Saturday, Jan 10, 2009 at 17:12
Toyota has been trading on is reputation for too long, the 100 AND 200 series are U-G-L-Y, bland, dull and boring, and has not contributed to any innovation. Nissan's much the same but cheaper.
I have a 2 yo D3 TDV6 SE and can't fault it, and can safely say that D3's out number LC200 in my regional town, hands down.
I consult to the mining industry and travel extensively and see more than my fair share of Jap 4wds broken-down on the side of the road, I don't really infer to much from this and would not make a purchase decision on this.
Yes mining companies use heavy duty Toyota's/Nissan's, but what about the running costs? I worked at sites where these vehicles have $160k/ per annum maintenance spent on them (Nippers vehicle) and are written off after 18-24 months due to the high maintenance cost and they are worn out. If they where such a great vehcile, surely they should last longer than 18 months?, would a D3 be better? I Don't know but with a 160k per annum maintenance bill, and a 18-24 month working life, it would not be to hard. (my mechanical engineer mate, works in a
mine in the UK where they only uses defenders, they get a good 5-10 yrs out of their cars)
I was at a
mine site (eastern states) recently where a patrol had been out of service for 2+1/2 weeks, because they could not get a replacement fan belt tensioner, in the end they had to get one from
Perth, so much for spare parts availability
Not sure who complained about towing, I hired a 3.0t mini excavator for a weekend and had no trouble towing it and as normal I had to have the cruise control on, so I did not exceed the speed limit. As for reliability, I only have read about it being a problem, (mainly from people who's mate had heard something) and have had no problems.
Most of the anti D3 comments are normally just convenient points of view from Toyota/Nissan die hards, the D3 is the worlds most awarded 4wd ever, I noticed in one of the latest RACQ magagzine the D3 has just won the best all terrain Vehicle award for the 4th year in a row.
My previous cars have been jap 4wd's, I had no real alignments to any brand and made my decision after several
test drives, car reviews and realistic
feedback from owners. I purchased it because it offered the best value, fuel consumption, ergonomics space, 7
seat configuration and best ride both on road and off.
As for resale, (when they were first released) I read some magaizine that said that D3 should have a 50% value after 3yrs, a late model 05/06 SE TDV6 should then be selling for $37k, I have looked and I can't find a TDV6 SE for $36k. I tried to buy a cheap diesel and gave up, and purchased new
I think a fellow D3 member summed it up best, "some of us prefer more to life than macca's and instant coffee"
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