Buying soon: narrowed it down to these

[Dee 4x4]

Hey guys. I ask for your opinions here.

Keep in mind this. The car will see 90% road. 10% off road (sand/mud/dirt tracks etc.). The only mods I plan (haha) to do are 2" suspension lift and 29 or 30 muddies. Keeping this thing as reliable as possible as it will be my daily. Don't want a Vitara. Want a hard top.



http://www.autotrader.com.au/photodispl ... &state=QLD

The thing I like about this one is that appearance wise, it's in very good condition. It's also a 1998 model which in general means that the thing as a whole should be in better condition. From what I've read, NT's have black guards and WT's have body coloured guards but that's all I know. Does this one look like a WT?



http://www.autotrader.com.au/photodispl ... &state=QLD

Now although I'll have to travel to see this one, the far lower price means savings which means mod money straight up. I'm unsure of the km's yet but assuming they're not higher than 150k this one looks like a winner. Once again though, I'm unsure of the NT/WT thing and I've heard that WT is the way to go espcially since I don't plan on changing the dif or adding spacers.



http://www.autotrader.com.au/photodispl ... &state=QLD

Cheap. Leafies. But old (er). I understand this would be better to mod due to the leafs but I hear coils give the better road driving which is what I will be doing primarily. Also, no km's listed but I'm guessing the engine will be getting tired so I'd need to save in the case of a required rebuild. Of course, if it's got 150k then I'm laughin. If it was for a hardcore off-roader that would likely see panel damage in the near future this would be the pick, but it's not. Still, worth considering.



Last thing to keep in mind is that I will be calling to find out the km shortly once my loan is approved (today or tomorrow) and I will personally visit each car and check for rust, test drive it (in all ranges) getting a mechanical inspection as well. These are just the ones I plan to look at in further detail. Once again, sorry for the long post and thanks for your time

~Drew

[mongrol]

The 92 is the one I went to see last night. see here.

http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modul ... hp?t=66358

I've decided against it as I`m confident I can get one cleaner and with less k's if I wait.

[Dee 4x4]

Thanks a lot mate. Those k's are too high for my liking as the ad didn't say what they were. Not keen on bits of rust either. You just saved me some valuable time. Time I can now spend drinking

[munga]

98 is most definitely wide track.
the black plastic wheelarch flares is certainly the most obvious giveaway that a sierra is narrow track. they went to wt in about 87 i think, dunno.
some0ne will correct me in the next 6 hours no doubt.
thats why i love this forum. never need to search anything.

[Nev]

Went to WT in 88.5 though some Maruti's (LWB) were made with NT after this time. Flares are an easy way to tell the difference but also on NT the shackles are inline with the chassis and on a widetrack there are brackets off the side of the chassis for the spring mounts (pretty sure that applies to all models). Other differences too but most are less obvious or in the driveline such as diff ratios.

[Nev]

Oh and providing the k's are low id go the second one...its got air con!!! Personally for around the $7000 mark Id be waiting for one with a few less k's...maybe around the 100k mark...they will come up but the second one does look good and original