15k 4by.

Try a V6 Prado, very underrated offroad and great on it.

Hi AL,

Just my opinion, if you are contemplating towing a largish caravan, boat, horsefloat or whatever and maybe some extended trips into remote areas I would go for a diesel. If on the other hand short trips, weekends away are your aim I would buy a petrol. As you have probably already found a later model petrol maybe with some accessories can be had for less dollars. The factor to take into account is the difference in fuel consumption for a petrol is going to be pretty significant for a vehicle of the size you have mentioned. I have owned Toyotas with both petrol and diesel engines over the years.
I have a diesel at the moment.

Good luck with your choice

Cheers
Pop

Their is a Jackaroo Equip with 77k on car sales NSW for $14000. Thought about swapping my old 98 for it but it does not have a b/bar and it is and auto. Looks like it has never been off road. To give you an idea how highly we rate jacks we already have three in the Family.
Cheers Pete

Hi all,

We have a 96 petrol 80s auto and love it. It costs a bit more to run on trips but was cheap to buy and had a lot of accessories.

The 4.5 litre motor is super reliable and the 80 is still one of the best 4wd ever made. Far superior to the 200 IMHO.

If anything ever happened to it would not hesitate to get another.

Cheers, Wooly

Hi Al,

The only 4WD that we have ever owned is a petrol Troop Carrier, 1987 vintage that we have had now for over 20 years. In that time we have done a fair few trips in it to remote and not so remote areas. Have a look at our Blogs and you will seehere how we have set it up for fairly comfortable camping, and other entries describe where it has taken us.

Certainly it is fairly thirsty, although compared to fuel consumption figures for some of the newer models maybe its not too bad. However service costs are lower, and you can do an oil change yourself quite easily.

Apart from a couple of glitches it has been a reliable vehicle and now really owes us nothing considering the great times that we have had in it. A big plus for remote area travel is the fact that you can work on it yourself should the need arise. On one trip we even sourced a part from a wrecked vehicle in a remote property's vehicle graveyard, replaced it ourselves and went on our way.

One thing to consider is that in the north and west of Oz most of the many Troopies around are diesel so parts, although available may have to be brought it which costs time and $$$.

Troopies aren't great as a daily driver in town as they have the turning circle of an ocean liner but for just camping and travelling I think that they are unsurpassed. They give excellent visibility,(better than any other 4WD that I have ever been in) can carry lots of gear and can go just about anywhere. Some claim that the seats are uncomfortable though we have been quite happy with ours with the addition of some decent seat covers.

Recently we have seen a couple of Troopies in good condition, similar vintage to ours but lowers kms for about the $5 - $7K mark. Diesels of similar age are probably double that.

Hope that helps,

Cheers,

Val.

The 80 series is perfect for what you want to do and you'll get a good one in that price range

Enjoy it

Dan

My 2 cents worth :)

Go Diesel

Steer away from the early GU's. The fixed engines will be out of your price bracket.

GQ or 80's would be great. Pay more for the Toyota badge.

If towing then avoid the 2.8td in the Patrol (I own one and love it but I wouldn't tow a caravan with it). Smaller clutch also in the 2.8td.

Hello again,

Thankyou all for your advice. We will consider carefully all points raised.

We will probably be buying a off road/camper trailer as well.

The reasons for this return to 4wding and camping are basically we have a caravan, which we will sell as we dont have the time available to do the long runs and living here in WA there are only so many places available to visit if you need a caravan park and only can do a couple of weeks away at a time. However the prospect of using a camper trailer opens up quite a few destinations otherwise inaccessible at present.

We believe we will return to vanning in about 10 to 12yrs when we possibly may retire. We are 48 and 47 now and apart from some excess kilo's each we are in reasonable health. If we dont go out to the harder to see places ie Holland track, desert trips etc we may not be so fortunate health wise later on or in fact feel like camping out.

Its a fairly substantial change but one we want to do.

Thanks for indulging us.

regards AL.

G/Day Mate, ...Don't Forget the landrover Defender, Ticks all the boxes in regards to what you want to do. Very economical diesel, cheap to repair, and reliable as anything else, and purchase price is a lot better than whats been mentioned, Last of the 300TDIs is the way to go>


Cheers Axle.