4WD’s

Make sure if you do get a 2nd hand one that you take it to a mechanic who specialises in diesils (if you should choose a diesil one). A lot of mechanics say they can do work on them just fine, but its always worth it getting someone who really knows.

My dad had a terano and it was awesome. The starter motor went in it quite a bit and the tyres were hideously expensive, but other than that it was great. Just remember that they do have a higher centre of gravity and WILL tip over if you do offroading and you're going over stuff too high or steep. Also, if you do want to go offroading its worth purchasing a spare set of wheels with the right tyres. Road tyres are sh*t for offroading / offroad tyres are sh*t for on the road.
Hope that helps a little bit!

Then you'll be perfectly fine! Just get your dad to check em all out with you :D

I was thinking petrol rather than diesel cause I don't see it being cheaper going diesel.. I had a look about road user charges but I couldn't figure it out (maybe I was looking somewhere dumb), how much do you pay? I could just ask my mum but I can't be bothered with a lecture lol

We are lucky in that DH has a company car which is fine for private use so we mostly use that.

A lot less goes wrong with diesel's.

Terrano's are awesome - I used to have one and I towed the horse float with it very comfortably. Was a fab vehicle and always fitted my cr@p in it when competing!

Then met DH and he had a Toyota Surf, so I 'upgraded'. Wasn't quite as noisy as the Terrano.

Then we upgraded to a Toyota Prado and I LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT. Room for Africa!

If you want a bash-around 4WD, the older (1990-1994) Terrano's are dirt cheap ($2-4k). Or you could take a leaf out my DH's book and have a rough-and-ready 'barbie car' which is a SWB (short wheel based) Pajero - his is black with a rollcage, kinda cool looking, but his mates call it the 'barbie car' LOL. It has a soft-top so it can be undone and it's awesome to take 4WD'ing in mud and water! No room for cr@p though cause it's SWB.

If you can find a Surf under $6k there WILL be something wrong with it, or will be one of the older ones that are known as 'forerunner's' and DH says steer clear!!!

You can easily find a very nice Terrano for up to $6k. Most are diesel. Cheaper ones are 2 door, you will pay more for a 4 door.

And yes definitely get the vehicle checked out by a DIESEL mechanic. One thing to note though, with petrol it DOES matter how many km's are on the clock, but with diesel's it doesn't - the engines work very differently. My in-laws have had their 1990 Terrano from new and it has clocked twice over the engine and still going strong - they have replaced 3 gear boxes but they tow a caravan a lot so that's probably why.

Another thing to know is that if you buy a full-time 4WD (which most Prado's are) you will go through tyres a lot faster - but with that in mind we got about 70,000kms on our last set over 2 years and we reckon that was pretty darn good.

Our personal preference (and DH's mates are all 4WD fanatics - off road esp!) are diesel engines as less goes wrong, you don't have to replace them so often, and petrol tends to go up more than diesel - but it is a false economy with road miles etc so do keep that in mind - we reckon it works out about even but a diesel is kinder on the engine than a petrol.

(My Dad is a diesel mechanic so I have kinda been brought up with all of this LOL!)

WE have a 2003 honda crv, petrol, which is great. Not only is it roomy, but it is fantasitc for off roading lite - takes in rugged hillclimbs without breaking a sweat, tows anything, roomy, roomy roomy. We do lots of travelling and go down the sounds and off the beaten track a bit as well as towing stuff (boats, caravans) Has gone through 2 sets of tires since we have had it (although we have had it since 06), but thats all we have spent on it. That said you'd pay about $18000 for one our year with our mileage on it, so a bt pricey. The olde rmodels are still good, but just uglier looking. We also have a desiel vehicle and as someone above said, its a bit of a false economy once you factor in road user.
We will trade inthis year and will either get an 07 crv or a ford teritory

We have a 1992 Toyota Landcruiser, and we it. It's a 4.2L turbo diesel, goes anywhere (full time 4WD), tows anything at 100km, and haven't had any problems with it. DH hasn't replaced the tyres since he's had it either (about 4 years now!), so even though they're expensive, they last well - they still have huge amounts of tread on them. Our particular model is based on the Australian one which was designed mainly for the outback and being a portable sleeper as well (the back seats fold all the way to the front seats, meaning the entire back of the car can be used for sleeping).

Road user charges depend on the weight of the vehicle, for example ours is 2 tonne, so road user charges are based on that.

Is it cheaper being diesel....hrmm, probably not at the moment, but in saying that, it doesn't seem to go through much diesel?? And for us, towing uses less diesel than it would petrol (hence why our people mover is likely to be diesel as well). The only problem we have had with it was due to the batteries being flat, and it not being jump started properly (it has two batteries) - caused a trip in the relay to the alternator, but all good. It's also been used off-road, and as a push car for speedway (but not often, DH is a wee bit precious about it!).

In saying that, it would probably cost around $15k for a model similar to ours, so not that cheap!

My ex and I had a SWB Pajero as well (which you could get for under $6K) but I probably wouldn't recommend it with kids, because 2 doors is a mission, and there's not a huge amount of space. Ours was a 2.5L turbo and it was a dog, I hated it.

Friends of ours have a Isuzu Bighorn and they love it - it can have 7 seats, but they usually have their back two seats folded up because they have a husky. Theirs isn't very good at towing though.

MIL also has a Nissan, which is great, although she has a SWB version so not practical for families. Hers is a very very old one though!! But it's been a great packhorse, tows FIL's trailer well, can maintain a steady 100km on the open road.

Just to give you an idea on road user charges;

We have a Toyota Prado and just purchased 10,000k's on Tuesday. It cost me $425. I just about fell over considering last time we paid them in August last year they cost around $380.

In saying that we have only owned our Prado for about a year now and we totally love it.

minik8e wrote: Road user charges depend on the weight of the vehicle, for example ours is 2 tonne, so road user charges are based on that.

That's another thing to watch - we have our Prado registered for RUC as a 4 tonne because we regularly tow two horses around in the float. You can get fined if caught for an under-rated RUC if you are towing, no matter how frequently or infrequently.