Patrol mk vs gq vs gu

sits highest - you mean roof line? or ground clearance?

Also some GQ and GU's are leaf in utes which sit different again.

Performance is a personal thing really, your best bet is to go and drive both...

a friend reckons his 3.3td pulls better than a latemodel 3.0td and thought the 3.0 should of gone a lot better (we're talking about a 20+ year old motor!) I haven't driven both so can't comment really.

Leroy

Seat height

All of the above. Really interested in off and on road visibility as well as chassis height for ground clearance

I would have to agree with Trukee.

Having owned examples of all three models I reckon the GQ was the pick

My MQ SD33 was a solid old truck, did most of what I asked of it and was super reliable. It was however slow (The SD in the engine name stands for slow diesel) and uncomfortable. It also had a 24v electrical system which was a nuisance. Not many 24v accessories out there.

I then went to a very heavily midified GQ which was fantastic. Good visibility off road, looking over the bonnet. Fairly compact and easy to know where the edges of the car were. Once again bullet proof 4.2 mine had a turbo so performance was pretty good too.

The Gu I am now driving is a lovelly car. Solid and reliable, far more comfortable than the GQ which was miles better than the MQ. It is still a solid performer off road but it is a bit more difficult to see where it is. Seat height is a bit lower and the bonnet is less square so you can't really see the end of it, bull bar does help here. But it is the same out the back and to some extent down the sides too. Because of the more cureved shape it is just a little harder to knwo where the edges are. It is also a bit heavier and burns a bit more diesel. It is a great touring wagon. In the space of 10 days recently I did a trip to Sydney, for me that is about 26 hours in the drivers seat for the return trip. In a 4 day trip that doesn't leave a lot of time for site seeing. I was then working for 4 days before a trip to Adelaide. Leave home Thursday evening arriving in Adelaide that night. Then left Adelaide Aiport on Friday 5:30pm to drive home (5 hours, and just one wee stop.) The GU was very comfortable for both trips. While I could have done it all in the GQ I would have been in pain. The MQ simply would not have been fast enough to do all of that.

Hope this helps
Duncs