Looking at a second car and one to pull the boat (3500Kg). This has ruled out the Nissan, Mitzi, BMW, Volvo.

Anything i should look for with regard above vehicles?

Going for auto box and something between 3 and 5 years old.

Kiwi

Can't help with the above comparison until hubby comes home from work as he is a range rover man. Me personally would choose a toyota landcruiser. Mine is a 4.2 diesel and pulls anything and in my opinion is more comfortable, cost effective (and looks better).

I will post again later with his opinion .

Debs

Hi
We had a test drive in the new Discovery 3 yesterday and it was excellent. Tried to have a look at a land cruiser but there wasn't one in the three dealers we tried (UK). We are thinking about what we are going to buy when we get out there and are considering a Disco 3 or Pathfinder.

Good Luck

I think they have a new 'Face lift' disco 3 coming out later this year so be careful if buying a new one price's will drop!

Really, I thought the one we drove was the new one? Blimey! Do you know much about pathfinders?

I have a Navara ST-X which is a 4x4 ute version of the Pathfinder. They are great 4x4s. The 2.5l Diesel is superb & is the most powerful diesel in it's class. The Navara (not sure about the Pathfinder although I would imagine it's similar) has a 3000kg towing capability, I'm not sure how it would go with 3500kg. The only issue I would have with the Navara/Pathfinder is that there is some questionable build quality in the cabin. It's not bad, just not the best I've seen.

Yes I quite like the Nissan range for off roading. Used to have a Nissan Patrol but the towing capacity does limit it. The boat is on the upper end of even the landrover and after loading it with divetanks, bait etc it may come close to 4000.

It's only a face lift, only some minor changes, but still affects the price. Try and find out when it is due out in oz.
Can't help with the pathfinder, but There new model is quiet recent so you should be ok. again try and check with dealers in oz.

I have just left Land rover and I worked in the Disco 3 area. I can honestly say I have heard nothing about any face lift. It would make considerable changes to the production line and I don't see this happening quite yet. They can't make enough of these as it is let alone disrupting production this early. If I could afford one I would buy 1 today, its an amazing vehicle.

WTF are you using for bait :scared: Entire sharks ????

For my 2p worth, if I had to choose Land Rover vs Range Rover I'd buy the Land Rover because I don't belive Range Rovers have ever had a diesel option.

But studying 4x4s as I have been (specifically 7 seaters) I am coming to the conclusion that the best value for money is probably the Nissan Pathfinder. The Hyundai Terracan is missing 1 or 2 extras that I need like side curtain airbags.

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=376751



Buzzy

Agree about the Pathfinder. The 2.5l diesel engine is awesome, much better than Toyota. The Terracan is ok & is priced well but it is not in the same league as the Pathfinder. If Kia brought out a diesel version of the Sorento (rumours are that they are considering it), they would sell ship loads of them as they are great value for what you get. I'd buy one.

I might if it had 7 seats.



Buzzy

I just bought a new Pathfinder and after having a couple of Terrano when we were in the UK (the new 3.0 litre TDI ones) I find the Pathfinder to be a much better beast. I bought the diesel and I'm currently getting around 32mpg out of it (or 8.7ltr/100km for those in Oz) in general driving although that drops a bit once it hits the loose stuff and it's running in 4wd. It has good low end torque and the 4wd system seems to cope well so far - although it hasn't had total abuse yet! I'd have loved a Series 3 Disco, but with a couple of toys added it took the price up to around $93k and that wasn't top of the range :scared: I've had loads of Nissans (used to work at the factory in the UK so got to change them regularly) and I like them - build quality is generally good - not much seems to go wrong with them. However, if you're going to be pulling around 4 tonne, could I suggest either a smaller boat or a Scania?

There are new federal laws that cover all trailers up to 3.5 tonnes which incidentally is the max you can tow using a standard 50mm ball hitch.
Check out one or two of the tow hitch manufacturers websites TJM, ARB or Hayman Reece. I read about them on one of the sites just recently when we had to tow a large trailer from up here to Tenterfield NSW.
If your boat and trailer loaded exceed the 3.5 tonnes you could have problems with insurance.

Over that do you not get into a different licence category as well?