King Family

Hi there,

We are flying out to Brisbane and arrive 27th December and we are looking to purchase a vehicle as soon as we can. We will be basing ourselves around Caloundra to start.

We are a family of four (two kids under 2) and my husband is a Carpenter, so this will mainly be used by him for carrrying his tools etc but we will all use it initially as a family vehicle.

We are keen on the Nissan Pathfinder - but not sure about space for my husbands tools. In the UK he uses s Merc Vito van.

Anyone out there got any thoughts on this? Any Carpenters been in a similar situation?

Would be great to have some help - much appreciated!

King Family

>Trigger<

Have a look at a Toyota hi-lux dual cab...most tradies have your bog standard ute..might pay you to get a cheap ute and a cheap car..nothing worse than being stuck at home with two kids and not being able to go out.

Don't get caught in thinking that you have to have a fourby....

Carrianne

OH is a chippy and we live in Caloundra, he drives a Toyota Hilux Dual cab SR5. They have plenty of space in the back for all power tools, they are also comfortable for the family too. Toyota also have a strong resale value as they are Australia top selling car brand. Second hand vehicles retain there value much more here as there are less cars and competition and everyone mainly needs one just to get to the shops

OH did have a Holden Commodore Storm ute which I nicknamed his show pony as it was great but not practical for the building sites and hills he may end up on. i once watched on Top gear, jeremy Clarkson trying to destroy a Hilux, by setting it on fire, dropping a caravan on it, putting it in the Severn estuary for hours and they drove it into the studio at the end.

If you buy from a dealer you have a 14 day period where if you discover any issue with the vehicle they have to repair it to make it roadworthy, therefore it is wise to get the vehicle independently checked over after you have just bought it including the 4 wheel drive transmission to ensure it is all top notch.

To check out for one and what price you expect to pay.

www.carsales.com.au (use the research cars) facility

www.search4cars.com.au

jad n rich

You need a old ute, reliable, strong tow capacity in case of lugging materials, ford courier or someting has 5 seats so also quite useful for beach, family stuff.

Dont buy some fancy new thing, vehicle will get scratched, dirty, fade in sun, rust if near beach, cant see a nissan pathfinder being much use at all on sites, stufffing compressors and saws and leads etc nice vehicles nothng but a pain. Tradies come off the sites filthy and drowned in sweat in summer not nice!

Edit: also try to get something not too hefty on fuel, being sent to jobs an hour+ is any direction every day is pretty normal.

232Bar

Navarra dual cab ute with a canopy. 2.5ltr Diesel, voted top ute on more than one occasion. RX is the basic with windows you have to wind and you have to use a key to open it, or you can get the ST-X which has more 'luxuries'. Just get some decent heavy duty seat covers for when he's using it for work and whip them off for the weekends.

DrWho

What he said...

gotahavit

you can basically pick yourself any family car you like so long as it has a tow bar as most carpenters i know myself included have a tradesman trailer, basically it is a 7x4 box trailer that has a lid with doors that lift up to get to your tools and ladder racks on top to carry anything you need.the great thing is when you get home you unhook the trailer and you've got your family car back all clean and not full of tools.just go to ebay australia type in tradesman trailer and you will see what i mean .
best of luck with the move

Clippy

What's the average price of these trailers?

pogsy

Get another Merc Vito with a crewcab, mine works well here, plenty of space for the family with the extra bench seat and plenty of room for tools. The seat comes out in 2 minutes if you need extra space for work gear if you need it

the plumber

Drive a dualcab nissan triton 2.8 turbo diesel......great work ute 550kms to a tank , pull a trailer no probs and on the weekends good family car......also good off roader.

all the berst plumb.....ps....also brought from new , comes with a 5yr nissan warranty...

gotahavit

you can get a descent trailer for $1500 new or a second hand one in reasonable condition for just under a grand

Clippy

Thanks

Timber Floor Au

800+ selling my 7x4 trailer, if anyones interested but i want 1k just got full yrs rego, in as new condition

Timber Floor Au

dya mean a Mitsubishi triton !

lol < if not, ive got one too !! pmsl

Clippy

thanks