Availability of add ons

You go and find a vehicle that comes with an auxiliary battery to run the fridge/lights etc then.... (just one example)

Hmm . . .lets see.

I want to cross the Simpson . . .

Heaps of stuff available for the Yota or Nissan or nothing available for the Hyundai Terracan . . .

Wonder what I'll take . . . . in standard form . . .

Please . . . . . .

Jono, If you are just buying a 4x4 to drop the kids off to school and do the shopping i can see the sense in your comment...._____________________________________________

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What do you mean buy DONT NEED. Get one with lights etc on it or just plain go without? The only comment I will pass is that it all depends on how you drive and how you want to live - ie in your 4wd on a trip. I like as many extras that will make the trip as easy as possible ie drawer systems etc, as for the jerry can etc - well call me the last boy scout because i like to be prepared if nothing else. But yes you most likely can do it depending on the car. If you want as many extras as you can from a dealer it will probably cost more than getting it afterwards
Cheers Red Rover

Jono,

The Prado that you have (assuming its the recently supersceded one) has one of the widest ranges of aftermarket accessories of any 4by on the market. The aftermarket suppliers we clambering over themselves to be the first to market with accessories for the new model. I'm sure you would agree your model is not inferior and based on the reviews the new model seems a pretty good thing too...so no cause for concern.

IMHO the need to accessories comes down to how different your needs are from the target audience of the maker, how dedicated to a particular purpose you want to make your vehicle and how many compromises you may want to make.

Eg:

Pay for Heavy Duty suspension Vs Travel light
Go for tougher tyres vs stick to decent roads
Buy a bar and lights vs don't drive outback at night
etc
etc

So if you want to travel heavy over rough roads and at night, you may consider the availability of accessories an advantage, otherwide not. Each to thier own.

Regds

BillRegds

Bill

Your the man jono, youve been everywhere on earth with a stock car...

can I hold your hand?

Sounds like you were fishing for comments so you could justify the prados veraitility,
I used to sit on the beach north of Noosa in a little 2 wd Nissan Bluebird and watch 4bys get bogged trying to get up off the beach - now I could get that thing almost anywhere if drove it like I hated it enough. Ive spoken to a couple of locals who claim to have done the simpson in a 2 wd - maybe Ruth from Birdsville can verify that for me. Personally On a good day in the Simpson desert I managed to get quite a long way before even noticing I was in 2wd in a very adequate but still modified vehicle.(after taking off after lunch in 2wd).
So I guess stock standard in a 4by is a pretty capable vehicle in standard form- but If you go places where you are going to be driving over boulders and logs and need huge clearances then you will enjoy a lift kit, If you spend time climbing sandy hills or in heaps of mud a locker is a great add on.
Depends if you push the limits - I like a vehicle that I can modify for my own personal tastes if it was inadequate in its original form it certainly wont be adequate where I go.
Seeing most of the mods are for the Nissans /Toyotas could your statment be sensible?? - "This tells me that the vehicle is inadequate in standard form" ??

Most 4by owners would be scared of their vehicles TRUE capabilities

Kes

Jono I have never heard anyone praise a vehicle for having so many add ons available. I must be socialising in the wrong circles. I am also not concerned about it. Some vehicles are inadequit in standard form "FOR SOME CIRCUMSTANCES".

It all depends on what you want to do. If you are planning on getting into the Vic high country and travel down to Wonangatta of the trip over to Corryong from Mansfield then you may need a bull bar as there are heaps of dear and roos that are around. A winch would help in the wet. There are areas here that are impassable after rain if you have no difflocks or a winch. If you load a standard 4WD up then you will soon drop it a few inches once you get onto a few bumps. You could always travel with no people or luggage. That would help the standard springs. I have hit 3 wombats and 2 roos in the last 15 months on my road and if it wasnt for the bull bar my car would have been in the panel shop for about 10 weeks or more for repairs. Bull bars are also good in the city for defending ones self around school crossings and shopping centres against stupit idiots who cannot see.

It was GMH that took two 2WD Sandman Panel Vans across a desert (think it was the Simpson) in the mid 70's and got them the whole way across with not much more than letting the tyres down so the desert crossing argument for 4WD vehicles should be discounted. There was a magazine article with about 8 pages of pictures. I have taken an old corolla into places that many shiny 4WD vehicles owners would be too scared to go to. My brother Dave and I took an HQ holden 3 on the tree 186 with a LSD up to Craigs Hut on Mt Stirling in 1987. We then took it up to the Stirling Summit via the Monument and made it with a bit of ass dragging. Got over the top and down to Howqua gap and put a hole in the fuel tank. Ran out of fuel and got towed to Mansfield. We passed a heap of Rangies and 60 series cruisers who were amazed. The point is that most cars with a decent LSD good tyres and reasonably strong springs will get anywhere in moderately rough situations. Once the going gets tough only the good ones will make it and to do that you may need accessories.

Was in Hilston on monday and saw a Prado in at the smash repairs that hit a small roo at speed, he had no bar on the front and it was almost a write off.

I have never seem so much plastic and thin metal bend and break because tha lack of a good bull bar.

It all depends on your disposable income. I am sure a lot of people add accessories they will never use to anywhere near their full potential.

Observations/ conversational survey I have made while on a 2 year Holiday in the Norther Part of the country:

Driving Lights on Bull bars: Most people who go on Holiday to the Cape or Kimberly etc and go camping don't drive at night and respond to the question ,WHY HAVE THEM the answer is alway " they look good and just in case I need them"

HF radio. Another waste of money for a lot of people. Every one I met with a HF radio on our trip towed a caravan and didn't go near dirt roads. WHY have it?
JUST in case.

Heavy duty suspension. I saw more breakdowns and heard more complaints as a result of Heavy duty suspension than anything else. HD stuff turn good dirt roads into bad ones and results in shaking the s&%$ out of the car and everything in it. WHY have it . The most common answer was : I do a bit of off raod stuff and the guy at my 4wd store comes up here all the time and he says.........

I think that with the various 4wd magazines about the place have done a good job over the years at marketing and leading people to think that their vehicle is not adequate for any thing other that the odd beach drive or dirt track. This in my experience is far from the truth with most mainstream $wds' able to get you to most places with a little planning and common sense.

HANG ON!!!!!!!!!