what kinda of 4wd-car?

In that price range, check out Pajero TDi, Discovery TDi (not TD5), and check out Subary Liberty.

Have a look at this site Car Sales to get an idea what they cost. If you want to travel in more remote areas, a diesel vehicle is the best option as the fuel is more available.

As for Brands, in remoter parts of Australia most people drive toyota landcrusiers or hiluxs. Hence parts and service are easier to come by. There are not many landrover dealers outside the capital cities.

It is greatly depends what you want to do with your car and how much you willing to spend on fix/mods and if you willing to do those fix/mods by yourself. Some questions to ask yourself. Do I need “real” 4WD or vehicle just capable to tackle dirt road will be OK? How big car I need (i.e. how many people and thus now much cargo to shift)? Do I need to be able to cover significant distances without refueling? Will I cover big distances overall, so economy is very important? Would I be able to fix it by myself or I will relay on service station to do it? You see – your question is way too broad and does not have direct answer.
Cheers
Serg

Matjin,

Make sure, what ever car you get, is Diesel - fuel is more available for it but we have survived on unleaded and lpg, depending on how far out of town etc you want to travel make sure that you are self sufficient ie your own power ( dual battery set up), plenty of water and food. Good off road tyres are a must along with repair kit of some sort.

There will be plenty of 4wds that will suit you. Have fun planning!! This website is brilliant source of info for you, let us know how you are going with the planning!! Read through all the articles in the topics and places index, get those maps out, which Im sure your doing, and have some fun!

catch ya,

Laura

ps, just remember to watch out for kangawallafoxes and drop bears!!LOL!!

Martijn

There is a lot more to this than simply saying you are coming and worrying about what car to buy as Serg has already pointed out. You may already know exactly what you want to do and where you want to go but we don't so advising you properly at this stage is just about impossible.

The Outback is a big place with every conceivable type of driving conditions. You could see a lot of it in a 2 wd family sedan, even a Cadillac would get you there on some roads, but the remainder will need a four wheel drive.

If you haven't already done so then I would suggest you start gathering as much information on the Outback as you can at this stage. You have plenty of time so don't rush into it. Start by getting a few maps. If you can't find them locally then buy them from here. Make sure you look at the map scales because the sheer size of this area is like nothing you will have ever seen in your country. It covers about 3 million square kilometres and contains less than 200,000 people.

Look up every town, tourist destination, area names, road or track names or anything else you can find on the maps on Google. Type in words like "Australian Outback" and see what comes up. Go through the trek notes on this site and ask us questions on any areas you are not sure of.

As you work through all of this information you will start to get a good idea of where you want to go, how long it should take and what type of car you are likely to need. You can then come back on here and we might be able to give you some much more accurate advice as to what to buy.

As a general guide at this stage, the two most common cars you will find in the Outback are the 6 cylinder petrol 2wd Holden in ether sedan, station wagon or utility form and the Toyota Landcruiser station wagon or utility. You will have a good chance of buying a mechanically sound Holden for $6000 but I don't like your chances of getting a good Landcruiser, or most of the other four wheel drives, for that price.

If you intend driving hundreds of kilometres through remote deserts, then you need the highest degree of vehicle reliability and an inexpensive used car could easily fall well short in that department. The recovery and repair of cars in some of those areas will cost more than you paid for the car.

You can get a good idea of what the various makes of cars sell for by looking up Australian car dealers on the net or "Car Sales" as Pointyhead suggested. All the popular makes like Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Ford are sold here. General Motors will most likely be under the name "Holden".

You can also check the major auction sites like Pickles and Fowlesmanheim. You can register free of charge and watch these auctions taking place live on the net. These can be good places to buy a car. I bought my current 4wd from Pickles. A dealer will be asking about $10,000 for a car that will sell for $6,000 at an auction.

That same $6000 car with some minor non performance affecting panel damage down the side would sell for under $2000 at an auction.

If you are serious about seeing remote areas, then you will not only have to pay attention to where you are going but when you go. You must choose popular places, tracks etc. in the cooler months of the year. By doing that you can be sure of having plenty of other people in the area should you get into trouble. If you go in the hotter months, the heat will nearly kill you and you will most likely be on your own.

The Outback has claimed many lives with one of the worst incidents being the English Page family of five in the early 1960s. They attempted to drive up the Birdsville Track in mid summer. It was not a difficult drive even back then but their car broke down, there was nobody else around and their bodies are still out there buried where they were found a short distance from the track.

The Outback is a vast, spectacular and beautiful area that can be seen and enjoyed safely with the right planing and car so do your home work, keep in touch with us and come on out and enjoy it.

Brian

Thanks for all the tips. I really want to go to Cape York and do some other treks from de trek top 10 on this site. I don't think that I'm going to do them all by my self. I have no experience in 4wd. I'm will take a driving course. I want to go some places were tourist with 2wd can't come. Plus I think it has more comfort for a year driving Oz. On a backpackers site I can buy 4wd for $5000 or so with camping gear. But I don't now if they are ok cars. backpackers and cars!!!! I was thinking of a landcruiser diesel. I have time plenty to get more information.

Anyway, if you have any good tips they are welcome.
And thanks for your replies.

Greets Martijn

Hi Martijn

I would consider a 3lt Nissan GQ Patrol wagon- this car was built from about 1990-1995.

It is a very simple , but extremely capable 100kw 6 cyl carburetter based petrol engine that any mechanic can understand, with wide parts availability.
It has live axles and long travel coil springs all around and chassis is
of same extremely capable design as the engine.

It has relativily low weight 1900kg and has reasonable fuel consumption (Mine averaged 13lt/100km over the long haul).

You will be pleasantly surprized when you investigate this car and it will take you everywhere in reasonable comfort.

It is in your price range as well.