Time to replace th Zd3lt

If you have ben reading recent threads you may find that their are very few strong easily maintainable cars out there without generic issues Carl.

Others have gone from 3lt Patrol to the petrol 4800 Patrol and are very happy.

Check it out

If your spending $50k on a 4x4 Ute you have some choices. If I were touring Australia I would prefer the Cruiser GXL, rather than a 4x4 ute. If you are thinking about the Range Rover think about maintenance costs, the GXL wins the reliability stakes hands down. The GXL would also be nice to tow with, big car and that amount of weight doesn't change the driving characteristics too much.

Why not spend the extra $'s & go for a 200 Series. If you are going to travel for 5 years you may as well do it in refined comfort. Poor old Robin I'm sure is a PR Man in disguise for Nissan Petrol Division & is used to driving a agricultural piece of machinery that is years past it's use by date, (Good in the field, but OH ! those aching ribs). Now if they had the new overseas Nissan here it would be different & pricey story, but no one seems to know when & if it will happen. The 200 is vastly superior in refinement to the 2006 Cruiser GXL & would more than challenge many a modern car in the interior noise department.

At the pricing you have for the RRS you must be looking at very high km vehicles. I have a RRS and they are great but the shape of the body is not the greatest for touring.

Given what you are intending to do and your price range, if you are looking at Land Rover products then I would be looking at a Discovery 3 - year for year about $10 - 15K cheaper than the RRS - same car in a more practical touring body. The TDV6 while a smaller engine than your Patrol it has much more power and torque and much more oomph overall and will easily tow your van.

Garry

Hi Carl,

We traded out STX Auto diesel D40 dual cab Navara for a new Mitsubishi Pajero auto diesel only a fortnight ago and are hoping it proves to be a more reliable vehicle than the Navara. It is good value for $$$ and we took advantage of the run out offer on the RX model with sat nav and other bells and whistles. Have not yet towed our van with it however we have owned an older model and loved it.

We had reason to have a number of items replaced or repaired under warranty (both new and extended) in the Nissan and it held us up or caused us to return home early on a number of our trips. To their credit, Nissan honoured the warranty on a number of occasions without question, providing a replacement hire vehicle for a couple of weeks when we were interstate a few years ago.The husband swears he will never touch the brand again though and I couldn't convince him to look at one of the new bigger 6 cylinder Navaras!!

We have had a cargo barrier fitted behind the second row seats for safety and have removed the third row to make an extra storage compartment in the Pajero. Traier brakes were fitted only a couple of days ago and we are yet to get the roof racks sorted for our boat loader.

Looking forward to our first trip away in November to try it out fully packed.

A relative travelled with us for a few months during the winter and was happy with his DMax dual cab, towing a Jayco eagle. We did the Oodnadatta track, Mereenie loop so were on quite a few kms of dirt road.

Have fun choosing your tow vehicle...there are lots to choose from.

Regards,

Heather

I have come to the conclusion that all these 3 ltr motors ect are to small for 4wds,unless you want a Suzuki.

I have lost count of the 4wds we have owned over the years and they have always been 6 cylinder until we purchased out first 3 ltr which was a new 2006 Nissan Navara, I started to have my doubts towing a 2500kg van.

We then traded it in on a new 2008 3ltr crd Patrol, and that was to much truck for little motor.

We have since purchased a 2010 4.8 litre Patrol, yes back to the 6 cylinder motors.

My opinion it doesn't matter what type of 4wd you have just make sure it has a 6 cylinder power plant.

Cheers

If you can afford a 2006 gxl factory turbo cruiser, why would you even consider anything else? IMHO the best all round touring vehicle going. Better than 200 series and all the other wanna be's

You can buy a few year old 4.2TDi Patrol and ant it will last you a lifetime... Michael.

If I was doing that kind of trip (twice round the block only me) I would go for a well maintained vehicle that can be fixed by the average Joe with little more than a shifter and a hammer.