Outer Limits 4x4 Board

Hi all,
I am looking for a new rig for the mrs. We are looking to spend about 12-15k and looking for somthing fairly new, around 2000 modle and I would prefer a diesel. I have been having a look around and I was thinking of a holden jackaroo or rodeo maby a prado or tridon. Does anyone have any suggestions or experiences with any of the above? It will mainly be used for a family runabout with the occational trip to toolangi ect so offroad ability is imortant. Will put a 2" lift and get an extra set of rims for the mud as well.
cheers in adavnce

Have a lookthrough the sections here on the different makes and models and when you have something more concrete formulated come back again. The question you have asked is too big and too vague. There would not be one vehicle that you could discount in your given selection criteria.

Why diesel?

shakes wrote:Why diesel?

coz it's not a real 4bie if it's not diesel *sarcasm*

I was looking at diesel more for economy and reliability. I am after a mid sized as well hence the suggestions I made.

Bang for buck I'd look at a pajero

bad_religion_au wrote:

shakes wrote:Why diesel?

coz it's not a real 4bie if it's not diesel *sarcasm*

*Because real trucks don't have spark plugs

tehekho wrote:

bad_religion_au wrote:

shakes wrote:Why diesel?

coz it's not a real 4bie if it's not diesel *sarcasm*

*Because real trucks don't have spark plugs

"real" trucks don't have glow plugs

Tiny wrote:

tehekho wrote:

bad_religion_au wrote:

shakes wrote:Why diesel?

coz it's not a real 4bie if it's not diesel *sarcasm*

*Because real trucks don't have spark plugs

"real" trucks don't have glow plugs

Yada yada yada you and your direct injection

x2 on the mitsi wanker ,their a good car as standard and extremely comfortable. but if you want something with more power and more off-road capability a td5 disco will take you further

Another vote for a Paj, they are very comfy, drive like a car. Seats 7 comfortably, but theres not very much space behind the back seats if you use them.
Petrol models are thirsty buggers, underrated off road.

Pootrol, too big, too wide for a family bus, drive like a truck, heaps of room inside.

4runner, another very comfy car, seats 5 though, but has heaps of room in the back for everything.

Surf, same as 4runner, but the engines have a bad rep.

How many seats do you need??

Cheers for all the help guys. I only need 5 seat so there is no dramas there. The disco II looks pretty good andd aren't that expensive, until they go wrong. But that is the same as any diesel.

JonnoD wrote:I was looking at diesel more for economy and reliability. I am after a mid sized as well hence the suggestions I made.

many times diesel is false economy. not always, but it's not as simple as diesel burns less fuel = save money

Petrols cost much less to maintain - service and repair. and generally have a longer interval between services.

Many petrol motors thrive on lpg... at 1/3 the cost of diesel

for instance, and this is simplified, a td5 discovery vs a petrol v8. every 20 000k's the petrol gets a $12 filter and some oil. spark plugs ($60) at 80 or 100 000 k's (cant remember), and an air filter at the same time.

the td5 is supposed to get oil every 10 000k's, a $25 oil filter at 20 000, a $25 oil filter and a $35 oil filter at 40 000k's. then your major service is that plus fuel filter plus air filter.

And the td5's generally don't last any longer than the petrols, and when they fail, it's more expensive to repair and replace. same is true for many other cars (tb43 vs the 3 litre patrol diesel, 2f vs 2h landcruiser).

Plus add in the higher buy in cost. a td5 disco for instance is probably 3 or 4 grand more expensive than the equivelent petrol...

Not talking you out of a diesel, but I don't like seeing people fall into the trap of thinking diesels will be friendlier on the hip pocket. I made the same mistake with my first landcruiser.

bad_religion_au wrote: Many petrol motors thrive on lpg... at 1/3 the cost of diesel

don't mean to oversimplify your post, as i agree with alot of it - however in sydney gas is .65 and diesel is 1.38 per liter, no where near 1/3 basically 1/2 the price per liter - but then you use alot more gas... alot more.

Day to day running diesel is more efficient and cheaper - in the long run however it even out more once you take into consideration the additional investment in buying D over P and increased costs when things go wrong.


Having said that - I've now owned a few diesels and petrols and gas doing the same jobs... And of my Diesels have won hands down on economy and reliability and repair costs over any of the petrol or gas vehicles.

I needed a vehicle for the same reason- family offroad, and just found a standard 98 diesel 80 series, 190 000km for $8500. I reckon stick with Cruiser or Patrol, they are the vehicles by which all the others are judged, but they are definetly hard to find at a good price.

slosh wrote:I reckon stick with Cruiser or Patrol, they are the vehicles by which all the others are judged

Off road.

On road, they're lumbering, overweight, thirsty trucks. If he's serious about playing in Toolangi, they're probably worth it. If he's more interested in the occasional cruise when the weather / tracks are good, he needs to seriously consider if the on-road / around town compromise is worth the offroad benefits.

As others have mentioned, I think the Pajero would be a good candidate, although for that age / price bracket you'd be looking at the old 2.8 rather than the newer 3.2 DiD. At least they come with a real LSD.

The 2.8 is still a reasonable performer (and old school mechanical injection) but the Prado 3.0 of similar vintage is an all-round better motor, and the Disco diesels (from memory) have similar performance with better economy.

Pajero or Jackaroo

Why does it have to be a 4wd why not just a normal car?
Assuming you have a 4 wd

thehanko wrote:

bad_religion_au wrote: Many petrol motors thrive on lpg... at 1/3 the cost of diesel

don't mean to oversimplify your post, as i agree with alot of it - however in sydney gas is .65 and diesel is 1.38 per liter, no where near 1/3 basically 1/2 the price per liter - but then you use alot more gas... alot more.

Day to day running diesel is more efficient and cheaper - in the long run however it even out more once you take into consideration the additional investment in buying D over P and increased costs when things go wrong.


Having said that - I've now owned a few diesels and petrols and gas doing the same jobs... And of my Diesels have won hands down on economy and reliability and repair costs over any of the petrol or gas vehicles.

well here in melbourne, gas is 53c per litre, diesel $1.45, so pretty close to 1/3.

45 series on gas around town - 28l/100 k's
45 series around town when diesel (same car, pre engine swap) - 14l/100k's

and the diesel did 2 head gaskets, a head, an injector pump, priming pump and injectors.

even if i melt the petrol motor in it tomorrow, i can get another motor for less than any of those failures.