Well, it's time to say goodbye to my awesome and ugly VY Commodore wagon that I've had since 2017. It's been a great car, has more room than most utes and SUVs and drove on $30 a week. I am not trying to sell it here, but hey if you're interested shoot me a PM ;)
BUT...
I need a replacement for a family of 4 that intends to use it like a campervan and to be driven to the shops / work mostly. My budget is low as - like under $15K so obviously nothing new, but I am torn between the Toyota HiAce and a decent 4WD. Only problem is I don't want diesel. It's just way too expensive.
I guess, what we're after is a low cost run-about but with room - to expand like maybe turn it into a campervan one day. Being in Townsville, the options out of town are mostly on dirt roads, so a good 4WD seems to be our only choice. And also because if we have to, we're happy to tow a camper-trailer or caravan if that's the way we go. The caravan idea sounds like is what we're after because we'll have the option of course to leave it at home as a sleep-over for guests and therefore have the car free for normal town driving.
How good are HiAces for towing? Hmm doubt that would work.
Anyway, any initial thoughts would be great. Please don't recommend Ford unless it's really a good car mechanically. Oh and of course EVs are out of our budget. I don't even trust them tbh.
TIA
Lofty

A ‘good’ 4wd for $15k good luck 😀

Delica.

myscreenname said..
~2006 V6:
• Toyota LandCruiser Prado or
• Mitsubishi Pajero

Yes with 300k + on the clock and possibly poor maintenance. Better to go non 4wd at that price range.

My only idea is - don't discount TD motors with good maintenance. Just bought a 2014 VW T5 2l turbo (after lots of research.)
My first 1000km of city driving (not freeway, lots of traffic lights and 50-70kph) has been 7L/100km - $250 for 1000km. Not bad at all for around town. Highway must be great!
But don't do it without lots of thought, eg: the Merc Vito is great but there was a couple of years with a good motor that goes forever, then a few with a motor like a grenade, then a good motor with ridiculous service costs as they inexplicably moved timing belt to the rear which makes a $1500 job a $4K proposition, some years the gearboxes are fragile blah blah. All got too hard.

If not used for actual camping I'd suggest also a Kia Carnival - drives like a car, luxury if u need and about the only van where u can remove one row of seats lengthwise to get both the kids behind the passenger and all your gear along the RHS behind the driver.

I agree on the Carnival. Was well appointed and so versatile. I forget which year it was but there were a 2.5 and 2.7 variants. I was warned to get rid of the 2.5 so I did.