25 October

Another reason BYD has settled with 2.5 tonnes of towing for its upcoming Shark ute is that the 3.5 tonnes advertised by other ute producers is dangerous rubbish. The GCM (Gross Combination Mass) for towing with these utes is vehicle + load + towball weight. If your trailer/caravan (or whatever) is 3.5 tonnes, the GCM limit means you'll be lucky to have 300 kg left for the people in the car and any luggage, tools, extra fuel...whatever. In other words, you'll easily go over, and be a fast-driving killing machine on the road. I steer well clear of most utes towing big loads for this reason. A 3.5-tonne load is a truck load. Not a ute load. 2.5 tonnes is the upper limit of what any ute should be towing. It matters, several tonnes of high-speed metal out of control kills people.