CAR ADVICE

Two heavy-duty dual-cab utes face off – the newcomer against the icon – to see which is the best choice for loading up, towing and heading off-road. So many Australian ute buyers don’t really need a ute. Critics of such buyers would accuse them of ‘poncing’ around town, taking up too much space on the road and making car parks less comfortable than they ought to be. Of course, this is true. Like supercar owners daily-driving their pride and joy through the gridlock of CBD traffic, utes are not always used to the maximum of their capability. But what if you use a ute properly, and you need to dial up the capability? For many years now, there has only really been one heavy-duty four-wheel-drive ute option for Australian buyers. When you want something that goes hard off-road, supports a monster payload and can tow heavy loads (all simultaneously), then the Toyota LandCruiser 70 Series has stood head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. But now, we’ve got some competiti...