Thread: Work Ute recommendations

2.7l 4 cylinder hilux on gas

If those are your only choices then definitely the Hilux, but make sure whatever you buy is a diesel..... the petrol things are poisonously ickspensive to run. I have a Nissan Navara twincab, 3.0 diesel, 2004 model, goes really well, reasonable on fuel and I've had no trouble with her. Tows the tool trailer like it wasn't there... She was my work vehicle till Feb this year and now is my weekend vehicle up here near Broome, great offroad and comfortable to drive even on our horrid excuse for a road. When I get back to South Oz she will once again be the work bus.

I would go with the Hilux, you just can't kill em

Originally Posted by Christopha

If those are your only choices then definitely the Hilux, but make sure whatever you buy is a diesel..... the petrol things are poisonously ickspensive to run.

Dont agree on the diesel (and I am originally a diesel mechanic ). The 2.7 petrol is the unloved member of the hilux family and so the S/H purchase price is $,000s less than a comparable diesel. Throw in the rebate for gas and you have a vehicle with more power than a diesel, halved service costs, better overall fuel costs and dont need a balaclava and shotgun at rebuild/service time.

The nissan 3lt diesel in Navara is a beauty. Not sure what was in the 2002/003 nav's.

The hilux diesel (3L) until the D4D was a slug.

cheers

dazzler

Cheers for the replies all. I tried replying a couple of times but kept getting bad database errors from the forum...

Have thought about Diesel vs Petrol/Gas. My old man used to say that diesel engines are more reliable and easier to fix regardless, but I wonder how much that holds if you can no longer keep one running Mcguyver style due to all the extra crap hanging off of it.

If I could I'd put a straight 6 Nissan 4.2L diesel into my Navara or if I could wait I'd find a Patrol Ute (not the commercial, but the LWB well body that Nissan released about 1996 or so) but they are rare in WA.- either option would suit me perfectly.

Otherwise, the smaller Nissan diesels are crap in my experience (I'll be trading in my third diesel Nissan 4x4) even with the afterthought turbo and especially hitched to their automatic Pintara gearboxes. I feel that the 3.2L is still a compromise compared to the 4.2L. I have to say that the new Navara's are to my eye the best looking Jap utes though.

These are my thoughts and impressions so far:

The Hilux was one of the utes I was leaning to because from what I know (with the exception of the imports) the engines are reliable and easy to get at. They do seem to lift a lot better with aftermarket suspension than anything else I have seen. I dont know first hand if their nick name, "Rollux" has any merit, but I do know they have the trademark Toyota crap turning circle and the shorter tray is a put off too. Hilux have a higher resale being Toyota also which is great if you are trying to sell one...

2.7L petrol Hilux... I havent seen any 4x4s' just the 4x2's. They are dual cab though, which is half the battle. Will ask around.

The Mitsubishi has a good sized interior (albeit with a lower ceiling than the Hilux) especially when compared to the Holden, has a longer tray, comparable engines to Toyota (same crap small bore 4 cylinder diesels with afterthought turbos as the Nissans though) and I have been told by a one or two mechanics that their manual gearboxes are pretty tough. They also have pretty large turning circles though. Strange that they get called SWB.

I own a still, so one reason to opt for diesel is that I can make the stuff easy enough. Having the long ranger unleaded tank and gas seems like a better option though, especially considering the immediate offer with the government rebates and the like. And considering that most modern engines, diesel or not are bastards to fix if you are broken down out of town it hardly matters.

Thanks for the thoughts so far, keep them coming.

Originally Posted by dazzler

Dont agree on the diesel (and I am originally a diesel mechanic ). The 2.7 petrol is the unloved member of the hilux family and so the S/H purchase price is $,000s less than a comparable diesel. Throw in the rebate for gas and you have a vehicle with more power than a diesel, halved service costs, better overall fuel costs and dont need a balaclava and shotgun at rebuild/service time.

I have the 2.7 Hilux and love the thing. They have a weakness in the thruster bearing at around 80 000 km but that is the only problem I've had. Mine has a long tray, over 2600mm (2700 I think).

I sold my Hilux 2.7l SR5 and really regret it. Great beast it was.

Get a Hilux.

I had a 2.8D Hilux extra cab, all the trimmings.

I wish I still had it, especially here...


Back to Dazzler, you would need the balaclava and shotgun to get me into a Mitsubishi of any kind.

I have a my reasons, you can google them easy enough.

Something like 'Mitsubishi defect dead people' should yield the desired results.

i think you can google a similar result with Ford...

After watching a video clip (Indestructible Ute) on the Top Gear website www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/ you would be mad if you didn't get the diesel Hilux.
Cheers
Barry

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1219494.htm Terrible.

Drive has this to say about this years Diesel Triton model http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...eID=19730&vf=1

Hehe I just saw that episode of Topgear (youtube) - cant believe that they lost it in the ocean and then dropped a caravan on top of it...

J!

can't seem to find that on topgear, can someone post a link...

Originally Posted by la Huerta

can't seem to find that on topgear, can someone post a link...

You need to to go to the video section then click Stunts and it will be the first one to play. It's called indestructible truck

I think that the TopGear site is under construction, as the link didnt work for me. Youtube to the rescue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMrqsnK0eh8

I went for a couple of test drives today. Was surprised by a few, such as the roominess of the new Rodeo, the power of the 4L Ford Courier and the Toyota Hilux 4L, the Mazda BT50 compared to the Bravo 2600... All in all a day well spent drooling over new models and then trying to find a reasonable compromise a few years older.

Will come back to it a bit later though. Gotta have dinner, then going out again for a while.

J