Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hello Snake here AKA Ryan from Sydney

Am a newbie to the board, and have been enjoying the topics so far. Have been thinking of a new car for a while and from what I have read here the Feroza will be perfect. Seems that they have the daihatsu reliability mixed with capable off roading for a small 4wd. It will be used for traveling to work mostly freeway and then used on weekends for fun in the dirt,mud,m sand, camping whatever

Have some
Am I right to assume that feroza's are 2wd with both 4H and 4L
What should I look for when buying I am fairly handy with a spanner and quite mechanically minded so know the generall things engine and driveline wise but are there any area that may have indicate abuse or rust They don't seem to have any major rust problems from what I have read.

Anyway sure I will have plenty of Q's but for the mean time am enjoing searching thru the posts.

Thanks
Ryan

I have just bought a 95 CXi Feroza narrow track and am really happy with it. They are 2 wheel drive as well as 4h and 4l. We went up the beach on the weekend and I drove it all through the soft sand and had no problems. I have found it ok on fuel and good comfort wise (after the tyres went down from 42 pounds to 32 pounds). Like I said this is my first 4wd and I am really really happy with it. The guys on here are great for advice so make sure you ask heaps of questions if in doubt.

QLDGAL wrote:The guys on here are great for advice so make sure you ask heaps of questions if in doubt.

We're not actually, we just guess.

Advice for both of you - you will get the bug. You will want to start really playing. We have, and thats why we got a Patrol. Still luv the Ferozie, but just the comfort and safety (apparent) of the bigger vehicle is amazing. The thing is that now we have the capability we try and push it a little bit harder (cause we can).

The Feroza is a great vehicle to start though. You will love it.

Anyway - ask away - but look at the FAQ section first.

Yes well my old man has a 94 lwb patrol so I know how fantastic they are, he recently did a trip up the cape with two others in pajero's, the patrol would just walk out of some of the crossings and the pajero's would have to be helped out so they are great. I don't plan to go crazy may be a slight lift and tyres as it will be my everyday car.

Like mentioned the bug WILL bite and you'll want to do more and more wheelin of increasing difficulty. The feroza will then be a bit of a pain because of the unavailability of lockers, transfer gears etc and the IFS.

I say this from experience, I'm saying goodbye to my feroza and buyin a larger more capable 4by, like heath28 and MANY others. The daihatsu will be good on beach/ fast dirt but less than great elsewhere

You can certainly make a feroza VERY capable, commonly by replacing the mechanicals with hilux bits etc like Besty's red feroza but this means big $$$ especially if you can't do the work yourself.

If you want a small 4by with the traits of the feroza then I'd suggest a vitara instead. They have good aftermarket support and can be made quite capable, even parts will be cheaper than a feroza cause of the numbers of each produced. They still come with all the luxo stuff too. I certainly wish I'd done that when I bought my feroza.

I outgrew my feroza very quickly and now am swapping to something more capable which I hope to keep a bit longer Good luck

well.. like other people have warned u guys.. the bug will bite.. it bit me an it bit hard... lets see, in the last 2 months, i've spent $2500 total... thats more than what i spent in the 16 months that i've owned the car... like i said, it bites... an yes it does get frustrating because theres not much mods u can do... but if u know the right people... u jus never know what you'll find.. i'm gonna keep my roza for as long as i can afford to find/pay for parts. shes a beaut an here in the u.s, shes an extreme rarity... u should see the looks i got when i get onto a track, the snickers that go around. an i gotta tell u. for it bein stock besides the lift an tyres, it kicks major ass. as it turns out, at the end of the day, the people that laughed at my roza... were staring in wonder an some of them were REALLY angry. man.. the looks are priceless. "hey man.. bet u cant make it through that..." it gets old real quick... for me, the looks an the aftermath are well worth it to me. if i need to go do some extreme fourby, i'll get me a nice chevy 4 dr long bed pick up. but i'm keepin my roza!

I've just updated the FAQ to include some posts on advice on buying a Feroza.

QLDGAL wrote: The guys on here are great for advice so make sure you ask heaps of questions if in doubt.

The best advice I can give anyone is...

If you don't want to spend a lot of money on a car, don't buy a 4wd. Problem with owning them is that there's allways something else you'd like done to it because you want to do the more extreme offroading and before you know it you forget about the missus and the house and all the bucks go to the rig. The bug will bite, just you wait!!!!

My Feral Beast is a daily driver and I continue to improve it. I'm planning a trip to Ulluru and before I go theres some $4,000 in bits and pieces to be done to it. Just because it's a daily driver doesn't mean it can't look and be capable.

And by the way, if you get your rig soon come along to the Jenolan State Forest with us in December... it's better if the bug bites sooner rather than later.....

Thanks for all the replies people. I know what it is like with cars and money, used to own a modified datsun 1600, but as I did most of the work it was alot cheaper and I was used to the thats crap before and then the after I whipped there arse

Murcod thanks I will have a look in the FAQ.

Fercious If I have something on the 20th I might make it, I have the day off so you never know but prob won't have anything untill the new year.

Do many people use there Feroza to tow stuff? and if so what do they tow, just a trailer, boat, small caravan? just wandering how they handle it.

Also one off the things I like about the hard top is I can take the rear off the back and use it for spotlighting

Small trailers loaded aren't a problem for towing, anything larger and you might be asking a bit too much though. I've had a full 330 litre pod on the roof racks, the wife and the dog (inside!), plus the boot behind the rear seats chockers and towed small tipping trailer with a Suzuki 185 quad on the back with no problems. It sat on 110km/h easily, even kept the speed up climbing decent hills, and got up to 140 overtaking at one stage.

I thought about using mine for spotlighting a while back. The rear rollbar would be perfect for mounting extra spotlights on, and the rear seats fold all the way forward out of the way. (My cousins are into spotlighting big time and were eagerly eyeing the Feroza off. )

Sounds like the feroza handled the load fantasticly. Maybe thinking of getting a bike for some other dirt fun opposed to dirty fun

Yeah since I first started thinking of something for spotlighting the feroza cam to mind, can get to good places being 4wd, can cover it up if it rains and you are not communicating through a cabin to the driver like a ute
pluss I don't really need a ute.

You can get huge improvements to the Feroza for quite a small outlay of $$$$$$'s...see the suspension threads in FAQ.

And GO the mighty Datto...I still miss mine nearly 20 years on. 8-(

AJFeroza wrote:You can get huge improvements to the Feroza for quite a small outlay of $$$$$$'s...see the suspension threads in FAQ.

And GO the mighty Datto...I still miss mine nearly 20 years on. 8-(

Is owing a datsun then going to a feroza gonna become a trend :-) I used to own a 120Y it was my first car lol

I towed a trailer on the weekend it went pretty well except I noticed that it chewed through the fuel with the air con on as well. I also managed to tow a boat trailer with a tinnie through some softer sand and didn't have much trouble.

if you wanna burn fuel, try driving 35km on the beach in soft stuff every day for two weeks... I had no idea how much it was using and as a consequince nearly got stuck between Hat and Crescent Head at 10pm at night last year. Luckily i had reserve!!

QLDGAL wrote:

AJFeroza wrote:You can get huge improvements to the Feroza for quite a small outlay of $$$$$$'s...see the suspension threads in FAQ.

And GO the mighty Datto...I still miss mine nearly 20 years on. 8-(

Is owing a datsun then going to a feroza gonna become a trend :-) I used to own a 120Y it was my first car lol

I towed a trailer on the weekend it went pretty well except I noticed that it chewed through the fuel with the air con on as well. I also managed to tow a boat trailer with a tinnie through some softer sand and didn't have much trouble.

I used to own a Datto 180B....

while we are reminiscing... i had a TD gemini wagon... pride and joy....

Once owned a 76 or 78 Datto sss I think it was... silver coupe with triple carbys....

Sold it due to lack of licence for exceeding speed limits with cronic abandon...

I had a 1980 vc commodore and was probably as fast as my feroza, it ate the fuel, sounded terrible and had rust all on the roof, I got traded $3000 for it when I bought the feroza, the feroza is the best investment I have made

Aaahh!, the memories...

Datto 1600
180B SSS Donk, balanced, blueprinted, ported, etc...
2.5" exhaust, freeflow except for resonator
Koni Adjustables all round

Heaps of fun!

Sold her in 1986

Now you've all got me feelin' OLD!

Glad to see I'm not the only one who enjoyed there datto
Well we are buying a house so the feroza is on hold, but also means we are selling our current abode so with the extra I will be getting a Feroza hopefully early next Feb yay