1st 4x4, mark 2

zam
take breath then get on the phone & book a 4wd training course alot of the questions you have about 4wd's will be answered by getting to know what they are & how to operate them, even a very basic 4wd will get you out there, add the expencive accesories as you decide & identifie just what they are & how often you will use them the 4wd industry has no more morals than any other retail industry & will quite happily take thousands of your hard urned $$ for lots of accessories that you may never use or use rarely start slow & work your way up to the well kitted out rig becuace once you add all this crap on if you decide to change vehicles not all the add ons will transfer over & resale prices for these items is well below what you will pay especialy if they are left on the vehicle, just rember that all the tracks we enjoy today were driven through useing basic no extras vehicles like series 1 landrovers & bj 40 ect.but if you do decide to continue with the extras make list of what you wish to do to the vehcle & be specific then fax it to your insurance company & ask for in writing their policy on the mods you intend to do becauce they will impact on your insurance both in cost & availabilty costing of insurance will depend on many differant facters such as age location driving history & accesories best option is shop around ,as to availabilty of mods for a hilux there are lots & lots you can add on
hope this helps
Regards bruce

Firstly. If your in Qld, you cant do much to your car.

www.outerlimits4x4.com is your place for what mods, etc. Tony Robbo runs 37 Baja Claws on his.

or http://www.outerlimits4x4.com/PHP_Modules/phpBB2/download.php?id=4231 for another option
www.snakeracing.com.au is your place for the bits
www.tcis.com.au is for the insurance, but once you start doing mods, wave bye bye to insurance, they are clamping down.

Until you actually start looking around where ever you are and see what's out there it's hard to know what you can get. The 2nd hand car market is very fickle and you will just have to look and see what 10k can by you before you even comtemplate extras.

Never know your luck you may pick up a lux fully kitted for what you want to pay. Or you may not so get out there and have a good look around before you part with your hard earned bucks.

Regards
Rusty

Zam045,
Again this is just an opinion but when I purchase a 4X4 and like many others on this page I've bought a few. Personally I would by the straightest car you can for your money up front with the minimum number of extras except for the occasional bullbar which are near enough standard anyway and build from there, I've bought 4X4's that have got the gear on and always found that the gear is there for a reason so the car stands a better chance of being through the wringer, plus if the fourby has a lot of electrical gear fitted you may well be purchasing another persons problems, lights without relays, bits that don't work when going over corragations etc
I would spend my 10k on a fourby that has very little on it, get the insurance sorted get the rego paid for 12 months and have some fun up front as mentioned before, get yourself a good snatch strap a couple of shackles and go out with a 4WD club and get stuck, it's great funKeep the shiny side up