Reliability of old/used 4x4s (Land Rover vs. Mitsubishi vs. Jeep)

Max_Damage

I'd also suggest buying a Haynes manual for the trip. It WILL be your best friend on a trip like that.

Stoned Hippy

Max, check my last post there re: the Hilux, I think you might have missed it.

Thanks for those website, i'd seen the mongolrally one before but not the Dublin to Sydney one!

I'm a huge fan of the Haynes manual! I've had a few copies before and have used every single one of them.

Max_Damage

Stoned Hippy wrote: »

Max, check my last post there re: the Hilux, I think you might have missed it.

Yeah, I think you posted about the Hilux while I was writing my reply.

Anyway, definitely a good choice anyway. Just out of curiosity, is it a manual or automatic?

Tonka

Stoned Hippy wrote: »

Firstly glad to see this thread resurrected from the dead!

we have just been given a 1992 Toyota Hilux Surf (well almost, waiting for the owner to call me to arrange the exchange of keys and documnets)!!

The car is in good nick apart from a frost plug which needs to be replaced.

In regards to the vulnerability of old Jap 4x4s, do you have any other tips for improving security? When you say people were using modified screws do you mean safety nuts on wheels or anywhere with visable screws on the car or anywhere at all?


S.h.

Hey SH. wish i was going on another round the world trip, but its summer time in ireland im staying for as long as it nice. like today was.

anywhose check youtube and enter "hilux topgear" to see some amazing videos of hiluxes taking a bashing.

Frostplug? is this another name for them steel plugs blocking holes in the manufacturing process of the engine block? if so i recommend replacing them all with brass fittings. One rusted through on a landcrusier of mine inthe middle of australia, out comes phishing the coolant. the only way to get to the one dollar part was by ripping out the engine. i told the mech to cut a hole in the bulkhead to get to it instead. many hundreds saved.

There is a rather too easy way of breaking into old Tojos with manual window winders and a coat hanger . i learnt this trick in another expedition up Cape York in Queensland when my travelling mate locked me keys in the car when i went to the pub.

Im not sure of Hilux Surfs but one of the 1982 landcruisers i had, had the bolts for all the doors exposed on the outside for anyone to unbolt the door to get in. i replaced them with hex type bolt heads and filled the hex holes in with metal cement.

I would rip out the back seats and securely bolt /weld the rear passenger doors shut. possibly place somesort of mesh/grid over the back windows. but then again if you make your car look worth nicking someone will. I long range fuel tank and water tanks are handy too.

Im thinking of putting an "Armadillo" roller cover in my LWBjust below the rear window sills so any valuables are kept out of sight.

triskell

Also, I see a Nissan Terrano for sale at a good price, 2.7L diesel. Anyone have any opinions on them? I know they're not hard core off roaders but we're not going to be doing anything too major...

Thanks,
S.h.2001[/QUOTE]
Good luck with the trip, it's obivious that you've given it some thought, as to your choice, there's really no competition Go with the jap they other 2 are POS.
i wouldn't touch the Terrano either for reliability reasons.
My choice would have to be a hilux for all the already mentioned reasons by op's, plus there comon in those countries (it seems to be the vehicle of choice for al queda):D:D. dose anyone rember TOP gear trying to kill the hilux afew years back? drowned in the sea, dropped from a crane, crashed and it still kept going.

Oilrig

SH,

You're biggest issue on such a trip is repair & parts, not capability.

Hi-Lux, by a huge margin.

Good luck & enjoy!

vibe666

you'll be fine with a hilux, definitely a car you can't kill. same goes for pajero's and lancruisers, assuming (like everything else) it's been looked after properly. ditto on getting a decent set of T/A boots for whatever car you end up going in. i know it's mostly roads all the way, but on a trip like that you need to plan for everything, no matter how unlikely it might be.

something that is going to be WELL worth spending a few quid on is TYRE MOOSE (not to be confused with tyre weld), it will keep you pumped up, even if you get large nails right through the tyres, and you can just pull them out again to reseal the holes without losing your tyre pressure.

failing that a portable compressor to pump up tyres and possibly deflate them a bit if you get stuck and need some extra width on them to get you unstuck.

AsphaltRisin'

the first 3 litre troopers were the problem ones really... it seems very unlucky that you had problems with a 2.8 one because i've never had any bit of bad trouble with them. Sure you even tend to get the 2.8 engines put into the later ones.
It depends on who you talk to really, but there'd be a lot of farmers, tradesmen and the like around the place that id know who have toe old shape troopers or once had them, and i dont hear anythin bad about them apart from the fact that they rust a lot, and have never had trouble with the 4 ive had the pleasure of using.

But anyway apart from that... @ OP: Look through the buy and sell for cheap 4x4s, you WILL find them from 3 grand and under.
Box troopers (the box shape 2.8 ones) are good if you find a nice one thats not rusted to sh1te... but better in terms of bein fixable abroad are toyotas... the landcruiser and hilux, battered and scruffy (but still mechanically fine) examples of which can still be found for that price range.
find a good hilux and you'll find it real hard to kill, or if you want a bit more comfort and indoor luggage space get a landcruiser.
Landrovers are cool and all that... but you wont get spares abroad as easy as jap stuff... and while theyre great off road they really arent too reliable when they get old.

fastrac

I would seriuosly consider a Daihatsu Fourtrak for your kind of money you will get a late 90s model.Landcruiser engine,massive grarbox and not too much electrical stuff to go wrong+ theres 1000 of them all over the world.

workaccount

Stoned Hippy wrote: »

Similarily I don't expect a car bought for <€3000 to make it to Mongolia, it would be a bonus if it did.

I don't know how you learned this whole if it's less than 3K it won't do the distance. And for one poster who's to say just because it's an older disco it could not do it. You can't say "if the disco is 3K or less it won't do it/ or 95 or less". I'd say others are right though regarding going Japanese.

Money is no measurement of what a car can and can't do.

There probably plenty of 13-15yr old jeeps that are in better nick thatn machines only a few years old simply because they have been looked after.

I'm sure you could get a car for much less than that 3K that would do that distance.

maims3875

great to see you bought a Hilux

Thats common sense if I ever saw it!