Choosing the right car to suit

[MagicFev]

G'day all,

Just a quick question. If buying a 2003/2004 model Prado. Would I be correct in saying you are better off buying a 3L TD if you do most of your driving offroad in the harsher 4wd tracks or if you mainly drive on road with the ocassional beach run & light dirt tracks you should choose the 4L petrol. I am told that the 3L does 9L/100km and the 4L petrol does around 13L/100km. Would I also be correct in saying that these fuel economy figures would be a little closer together if you used the cars in a way that is mentioned above. ie. 3L TD mostly offroad & 4L mostly onroad. The 4L would not get near 13L/100km if you drove it mainly onroad. Or are the fuel economy ratings based on offroad driving only?

[cruiserute75]

personally i'd go the deisel. not only personal preferance but the v6 is thirsty. i think you would be lucky to get 13l for 100k realistically. the petrol's are not that much faster, with the diesiels having ample power to tow, and pretty much anything else you can think of whilst using a lot less fuel. as for fuel economy figures i'd say that they are best case scenario's. but i could be wrong. so yeah diesel gets my vote.

mick

[MagicFev]

Cheers for reply..yeah leaning towards diesel. However the 3.0TD is a little more expensive. Say $42K for 03/04 model where as the 4L is probably closer to $38K.
As for kms..I tend to look at around a average of 20 000kms per year. Would that be correct with the 03/04 Prados? Say a 03 model should have no more than around 80 000kms on it to be deemed okay and not over worked?