Thread: Reliable vehicles

85 (?) Daihatsu Charade 5 Speed and Aircon! Great Car Very reliable despite no money spent... not even oil except the odd top up in 2 years
70 something Toyota Crown very noisy timing chain when traded...
85 Jackaroo 2.3 TD 4 Speed great vehicle very reliable over 3 years (just over 85K in that time)
BJ40 SWB replaced alternator, master and slave brake cylinders, clutch and several oither bits, Drove it between Adeliade and Darwin 4 times during a very hot summer. Remember cruising along at about 80 (thats where the temp gauge was happy) being overtaken by commodores etc then half an hour later they would be stopped somewhere with the bonnets up cooling. 10 mins later they would go flying past again.. Died of rust in the chassis but swapped for a Sierra!
88 ish Sierra hardtop, as mentioned above swapped BJ40 for it at a yard as it wasn't driveable, common on these the 4x4 selector had a rubber "ball" to locate it and these break down with the heat, drop and you can't select 4x4 or 4x2 ($50) genuine for a new gear stick. Used a screwdriver to select 4x2 high and drove it for about a week before replacing
TP Magna - After too much teasing from friends swapped for a Lada Niva with fiat (231?) 2 litre twin overhead cam engine. LOVED IT! rebuilt the gearbox (cost about $60 in parts) Drove it off road whenever possible and plenty of highway driving nearly every weekend between Adelaide and Whyalla for over a year) did I mention I loved it???
84 MQ Patrol SWB 3.3 Diesel, Great vehicle but twins on the way it had to go
1990 (ish) 2.8TD Jackaroo, Great vehicle travelled every where and including an NT trip in the wet season. Very reliable and economical.
1994 Disco 300Tdi been good so far... Water pump, alternator and some leaks

Also had 2x Feroza's (great vehicles 1 had a corroded head gasket which I replaced)
1x 85 Rocky 2.8 Diesel, still launches a boat in Cowell most days, great vehicle

And a couple of others.

Most reliable probably was the Jackaroo considering the km's we did in it although the Disco is close as it has done lots of work. probably 40% off road over 90K km's

Hey Ron,
Do I recall seeing the bottom picture in a 4x4 magazine once upon a time.

Originally Posted by p38arover

Ahh. Not a 55 - I had one. They were a LWB 4-door station wagon. Sheer looxury compared to a Series 3 SW of the time.



This was mine:



Ron

Originally Posted by CraigE

Hey Ron,
Do I recall seeing the bottom picture in a 4x4 magazine once upon a time.

Yep. My son, Lee, won a winch with it.

I reviewed his letter, edited it slightly, then rode down to Silverwater (ahh, I still had the CBR1000F at that time) and dropped it in at $WD Monthly's offices on the last day of the comp.

Now I have that winch, still unused, in my garage. I looked at it the other day and thought what am I gunna do with that (I have a Warn winch of my own).

The FJ55 had a winch but it was useless there - it was a PTO winch.

Mazda Bongo van Used to make $100 a week with it for a cost of $6. Sold it after 3 years for a profit, the only vehicle I ever made money on

Believe it or not, but this has been one helluva reliable car...



The poor Alfa has been sadly neglected since the new Defender arrived, but even after a week or two just sitting there it still starts and runs like a clock. Sum total of breakdowns (not including flat batteries) = three in 15 years of ownership.

A distributor rotor cap burnt out.
Clutch master cylinder dumped its fluid (still driveable)
and last week... wait for it...
Loose battery terminal connection. Only counts as a breakdown since SWMBO was driving and didn't know what was going on so she couldn't fix it herself.

It's now 38 years old and just keeps going and going. Performance to shame many new cars and not bad economy either.

^^ I do like them.

if only my 105 1600 gtv was in that condition

Nice Alfa, that model