Thread: Would you Pick a Puma over a Jap 4wd?

I'd go the Jap crap for availability of dealers out of Perth if I was you, especially as you need it for work.
I've experienced a breakdown with a Td5 Defender in Newman which I'm sure you'll agree is not a small bush town by Oz standards and it took 3 WEEKSto get it back to Perth!
If you can afford that amount of time to be not working, go the LR.
Alan.

but remember in a puma....he has a three year warranty and land rover assist that will take it to a dealer.

what on earth did you have wrong to wait three weeks??

Originally Posted by dullbird

but remember in a puma....he has a three year warranty and land rover assist that will take it to a dealer.

what on earth did you have wrong to wait three weeks??

Newman,not the arseholle of the world but u can smell it from there!(i grew up there) for a 3 wk wait i'd simply hire a car and car trailer and do the 2800km round trip tp retrive it. the transport companies there are notoriously bad!

I had extended the original 3 warranty with the LR extended extra year. I should have added I had a camper on the back as well but RACWA/LR people assured me this should have made no difference and eventually they did a special hire of a low loader to get it back.
It seems the bloody minded truckies have so much work up and down between Newman and Perth, that leaving it behind didn't bother them!
There's also a problem with personal gear left in vehicles being bought back and according to a fat little Autotrans yard boy in Welshpool everything including a 60 litre fridge should have been dumped beside the road as too many dodgy claims have been made in the past of goods being stolen while being transported.
Whatever, if it was my present Prado (dull, boring, unimaginative vehicle that it is apparently) wouldn't have needed to be bought back to Perth even if I'd had to wait for parts to be shipped there.
Rovercraft shipped a couple of fuel filters to me very quick on a "pay me when you get back basis" (thankyou Stewart) and I fitted them in an effort to get it going but no such luck.
There was no one in Newman who would even look at it as they didn't have the software necessary to fault find the problem.
Until this situation changes I'll stick with the dull boring Tojo as it does the type of touring and not too severe off roading that I do.
And the Cook likes it as well!
Cheers and good luck with making a decision.
Alan.

But we didn't know it was going to be 3 weeks Lucus, as far as we knew it would be back within the week and made plans accordingly.
I wouldn't have left the camper in Newman as I doubt I'd have been able to hire a trailer big enough to get them both back.
Anyway, why the hell should anyone have to get their vehicle etc. back to Perth to be fixed?
If LR are going to flog vehicles in this country they should have a network of dealers to support them, or state specifically that "this vehicle shouldn't be taken away from the metro area as we provide no back-up in the bush"!
It's a bad joke on owners who suffer a breakdown even if it's a rare occurence.
Alan.

Originally Posted by ATH

But we didn't know it was going to be 3 weeks Lucus, as far as we knew it would be back within the week and made plans accordingly.
I wouldn't have left the camper in Newman as I doubt I'd have been able to hire a trailer big enough to get them both back.
Anyway, why the hell should anyone have to get their vehicle etc. back to Perth to be fixed?
If LR are going to flog vehicles in this country they should have a network of dealers to support them, or state specifically that

"this vehicle shouldn't be taken away from the metro area as we provide no back-up in the bush"!

It's a bad joke on owners who suffer a breakdown even if it's a rare occurence.
Alan.

this is what I find strange...as when we were having our issues with the Puma and we decided to take it to Gove and kakadu anyway one of the deciding factors was the dealer saying if worst comes to the worst we can always get land rover assist to pick us up if all goes wrong...as they will pick you up as long as you are on a named road (doesn't have to be sealed if I understand correctly)
As it happens it never put a foot wrong...but it was nice to know that we could have the vehicle recovered.

Originally Posted by dullbird

but remember in a puma....he has a three year warranty and land rover assist that will take it to a dealer.

what on earth did you have wrong to wait three weeks??

As Alan/ATH explained below. WA means "Wait Awhile"... Unless you are in the mining industry and paying a premium. I have found that I almost invariably need to wait for common parts to be sent from "over east", which I could buy over the counter in Bris/Syd/Melb. (Anywhere apart from a 6000 postcode is 2 days via express post, not one).

However, all the mines use nissotas, and every mechanic in a mining town would be able work on them.

Originally Posted by dullbird

this is what I find strange...as when we were having our issues with the Puma and we decided to take it to Gove and kakadu anyway one of the deciding factors was the dealer saying if worst comes to the worst we can always get land rover assist to pick us up if all goes wrong...as they will pick you up as long as you are on a named road (doesn't have to be sealed if I understand correctly)
As it happens it never put a foot wrong...but it was nice to know that we could have the vehicle recovered.

That is the theory, but what would have happened if something HAD gone wrong, and how long would it have taken??? (NT Means: Not Today, Not Tuesday, Not Thuursday )

I reckon there's not too many people using their vehicle for work be it a truck or ute, will put up with it being off the road for anything but the smallest amount of time necessary for it to be fixed.
And I doubt if their customers would be happy either with the excuse that it has to be taken maybe thousands of kays to a metro dealer to be fixed.
I'd rather a Defender or Disco 3 over anything and thought strongly of buying D3Jons vehicle when he was flogging it but the same problem would still have existed and the Cook vetoed that idea!
The Prado's not my dream vehicle but it's doing what I want and that's all I ask of it.
Alan.