Thread: Thinking out loud - cheap 4x4 options?

I would avoid the Mazda/Ford Courier from early 2000s.

Very prone to severe rust in the inner front guards and hood.

Originally Posted by paremata

Montero and shogun are the other names. Not sure if they ended up here, they stopped selling the Montero in the states quite a while ago. There's a Chilean mechanic at the local mitsi dealer and he thought it was hilarious when he first got here that theres a car called a "pahero".

They should rebadge all the Ford Rangers out there with Pajero badges

Also, most Spanish speakers think it's hilarious how Chileans speak fullstop lol

I am biased but for your wanted use a Terrano would be hard to beat. Yes getting older as are hiluxs BUT they relatively simple and seem to ( cross fingers touch wood) just keep going with a bit of yearly maintainence.

Originally Posted by Ryan_Songhurst

They should rebadge all the Ford Rangers out there with Pajero badges

We were just having this conversation the other day, but suggesting it should be applied to Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Tesla drivers...

get a 2.8 Hi Lux four door with the beam front axle and do it up cant go wrong one of the best 4wd out there or a 6 cyl diesel land cruiser

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

get a 2.8 Hi Lux four door with the beam front axle and do it up cant go wrong one of the best 4wd out there or a 6 cyl diesel land cruiser

Yeah, problem with them is that you can buy about 5 Terrano's for one Hilux at the same age and the Hilux is no better for rust and has probably done about 3x the K's. I looked at a Landcrab the other day, mid 80's model I think, good nick one lady driver (and the usual 8 rough c**ts), and it was fooked. Bent chassis as near as I could see, the old towing 20t trick. Still asking 18K and you deal with the 10K mileage it was out by.

yeak okay good point just love those 2.8 Hi lux

Yeah, IF you can get them cheap enough and they are not twice around the clock it would be a go. But it's like the guys that buy Rangers - expect to make money off it after having it for two years!!! What's up with that??? It's like they think they are providing a "running in" service for you.

The bit I can't get my head around with particularly surfs but also to a degree with prados and cruisers is the widely varying prices people are after fornthem
Usually a bit high or stupid high.
It's all over the shop and really hard to work out a proper going rate for them.
An example is something like a 96 3.0 surf with 400000ks or more but want 12k for it. Really?

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

yeak okay good point just love those 2.8 Hi lux

Yeah. A mate of mine purchased one new in 1988 and a couple of years ago got offered stupid money for it from the local Toyota dealer, as it had only done 50K actual and had not been dented at all. That's cause he had had a DoC Toyota Hilux to bash the shit out of for the last 20 years

And that would have been polished up and plonked on the shop floor with a cut out of Barry in it!

For my money, if you want a "cheap" 4x4 it's hard to go past a Hilux Surf, preferably with a 3l motor. Yes they are getting old now but they are bloody reliable, I've had 4 different versions (Now have a Hilux KUN which I'm unlikely to ever sell) and the ones that are still around will have had the weak points sorted, they get a lot of hate but there's a lot of them out there "doing it"

Originally Posted by No.3

And that would have been polished up and plonked on the shop floor with a cut out of Barry in it!

,I sincerely hope you mean Crump

Originally Posted by Barry the hunter

get a 2.8 Hi Lux four door with the beam front axle and do it up cant go wrong one of the best 4wd out there or a 6 cyl diesel land cruiser

Agreed BUT only if you put a turbo on it, without it they are horribly gutless to drive

Originally Posted by csmiffy

The bit I can't get my head around with particularly surfs but also to a degree with prados and cruisers is the widely varying prices people are after fornthem
Usually a bit high or stupid high.
It's all over the shop and really hard to work out a proper going rate for them.
An example is something like a 96 3.0 surf with 400000ks or more but want 12k for it. Really?

It's nuts eh, all of my Surfs I picked up for under $6k, apart from the NZ New 3L SSRG, I dropped 20k on that one but it was absolutely mint, never been further off road than a kerb when I got it