Contemplating my choice of 4x4 and its narrowed down to 3.
The criteria was:
-Cheap around 6- 8K
-Petrol V8 (guess thats the bogan in me..power & noise also help)
-Manual (auto not a fan...)
-3500kg towing (towing around race cars with ease)
-Capable offorad (not hardcore but able to go beach, up to the cape and play in the bush)
there nominees are:
Disco S1 V8 (3 or 5 dr)
RRC V8 (love a 2 dr but don't care would look at the 3.9 or drop in a 4.6)
GQ Patrol (302 windsor) similar to the Maverick in 4WD custom Action No.10.
Disco S1 and Rangie driven both of these (disco in diesel form...) and they fit the bill and look tough/capable. Leaning more towards Rangie due to the lower height, lower centre of gravity.
Eventually I would look at running Patrol diffs to make it unbreakable...if there is such a thing.
though I also like the idea of a patrol with a v8, parts (in remote areas)and after market stuff mainly as
well as the above criteria.
I will be mainly using it for:
Towing cars (ranging from 1.2 - 1.8t)
Beach (9 mile, 5 rocks, 3 rivers mainly)
Some minor
rock related fun.
Camping + getting into
places to mt biking, Kayaking & Trail bike biking. &
Major trip in 2011 (around OZ, covering all the extreme geographial points N,S,E,W high and low [mainland])
The patrol engine conversion would cost about the same as the diff conversion (with lockers).
So its splitting hairs. all fit the bill and will do the job, but all have pros/cons. Looking for some unbias advice that might help me choose.
I will be posting same thread on some other forums so it will be interesting to see the results
cheers in advance