Any words of wisdom…buying a 3 yr old Patrol, Cruiser or Prado

Hi Sam39,
what you need or want is dependant upon use for example, off road, tow 2 tonne caravan or city driving.

A friend has a V8 petrol 100 series cruiser and an 80 series 4.5 petrol also and they said that the power of the V8 is great and was more economical on the highway than the 6 which was slightly better around town.

Being down in Vic. puts you in the box seat because there are more LPG vehicles available in Vic than anywhere else in the country.

I recently travelled 6000k on a holiday trip through NSW, SA and back through Vic and found, by talking to other travellers that I was getting more kilometres per dollar on LPG than the others were getting on diesel. My trip cost me about $1275 for fuel and a quick calculation of the figures that the others gave me indicates that if I had been on diesel it would have cost over $2500.

I have no idea how well the V8 petrol cruisers go on gas but I believe that the bigger the motor the better they go on gas, but then I am no expert. Has anyone else got experience in thet direction

Stay with gas/petrol. Even if they put the excise on gas it will still be cheaper than straight petrol and who nows where diesel prices are going.

Regards,
Bruce

Hi Sam,...re diesel gas check out eco shot, or d-gas...cheers..silverback

Thanks Bruce and David,

I do like the sound of the LPG if those calculations are anywhere near accurate.

RE: Towing. Most times we get away we don't need a trailor at all. Long trips (month or more) we would have an off road trailer with a tent on top and maybe a tinny on top of this also. Not sure what this would weigh but with the current Patrol it seems very light and my enginer is nearly 20 years old.

My advice is this....only milk comes in 3 litres....stay away from anything with 3 litres and nissan on thesame car...other than that, the 95 or later 6 cylinder cruiser is the pick of the lpg friendly motors, nissan 4.8 is also a good contender, but you run into petrol tank issues, with the sub only 35 litres in size, lpg is great around highway 1 but outback, you have no filling facilities.
LPG also fluctuates in price once you get out of the big smoke...the 80 series has a 95 litre fuel tank and you can fit up to 120 litres of lpg under the back with a wheel carrier or roof rack fitted.
100 series petrols are even cheaper to convert if you put belly tanks on, no wheel carrier required, but you have 145 litres of fuel and 75 litres of gas, which means you stop sooner and fill more often with that system.....depends what you want....
Andrew

Hi Sam,
While not specific to answering your question on the Patrol/Cruiser/Prado, I hope the following helps with your selection.

Petrol/gas Vs Diesel. Some consider the premium that you pay for a diesel powered vehicle is more than offset by better around town power and reduced service costs of the petrol version. With the Government rebate for a gas conversion still in place at the moment, and with the lower cost per litre, for around town driving petrol/gas may be the way to go. However, diesel would be the choice of many for long outback touring with, availability of fuel and safer cartage of extra fuel, being the main safety concerns. You can fit gas injection onto a diesel for increased performance and a slight reduction in diesel consumption.
The aftermarket gear you are considering shouldn’t be too much of a factor in your choice, all additions ie Bull bar, tow bar, cargo barrier long-range fuel tank, gas conversion etc, etc………… will be similar in cost from the main suppliers.
On resale value, I’ve bought my vehicle to “enjoyably depreciate it” not to sell it to the next person :-}
As to which vehicle……. have a look at each one, drive each type and choose the one you like the look of , not very technical I know, but if you don’t like the look of it in the driveway, you aren’t going to enjoy it IMHO.
Get in contact with your local 4WD Clubs and talk with the owners of these vehicles.
Go into the vehicle specific forums,
Landcruiser Owners On Line http://www.lcool.org/index.html
Australia 4WD forum http://forum.australia4wd.com/
and read as much as you can on each vehicle.

Can’t help you at all with the cost of accessories, you may be fortunate and source a touring vehicle already kitted out, for a small premium over a standard vehicle.

Hope some of this helps and we look forward to hearing about your choice.

Cheers,
Wayne.

Thanks everyone so far. I have done a fair bit more research following the links provided and other sources and surprisingly to me, this is where I am at. It looks a 2004 or 2005 Prado will most suit my requirements and budget either a 3.0 GXL Turbo Diesel Auto or 4.0 GXL Auto. I better go and have a drive of one to see what they are like. I have read a few reviews and they seem to suit my needs. Are there any differences I should look out for between the 2004 and 2005 Prado’s?

Using a Motormouth fuel calculator it seems the GXL Diesel will do about 16% better fuel pricing over a year then the GXL ULP, does this seem right? I have never had a Diesel before are they any more expensive to service or other overheads I should be aware of.

I had a look at Ecoshot and D-Gas sites, EcoShot sounds impressive, has anyone done this on a Prado or similar that has any results or costs to share?

If I was to stick to a Nissan Patrol (not the 3.0 litre), I would be looking at a 4.8 ST-L Auto or 4.8 ST Auto. Does anyone have a view on how these compare to the Prado’s mentioned above? Without doing too much investigation it seems the Patrol may be cheaper to buy but will cost more to run.