Petrol or Diesel

plenty of petrol ones around.. do you suppose that there would be a reason for people keeping their diesels and not selling them? with petrol at $1.29ltr...

Crossed Tom Groggin in a V8 Landcruiser a couple of years back, no snorkel. Kids had their hands out the window, in the water, it moved around a little with the current but no problems. Rated to 700mm and was all of that. Hills... phhht!
Shane

There is a good choice around now Bysat , don't care much on type myself just on an honest assesment of performance.

As you know most run diesels , but run petrol here simply because on any reasonable engineering evaluation it (not they) win on every score except of course fuel consumption. In my case that means average fuel use of 16.5 lt /100km
or about 30% more than an equivalently measured diesel.
The good thing about this is that all the bad points come simply down to one short term cost which can be considered fairly against the number of advantages.

My summary has been that when you really get serious about costs - the true life cycle cost of my car is actually lower than its diesel counterpart , and so I have not even been motivated to even do a gas conversion.

Water crossings and hills are handled by it with less hassle and worry about sensitive fuel issues and water ingestion etc.

It my case the electrical system is entirely sealed and the spark plug access sits at a height of 1.3m as can the main air inlet (via removeable sleeve). Hence I have never found need for snorkel etc.

Hills and towing etc really dependant more on a good broad band of torque than engine type and in this case petrol model heavily outperforms it diesel counterparts.

Theses a whole range of other user benefits , from being far more easily serviced to noise levels that actually allow you to here the wildlife etc but leave those for another time.

Robin Miller

Well, I would have argued and said go diesel however in reality the cost variance between ULP and diesel are no longer there for short term. Unless you are serious about long term ownership then diesel as the cost of petrol patrols at the moment maker them damn attractive. So tell me why does diesel pricing stay constant where as petrol spikes up and down

I have had the pleasure of driving my friends 3.5L V6 Jackaroo on several occasions on and off road, and it is an absolutally lovley and capable car.

However.

Even though on the beach or the highway his monsterous and very reasonably powerful engine will wipe the floor of my little 3.0L 4cyl Turbo diesel automatic surf and the specs for his motor completley eat the specs for mine.... I prefer mine.

I remember him getting bogged in sand that I just clawed my way through. I was in low range tyres at 18psi as it was not that boggy (we thought) and his speed dropped down to the stage where he lost his momentum. I was behind him, slowed down the same amount and had to steer off the track around him and then head 90 degrees around and up a steep hill. My little diesel just kept on trucking on and I may have only been doing walking speed (if that) but I had as much power as I needed at 1200rpms. I feathered the throttle so as to get just the right amount of wheels spin and made it to the top. Only to have to go back down after copious amount of digging to get snatch him out.

You see the petrol on paper is much more powerful than my car, but unless his revs are high up, it's guttless. They were both autos, I jumped in his car and eagerly though I could drive him out by rocking it etc. I could not even spin his wheels in low range reverse! There was no guts at all.

I have also driven it up in the hills on the rocky rutted forrestry tracks and yeah once you get going that thing absolutally boogies, but when you are slowing, acelerating, slowing, acelerating over and over on the rough terrain, I felt like there was somthing wrong with his car because it felt less powerful than mine. But no, if I got in a straight line and trumped it, it'd take off like nobody's business, but for all the low speed work...... my little diesel was better.

Sure on the highway he can pass me like I'm standing still, but I pass him at the next servo while he's filling up, so meh. :-)

If you want a 4wd to go bush get a diesel, If you want a 4wd to pick up the kids or to go shopping (mum bus) get a petrol.

Steve.

Tough choice. I've had 3 diesel Nissan 3.0L Patrols, A Petrol ToyotaFJ45 and now the proud owner of a 2002 Petrol Nissan 4.8L. Yes the Petrol is thirstier than the diesel, but in my experience the Petrol is far more responsive than the diesel. Just last weekend I had to partly reverse down a steep inclind (in Low Low), than take off again. I know my previous Diesels just would do have done it, and was so proud when my 4.8 did it with ease. Total cost of ownership (life of the vehicle) is not very often calculated by people, only the immediate impact of fuel consumpion. Its worth a look. Good luck with your choice.

Compare the 'torque' figures for the petrol & diesel motors for the same vehicle, if it's a mum's taxi where keeping up with the other million cars at the lights without flogging it too hard use petrol, if it's smooth pulling power for a van or trailer at low/medium revs in the bush, my own opinion is Diesel, but that's only an opinion :-))

It's a decent question to ask and the answers can be so different, depending on which model you are talking about. For example, if you were looking at the Prado 90 series, the 3.0 diesel motor was a convincing argument over the thirsty 3.4 V6, even if it was a bit slower and had 5000 km oil change intervals.

However in the early 120 series Prados, where there was an excellent 4.0 V6 vs the "old" 3.0TD, the petrol motor was just economical enough to pip the winning choice over the diesel motor.

Enter 2006 when the new D4D motor finally debuts with the 5 speed auto in the revised 120 series Prado, and it takes the cake.

In your question, you have an 80 series TD Cruiser, and looking to update to either a GU or 100 Series.

The 4.2TD in the 100 series is definitely more economical than your generation motor, plus Toyota now have a published schedule for replacing the big end bearings on this motor, so that issue has somewhat abated. However the IFS front end of the 100 Series leaves a lot to be desired. :( If you don't do too much remote or extreme four wheel driving it's probably going to be good enough, especially if you fit a rear diff lock to overcome the short front wheel travel.

If you were to go to an older 100 Series with the solid front axle, you get the 4.5 litre inline six which is an excellent engine, just a bit thirsty, although not as thirsty as the current generation V8. However, each time you fill up, you'll cry coz of the price of unleaded. Fitting LPG is a possible solution, but that does mean that you won't be able to do remote Outback trips anymore - you have to ask yourself quite honestly - do you do many Outback trips?

Looking at the GU Patrol, the jury is still out on the later (GUIV) ZD30 3.0 TD motor. Some say it is still problematic, others are convinced that its problems have been resolved. I personally am undecided.

As for the 4.2TD in the Nissan, it's tough as nails but a bit gutless, especially for towing or sand driving. Plus it's only available in a manual and is a bit thirsty for a diesel motor, especially at speeds over 100 km/hr. But if you are mostly doing Outback driving, it's probably reliable and good enough for extended trips, as it is probably the best suited combination. Drivelines are as tough as they come, and the 5th gear problem is probably resolved by now.

Generally, Cruisers have more space than Patrols, and if you are taking children, the middle lap only belt on the Patrol just stinks - it should be a lap/sash belt.

So it really depends on what you want. If it's just you and your partner, no kids, and you want to travel to lots of remote places, I'd pick 4.2TD Patrol.

If you have children and go camping in most caravan parks, then 4.5 Cruiser on LPG. It'll have to be the new vapour sequential injection systems, not the old gas carby systems that are prone to intake chamber backfiring.

If you have lots of money, children and want a powerful motor to do all sorts of trips, or towm then 100 Series 4.2TD auto, but fitted with diff locks and that IFS front end sorted out properly.

Happy shopping! :-)

We've got a petrol Prado (3.4l) and a diesel GU (4.2l).

I love the get-up-and-go of the Prado. But I've noticed when we've done sand driving whilst heavily loaded it chews the fuel quickly.

The diesel seems to give much the same economy loaded as empty.

We've recently done the Simpson but I've not worked out the economy yet.

Our Simpson (and around) trip had a petrol/gas 80 series, a diesel GQ and (our) turbo-diesel GU.

The 80 series had to fill up more frequently. They took 4 extra jerry cans for the crossing which was adequate. The gas tank sits very low though, so you could see where they'd crossed a dune as it was smoothed out. It also had lots of oomph.

All of them handled the hills fine. We didn't have any water crossings though :-)

-geoff