly set up and adjusted, they can cause more problems than they fix. The best advice would be to visit a caravan and suspension specialist, have the rig weighed axle by axle to determine the total mass and how it’s distributed. From there, you need to listen to what the specialist has to say and be prepared to make some changes on how you set up to tow. But even set up correctly, a 2.7-tonne caravan is getting pretty close to the practical maximum for a SsangYong Musso.

The last decade of dual-cab four-wheel-drive utes have emerged as the tow-vehicles of choice, and you see them everywhere filling roles exactly like the one you have planned. Popular models include the Ford Ranger you’ve nominated, Toyota HiLux, Mazda BT-50, VW Amarok, Mitsubishi Triton, Nissan Navara and Isuzu D-Max. But there are also cheaper alternatives including makes like the South-Korean made Ssangyong and various Chinese brands like LDV and Great Wall.

Just make sure you know exactly how much you need to tow before making a decision as some of the cheaper models don’t have the same outright towing capacity and even if they do, some of them don’t have the engine performance to make towing as easy as it should be. For parts availability, the Toyota would be king in really remote areas, but any of the major brands are pretty well covered in Australia.

Meantime, don’t rule out ute-based wagons such as the Ford Everest, Isuzu MU-X, Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Toyota Fortuna. These offer better ride comfort when unladen thanks to more sophisticated rear suspensions and most have as much or almost as much towing capacity as their ute brethren.