Patrol

Every mechanic I've had says you can't go wrong with Toyota.

Spend the extra coin and invest in a 200 series cruiser.... Twin turbo v8 diesel
Cant go wrong!

I see a lot of Nissan and Mitsi diesels in the 5-10yr old range blowing black smoke under load. Doesn't fill me with confidence, could just be injectors or could be worse.

Parents in law's 8yr old Prado has had a couple of $1000+ fixes, last month the air con died half way back from Darwin, they loved that, 3 days of driving in 40 degrees. The engine is still strong and smoke free, even if a bit tappety/agricultural.

The mechanics & toyotas thing is a bit of an urban myth, ie confirmation bias - they're no better or worse generally than other japanese makes.

Their Prado is quite small inside, if you look at them they have a pyramid shape, bigger wheelbase and small cabin sitting on top. But it looks like the 2012 grew a bit with the landcruiser shape.

I have a 1998 Pajero petrol (last of the skinny ones), in 3-4 years it has cost very little, 2 front power windows have gone and it's had 1 service and radiator flush. I had a drama caused by a dodgy mechanic but they ended up paying to fix it on insurance, so that cost nothing, which was lucky as it was a 2.5k bill.

I probably wouldn't pay the extra 20k for top of the line Prado over a top of the line Pajero.

Onto my second Prado. Petrol and love it. Great on the beach and loads of power on the open road.

Navara turbo diesel , Patrol diesel . d4d 4.5 Landcruizer or d4d 3.0 hilux. Prado is for posh city folk Youu **** them luxarys first time you drive off road. !!!! still a rock solid motor.
What you planning on towing
Only 2 choices apart from the izuzu dmax.

Nissan or Toyota.
Dude i come over your house and slap you in the face a Mitsubishi over a Toyota???
Dont even bother with a petrol 4wd. turbo diesel 100%. It will gho the distance with oil changes at 5,000

Im a heavy duty diesel mechanic running a (extremely) busy workshop specialising in auto electrics, air conditioning and mechanical repairs and I love my petrol manual Navara.

Mineral my oldies towed a caravan loaded to the hills (swaybars etc) around Australia on a 4.2 Landcruizer did not stop

Bustawa, so did I in 2010/11, legend of a vehicle. They call them ol Smokey's, but never missed a beat the whole 32,000 k's
New van is a tad heavier, so need more Killer Wasps, so next is the upgrade to the black engine Factory style Turbo with all the correct bits to suit. Could buy a newer unit, but cant justify the extra coin to get to next model, with auto (200 series

prado for the resale

It's like this, Go for what your comfortable with, no matter where you ask you will always get the same type of answers as here, "no not that, get this" I would recommend diesel over petrol though if you are towing heavy loads.

How serious about the rough stuff are you Hooksey? Prado will go more places easier than the Paj but you'll be caning the crap out of it before you really notice any difference. Paj is a brilliant tow vehicle and fantastic in the sand.
Is it something you're going to keep for a couple of years and trade on another new one or something you'll keep for ten yrs or more and build up?
If it's just a few year option to be traded whilst still in warranty it doesn't really matter which you go with as long as you keep it in pristine condition.
If you want something that you can take down walk trails and climb trees with then find an old Landry/patrol/cruiser that's been a mum mobile and throw 10-15k at it and turn it into something you'll keep forever.
Personally I prefer the last option with a live front end and little to no electrickery.

Fair enough question, but did you really expect anything more than "I own xxxxx and I love it." Always make me laugh.

love my landies but...................for the wifes sanity and more importantly family comfort I bought a paj early last year. Tows the jayco outback with ease and on the posted speed limit (or maximum for towing vehicles) and quite economically too (head wind returns approx 16lt/100km - towing in 4th, auto). I'm not a fan of toyota's as most sites I've worked only have them so I've driven all their models released between 2005 - 2012 - prado & hilux would have to be the weaker of the lot, just hard to say which one exactly. Prado's lack of ground clearance is a concern...........but hang on you bought a paj you said...........well yes I did, I'm realistic about where I need to go - which is primarily family orientated these days on well formed tracks/sand & this represented the better value choice. If you want to go hardcore & to sacrifice creature comforts, go a landrover defender or a g wagen with a lotto win, if you want a capable all round vehicle & true value get a pajero. Car like performance, as you'd get from a prado, but an all round better vehicle IMO - and the off road debate is an arguement that will never end - primarily its down to an individuals ability to read the terrain and judge what input or line is required -'specially now all the driver aids take the fun out of it. Regardless what you end up purchasing enjoy it and whenever you go off road remember to ask youself 1) is my vehicle capable?, 2) am I capable? & 3) do I really need to go there? Please stay on the tracks - enough of this country is being closed to access due to the minority driving where they want because they think they can.

Try researching each vehicle on forums that aren't run by the manufacturer - hopefully it'll give you hindsight on what can/may/will be the fault of each vehicle.............paj forum is what sold the car to me.........bugger all to go wrong.

Can you lease it and get the tax benefit. Mate of mine rolled up with a brand new 200 series V8 diesel just yesterday and he explained it this way:

Total cost of vehicle: 85k
Balloon payment is : 40k
Leased over 5 years:45k or 9k p/a

Depending on your tax situation could only be 6k p/a or $115 p/w

Trade in at end of lease and upgrade again. I havnt done this but this is how it was explained to me.

stuk said...
Can you lease it and get the tax benefit. Mate of mine rolled up with a brand new 200 series V8 diesel just yesterday and he explained it this way:

Total cost of vehicle: 85k
Balloon payment is : 40k
Leased over 5 years:45k or 9k p/a

Depending on your tax situation could only be 6k p/a or $115 p/w

Trade in at end of lease and upgrade again. I havnt done this but this is how it was explained to me.

yes but you are basically only leasing the car, unless after five years you have a lazy 40k.

sure if you always want a new flash car and never want to own it, that works. but 45 grand is still a bit for no return.

and no interest? i know they do this now at like 0.5% but you always pay it somewhere somehow.

buy a car within your means or you may be in debt