Family 4WD.....

[Tristo4.0]

Hi all,

I do a little bit of wheeling in my dads/my old 60, My fiancé and I have agreed to keep the family sedan for her and little one (on the way), I wish to get a 4wd for myself and to use on family camping/hunting/fishing trips, and to generally escape the hustle and bustle of the city, go exploring and have fun.

Our list of needs are:

1) Must be family friendly eg: 4 seats and have child seat restraints
2) Look nice (for the missus)
3) Be not to big that if Holly needs to drive it wont be impossible to park/maneuver around the shopping centre car park's (she is only 5'3")
4) Not to expensive to fix/mod
5) Not to expensive to buy (sub 10k)
6) Reliable
7) Economical
8) Ute or Wagon

Any help/advice would be awesome.

Tristo, Holly and Bubs

[joeblow]

i'd say a grand vitara v6 auto.......not the manual. but i'm biased. great car for the missus..........or hubby.easy to park..........and reliable. but all depends on what mods you plan on doing.

[hiy6o]

hilux dual cab if it's only used for family 4wding not all day every day by the missus , or pajero if more tar than 4wd

[luxoflex]

I'd say a Vitara too (medium sized), cheap and easy to mod plus coils all round so comfortable for you the missus and soon to be bub.

If you want something bigger go a Patrol or "cruiser with coils, you cant go past coils for comfort or flex.

[alien]

another vote for vitara here...

[DUDELUX]

my missus had a gq patrol until she killed the engine, was on gas too. she got rid of it and got a pajero . shes happy with it, so i guess thats what matters. we have 5 kids by the way
both are pretty good, comfy, the kids like them, no hassles getting babies in and out.
as said before, depends on style of driving, what you like, how much you have to spend.
pajeros and patrols have their pros and cons....
patrol feels alot bigger to drive, more power, coils front and rear, will take mods very easily, so many off the shelf mods for it
pajero feels like a car to drive, ifs/torsion bar, only a few off the shelf mods for it
but at the end of the day you have to drive it.
if you are having a bub in there, get a proper baby seat restraint put in, it will give you piece of mind.
just my 20cents

[Chucky]

90 series prado.
The Paj is another choice, but unless either of these are on gas, I'd find a turbo diesel.

[Look'n 4 Mud]

Hi Mate,

The Pajero is a Bargain and very underrated. If you can get one with the turbo diesel you will be on a winner.

Some (if not all) will come standard with a factory centre and rear diff lock and very well appointed in the creature comfort stakes.

You cant go wrong with the Pajero.

Or.............Buy a Nissan!!

[4bdan]

For your price range, I would probably suggest a Pajero aswell.

If you go the V6 model, make sure it's the later 3.5ltr, not the 3.0ltr variant.

From memory, the GLS has factory lockers aswell...

[Guy]

I purchased a 99 model NL pajero (older body style) on gas.
It is surprisingly good off road (I have owned plenty of other 4x4's to compare GU, 80, 2x influx, Modified sierra etc ) will fit a 33 (narrow) easy to drive not bad as far as power goes, comfy seats, cruise control, power windows, power mirrors that all work perfectly etc.. On gas with a road worthy and all receipts for work done (cam belts etc.) for less than 6K.

They are a very very under rated vehicle.
we have two little kids (one 10 months the other 2 and a bit) They are easy to get in and out, easy to park not bad amount of cargo area either.

For 10 K you would get a later model with a few extras that mine is missing ..( but as it it predominantly me driving it, I am happy not to have a sunroof etc)

[THICKNICK]

will i get flamed for suggesting toyota surf.

[muzza85]

IMO id get a dual cab hilux if you go hunting its easier to shoot off the back instead of jumping in and out or leaning on the door and if you use dogs you need somewhere for them and you need it to be simple for them to jump off when they find something and also you can take your kill back to camp with out getting the inside of ya car all bloody

[QLD4x4]

Pajero - very reasonably priced with all the gear. Not too costly to repair. Easy to drive for the missus.

[v8zuki]

i would sugest a surf easy to get and repair and mod will go anywhere in comfort
2nd would be a pajero then i would look at hiux dcabs

[-Scott-]

I'm biassed - Pajero.

As others have noted, very underrated.

Rear diff-locks aren't that common, but they are available.

For $10k, you should get the 3.5 V6, or 2.8td. I wouldn't buy the 3.0V6 (well, not again... )

Super Select is fantastic. 2wd, full time 4wd or "normal" 4wd all selectable on the move.

Rear LSD works well, 33s fit, ARB make lockers for front and rear, low range crawler gears are available.

And easy to drive for the soccer mum.

Edit: drivetrain is pretty strong, too. CV breakages are rare - they happen, but typically under some fairly extreme conditions.

[4bdan]

will i get flamed for suggesting toyota surf.

The only reason I didn't suggest a Surf, was because of it's size.

The Paj is roomier for a family 4wd...

[jasonw]

ive read a couple of these threads now and nobody ever suggests jackaroo / rodeo is their a reason for that? its just a curiosity thing
oh and i vote pajero

[4bdan]

Don't really know a great deal about Jackaroos/Rodeo personally, that's why I didn't think of one...

[88pajero]

I havent owned a jackaroo, but from everything Ive heard they are a good option. I was going to suggest disco, enough room for a small family, luxury, good to drive but darn expensive to fix and run.

[-Scott-]

In my opinion, early Jackaroos were dogs, which killed the name plate.

Later models are very good vehicles, but they never obtained the popularity they deserved, so they're simply not as common.

If you find a good late model Jackaroo, don't ignore it (but do your research on their diesel injection systems.)

[ethann]

A guy I know has a Jillaroo and it cranks on the beach. One of the best 4bs I've seen on the beach.