4x4 Light Trucks

G'day all,
New to the forum, been reading the archives so as not to ask repetitive questions. This has to be the most informative and helpful site on all questions pertaining to outback towing and caravanning. 4x4 light trucks. In searching for the right rig, we can't go past a BT for obvious reasons, but the areas we wish to travel, will take us into pretty rugged, and reasonably remote areas, in search of the ellusive Au, as well as normal sight seeing. So it comes down to the size and power combination. We would all like a big van and an effie to tow it but, under certain conditions it becomes impractical, so unfortunately, have to compromise and at a cost to comfort. A friend of mine travells the outback quite extensivly and in the last 7 yrs with a 4x4 Canter, non turbo, towing a fully loaded Ph***** a fully loaded Ph******, dam computer won't let me spell it. Gooood computer, feenix, there tricked ya, Weighing in at 2.5 - 2.9 tons loaded up plus all the toys, extra h2o & fuel , loaded down to the max in the back of the Canter. He's clocked up over 150000 + kms, 90% outback roads with not one mechanical breakdown, except for the tow hitch that cracked which as the "Lone Ranger"stated, light trucks can be savage on . So what about the comfort zone in travelling over rough roads!? Unfortunatly in light trucks u sit right over the front suspension but, loaded,as he says only slightly less comfortable than a Land Cruiser, all depends on how u drive them . They're not speed machines up hill but, on the flat u still will get your 100 ks . His advice on air bag suspension as an add on was that the comercial adventure tourers out of Cairns had tried them and were a lot more comfortable but were getting staked on the trips to the Cape and took them off . As he does a lot of trips to that area, (not to the cape ) he won't put them on, naturally, but if u are doing outback desert or touring normal, they will be an advantage . With realibity, and the newer models with intercooled turbos, plus the need to carry a lot more weight than the norm, its a serious contender in my book, no speed machine, granted, but with a 16 to 18 foot BT, u won't be missing out on much, in fact gaining, cause u will get to where u want to go with all your needs .Comparrison in Gear and Diff Ratio between a GLX 100 series Land Cruiser and a Canter 4x4
LC 1st 4.081:1 Canter 5.380: 1 25% lower 2nd LC 2.294:1 Ca 3.028:1 25% lower
LC 3rd 1.490:1 Ca 1.700:1 12% lower 4th 1:1both LC 5th 0.881:1 Ca .722:1 Diff Ratio
LC 4.100:1 Ca 5.714:1 26% lower Power LC 150Kw@ 34000rpm Ca 103kw@ 2700rpm
No speed machine but u gota give an take?
Cheers. Aurum Au-Zees