What 4x4 to buy?

Have you thought about using a car broker if you're looking for a hard to find model?

One for..........Oh What A Feeling!

But I am biased......just a little.

I'm confused. First you ask "is Toyota the only option?" and later state "only interested in either cruiser or Patrol".

So if you have limited yourself to the two models you mentioned and have ruled out the Patrol, then yes, the cruiser is the only other option.

gibber,.. Just to confuse you even more just about everyone one I know has heard horror stories about different 4x4's, some true and some true with a stretched imagination, My son has Just brought a Pajero 2004 model with only 87oooklm on the clock for his $17000.00 and by all accounts it has performed very well where he has taken it so far, we are heading across to Queensland Mid June through the gcr and the Plenty highway and Donahue Highway. Me I drive a Nissan Pathfinder ti550 and I have had just about every type of 4x4 built apart from the landrover range, but they are getting better now just need a bit more leg room for my liking. I USED TO BE A TOYOTA LOVER, but now I don't see that it makes all that much difference because what the manufacturers are producing today and over the last ten to fifteen years are a lot more reliable than they used to be. What ever you do wind up purchasing if you are not mechanically minded get the vehicle checked out by some person or the rac in your state, and go on their advice. I hope this is of some assistance to you.

you missed out on a 94 80 series 4.5 petrol with only 140k.
winch and lights and some stuff..
advertised on here for like 16g had it for sale a huge amount of time.
told another guy on another forum and he got it for less than 12g !!
pristine condition, mechanical check was A1.
couldnt find a cleaner example.

stay away from the 100series in the 4.5 shocking on fuel, the v8 is better but your price range kind of out of the question.

one option you can get 2003 within a few years of that date a landrover discovery for that sort of coin.
coils all round, beautifull ride, but needs firmer springs as it had bad body roll.
2.5 TD cheap on fuel..
but you need to keep onto the service records and buy from them.

they are soo cheap, the depreciation rate would make them a shocker buying new, but a damn cheap capable offroad truck. or tourer !!
not many shops in the country can work on them, soo you need to get on well with a local specialist, and onto the issues and maintenance.
but for the price, DAMN TOO CHEAP not to add on the list. !

You will get a really good Discovery td5 for that money- check out aulro.com for all the good and bad.
Or a 90 series Prado, petrol or diesel for that money.

Hi Gibberj,
Really depends what you’re looking for and planning to do with it.
I can only tell you our experience and hope it may help .We came to Oz 6 years ago and wanted to see the country. We have pre-saved and had a budget of 10K. With the idea of getting a 4x4 that could take us anywhere we wanted to go, we came across the same debated question Toyota or Nissan. After much research and talking to Nissan & Toyota lovers, we decided Nissan Patrol 4.2 diesel was the way to go. We found a Nissan Patrol 4.2ltr diesel no turbo GQ 94 about 240,000Ks on the clock. We paid somewhere between 11-12K completely standard apart from a snorkel. I forget exactly how much as we did lift it etc. straight away. It was probably best purchase we have ever made, It’s taken us many places and though at time we ended up somewhere we really didn’t want to be, it has always gotten us out!!
It did take us a while and we looked at a few before getting the one we did and one our mechanic was happy with, it may not be the most sparkly 4x4 in the campgrounds, but it’s one of the meanest and most trustworthy ones. Just to note, you could get a later model for the same price at the time, but we wanted the GQ as the seats folded flat (we used to camp in the truck!). Now we have just bought a full off road camper trailer, with the only concern that although the Nissan could take us anywhere could the camper trailer to do that same. It was nice to not be limited by not having the right 4x4 on the first place.

If you want to explore and not be limited I can only tell you that we wanted the same and although 200,000ks on the clock seems a lot, Nissan patrol 4.2 are built to last and will become part of your family. Be patient and we willing to travel to find the right one. (ours was 3 hours west of were we live).
Rush and get something other then what you want and you run the risk of regret.

Good luck and hope my rattling on helped somewhat

You should be able to find a nice 90 series Prado for that price, very good on and off road

Hi gibberj

Its really hard to advise you when you have provided basically no information about your own likes/dislikes and what the car is for etc.

For example , probably the best car for you at $5000, is a Nissan 3lt this is probably the most economical and reliable car.

However you say people have advised you againast the nissan 3lt - but which one , there are 2 , a Petrol RB30 GQ and the later diesel 3lt GU which had a bad reputation for blowing engines.

Often we get this type of question - and next response is "Oh but I meant a diesel" which could have been added at the start.

This process then goes round in circles but with some other specification.

So to pre-empt some more loops at $16000 you are just getting into the bracket of 2002 4800 Patrols which are by far the most powerful and capable of all 4wds in that era - they are thirsty but then you have no statement about what you want in that area so we presume it is not important.

4.2 Nissan [gu] with out a doubt after 3 oh what a feelings let me tell you oh what a feeling to get a better 4wd just don't chance a 3ltr it may take you any where but will it bring back home?? ther that's my 2 cents worth