Last week we took a 200 series petrol for a spin and this week we finally got our hands on 200 series diesel.
It was only a test drive but we got to drive in up Victorias Mt Dandenong tourist road and even through a potholed slushy dirt road. While a long way from a 4wd situation the two drives, intermixed with 2 4wd trips in our
petrol GU Patrol have really helped form our opinions of the 200 series.
In short , they are a great car , a bit to big perhaps , but the only real reason for not having one is simply the cost of $96,000 for the basic GXL which would come down a bit no doubt, but with none to sell and buyers out there she's likely to remain an expensive beast.
The 4500 TD cruiser had massive amounts of power with little turbo lag, apart from a Porsche Cayenne this is the fastest car we have ever taken up this steep twisty climb.
It behaved beautifully , didn't put a foot wrong and its
suspension soaked up the potholes
well.
The annoying ticky ticky sound that has put us off so many diesels was almost unheard from inside the car and not objectionable outside of it.
One funny thing though, we drove the top of line sahara , and as i pulled up to the kerb I left steering with the
wheels facing outwards and the car tried to tell me not to do this, after that it tried to
park itself, however I had deliberately left it on a sharp muddy off angle kerb and its
parking assist seemed to have issues with this and gave up - maybe humans still have a place.
After a couple of drives now I am beginning to appreciate the cars size - its doesn't look that big on paper but it is definately harder to see out of than our patrol. Mind you this model had first class rear view cameras.
Also this weekend we tried to access a beach and drove for kilometers down a narrow heavily overgrown track such that both out Patrols rear view mirrors were knocked in by branches and the cruiser would not have liked this
at all.
When we brought our Patrol it clearly stood out as a winner but this time around our research has found that none of the available options is without its own drawbacks.
Of the cars we consider serious contenders the following basic issues need to be considered.
New model Prado TD - simply underpowered
Patrol 4800 - good value @ $53k but Fuel efficentcy 15% below 200 series.
200 Series Petrol - big & expensive
200 series TD big & seriously to expensive
76 series cruiser - rough & haven't owned a car with leaf springs for 30 years.