Which 4wd to buy - $25,000 budget

With those requirements I wouldn't consider a V8 cruiser on gas - but one without gas is a good choice - they were not approved on gas by Toyota unlike the Patrol 4800 of the same year.

Go for the Patrol in manual it will be more within your budget use the same fuel as the (auto cruiser) and has about 15kw more with a better spread of torque for towing along with a longer wheelbase and lower Centre of gravity.

Well the Cruiser will do the job and be a comfortable ride as well, but when you start looking at what you get for your dollar then you'd be well advised to consider other options as well.

You have already been told about the 4800 Patrol on gas (an excellent choice being tough and powerful, but not as comfortable a ride), but take a look at both the Prado (either the V6 on gas or the diesel) and the Pajero too in similar configurations. You should also think seriously about a Land Rover Discovery 3 in diesel form as they are a startling performer.

The Prado is sort of soft and comfortable, but expensive.

The Pajero has much better road handling and great performance, but it is a bit noisier.

The Disco has LOTS of admirers, but you'll find people (generally who haven't owned one) talking about poor build quality and unreliability. These are old stories, but it is true that there are far fewer Landy mechanics out there than Toyota, Nissan and Mitsubishi.

The Cruiser and Patrol are bigger vehicles, but if your kids are young then perhaps the others might work well too. If nothing else it gives you more options.

You havnt really stated wether you definately want petrol or diesel ?? Presuming petrol it will obviously be alot dearer in the fuel department when towing especially, 5 kids I think you will want the cruiser or patrol based on room, The prado range will get you a 03/04 GXL petrol 120 series, so its wider inside especially across the back seat for the kids, depending on size of your kids I certainly wouldnt want to be sitting in some of those rear seats (very rear dicki seats) for too long. They have plenty of power and are very reliable, and make good conversion to gas (heaps running on LPG) and better set up then the 95 series. If you wanted diesel in the prado you will get a 01/02 95 series or a high klms 03/04 120, I dont think you would be happy with it, in regards to pulling power. The mitsi pajero in the 3.2TD are a fantastic motor, great on fuel, great pulling power but not sure you would get one in the price range, dont get the earlier diesel in pajero. Another thing you probably REALLY REALLY need to think of is rear aircon for the 5 kids (duel air/vents in roof) it can be quit hot right up the rear end in any vehicle on even a warm day let alone 40c, last thing you want is a child feeling a bit ill/carsick from been warm up the back. I dont know the specs of the 100 series cruisers in regards to rear aircon ?? The prado's have it in different models, there were some models that had it some didnt and limited edition models, the pajeros only have it in the exceed but I think will be out of your price range ?? Maybe not. Best thing is to get the family, go to car yards to start with and start from there. Best thing with 5 kids in tow the salesman isnt going to want to get in car with you all LOL so you can talk in private, try them all, mitsi paj,patrol,pathfinder,prados, 100 series, terracan (might be too small and dont make anymore) but seriously if you can afford it try for rear aircon......

as said above
for $25000 you will get an 03-04 pajero diesel exceed.
plenty of power reliable
duel aircon.
wont even notice the expanda on the back
cheers

We bought a 2003 Prado diesel with 125 K on the clock for $23 so they are around under $25. Not quite as cheap to run as the old 80 series on gas but still ok.

Regards

I'm really loving the advice here and it's helping me narrow down the choices to either a Pajero Exceed or a Prado Grande, both around the 2004 mark. What I'm really now hoping to clarify is how are either going to tow (economy wise is my biggest criteria here) and should I just go the diesel models, or have a petrol/LPG set up?

I assume both vehicles will be pretty comfortable and the prices seem similar, more thoughts or experiences, advice would be greatly appreciated!

I would also consider the FZJ 105 series landcruiser with the 6 cyl petrol on gas.
The 1FZ FE engine has long been a proven performer on LPG
Its big ,its cheap and the money you save will buy a lot of petrol and leave you some for accessories.
They go for around $20K for a decent one and many are already running on gas.

Hi John,

We have a 90 Series Prado and we fitted LPG to that before travelling 25000km towing our Trak Shak. We didn't do the desert thing but we certainly did get off the highway and only once did we come across a town that sells LPG to find it was out. Not to worry though because we still had 60 litres of petrol in the Prado plus some jerry cans on the trailer.

We haven't had an ounce of trouble in over 130,000km now and our next vehicle will be a 120 Series Prado, 4.0L petrol on LPG. With that set-up you'll have around 90L of petrol in addition to your LPG tank so for most touring that's plenty. For us (not retired still working) being back at work in town we enjoy cheap motoring - on the trip there were places where LPG was that expensive it didn't really save us but being back home it certainly does.

For $25000 you could certainly get a 120 Series Prado but it would be the first series with either 5 speed manual or 4 speed automatic. The update has 6 speed manual and 5 speed auto. The 4.0L Petrol is certainly strong enough with power and torque not far off the big 4.8L Patrols and they are great to drive with tight turning circles, quietness, comfort, great braking, great air con and heating...just great all-rounders.

Forgot to mention we have the Grande with rear air con.

Cheers,

Mark.

Why not look at a late diesel turbo 80 series Cruiser, bulletproof without the electronic crap and you don't need an expert to fix it.