Patrol Cab chassis...............

Alex.
I dont own a patrol ute but I notice that Telstra has changed over to patrols, they must be getting a better run out of them than the criusers. Eric.

I've owned a Ford Maverick (AKA Nissan Patrol) '89 tray back ute since it was almost new. It's now done about 250,000 kms. It's been to hell and back, mostly bush work including towing a 3 tonne bobcat and trailer (illegal I know) at 120kmh!! Regularly. BULLETPROOF is an understatement.

The Nissan 4.2 diesel is old tech, simple but' it'll go forever. It's an old Nissan 5 tonne truck engine - unburstable.

I recently bought a 100 series TD Cruiser - nice and smooth but I don't get the same feeling of "invulnerability" from it. Buy the Nissan trayback and you won't be sorry.

I'm glad I never sold the old Mav and its' still going like train with very little ever spent on it. The Cruiser has cost me more in servicing and general maintence in 12 months than the Mav cost me in about 5 years. Do the maths. Even if you ignore that old 4.2 Nissan motor, it'll keep on keeping on.

Bilbo

I used to work for Telstra and when I left they were changing their lease vehicles.
For cars they went from Commodores to Falcons
For commercial vehicles they went from Toyota to Nissan. They replaced their HiAce vans with those Navara pie van things. They are good as you can park them in undercover carparks even with ladders on the roof. Couldn't do that in a HiAce. Downside is that you can't put as much in them though. The Landcruisers have obviously been replaced by patrols.

I think the main reason for changing was cost

Utemad.

Alex,
Agree with whats been said,
They are seriously tough, older ones used to overheat a bit but seem to have solved this on the latest one.
If heavy loads are your business get the leaf sprung rear and you can get its GVM uprated as Telstra do but it must be done before first rego.
No, no saftey pack availiable but they all come with drivers Airbags now I think
200,000km + is common in these without anything but sevices. 5000km oil changes are a bit painful , 9.5 litres a time, but necessary
Drive train is considered far stronger than Toyota but without a "high tech" engine Patrols performance is less
Spare tyre goes in tray, or special tray required for underneath storage, easy to get at but takes up room. Generally Patrol tray can be much larger than LC
Overall as a work truck they are unbeatable
JR