Opinions on 4runner

I had a 1996 Forerunner V6, Great car great motor, heaps of power. I had a good run out of it and from what I have heard if they are well looked after you can get a lot of Kms out of this motor. Not so good to put a boat on the roof, I would only do this on a ute. Too much salt residue drops off the tinny after you load it, my opinion anyways. Best of luck the goods ones may be just a bit more than you can pay. Cheers Tony

Matthew

Buy a mid to late 90's Nissan GQ 4.2 diesel. They are virtually unbreakable and you should be able to pick one up for under $10,000.


Cheers

I love my 4 Runner. I wanted a surf but was talked out of buying an import, so went with the lower speck 4 runner spent $7K never do anything to it its cheep to run (after my 350 chev towing wagon anyway) heaps of grunt go's well off and on road (just did a 3000Km trip to Frazer Isl. for christmas).I pack mine to the hilt all the time when going away, and I use it everyday for work full of tools. I have a Rola roof cage and gear sack so i pack even more on top as well as surfboards windsurfers two pipes full of poles and stuff.The mountain bikes and other bulky gear gos in my trailer and I dont even notice it behind me! All in all Id say get one there cheep and good. Not as fancy as other bigger 4WDs but every bit as good.
Peter.

My first 4x4 was a 4runner - great little car V6 is a little heavy on fuel for what it is - and excellent car to sleep in as the seats fold down great and easy to sleep 2 in the back

but if you looking for a good tow vehicle thats great for 4x4 also - 3 ltr Nissan turbo diesel would be the go - just spend the few extra $$ if you want to spend more -- then the 4.2 TDI is bullet proof

4 runner is a good starter - but would not be a great tow vehicle , little underpowered , you will find yourself ringing its neck to go places

Boc

Matt, I have a 92 4Runner with the 2.8D 3L engine. It's a great car that has done some cheap as trips over the last couple of years. But now I have a shagged front diff that needs fixing. I haven't towed anything with it yet but was planning on trying it out towing my boat (21' & just under 2000kg fully loaded). The guy I bought it off used it to tow his boat (smaller and lighter than mine) from Gawler to Renmark and said it went OK but took a while.

If you intend taking any offspring on your trip you might want a bigger vehicle. I made a rear storage bizzo for mine so I could maximise the use of the rear space as they are a bit small in there.

Although a good car it's just smaller than Patrol, LC, etc. which makes it harder to accommodate "stuff" if you know what I mean. I.e. mounting UHF & HF radios, carrying water & extra fuel, carting a tent & fridge, and so on. Good fuel economy though, even with gear on the roof rack.

Louie

I had a 92 4runner diesel with after market turbo and replaced it with an 85 cruiserdiesel also with turbo. The cruiser has been much cheaper to run, when you consider overall costs. Things just don't break in the same way, especially for heavy off road stuff. Plus you have the extra space and power for towing. The electric wind up window on the rear of the 4runner is a real pain and liable to jam, especially in dusty conditions. You cant lower the tailgate unless the window has been lowered and there is no manual override. But the seats on 4runner are more comfortable.

Matthew,

Another boat option is a porta bote. You can see it folded on the top of my vehicle in my rig pic and there are some more shots of it on the water in my rig pics.

Ours is a 3.27 metre job which will take 3 adults and easily plane with a 5 hp outboard.

Once you get used to the flexing they are a great boat. I had mine down at Normanton beach on Saturday playing in a nasty little chop. It did the occasional surprising flex when we fell off a wave but it felt safe and was very dry.

They can be launched anywhere you can walk to the water. We were up the Murray last November with the bote on the roof, pulled into a spot on the river and were motoring away 12 minutes later.

No connection, just a fan.

Cheers

Pete

Ozzy Dictionary-

Porta Boat / Inflatable = "southerner speak" for crock teething ring.

;o)

Cheers

Hi Matt

Not for me, I have a thing against vehicles that roll to easily
and the forerunner is one of those.

I would certainly not consider it for towing, at least your AU3 has a reasonably low centre of gravity.

Mine was an auto and was fitted with ARB aftermarket suspension from new which made it 50mm higher and worse to drive.

Generally speaking it wasn't a very capable 4wd with limited articulation but being a company car it was easy to dump.

I would go down the Cruiser/Patrol path as others have advised.