Tuesday, Mar 08, 2005 at 18:47
jt, I have owned a GU 4500ST for 4 years now. Apart form a recent wobble problem, which can happen to any Nissan, it has performed absolutely flawlessly as both my work vehicle and personal transport too.
I recently spent a half an hour talking to the service manager of Giant Nissan, and have also discussed this model with the spare parts departments of both Magic and Giant Nissan too. Consensus is the 4500 is as close to a 'fault free' 4x4 as you will get. RAC WA said the same. No inherent weak points to mention. Don't take my word for it, look through the archives on all the 4x4, Nissan and Toyota forums and try and find a problem with them. If
well maintained, the TB45E motor should give you many hundreds of thousands of km's of cheap trouble free motoring.
They do use a bit of fuel, but I just drove 700km's (no 4x4 but heaps of gravel / dirt) last weekend and averaged 17.7l/100km's. It will happily cruise at 130 - 140km/h all day. Off road, they hoot! Heaps of torque, heaps of power. I drove side by side to
Shark Bay with a new Toyota HZJ105 diesel last year and it got only 2 or 3 l/100km's better than the petrol Patrol. No contest as to which was the preferred ride with the passengers either. On low range sand driving or towing the fuel usage will certainly go right up, but you have to be honest with yourself if saving $20 or $30 is worth all the grief.
In my opinion (and the accountant's), unless regularly doing the CSR or similar, fuel consumption is a minor consideration when looked at in cold economic 'life of vehicle' costings. Saving $20 a tank in a diesel compared with an extra $10,000 purchase price, double service intervals and more expensive engine rebuilds just does not add up. Do the sums and make your own mind up is all I'm saying.
The big reliabilty / simplicity aspect of diesel is a thing of the past as
well. Don't forget he new diesels are far more highly stressed, complex and dependant on computers than petrol engines.
For the record, I am not anti-diesel at all. I think big, simple diesels are the best motor you'll get ( I own a 6.5l V8 diesel Toyota too).
Truckster is right - $22,000 to $28,000 should get you into a real beauty with all the fruit that has been used for nothing more serious than taking the kids to school.
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