Thread: Price vs Age - D3 or D4?

Hi Discotastic,
I faced a very similar dilemma, however I went about this a different way, like yourself I have this thought of things failing in the middle of nowhere, add to that I didn't have a spare $50k lying around to purchase a nice D4, and then pimp it a bit possibly, which is a natural thing you would want to do.

What I did for all my sins is I bought a cheaper petrol D3 4.0, they are cheaper and plentiful, I use this for my daily drive and excursions at the weekend. Because the D3 is very capable "out of the box" I have done very little to it apart from buy a good set of tyres and put them on 18 inch RRS rims, bit of tint on the windows, being black it looks great and puts a lot of other fourbies to shame when I rock up in basically standard guise and out perform.

This is the sin part, I have bought a relatively new Patrol with all the fruit, it has live axel, 17 inch rims, a drive train that will survive a nuclear attack and when you rock up at some outback station and tell them you have a problem, if you mention either Nissan Patrol, Landcruiser or Hilux they don't look at you like you landed from the planet Zod. You've got half a chance.

I know people will tell me that the have been everywhere and not had a problem, that's great, I have also heard first hand of some nightmares something I don't want to put my family through on the off chance. Logistically Land Rovers are harder to fix in remote locations (Defenders excepted) Warranties are great, and yes Land Rover have come good on the odd occasion I have needed something fixing in warranty.

However a warranty isn't worth a grain of rice on the side of the track when you are out of phone range on your own. Possibly looking for a remote key that fell out of your pocket.

I was in Uluru standing next to a guy at the garage there, his Jeep had broken down on the Great Central Road by Docker River, he reckoned that something had shaken loose in the electrical department and he couldn't find it. The guy wanted over $5k to go and get the vehicle with his tilt tray, being after lunch he wouldn't go until the following morning, got there the following day the vehicle had been stripped.

I still got out of this exercise of having two vehicles for under $50k, yes I know about insurances and all that stuff, I do my own servicing which does save me quite a bit. I'm not saying this is the way to go it s just a different slant on the issue you have.

Thanks Nomad9

I Originally thought about doing something like that, though I would by a wagon (generally cheaper to run and buy) for family duties and a 4wd of some type for touring/camping. I wasn't keen on twin regos and insurance though as that would be a good $1500-2000 a year could be spending on gear! (Or paying off the house)

I have heard similar stories about breaking down in the outback. I don't really have a great answer to that, though good preparation can go a long way.

How do you find the petrol d3? I haven't really considered them as I like the grunt and economy of diesels when loaded. I do suppose that if I found a low km example at a good price it would be a good choice (well at least not a bad choice )

Cheers.
Dan

Sent from my GT-I9305 using AULRO mobile app

I bought a 2005 SE V8 with all the fruit six months ago. I have owned Hiluxes, Cruisers, Patrols and a Defender and swore I would never own a petrol 4wd after my petrol Hilux. Well this car came along at the right price and I had to get rid of the ex wives car she left behind with the debt and now I have a V8 4wd. I love it. Mine has a dual exhaust and its sounds awesome. There are plenty of V8 HSEs around for under 30K and from what I here it is more reliable than the diesel. I get 11,5-12.5 l/100km on the highway and average 18l/100km around town. It drives beautifully and has heaps grunt for overtaking. Mine came with LR tank, ARB Bullbar, Kaymar rear bar, Alpine stereo with blue tooth, nav and reversing camera, UHF and roof racks. It had 6 new 18" tyres and got two new keys thrown in for 24K. I am looking at getting a D4 down the track but I think I would miss the V8. I have been looking closely at the D4 V8 on carsales. They were a !50K vehicle that can now be had for 60-75K. 276KW and better economy than mine. They have all the extras. There is only 2 on carsales at the moment. If you can handle the thirst test drive the V8.

Hi Discotastic,
Carl sums things up very well, I recently bought a V8 it was one of the only two up for sale at the time at a reasonable price, sub $30k, it had all the fruit. At the time I had my V6 petrol up for sale. A friend at work managed to convince me that selling my V8 to him rather than my V6 was a better option. Due to the usual circumstance I folded and sold the V8, something now in reflection I regret, however another one will come along at some point. In all honesty there is nothing wrong with my V6.
Going with a petrol you inherit all the usual D3 things, control arms, compressor etc, gearbox shudder , however you lose the oil pump housing issue, the drive belts, the water outlet housing, HP fuel pump issues etc. Plus you save yourself about $10k on the purchase price which when you carry out the delta between the price of diesel v petrol and the l/100 klm, you get a lot of petrol for $10k. My V6 has now done 238k, sounds sweet, gives me 13.0 l/100 klm consistently, no gearbox issues, I believe cheaper to service, engine wise; the rest of the servicing is the same for any D3 you buy.
As Carl mentions give a V8 a test drive, you'll get about 15l/100 I would think average, goes like a "raped ape" (I love that saying), pulls well, sounds good, eight spark plugs to buy instead of six, oil capacity is slightly more.

You might be surprised by the V6 I was, goes quite well.

Thanks Nomad and Carl

I'd love a V8 (the economy seems the same as the v6?) But AFAIK they only come in 5 seat configuration - I'm after a 7 seater.

Does the v6 require PULP or just regular ULP (91)? I'm not too keen on PULP as it's about 20c/L dearer than diesel and is harder to find in the outback.

Cheers

Dan

Originally Posted by Disco-tastic

Thanks Nomad and Carl

I'd love a V8 (the economy seems the same as the v6?) But AFAIK they only come in 5 seat configuration - I'm after a 7 seater.

Does the v6 require PULP or just regular ULP (91)? I'm not too keen on PULP as it's about 20c/L dearer than diesel and is harder to find in the outback.

Cheers

Dan

Mines a 7 seater. I think you will find the 5 seater is rarer than the 7. I know when it comes to the D4 a lot of dealerships won't order 5 seaters.

Hi Discotastic,
The three I went to look at were all seven seaters. The engine will obviously perform a lot better on 98 octane, I use 98 in my V6 because I work for a petrol company and get a discount. If I was paying normally I would more than likely compromise on the 95 octane. The better the quality of the burn of the fuel in the engine the more efficient it is therefore you get a better bang for your buck. Using the 91 octane you may find your consumption is slightly higher so using the 98 octane would give better fuel economy so off setting the additional 20c/ litre.

In the outback you use what you can get, you can't afford to be fussy.

Hi Discotastic,

Just to throw in a couple of cents worth regarding bluetooth that you mentioned early in the thread: I've got an 07 HSE with the premium sound but without the factory nav etc.

What little I understand they're hooked up through the CAN BUS and pretty difficult to change out. I had a Parrot Asteroid Smart installed in the cubby hole where the factory screen goes and fed it into the auxiliary input of the factory system. It gave me Nav, dual Bluetooth, reversing camera, digital music and because it's android based was able to have Aussie Explorer installed also.

On the negative side, the steering wheel selection controls are no longer any use, but volume control still works.

Picture attached.

Hope that expands options rather than muddies the waters too much.

Regards

Graham