What big 4wd do you have?

In August we are going car shopping. 2nd hand, but less than 10 years old preferably.
We want a big 4wd, thinking diesel. 7 seater.

So our options that I know of are Landcruiser, Jackaroo, Patrol, X-trail maybe.

What do you have & what do you like/not like about it? We looked at a Jackaroo a few weeks ago, & might go back to that one, but now we have a bit more time, we are looking around more.

We've never spent this kind of money on anything before, so I want to be as sure about it as i can be iykwim.

Thanks all :D

We have a Toyota Landcruiser 100 series, it is an 8 seater and a Diesel!!! We got a Diesel as they apparently last longer then petrol ones, 8 seats comes in handy too rather then the 7 seaters!! It is great to drive and i find it easy to park as I am so high up. We have had no problems and i would buy another on any day!! Have fun I love car shopping !!!! Any more questions you have i am more then happy to answer!!

We have a pajero...7 seats plenty of room for us 5 and all the crap we need for a weekend away(so pretty roomy :lol: )

We have a Patrol and it's great having so much more room than a sedan! Definitely get a diesel if you can, petrol 4wd have no guts, and depending on where you live (i.e hilly area or somewhere you are going to need power) you may need to consider getting one with a turbo. We picked ours up quite cheaply from the Nissan dealer (car is second hand).

My parents had a couple of Pajero's when we were kids, then moved onto the Toyota Prado, I don't think they would get anything else now.

We've had lots of Toyota 4wds (DH gets a new company car evey 9 - 12 months) and we currently have a 200 series Landcruiser. It is a 7 seater and by far the roomiest car we've had! Ours is on petrol, but I've heard diesel is better (cheaper?). We are very happy with it, but it's HUGE! We wouldn't normally have such a big car, but we are going on a 6 week caravanning trip later this year and wanted something that tows well.

My favourite 4wd is the Landcruiser Prado, it is still very roomy, but a bit more comfortable/luxurious than the Landcruiser. It's also really easy to drive and park. Oh, and it has 7 seats.

Good luck deciding!

Ditto LMK, we have the 100 series landcruiser as dh's car but it's petrol so it gets a bit exxy for petrol but he doesn't do enough km's a year to justify spending the extra money for the diesel. I am happy driving it, you don't notice that is a big car.

We have an Xtrail but it's not a 7 seater - only 5. (we love it btw)

We have a '02' turbo diesel Patrol and love it....we do heaps of off roading and camping and it's my shopping trolley during the week ;).

I would definately recommend either a Patrol or Cruiser.

We have a Nissan Patrol and are just about to advertise it for sale to upgrade to something else. I do like it, but I find it bit like a truck, noisy and very standard inside. I am also getting increasingly annoyed with the double doors at the back also. My DH loves it, they are good cars we just want something with more in it as we travel lots living remote. It is Diesel as they are cheaper to run than petrol....get diesel if you can. It has lots of space that is a plus!

We would love a cruiser, they are very exp & hold their value well....so even an older car is still very expensive (but they are great cars) and diesel even more $$$$. Really depends what you are happy to spend?? Still trying to find a Cruiser we can afford LOL.

We are looking at now getting either a Pathfinder (they have same engine as the patrol) or a Pajero.

I asked my DH about the Jackaroo's a few days ago as I saw one down the street, he tells me they don't make them any more...so not sure how you would go with parts etc? or selling again later if you wanted to....but I could be wrong.

We have a Landcruiser. Its a 100 series diesel and we love it. Its a 6 seater. You can pick them up for a reasonable price with fairly low k's on them too lately.
We use it to tow either our camper trailer or our boat and it handles very well. I try not to use it as my shopping trolley as we've had it lifted so doesn't fit under too many undercover car parks ;)

Thanks everyone. The Jackaroo we were looking at is a turbo diesel, we liked that idea. Yes diesel is more exxy, but lasts longer. They did stop making them in 05, but there are a few around, so I think parts wouldn't be too hard. Specially as Holden is Australian. Don't know though.
DH won't buy a Pajero. Had a few people with them when he was growing up & they all had non stop problems with them. They were older ones, around 97ish, but its turned him off.

I love the Prado ;) I like the idea of one, the one I saw is petrol/gas, so gas would be a bonus, but since its only me driving it & I'd only be going to town once or twice a week I'm not really worried about petrol costs etc.
We do do 2 or 3 long trips a year. 10 hours there & 10 back to visit family, & thats why space is important. Its hard having the kids cramped up in mum & dad's sedan for 40 minutes now! We are going for the 4wd over a van coz mum & dad are 40 minutes to an hour out of town on very rough roads & their ford sedan is falling to pieces. I have a ford 4wd thats falling to bits just from their roads & its only out there every week or 2! So I need a car that will handle that, specially since we are thinking of building a house out there for a few years to save money.

We won't be doing much 4wd, but travel on ALOT of bad/dirt roads.

Will have a look into the Pathfinder. Forgot about them. Cruisers are very exxy, & I've found out exxy for parts too, but I've only ever heard very, very good things about them & Toyota itself. We have an Explorer (ford) & will never, ever own one again. Its been good to us, but not good enough. It'll be the work horse out at mum & dad's when the suzuki isn't strong enough, lol. We're a big ford family, but that is one piece of crud car! Very badly made. I don't mind the Escape's & Territory's TBH, but I don't think they're big enough.

Lol.

We own an explorer & I was just about to jump on here and rave about how much I love it until I read through til the end of your post :rofl:

We have the top of the range one 2003 model - ours is an imported one though, as everything (such as blinkers etc) is back to front.
It looks like the cars on the tv show 24... can you tell I'm a girly girl - not into the details much, sorry! :redface:
7 seats though ;)

Ours is dual fuel, so gas & unleaded petrol, I just run it on gas around close by, but we've used the fuel on a few long trips.

I absolutely LOVE it to death - maybe you got a bad one? :dunno:

Yeah, mines a 96 & we just got the second recall notice in 4 months! Its the same though, blinkers on the other side. Makes it fun when I get into mum's car & turn the windscreen wipers on to go around the corner :doh:
I like the look of the newer ones. They are perdy, but I hate that I can't buy seat covers for it unless i have them custom made & not many mechanics are particularly keen to work on it. Plus being imported it costs more for parts etc. Its a bit small too.
I like that tires etc for the explorer are still the same size, so same price range as a sedan, but we need the next size up. 3 seats would be a very, very tight squeeze across our back seat.
And the fact that its more a town car. I dunno about the newer ones, but from our experience with mine, they just aren't made for the roads we drive on. Its not real great for towing either, although its good as a 4wd.

We've had it for a bit over 2 years now, & I'll be happy to see it go. Where as my commodore we had before it, I cried when it went :( I just don't love this car :dunno:

My BIL is a mechanic and owner of a few big 4WDS... they do lots of off road trips into Central Aust and live out of town etc so really put them through their paces. He is a huge advocate for Toyota vehicles. We wanted a 7 seater but not a truck and narrowed ours down to a Kluger Grande which is probably too soft for what you want but it's been perfect for us. We just recently bought it and it's a 2008 model.

we haev a land cruiser 100 series.
the jackaroos lack boot space so when all seats are up they suck literally. youd be struggling to fit a bag or pram behind the seats.

we got teh cruiser as even when seats are up its got enough room for pram and bags behind the seat.
if you go diesil in teh cruiser you will not find one under 10 years old for under 30 grand.

we got the 4.5l petrol/ gas its great cheap to runa dn easy to fix.
engine will last as long as the diesil if you look after it
its easier to drive than my falcon was and i can park it in tight spots.
i have pics of ours on face book. we are kitting ours out as we like doing serious off road.
you just have to remember that the smaller the car the less leg room you will have.

ours will easily fit 3 car seats across teh middle row and then 3 people in the back.

we paid 22 grand for ours and its a 98 model with 200000km on it.

The cruiser I was looking at (well saw in the paper) was 17 grand. 98 model as well. May have had more k's on it. Not sure.
I'm not quite as worried about kms on a 4wd as they are made for long distances, but am keeping an eye on that. Good to know how many yours had for 22, so I can compare :)
Thanks.

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Thanks everyone. The Jackaroo we were looking at is a turbo diesel, we liked that idea. Yes diesel is more exxy, but lasts longer. They did stop making them in 05, but there are a few around, so I think parts wouldn't be too hard. Specially as Holden is Australian. Don't know though.

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Just a heads up on the Jackeroo...My DH is a Holden Service Manager/Foreman and he says although they may feel good and 'powerful' to drive, reliability is not one of it's selling points. Common repairs are usually expensive (ie turbo, injectors, throttle position sensor) and also some 4wd components are no longer available.

Seriously, the amount of times I've heard him whinge about yet another dead Jackeroo being towed in...I have the engine number prefix burnt in my brain from hearing it so often. That's a 4JX1 for those of you playing at home...

IMO A cruiser is more likely going to be the better option in the long run.

We have a 100 series cruiser.. Petrol 8 seats..

Plenty of room for the 6 of us. Although boot space is limited when we are going on holidays but we bought roof racks and a pod to fix tht problem

We also have a camper trailer so can store things in the camper when holidaying..

Personally I don't find the petrol a real issue. but I think it comes down to personal choice..

Any other questions feel free to ask

ps: we paid 35K for ours but that was 5 and a half years ago now. and it only had 140000k on it

It is still going strong now with 340000k on the clock. We have had a couple issues but nothing you wouldn't expect with a car over 10 yrs old kwim??

Ok thanks Erin. Will let DH know.

Hey Clover. We have a diesel GQ Patrol, and you don't need a turbo to blitz anything. Ours is tuned differently to standard, and will thrash (can I say that?) pretty much all the other 4wds in our group. We have a 4wd mechanic shop, so the Man is the one with all the answers. I can give you some points, but would have to ask him for the reasons behind them, 'cos I just forget the details! :redface: Like don't get a Jackaroo or an Explorer. There are good GU Patrols around for under $10k I think, and I'm pretty sure parts are a little cheaper than for a late model Cruiser. Oh, don't get a Discovery, unless you like having to pay through the nose for parts.
I will pm you...

We have a (petrol) (5 seater) '95 Range Rover! Love it to bits,
although it's off the road at the moment.

You can get 2nd hand 7 seater ones, don't know I'd they come in diesel, but Land Rovers do... :)

we also have roof racks and that on our truck..

with the gas on it aswell, we can 700km out of both gas and petrol combined. so we get as much if not more range than the diesil.

we are doing a 6000km trip and can get gas at every stop.. say 300km. which is at teh top of our reach for gas only. so for 50 bucks we get 350km.

ours is up to 250000km now, we just did fan belt and air con belt but only because we are doing teh big trip, they were the original ones as well.

id suggest a dual fuel if your going to go petrol.. uses no gas at all around town and still has soooo much power it isnt funny.

I have a Mazda CX7 sports. Its only 5 seats but the CX9 comes with 7- its great on fuel and doesnt feel like your driving a truck around, very easy to park with leather interior (great for messy kids) Its prob not what your looking for if you are going off road but dont quote me on that ive never been off road with it lol.
I love it though.
Goodluck finding a car, hardest thing to buy i reckon.

ETA: Has a built in DVD players in the head rest! great for travelling with the kiddies

Thanks everyone :)
We are leaning towards a Patrol or a Cruiser, but I think Patrol would be best. The sound like the best going, without the cruiser price tag.
Gone off the Jackaroo now (sorry sales guy ;)) Having an Explorer for 2 years is enough drama, lol.

Kawazaki - I'm guessing thats long trips? The fuel range. Thats alot more than my commodore used. I could get about 1000 kms out of both gas & petrol. Around what I expected I guess. Will just stick to gas on long trips ;) Would definetely prefer gas/petrol myself, but as I said, its only gonna run around here, say 5kms a week, then one or 2 trips to town, about 40 kms a week, then 2 or 3 long trips a year. Not really a big deal, except the gas would save a lot on the long trips.

How much is gas at these days? When I first got my commy I wouldn't pay over 50c a litre. Haven't looked at gas prices in over 2 years... guessing there's been a huge rise! Long as its less than $1 a litre though...but then, that'd probably only get you as far anyway iykwim.

I have a Pajero, guess you'd call it big?
I love that it's diesel, has fantastic fuel economy. Can get almost 1000kms to a tank! Lots of room for lanky DH. A grown man can sit in the front with seat all the way back & doesn't hit DS' carseat. 3rd row seats are folded into the floor so plenty of boot space if you're not using them. Nicer looking than the older style Pajeros.