truck advice.

dunno if this is the right bit but hey ho.
well folks it looks like i may be goin self imployed in the new year. this means i will prob need a 4x4. .
dont want a landrover defender as im sick of being cramped up in the things and know how much fuel the things drink compared to other trucks. it needs 5 seats as the kids will prob be in it some times. diesel and with some towing ability, not mega vital but will need a trailer on rare occasions.
not a huge budget as i want to spend as little as possible and keep my redundancy for emergencies.
looked at discos(greedy and expensive) mitsy l200 (too dear) early shogun (not bad used to have one) frontera (ok price, mates is reliable) dihatsu (dont know owt about em) and ford maverik/nissan terrano (??)
gotta be fairly rugged as its going to take a bit of stick.

down side is ONE OF MY DUBS WILL HAVE TO GO . what a barst!

off to the bay of e and auto trader now for a gander

i had some dealing with a truck recently and found out they are shit and break all the time . but i cant remeber what it it . the rv will remember it . .. i will get back to you . what ever you do dont buy one of them }

Every time i here about a Frontera its always about something thats gone wrong or fuckd. i wouldent have one myself.

A non jacked up standard ford ranger was raved about by my milkman/Bricklayer/groundworkin/ Horsey type friend!

I drove and loved it too!

I'd avoid all the modern double cab / crew cab thingy's.
Had a Nissan Navara at work that was really thirsty, unreliable, expensive to fix and handled like a skateboard made of custard. Earlier L200's just the same.
Have you thought about a late Isuzu Trooper. Work OK as a car for when you've got to drive the kids about. Hefty enough as a work truck and supposed to be pretty bomb proof mechanically (unless anyone knows differently)

Nissan Navara - thats the one i was on about to

TOASTIE wrote:Nissan Navara - thats the one i was on about to

Was a god awful thing. Lost the back end of it going around the roundabout at the Glos end of the Golden Valley bypass (in the dry and at sensible speeds) when taking it back to the dealer to have some warranty work done. Mentioned it to the bloke in the workshop at the dealer and he shrugged and said "yeah, they do that, we don't even like to test drive 'em!"

L200/Warrior/Trojan things eat their engines - avoid like the plague!

Early (mk1 or 2) Shogun all day long, far and away the most reliable and best value

H wrote:

Early (mk1 or 2) Shogun all day long, far and away the most reliable and best value

looking at a mk1 swb tommorow. i used to have one many moons ago, only prob was bodywork. the chassis was rock solid. took a lot of shit that truck did, was a 2.3 on a b plate.
also they seem to be in the right bracket penny wise . dont want to spend shitloads incase it all goes tits up

cant be arsed to read back . what are you doin with it ? would a lwb van with bulk head do it ? with 2 roes of seats ? . does it need to be a pick up ? . if not transits are good vans

TOASTIE wrote: would a lwb van with bulk head do it ? with 2 roes of seats ? . does it need to be a pick up ? . if not transits are good vans

dunno bout a van, there will be some off road stuff. dosnt need to be a pickup but i think it needs to be 4x4 .
it will just be lugging chainsaws, strimmers, hedgecutters, sprayers and just bits n bobs.
seen a h plate shogun this morning and its bloody good, bit too pricey for me at the moment though. unless the bug goes too .

theres a few of them jap things about that are 4x4 . space wagun type things . could be partitioned off or something . also what about a t4 syncro ? maybe wack some big tyers on it .

i bet H has some pics of um

TOASTIE wrote:theres a few of them jap things about that are 4x4 . space wagun type things . could be partitioned off or something . also what about a t4 syncro ? maybe wack some big tyers on it .

i bet H has some pics of um

I was going to say syncro earlier but couldn't spell it! Thanks Toastie!!!!!!!


I have learnt from the master!

How much do you want to spend?

My money would be in an L400 Delica



7 seats, decent sized boot, seats fold to make a bed or you can easily fold them or take them right out to make a van.

Job done

i took one of them for mot the other day and it was fuckin horible but it could of been just that one as it was fucked about with .

TOASTIE wrote:i took one of them for mot the other day and it was fuckin horible but it could of been just that one as it was fucked about with .

In stock form they are ace - really civilised, but really capable offroad too, and bags more room than a Shogun.

There's an all black previous generation one locally that is a proper shitter though, I looked at it before I got the Dodge - scary stuff, is it that one?

out of the 4x4's i've owned, (jeep cherokee,frontera, monterey,suzuki sj410 and a couple of series landy's) i would only buy the jeep or the monterey again. always fancied a modern doublecab but i think the running costs would be too high if it all went tits up

bullettoothtony wrote:out of the 4x4's i've owned, (jeep cherokee,frontera, monterey,suzuki sj410 and a couple of series landy's) i would only buy the jeep or the monterey again. always fancied a modern doublecab but i think the running costs would be too high if it all went tits up

Good call - the XJ Cherokee is fantastic, I'd love one - again very civilised but with serious offroad ability - the only reason they slip off my radar is that you cannot get one with enough seats for my brood. Cheap as beans too

They are the proper one's

If not doing loads of miles a 4.0litre petrol ain't that bad!

vin van man wrote:They are the proper one's

If not doing loads of miles a 4.0litre petrol ain't that bad!

QFT - they are the shizzle

The petrol's are really not too bad on fuel if driven sensibly - my 3.8 V6 Dodge is actually about the same as my old T4, it rev's much slower and doesn't have to work as hard - when I give it a foot full though, the 170 angry ponies are bloody good fun and nice to have

im finking along these lines, a 1991 lwb pajero/shogun. quite nice inside and roomy when the seats are folded, and tidy enough to clean up when not working.

diesel preffered.
will look at the jeep though, thought they had a poop reputation but must be wrong .

just one to think of is.................................nissan patrol.................

i would go with one of them rather than a yankee jeepy.....

in saudi all they use are jap 4x4's
brit stuff was classed as "bonnet up club" as in bonnet always up getting fixed!!!!!!
yank stuff can be VERY tempromental...

when i was in saudi i had a ford explorer....

just my pennies worth

dicky mint wrote:im finking along these lines, a 1991 lwb pajero/shogun. quite nice inside and roomy when the seats are folded, and tidy enough to clean up when not working.

diesel preffered.
will look at the jeep though, thought they had a poop reputation but must be wrong .

Personally I'd buy a UK Shogun over an import Pajero - the imports are tempting for extras and toys, but the Japanese don't underseal for the domestic market as their typical road lifespan is only a few years before they're chopped in or exported - the Japanese "MOT" does not really allow many "old" (for that read "normal") cars to hang about long as it's so bloody strict - lot's of modern Jap cars are not getting serviced for their first three years of life either as it's so dear, folks buy them and drive them straight out of the box and chop them in after 3 years fucked.

Having said that I'd buy a good Pajero rather than a shit Shogun - just be aware that it'll need a good going over.

Don't totally discount the petrol Shogun - personally I think it a better buy than the diesel - it's lovely to drive and tow with and for a 3 litre V6 it sips at fuel, no it's not quite as point blank frugel as a diesel, but it's much nicer to drive and more civilised and loads of them have LPG by now which currently makes them well cheap to run - they are also piss cheap to buy as folks read 3L V6 and cross it off the shopping list without really knowing about them - when I was running a mk1 Shogun LWB V6 on proper knobby tyres it was giving better fuel economy than the mk2 1600 Golf we have - it's simply a great engine.

Jeep wise, the diesel XJ's don't have a great rep as it's an Italian engine jammed in for the European market and is not reliable - the petrol is a proper AMC Yank job and is far superior

im on the darkside












or i will be once i go scooby power