Monday, May 12, 2003 at 10:45
OK Bob, I'll bite! The most 4WDing I have ever done was in my old 4Runner when we took a little drive around through 'Blackfella's Hand'(?) near
Lithgow back in 1994.
We only recently (March 5, 2003) purchased the HJ60. We did NOT buy it to either go across the Simpson, up the
Birdsville Track, do the
Canning Stock Route or any of the many other wondrous little trips you and your ilk go on and tell us about. Apart from anything else, I simply don't have the skill to even attempt such feats.
We have had a series of absolutely bleep house vehicles pass through our hands since the 4Runner was written off during a blizzard near Mt. Lambie in July 1994 while we were returning from a gig my band had played earlier at
Bathurst.
These have ranged from a Ford XC V8 panel van that dropped the front end at
Blayney on the return trip from Wangaratta, a 245DL Volvo wagon that spun the transmission around while reversing at Blackheath and had to be towed
home to
Portland, a Sigma wagon that took us to East Gippsland, through to
Melbourne and back before dropping its oil pump and sounding like a chainsaw hitting a steel pylon and finally the 5.8ltr Fairlane that was the best of the bunch and much loved but was just downright 'out-of-date' when it comes to the fact that 'Lead Replacement' Petrol is only here for a limited time. That plus the fact that last time we went to
Sydney in it (160klms) the fuel cost one-way was $75.
My reason for buying the HJ60 was that I wanted a vehicle that would last damn near forever if properly maintained, would have enough room to fit me behind the steering wheel (I weigh 157kg), would be comfortable for my wife and myself as
well as our two dogs and would return reasonable fuel economy. I very nearly bought an 84 Pajero 2.5TD. But that fell through! Our funds were extremely limited and I found the 'Cruiser on the Windsor Toyota website and decided to
check it out.
They offered me a really good trade-in price for the Ford, the 'Cruiser appeared to be in very good nick and only had 301000klms on the odo. I expected, after reading some few bits and pieces on this site, that I would get around 22mpg (on road) and was happy with that.
This will likely be the last vehicle that I ever own and it was important that I get something that would be strong, reasonably economical and last.
If you want to ' bleep -take', then go ahead!
I was under the impression, initially at least, that this '
forum' was for lesser human beings to ask questions of the 'mighty' like yourself and everyone else that seems to be unable to get it through their heads that I may have done what I said. Flook or NOT!
On the way to
Stockton I filled the vehicle at the same service station at
Kurrajong Heights as I did on the way back. On that occasion it took 23.84litres of fuel for a distance travelled of 231.1klms. On the return trip - same pump, same service station - it took 17.38litres of fuel for a distance travelled of 246.9klms. NO air locks! I do the fill myself and always let the fuel settle - always have - and it is also an extremely slow filler pump.
Since the days when I was a courier, I have always included a bottle of fuel additive about every third fill, had the fuel filter and the oil filter replaced each alternative 10,000klm service. On the road, I never let the engine load up but, neither do I drive in a lower gear than I need to.
I never buy fuel just because it is cheap either. bleep fuel will stuff any engine. A fact I very nearly learned with disastrous results while a courier.
Recently, while returning from
Melbourne, I did get less than 20mpg. On that occasion I did push it and was sitting on what the speedometer indicated as 120k/hr for most of the distance from
Melbourne to
Holbrook in NSW. Here endeth the lesson!
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