New 4.2 GU Nissan

Johno,
Actually contemplating an upgrade myself, however I'm looking closely at the 4.8. Why?? The extra cost of the 4.2 takes at elast 10 years to recover in fuel savings, and with petrol, you have power on tap, and a quieter engine, and less maintenance. You also get the higher diff ratio!
Cheers
Andrew

I think you'd find the 4.2 TD quieter than your 3.0, they are noisy buggers, go like a shower of sht but not real quiet. My surf 3.0 TD sounds like petrol it's so quiet, but I think it's all about this pre ignition garbage they put on the 3.0td patrols, the ford transits are the same. Must be somthing to do with them being powerful and efficiant, that europein technology.

I suppose it comes down to how long you wish to keep your car. For 3 years or less I would buy a 3.0. For longer term I would not go past the tried and proven motor in the 4.2. Having both towed and driven in the high country I have found the bigger motor to be better even though it may not have the power of the 3.0. You cant have everything but with a little work you get can pretty close. The new 4.2 is a lot more cramped under the bonnet than a 2000 model and comes with cruise as std. The console is slightly wider than the 2000 model also and some switches have been relocated such as the volume button on the stereo which I use to knock sometimes whilst taking the hand off the gearknob and frighten the crap out of everyone. For long distance towing I would not pass the bigger motor either diesel or petrol.

Cheers

Hey Old Johno,

On that same path myself. Having read this forum conducting searches on Gu's have a look at some past strings on the 3.0L TDI. Not a good report.

Leave it to you mate,

Trol.

Hi Johno, Dont forget when you trade or sell privately, you will always get the extra money back with the big diesel, every cent, also you can sell privately very quickly. The petrol, well could be some time to sell privately and at a big loss.. The 4,2 is chaep at the end of the day. Regards Michael

P.S. And 11 litres per 100 ks with the 4.2 not 20 !!!

Hi Old Johno,

I recently went thru a similair process when upgrading my old 80 series to finally a new GU 3.0TD. I tow a 1.6T van regularly with my 2003 GU 3.0TD and could not be happier. The only two things that bug me with the 3.0TD were;
1) the lack of torque at idle and
2) the poor low range gearing.

I ended up fitting a dtronic and that has made a big difference to torque, right from idle to redline. Previously, I could not idle my van up my driveway in low range. After fitting the Dtronic, it now idles up with no clutch slipping required. Worth it for this reason alone. But it now also makes towing so much better with the extra power throughout the rev range. And best of all is fuel economy, the same or slightly better but with extra power. Who says you cannot have your cake and eat it too!

While a 4.2 and standard 3.0 may be similair in power/torque, the dtronic certainly turns the tide in the 3.0's favour by a measurable margin IMHO. Given the diff ratio of the 4.2, its low range gearing is worse than the 3.0, which I find sucks compared to my old 80 series.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Cheers

Captain

The new 3.0ltd dos'nt have the problems of our 2000 models, (we get ours back wirh a new motor on monday). A mate of mine got the 4.2 this time last year & is very happy with it they just rev a bit higher at speed 2500rpm@110ks against 2200rpm