Looking at purchasing a 110 P400S without the tow package and having the hitch installed. Does anyone have any experience towing on the coil suspension as opposed to the air suspension? My travel trailer is fairly light (450-500# tongue weight). The manual recommends placing the ball hitch slightly higher for coil suspension in order to maintain the trailer levelness, which makes sense, but I don't want to be driving 400 miles with my back end on the ground.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

The air suspension will always be better. The rear axle will automatically level so you don't sag with the trailer attached. It also does the same thing when you have a heavy load in the trunk, too. If you're towing with a heavy load, you'll be thankful for the air suspension.

The air springs also come with adaptive dampers that adjust 500 times a second. You get a much smoother ride and better body control. Plus the air suspension has significantly more articulation than the coils - a must when off-roading.

Also, you're better off getting the tow pack from the factory, as the parts are well over a grand plus labor and then you'll need to have the car programmed at the dealer. You'll save money by getting one with it already installed.

 

I tow boats weekly with a P300 on coils. If you follow the recommendations regarding tongue weight you won't be dragging your butt on the ground. I tow the same trailers with a GLS450 with air ride and comparing the two the stance is the same. I have no regrets spec'ing coils.

 

I'm sure towing with coils is fine. Just fine.

But I can say that every single time I tow with a vehicle with air suspension, including my Defender, I do stand back at some point during the process, and marvel at how it automatically levels itself when the trailer hooked up and the trailer load is applied.

However light, or heavy, the load is. Where things start to fall apart with towing on coils -- for me -- is when the trailer's hooked up, then the car is loaded up to the gills on the interior with 5 family members and loadspace with all of the gear, maybe on the roof too... then .. you get the sag. It's when the car AND the trailer are fully loaded.

I vote air for towing.

 

Another cool show off effective of air suspension? Drop to access mode, back under the trailer hitch and hit the off road mode. Ball lifts itself up under and slots into place. So cool.

 

Thank you for your thoughts and replies everyone, it is much appreciated. To complicate matters,I'm looking at the P400 w/ coils vs. P300 w/ air. So while it sounds like the air is the way to go, is it enough to trade off the extra HP & torque?

 

P300 tows perfectly well. The towing capacity is 7716 lbs. for P300 and 8201 for the P400 and V8, so both can tow a lot. I have a P300, and i don't tow, but a friend of mine pulls a 20-foot, 5000-lb. car trailer with his P300 and said it tows better than his old 5.7L Grand Cherokee. Both the P300 and P400 have rather ****ty engine braking, so the V8 is probably the best in that regard. I'd order one so you get exactly what you want. Right now its about four months to order one. If you are in a hurry and need a new car soon, then there are hundreds of P400s with air suspension for sale. Ask your dealer to do a trade if they don't have any on the lot. By doing a dealer trade, you'll have a car within a week. Use the search inventory tool on the LRUSA website.

https://inventory.landroverusa.com/n...B0%5D=defender