My ML 2008 3.5L V6 GLXR is generally a great ute and well looked after / serviced/ maintained.
BUT
Towing is a major PITA. she's fine on the flat but small inclines pulls us up real quick and going up larger hills like Mt Vic, My White, Mt Ousley etc can often get me back to first and second gear pushing 30 km/h and big long hills in summer gets too hot. There's still some accelerator pedal left to play with but pushing it down does nothing - and once i get to first, then what's the point ?
I'm only towing a small camper of about 700KG (no extras/water in it) - and maybe 200KG (Tops!) in my tub/cab (OK and also 2 adults and 3 younger kids so maybe another 300 or so there).
She WILL heat up as well but only when we get into the 40's and MOSTLY cools back down when back to coasting the flats again (generally it feels/smells hot in normal driving but is running happily around 95 degrees )
This towing issue isn't something new or something that's just happened - has been like this since i bought it 3 or 4 years back. I've replaced plugs and filters and made NO difference. Fuel is generally around 15L/100KM - tad higher when towing, tad lower when not.
I'd prefer to keep keep the car knowing that's it's been looked after and it IS a great 4wd'er with great low end power but with a trip around Tassie coming up next year which i want to take my camper on, I'm trying to work out if this is something that's fixable - or is the ute just rubbish for towing?!
Is this a known issue? Any way to improve it ?