Petrol Hilux 4WD for round australia trip

David,

In my honest oppinion, diesel is the only way to go for serious around Oz travel. It really depends though on where you intend to go. If alot of remote, or offroad work is on the cards, go diesel.

As for going larger, have you found the 'lux to have been big enough?? Are you thinking of towing?? Dual cab utes are usually a good option for tent style touring, but if you intend on towing, maybe a Patrol or Cruiser is the go.

If you are buying new, the 4.2ltr TDI Patrol would b my pick. Well equipped, very capeable, extremely reliable, and well priced. They will tow 2.5t without a drama, too. This motor/drivetrain combination is well proven, and pretty much bulletproof.

If you are looking second hand, a bloody nice TD42 GQ could be had for 20-25k. Once again, they are well speced, capeable and reliable, and are well priced second hand.

As for the Nissan/Toyota debate, I am a Nissan man through and through, and have had nothing but good experiences with the brand. It all comes down to what you have found to be a good thing in the past, and what you are prepared to put your faith in now.

Good luck, and enjoy your trip.

Tristjo.

David, I'd go diesel as a lot of remote places don't have petrol anymore as their is a big problem with petrol sniffing. As for bigger as Tristo said depends where you'r going, if out of the way then Patrol or Criuser to give you more room for all your gear.Regards Bob
3 Weeks till Gulf trip

David,

If you are pretty much sticking to the main towns, roads and highways then petrol is fine. Short side trips off road to fishing or camping spots should also be fine if you are not going too far from main towns.

If you really want to do a lot of time off road and in remote places then a diesel is the only way to go (with extra fuel tank).

JohnS

Gee David I thought I'd wait and see how this thread goes and yep it went exactly they way of preconceived ideas and untried realities.
We too have a 2.7 petrol and yep we did the round oz bit and had no reason to have a bigger or diseasal car. It was only myself and wife we camped every night and loved it. The ute was a godsend as no stinken jerrys in cabin or worse on roof ,b4 everyone replies about no need with long range tank, what about when it gets holed and you're empty?
Carry/get firewood without bleep e everywhere. No stinken fishing gear in cabin.
The other popular line is can't do river crossings in petrol (dealer even spun that one) I've crossed heaps with no prob's, deepest was water running at just below bonnet height with bow wave 1/4 way up windscreen.
The other line is better torque in diesel - only at lower revs at peak revs the petrol has heaps more torque,try towing up a hill with the diesel. For the at most 5% of driving, its very rarely needed so when it is, why not use the boot?
Better fuel economy worst I ever had was 5.5kl. V.soft sand low range. I've driven a patrol with turbo and intercooler that at 120kh was lucky to get 4.5kl. At normal highway speeds 130kh we get 8kl even with boat on top.
As to petrol in remote areas, I live in a community without petrol but 30k away is a community that does have petrol and no sniffing probs. I posted about no sales in case someone was counting on fuel at K. or P. You can always prepare and organise.
The real question I think is size remember you'll carry more with a ute than you will in the back of a cabin. Have you done any camping already with the Hilux? If not you should try to get out as much as poss. as we carried a lot of stuff that just got dumped along the way as we refined our style. If you really need a bigger car then the larger petrol motors make the patrol above look frugal.
For my money I'd rather be on the road for longer than shortening time away with a major purchase. Remember you can't buy time if you're on a budget.

.

Hi David

I've got a '98 2.7Petrol Xtra-cab Hilux. Two of us have just spent 9 months doing the around Oz trip. I've driven diesels all my working life and, personally, I prefer a petrol engined vehicle. I reckon we spent about 30-40% of our time "off-road' and the petrol performed brilliantly.

We did the CSR, Cape York, Simpson Desert, The Gulf, Bungle Bungles and Gibb River Road. All it took was a few phone calls and a bit of planning to ensure there was ULP where and when we wanted it.

It was great having all the gear in the back of the Ute (with a canopy). The Waeco fridge, dual battery, camping gear, water and fuel (for the CSR and Simpson) all fitted in the back.

The vehicle: We fitted
1.A snorkel (ram air and a Donaldson fitting). I've added an oiled foam insert in the top of the snorkel- Unifilter make them- looks like a giant condom which keeps the worst of the dust off the main Unifilter oiled foam aircleaner).
2. A Long Ranger 130 Litre tank to replace the original. We never hit it or holed it on our trip.
3. An Autron Auscruise cruise control (magic!)
4. Hardwired ARB compressor
5. Ox hydraulic winch (only used twice to pull someone else out of trouble!)
6. Poly Air Bags
7. Koni (rebuildable) shocks
8. Rancho Torsion Bars (we have IFS on the front) Larger than standard Toyoto ones
9. A helton shower (luxury- cheaper than a Twine amd works great)
10. Breathers on front, rear diffs and gear box
11. UHF radio
12. Dual batteries (for fridge)
13. 6 steel sunraysia type wheels fitted with Cooper AT 225's.

We carried a 50 Litre Waeco, a free standing tent (one you can stand up in with an awning , all the usual camping gear and, shock horror, a Honda generator (very quiet Eu10i), which we used in places where we stayed for more than 3 days and, guess what? By using it with other people's comfort in mind we never got one complaint!

We had no mechanical problems, no punctures (we were very very lucky, but we adjusted our driving and tyre pressures to the conditions - the onboard compressor helped ) and never had a problem getting ULP fuel.

Hope this helps.

Good on ya Mario,
We kept it more simple, similar story Extra Cab 99

Steel Toyota Bullbar with X9 Winch (same story only ever used it and the recovery gear to help others!, it is handy around the place for lifting, demolitions etc)
2 pairs of spotties (we have to do lot of night stuff here but one pair help immensely, you never know when you'll have to find the local hospital. We found the Narvas fine as long as all is tight and locktighted, I personally wouldn't waste big $ as have cracked three from stones, yes 2 with the covers on).

TJM Snorkel, The standard filter is usually very clean (see the posts a few pages back about snorkel and uses). I am considering the oiled, foam filters as its the same price and reusable.

Heavy Duty Series 2000 front torsion bars. Standard OEM at rear, considering upgrading to polys or heavy duty soon, but were fine for the trip. Monroes Gas Shocks, (same as Old man emu but $150 for 4)

Split Rims, we have always used the standard size tyres but have found 225/75 16 will fit on splits so have a set of Coopers AT on order 2 spares (road grippers only lasted 30 000k).

$15 compressor that has been going for 5 yrs no probs.

Standard Fuel Tank but would like long range, I'd still carry a couple of gerries. Also would like cruise control.

4 * 20l H2O

UHF & EPIRB.

Dome tent with swags.

Bucket & sponge.

2 Eskies we used them just for their insulation for fruit and veg and only ate fresh meat for the day or 2 out of town. I find it better to buy stuff fresh on the day if poss and support the litle blokes in little towns.

For the canopy I went to a bit of effort as we had a motorbike and boat to carry. The bike won't get thru a fixed frame at the rear so I used scaffold clamps and bar on the cross that worked a treat and have had many people copy.
For the canvas the roof is removable and adjustable so bigger loads can be carried, sides all zip out of the way.
If you are looking for the plastic canopy jobbies try to get as many windows, side accesses as possible or you will be constantly loading unloading.

David as you can see some different ways to skin a cat.

The 2.7 petrol is one of the most underrated 4 pots on the market. Quote from Overlander Mag. I have unbogged many a big heavy diesel Niss or Toy. Weight is a crucial factor. I find the fatter tyres bog and puncture more easily and open more debates than blonde or brunette.

Hope this helps if you have any other quests etc post on.

Hope you have great trip either way.

Slammin

The punctures were all saved up for when we got home. Lots of building work going on, nasty sharp things dropping off builders' utes all over the district and four #@$**%# puctures in 3 months. Ah well, easier to fix or get fixed at home than short of Well 39!

The Autron cost $640 fitted. It seemed a lot at the time, but once we started racking up the K's on the hardtop from one interesting place to another, even the Missus reckoned it was worth the money.

It's an electronic /vacuum unit, so no magnets etc on the diff. All the info is on the website.

I got fitted by our local 4WD shop. I rang Autron told them what sort of vehicle I had and got them to tell me who was the local fitting agent (the unit has to be fitted by an authorised agent to be covered by warranty.) I went for the stalk control mounted on the LHS of the steering column. It seems easier to use in the dark than the steering wheel mounted unit. The only problem I've had, until I got used to it, was to be precise reaching for the hand brake as you can bump the stalk. (It has a ball joint at the base so there's some degree of adjustment/give so there's no damage if you do knock it).

Autron Electronics Pty Ltd
499 Victoria St. West Melbourne VIC, Ph 03 9329 2992, Fax 03 9329 2993
WWW.autron.com.au e-mail: sales@autron.com.au

Hope this helps.
Cheers