Time to buy a new ride, need some help with possibly overlooked models

Submitted: Friday, Feb 20, 2015 at 20:59
ThreadID: 111183 Views:3592 Replies:11 FollowUps:34
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Hey guys,

My names Danny and I'm sort of new here, I did have an account many years ago but dropped out of the scene for a few reasons and now I want to get back into it which is where you guys come in, I have no idea what my old account name was though so I'm starting fresh.

Ok so here we go... A little over 5 years or 6 years ago I sold my last ride which was a GQ Patrol with Straight gas rb30, high flow t3, 2 inch spring, 2 inch body and 1 inch guard chop with some 37 creepys for good measure. It was a pretty reasonable combo and with 2 gas tanks was cheap to run and good on range some of you may have seen the build thread or YouTube videos back in the day. Anyway since then I've suffered a double spinal injury at work and after 3+ years it's still a cause of complaints so building a similar rides not an option, I couldn't tolerate the ride nor the tracks and trails for that setup. With that said I'm very very keen to travel Oz starting a little this year and possibly going all out next year.


I've been researching cars for months and months and know what I would like but I'm restricted a little at the second financially.

What I'd like ideally:

Station Wagon
Low range
Reasonable ride on dirt roads.
High levels of safety, dual frontal airbags and side/thorax airbags as a minimum even better if it has curtains, stability, traction, abs etc are all preferable as some of the driving will be by an inexperienced other half. Also looking for cars with 4 or 5 star ancap or equivalent ratings so tin cans like patrols and pajero are out.
Prefer diesel but in my price range petrol with lpg is a more likely option.
I'd like automatic climate control, electric Windows and leather (dog furs a nightmare to remove from cloth), I would sacrifice all these for an otherwise suitable car though.
Live axles would be best but only one car comes close and it's currently out of reach.


I was hoping to spend up to 30k and buy around November or December but my current cars dying and I mean in a hurry, it's got a $200 market value so repairing it's a non option and it already owes me 5k for 3 years of drama, it was basically all I could afford when I ended up injured and off work. I can afford to buy now up to about 15 or 16k but the suitable cars seem limited.

Currently the only car I can think of is an R51 pathfinder TI which would probably do most of what I want and fits the budget but is thirsty as hell, known for lots of issues and is not great offroad but it would probably do for the stuff I can cope with.

On the other end of the scale I'm also considering a Ford Territory ghia in either SY or SY2, whilst useless offroad it would probably do most road and gravel sections without too much fuss and it truly fits the budget and comfort requirements for my busted up spine, so far for ride comfort and seating position it's been the best.

Ideally a Discovery 3 would be perfect for me but dropping 30k+ on a 10 year old cars a gamble for me as I'm not earning a wage anymore and my mechanic days are over. Option 2 is a Wrangler but since I want the safety I'd need a 2012 model onwards and a 4 door will cost a good 35k, and then it still needs to be set up (rooftop tent or camper), new equipment, recovery etc) so it will eat up far more than I want. I've considered a Freelander 2 and have had both an fj cruiser and h3 hummer on overnight loan to see how they work for driving position and ride comfort. Neither has reach on the steering and I'm 6'2 so it was completely impossible to be comfortable in my seating position and the hummer on road was a jiggly truck, surprising after all the reviews said it drove great.

What are the thoughts around here? Would the pathfinder do for a touring car, sand, gravel, shallow creeks etc? Should I waste more money on my current heap and wait until the end of the year and look at a wrangler? Are there other models I've overlooked for sub 20k that would be as good or better?

Sorry for the massive post but I appreciate any suggestions and or comments/questions regarding my needs.

Cheers Danny

Picture of my old baby for those who might be interested https://www.dropbox.com/s/7ic08gqw6762as5/1934583_125877266778_3922232_n.jpg?dl=0
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