Advice for new car purchase...

Toyota Hilux must be doing something right as they were the highest selling car in Oz for 5 months and only just being overtaken by Mazda 3 in October

Sales figures

Lyn W3
There is a large difference between what people perceive and reality.
Marketing and perception sells more Hiluxes than others and it is not necessarily they are better or even up to the level of others.
People buy Harley Davidsons because of Hype, resale and image marketing but are far from the best.
I now see Hilux in the same category.

Earlier Hilux models were better value for money.
Resale on a current Hilux is good but only because of the believed image. A large number of Hilux and Prado have had more than their fair share of fuel system failures. Around 10 Toyota failures
to one of Mazda and other makes.

Yes, deciding is hard to do because it all depends on the persons viewpoint re reliability, life, economy, towing capacity etc and perceived resale value.
I didn't purchase Hilux because to get the same thing would have cost me $12,000 more. Even a 3 year old Hilux was $8000 more and had 50,000km use. So what is the importance of resale value when you have lost the coins in the first place when buying?

Thanks Michelle and Ross, I had heard similar things about the older Hilux being more worth the money. Very good point about loss of initial value.

Thanks Broodie, that definitely helps a lot. I wasn't aware of the turning circle differences, towing is not so much of an issue at this stage.

If you do think about towing in the future then it might not be a bad idea to contact the manufacturer for advise if whatever you want to tow is up near the car's maximum capacity.

I received the email below just before I bought my last car. I won't say which manfacture it was because they are all much the same. One of them did specify a maximum off road weight and it was 2000 kg below the on road maximum.

Toyota seems to be a lot more realistic with towing capacities for the Hilux when you consider the size and weight of the car plus the long distance the tow ball is behind the rear axle. That distance is about the same on all utes of this type. High tow ball weights that far back have been known to cause chassis damage. It also gives the car a long heavy tail to wag which can be disastrous if a big van starts to sway.
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"We acknowledge receipt and thank you for your recent enquiry regarding the xxxxxxxxxx
Please be advised that xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx only release towing
specifications for vehicles being used under normal conditions such as highway driving. We would not recommend towing this amount while driving on 4WD tracks or surfaces of this nature. The x Tonne towing capacity is a statement of the maximum permissible towing weight possible for this vehicle.
Thank you again for your enquiry.
Kind Regards,
xxxxxxx "
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I have to agree, had my Challenger (2010) for just under 3 years, and found it to be a great car and very capable on off road conditions.

Cheers

Rob