Cruiser/Patrol

check out the current edition of 4wd monthly for a rightup on buying late model crusers 2nd hand

NISSAN or TOYOTA?
I've seen drunken yobbo's punch each other out over a similar debate(holden/ford)
some toyota owners will never buy toyota again(for whatever reason)
ditto for nissan
My suggestion is if you don't have an affection for either, keep an open mind when searching and one/or the other may jump up at you,with the specs you want.
the cruiser IFS has been rectified in the newer models and the 5th gear drama in the nissans(I thought)only affected 4.2 TD.
If you search long enough for inherent faults in ANY vehicle, you will begin to wish you owned a horse!
shop around, tell each dealer your shopin' each other off and see what goodies you may get
both makes have vast array of after market gear(no advantage to either makes)
The answer to your post is there is no answer,only the opinions of those who take the time to reply
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Hi ingo,

I have owned both a 100 series and a GU and my opinion (if you are buying new like you said) is put a value on the cruisers warranty and if it is more than 15 grand then buy the cruiser cause the Nissan warranty ain't worth the paper it's written on in my opinion and 15 grand is about price difference in the two 4.2 turbo variants. At least Toyota will bend over backwards to help in any way they can if you have a genuine problem (that's my experience anyway). Even though I had more mechanical problems with my cruiser over my GU, if buying new again I would go the cruiser for warranty reasons alone. Plus it is a nicer car to drive on the road IMO.

As mentioned above it is a touchy subject with some people but if you look through the one eyed responses you should get your answer.

Regards, Trevor.

Thou I own a mighty 80 series and have no intentions of buying another 4wd I have thought about this issue.
IMHO it all comes down to what you expect a 4wd to do.
If it will mainly be a daily driver and only taken off road once in a while then the cruiser is the go. It is alot nicer to drive on road than the datsun and the finish of the car seems to be alot better in the cruiser. Little things like dashes fitting flush and panels being aligned etc seem to stick out when you have both of the 4wd's side by side.
The IFS is abit of limiting factor but not by much, nothing a front lockka won't over come. I also know quite a few people who own these and the front diff weakness seems to only show up in used in reverse. Again nothing a lokka wont fix.
If you are after a more capable straight out of the box then I think the datsun is the goer here. But road handling etc etc wont match up.
And of course the cruiser does have better re-sale.

If money was no object then I reckon a cruiser with lokka's is a clear winner.

We took our time, made a list of pro's & con's for each.
Spent at least six months checking out the forum's.

and in the end it came down to dealer after sales service (on new vehicles).

Now very happy with our choice.