Thread: Discovery or Prado

The main advantage people who drive toyota's say is that if it breaks down there is dealerships all over the place to get it repaired,personally it is BS as the dealerships carry stuff all in spare parts and you wait days for parts to arrive.I find it hard to source parts for my site vehicles and we have a huge dealership in town and an even bigger aftermarket supplier.Next year it is a D3 for me,sorry the boss. Pat

Food for thought here as I've been thinking of going the Prado way. Mostly because we did suffer a breakdown in our Td5 Defender and no one could or would even look at it in Newman and it took 3 weeks to get it back to Perth. The delay was really the truckers fault as they couldn't be bothered as we had the camper attached.
I've been seriously thinking D3 but the cook is adamant that no more complicated Landies for her as it really was a let down and disappointment.
Maybe Toyota dealers don't carry a great deal of spares but at least you will eventually get it fixed and be able to salvage some holiday.
I'll just have to continue searching for now.
Alan.

Originally Posted by PAT303

The main advantage people who drive toyota's say is that if it breaks down there is dealerships all over the place to get it repaired,personally it is BS as the dealerships carry stuff all in spare parts and you wait days for parts to arrive.I find it hard to source parts for my site vehicles and we have a huge dealership in town and an even bigger aftermarket supplier.Next year it is a D3 for me,sorry the boss. Pat

Can vouch for that.

From the same huge dealership - I had one of the earlier diesel Prado's a while back and couldn't even get a fan belt for it locally - they had to get it up from Perth overnight.

Nissan parts are not any easier to get. I was in forbes at Christmas time and my mates GU spat a harmonic balancer. Could not get one at any of the dealers around such as forbes, dubbo or even sydney.
We eventually located one at our starting location in Lilydale, Vic so had someone from home drive it up to us.

The advantage Toyota has over Landrover (and just about everyone else) IS their dealer network - not because they carry parts; as said above they don't (never the bit you need anyway), but because they will work on your vehicle, whereas once you get away from the main centres, mechanics are in such short supply, that barring the occasional enthusiast, none will work on anything they don't do regularly - they don't have to.

Like the major power steering specialist I talked to in Dubbo about steering parts or overhaul - as soon as I mentioned the brand of vehicle, he just said "sorry, I don't do Landrovers" and turned his back on the counter and went back to the vehicle he was working on. Same reaction when I tried to get a filter in Yass from the biggest auto parts place in town.

John

As others have said, everyone flies in parts, even Toyota, so no difference there. If you do something really serious in the middle of nowhere its not going to matter that much what you're driving - you're still up for a delay. Besides, since when do wives decide what fourbys we buy?
I admit I'm biased, but I've yet to experience a Prado which would have made me prefer it over the Disco.
Just use the cheaper purchase price to get a bigger fuel tank fitted - 130 litres plus are available.

I don't count but having had the following:

1983 3.5 V8 Rangie
1986 4.6 (stroked) V8 Rangie HiLine with lots of stuff (maxidrive, LR tank, LPG, lots of grunt, etc)
1995 4.6 P38A Rangie (current drive)
1984 3.5 County
1995 300Tdi base model Disco (another current drive)

The cars I like the most are the P38A and the 300Tdi Disco. The Disco is a surprisingly good car to drive. My wife prefers it to the P38A which she calls a truck. It was a good choice in the Kimberley as it was basic in that it had no ABS or air bags, etc. It is very good in terms of fuel use.

My '86 RR with the 4.6 was fun and well equipped but I still prefer the basic Disco. I really don't want to sell it but I can't afford to keep it.

Originally Posted by JDNSW

The advantage Toyota has over Landrover (and just about everyone else) IS their dealer network - not because they carry parts; as said above they don't (never the bit you need anyway), but because they will work on your vehicle, whereas once you get away from the main centres, mechanics are in such short supply, that barring the occasional enthusiast, none will work on anything they don't do regularly - they don't have to.

Like the major power steering specialist I talked to in Dubbo about steering parts or overhaul - as soon as I mentioned the brand of vehicle, he just said "sorry, I don't do Landrovers" and turned his back on the counter and went back to the vehicle he was working on. Same reaction when I tried to get a filter in Yass from the biggest auto parts place in town.

John

I would just say thanks but you lost a sale.Lack of customer service is the biggest complaint people have and I think alot of it is a lack of skill,ability.I had an Auto trans bloke in newcastle say he doesn't work on ZF box's,only common ones!!.A tradesman in name only. Pat