Friday, Mar 04, 2011 at 10:49
Hi Joy
Getting into the spirit of things here, I tend to agree with other posters that there are several potential canditates mostly amongst the Patrol and Lancruiser range.
But to do your question justice more needs to be know about your requirement, and perhaps also you need to know more about the scene
to be firmer on those requirements, and this may take time.
I don't know you at all, but I expect to be passing thru Yarra Glen on way to Yarck about 7:30am saturday for a day trip to our 4wd place.
It would be suitable to tag along in a 2wd car.
The requirements you have outlined "Reliable diesel auto" cut out many other fine cars and those words may have come from friends or an incomplete knowledge of the scene.
A theme I often reccomend is for a vehicle with a long wheelbase, wide track and solid chassis.
A friend of mine brought a 3lt 2002 Patrol auto diesel (they have a dark history) and towed a 3ton+ drilling rig almost constantly for work around Murrindindi shire for years till it blew up at 195,000km and then cost $6000 to repair.
He reckons that amortized over the whole life cycle that he did well.
I wouldn't reccomend that but currently there are incredible deals out with with these "auto diesels" going for mid $40's figures, and with appropriate warranties you'd have to ask the question.
I tend to go on performance based solutions (performance does'nt mean speed).
As such your ideal car might be a 100 series TD cruiser - but they tend to come in at a higher cost than the new car I reffered to above.
So I would reccomend one of the cars I have at half the cost , a petrol 4800 manual Patrol because it simplys outperforms almost all others (and I also have the same car in auto).
However, if implied, but not stated, in your requirement is low fuel consumption then I would not reccomend it.
If however your real requirement was low cost of onwership over the life cycle of the car, then that vehicle would again come back into contention.
So my advice would again be to take as much time, and do as much research as you can to firm up your requirements and plenty on this site will help.
AnswerID:
447318