4wd choice

Is that a new Range Rover?
They are a very capable off road vehicle for their class and certainly have all the bells and whistles as you'd expect for around 140 grand. I personally don't see the need to purchase a vehicle for that much, I'd rather buy one for half that and kit it out with all the accessories you can think of. You'd have a better vehicle in the end I reckon. The top of the Range Vehicles in the 50 to 80 K mark are quite nice trim level wise these days.
Cheers, Mark.
PS check out the ST or even TI Patrol and compare them also.

Truckster, it all depends what you want to do with the vehicle. After being a Landrover mechanic back in the UK and seeing what Landies are like here after my 30 years in "Oz". I see little difference between the Landy of the 60s and 70s and todays Landrover products. Not much progress has occurred, they still build on the same theme. They're OK as a European 4WD but my experience in the WA bush has been that they just don't cut the mustard. IMHO, there are only 2 serious contenders as a 4WD for Australian conditions - Nissans and Toyotas. If you want to cruise the bitumen looking good - buy a Range Rover. If you want to do some serious bush work - Nissan or Toyota.

Bilbo

I disagree. I've just bought a Disco and it's absolutely superb offroad. When I was a kid we had an old '74 Rangie and that was great too, and they're such good value now. The Toyo's and Nissans are proven to be very good, they have a lot going for them. There are so many around and so many parts and accessories for them. But the Landrover ethos, the way they come from the factory makes for a better vehicle (I believe). Toyo's and Nissans NEED suspension mods straight out to be truly capable, Rangies are ready to go and with suspension mods, even better...

I smell a rat !
Truckster considering a Toyota

I DON"T THINK SO !!!Live the life you love -
Love the life you live !!!

IMHO the best vehicle is the vehicle thats suits your needs the best (ie) comfort,for passenger to as well as driver, luggage space, looks, gotter look good to, on and off road capability, power, fuel economy, price, sometimes you have to compromise certain things to get the right vehicle to suit your needs, i know boring concept but thats the way it is unless you can buy two 4x4s one for going to work and for going away, i know i didn't get the 4x4 i really wanted, but i'm not the only person that has to sit in the car for long trips!!

TrucksterNT - if you can afford it and it meets your needs go for it. But I would have to disagree with the notion you put forward that the suspension travel on the new Rangie is better then a good aftermarket setup on the beam axels of a Nissan or Toyota. Also too much stuff to go wrong for my liking with the new rangie. But like others have said - horses for courses.

If only I had had enough money to maintain a Range Rover I would have bought one years ago. Having driven a few out bush and having been on trips where Range Rovers have excelled I only have praise for their offroad-ability. I can't speak for the later models but certainly up to the mid 90's the Range Rover has set the pace for offroad vehicles. Unfortunately they, as with with most Landrover products, have quirky habits which you have to come to terms with. If money was not a concern then I would buy the Range Rover before even considering a Nissan or a Toyota product ( the latter two, which by modern standards, and by guaging the numerous complaints on this forum about them, are not built very well these days).

Cheers,
Willem
Out on the Gibber

Personally I wouldn't go near it if offroad was the priority. I guess it depends on the type of offroad. Let's face it, 95% of what we all do could be done in a pretty basic 4wd machine. From all I've seen of the current rangie it's the best luxury 4b, but is no where near the cheaper machines aimed at actual off road travel.
(eg LC100, Patrol, Disco etc.). It's fancy smanchy suspension and traction control does a god job of making up for the lack of articulation though.

Of course, I had a budget of $13K for my truck so it's not like I've looked at it very hard.

If you really want to go anywhere, get a Defender.

Cheers.

TrucksterNT,
Can't resist this one sorry, I've got a Rangie as my "bush hack", it's awesome offroad, goes anywhere, look at the results of the Outback Challenge. I don't know about driving a $100K+ vehicle down some of the bush tracks I've taken my bush hack, that's a choice thing. Oil leaks and the hate of water is something I live with, for a vehicle sub $8,000 it's great fun. The thing to watch I suppose is the depreciation of the vehicle, there was an article on this is a mag recently, the Rangie won this competition for all the wrong reasons, it was up there with the Musso, very high, unless you want to specifically buy new you could get a late model for a resonable cost and stick some fruit on it.Keep the shiny side up

If you like it buy it. There pretty good now they have put the centre diff lock back in & you can get diesel in them all.Regards Bob
Where to next

Truckster NT , this is my experience

In our off road crew we had , a Disco , a new Rangie ,Diffender , and your run of the mil Toyos and Nissans .

In normal off road conditions we find most vehicles almost equal , some will suffer in a area were others will exel and vise versa . Once we start the real hard stuff , its were the gap gets bigger .
Slippery climbs , usualu the Disco will exel with its factory diff lock , Mud baths we find the weight in the Nissan and patrol exel in these areas , The order of vehicles strugle is this , Mind you Im talking of mud holes almost to your bonnet, First to go is the Diffendor (sorry Roscco ) second is the Challander third Disco and Rang Rover . The Nissans and Toyos will make 9 out of 10 . In deep ruts and hard uneven terrain We find The Rang Rover to bottom out the most and struggle due to lack of wheel articulation . We found that with the air bag sistem it didnt alow as much travel as the riggid axle vehicles . In slipery disent , All autos mind you , we found the Rangie's gearing a little to tall and most out of contol in the disent , The dosco was the only Manuel vehicle , it did very well , most of the vehicles apart from the rangie were equal . Tyres did pay a small roll here .

If you want to talk comfort , the rangie won hands down ,

This our experience and I hoppe it helps ,

Please no bagging everyone , only our experience writen here , we all drive on diffrent terrain so its hard to make a good comparison , this what we experienced on trips together.
Venus Bay

I don't mind Landrovers think that if in stock condition they will probaqbly get further than the equal Nissan & Toyo. I have seen it at bush fires where everyone rocked up and there was a fleet of vehicles- mainly Toyo & Nissan and one Defender. The last to be taken up was the Defender as it has no feature comforts - anyway the 2 girls got in it and then we all came to a difficult hill climb and everyone had trouble and had to have another go to get to the top, the girls rocked up and went straight up the bloody hill no problem to the amazement of all. But with corrugations and long use over rough roads - atlk to some gov't depts - talked to Rangers in Lawn Hill - they had them and said you can have them ! They had stories of the corrugations shaking them to bits with doors falling off and dash's coming adrift. From my use of fleet vehicles on corrugations and dirt I found the Toyo a better vehicle than the Nissans - they seem to hold together more. The Nissan's have a better turning circle and the Landrover Defender has a much better carrying capacity.
But if you want to take a $140 000 dollar car down a dirt track and destroy the paint work - you must be filthy rich, as I would be going $200 for that sratch and so on - just could not do it.
Lets face it everyone most 4WD will do it all now days - most trails are suitable for a CAT 1 tanker - you will not find many trails that require huge wheel articulation etcCheers, Beddo
Surf KZN185
<- Yengo NP, Central Coast NSW