New 4X4, maybe! Undecided.

MMMM. not sure what happenned here. I tried to do a spell check and it went up anyway!

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Hi Muzz,
More or less went throught the same thought process as you a couple of months ago.
Sold my 1996 80 series 4.5 auto to a mate and then spent the next month wondering what the hell I had done as nothing I could afford to replace it really appealed to me. I had not got past what he offered for the 80.
Anyway to cut a long story short and after lots of test drives brought a 2004 st 3.0ltr man Patrol. I was not to keen on one given some of the stories however value for money it was too good to pass up.
I dont like IFS front ends either, and you pay a high premium for the cruiser to boot.
Just as a comparo my mate brought a 2004 td 100 about a month befor I got mine.
2004 TD 100 Auto 84kms paid 56k
2004 TD Patrol ST man 83km paid 31k (last of older shape).
As you can see lots of change left over for me, not as much power but i'll still get where he does.
Only had it a short while but so far i'm quite happy generally,runs 285/75 16 Cooper AT tyres.
Got 10km per ltr just quiet running around town on ave so far.
I supppose what im saying to you is that there is not much to compare the patrol with on a like for like basis and if the first one did a good job,why not another.
Regards Alan.

Should be a good car Muzz , not enough power means I'd go for the petrol but really wheels and a few plastic trims wouldn't put me off such a vehicle

If you want new-ish, auto, large, wagon, no ifs ... can only be a Patrol.
Jeep might be an alternative, but is not as large. I can't think of any other non-ifs wagons that have auto option.
I'd suggest you reconsider ifs if you want more choice. Is it really that bad?

Muzzgit [WA]
You could put a Chev 6.5 V8 diesel in your car, at around $18000-$20000 you would have a formidable beast that is so much more powerful than your existing 3ltr and a lot more usable, as well as retaining your auto transmission and getting rid of all that electronic wizardry. That motor would be bullet-proof and a lot of fun to drive, as well as std diesel technology that is repairable by any diesel mechanic. I am looking at that option myself right now.
The 6.5V8 non turbo diesel gives you 375nm torque & 180 old horsepower (not sure what that is in Kw) That puts a whole new life back into your bus.
Colin.

Muzz I don't think you can seriously compare the IFS of a Navara to a 100 series as that was arguably the worst front end put on a 4by ever, in fact they drove up steep hills better in reverse than forward :-))
The main issue with the wheel travel on the Cruiser would be climbing steep rock ledges & negotiating metre deep ruts & lets be honest, will the car be doing that anyway? As 99% of the time is spent on Tar & loose dirt the handling of the IFS is an improvement over solid axle.
Unless you don't intend to modify the vehicle at all you need to forget what the vehicles do standard & see what they are capable of kitted out. The TD Cruiser has far more power, is much more refined, has an excellent 5 speed gearbox & more than capable of going anywhere but the most serious of rock crawling. Really it comes down to are you prepared to pay the premium for a Toyota as the high resale for the TD makes them pretty expensive in comparison, but then that's because they are the better car ;-)
Coming from the old school of solid axles, split rims, cross ply tyres & manual gearbox I have done a complete turn around after seeing what modern vehicles are capable of. Go for a drive in one offroad with an open mind before discounting any vehicle.
Cheers Craig.....................