Member - jjt98 (QLD) replied:

My friend has a Navara & he seems to be enjoying it. Some probs with lack of clearance on the rear leaf springs but I believe you get that with all utes.
Cheers
Jason

Pnut (cns) replied:

new? fairly new? 10 years old? fuel?
throw us a bone here!

cheers

Member - Doug T (FNQ) replied:

If your into a new one give the Mitsubishi Triton a real good long look, I had a drive of my Daughters V6 Auto waaaaaaay down in cockcroach country and i was most impressed.

.

porl replied:

I just sold my V6 petrol prado, put a fair bit on my mortgage and bought a hilux LN167R 3.0 D-EFi dual cab. Love it.

Ok, where do I start.

The diesel mitsubishi's of the 2000 era, power and torque stats were great but these days so few spares and support and accessories. Looked to be high'ish fuel consumption at around 12l per 100km. I did like the size, made a couple offers.

Navarra's looked great but issues with the back end swinging out in the wet and terrible reviews of off road longevity, talking D22 3.2D here as the 3.0 TD was either too expensive or issues of longevity, mind you everyone who has one is dumbfounded with love of fuel economy, power and torque. Also, bit long for what I wanted. It was close, made a couple offers.

Holdens, great but noisy, apparently fall apart, not many after market, found many long term disappointed owners.

Bravo - best power and torque and economy figures but looks like a long stick insect and long term issues - apparently. That was going to be my second choice, and they are spec'd up to the max with push button windows and everything - if you want luxury the best option of the 2000 era. Too long for my liking, not enough after market accessories.

So yes I bought a lux, waited and waited and got an ex tradie's dual cab with high canopy and 140k's on the clock with full service history for $18k. Intend to put a chip in it rather than a turbo.
but didn't want to spend more than $20k and wanted a diesel vehicle below 150k's with full service history. The chip can only go in the EFI cause it has a CPU rather than the mechanical injection of the pre-August lux of that year.

But you know, it drives fine for me and I don't need to overtake anyone over 100k's/hr so maybe I'll just enjoy it's pathetic power and torque figures on paper but its incredible driveability when you actually drive it. And the physical size suits my needs though the ute part could be longer but that's always the trade off with the dual cab.

So I expect to get caned for some of these comments, but a lot were taken from the archives of this forum.

porl

Member - Glenn D (NSW) replied:

Hows it going Dave ,

Try looking for a magazine , 4wd Action Gold Label Edition, vol 4 no6. Used 4wd ute buyers guide .

This mag gives objective evaluations of all major brands , models etc , can order online at their website I believe .

Glenn.