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New Vehicle, VW Amorok


Boydie

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Well if we're talking new then who in their right mind would but a new Range Rover! Particularly on this forum :lol:

Secondhand they're a damn sight cheaper and I've yet to offer anyone a lift who hasn't said the 322 is comfier than their cars. Although maybe that says more about the people I give lifts to...

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Ed, a lot of what you say does make sense however ..........   

As Al said I can buy a brand new top of the range Amarok for less than half the cost of a second hand medium milage TDV8, and I get a 5 year extended warranty with it.  With a new vehicle I can get a "full recovery" breakdown insurance, that isn't available for second hand vehicles or single owner cars over 4 years old, and trust me, full recovery insurance is a huge slice of peace of mind if your car starts playing up in the desert when your 500 kilometres from the nearest community.   

With either vehicle I will need to allow for the installation of a steel bullbar with a 12000 lb winch, a minimum of 165 litre long range fuel tank (or carry a whole load of jerry cans) 120 litre water tank, - that only allows for 6 days between refills @ 10 litres per day per person -- a roof rack and roof top tent, a 60 litre fridge/freezer with dual battery set-up, drawers for food stuffs for two people for two weeks, a second spare wheel and tyre and all other camping paraphernalia, cook top, LPG gas bottles etc. AND upgrading the suspension to allow for the increased estimated 450 kg static weight.

Incidentally I checked last night and the Amarok first gear in the 8 speed auto is lower than my current R380 with the low range engaged.   BFGoodrich do a 20" KO2 off road "All Terrain" tyre in the size  295/75-R20,  I'll be fitting six of them to the Amarok but at AUD$525 each they are bloody expensive, I'm hoping to get at least 80,000 kilometres from the set of 6 by constant rotation. and hopefully seeing as Ford and other makes are adopting 20" rims the price will come down as more companies start to supply them.  

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Wow those are expensive - don't know about that particular size but over hear I'd expect them to be around the £140-150 mark!

I completely understand where you're coming from though. Unfortunately the L322s haven't quite propagated out to the tinkerers like us yet. I'd love to do more with mine but work, size of house and spare time (see work) gets in the way depressingly.

Interestingly (this is getting into dangerous territory for me now) but the 322 has a maximum payload of 515kg apparently so within your 450kg :P. Incidentally I do remember coming across some post a while ago that detailed the rating on the tailgate as being just shy of a tonne when the vehicle is capable of 515kg. Some person shifting a metalworking machine and wanted to make sure the tailgate would survive it being balanced until it was shoved in.

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Due to the enormous cost of tyres, (AUD$525 each) and the very limited range - only BFGoodrich currently do a 20" off road and even they need to ne imported from the USA --  I've decided to buy six 17"x 8" rims and that gives me a far better range of tyres, and I can buy a rim ($380) and tyre ($230) for only $85 more than the cost of just a single 20" tyre.  I'll advertise the new VW 20" rims and tyres on fleabay to recover some of the costs costs and at the next six tyre renewal I'll be saving a total of some $1770  - unfortunately the dealer won't supply the car with 17" rims as they aren't standard for the Ultimate model, 19" or 20" only -- , the CSA 17" rim I've selected, (incidentally rated at 1250 kilos, 250 kilos more than the standard 20") and tyre come out at 33" diameter so I may have to have the electronic speedometer sender adjusted.

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I think I'd be getting a little concerned about drive train longevity....

For what you are paying out, you could have got very spendy on a set of decent seats for the Disco and some very cushty suspension

Generally, within my industry the Anorak is relatively well received. But it's not loved or respected. Not like the Isuzu D Max or the Hi-lux Invisible - both or which are absolute nails. The way it was described to me the other day works well - "when you get to the woods, you park the Anorak, unload your gear into the Hi-lux and then carry on in"

Mind you all the Anoraks I have driven or know of are 2.0litre, so have the special self destruct oil pump drive. So tend to be used rather carefully anyway

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I would agree with that, the Isuzu is agricultural but if you climb underneath and look at the size of the bolts and bits of metal compared to the others you can see why they don't break in half like the Nissans do. The other thing I love about the Isuzu is how they are designed to be maintained by none dealers, the handbook is like a Haynes with full details on doing a service and I adore the little features, for example the oil filer is at the top of the engine where its easy to get at with a little drip tray cast into the aluminium housing with a drain point so you don't get oil down the engine. It's well known that the 3 litre diesels in my rodeo last for ever and often see a second life driving water pumps etc.  

The only reason I'm going away from Isuzu is that this is also my family car, the VW has a much bigger cabin, is a smoother ride and is much quieter and it will spend 95% of it's life on tarmac, the other 5% on construction sites / quarries where it will need the 4wd and ground clearance to not get stuck like a van would but doesn't need to be able to climb a mountain. I will see how the stock tyres do but will probably switch to ATs once the first set has worn away but don't need to go bigger. Lets hope I don't regret it!

Edited by Cynic-al
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Isuzu's are grand but my personal past experience of them is that parts wise you often have to wait for anything other than routine servicing parts and parts supplying dealers were quickly out of their comfort zone if you wanted anything else. As well as delays prices for anything ordered in were often also bum puckering too! 

I admit that was a few years ago now in pre online ordering days so perhaps things have changed, however current experience with Isuzu plant and grounds maintenance stuff makes me a tad wary. Obviously these are all UK based observations but dammit as I get older and recall stories from relatives and friends who served, or who were otherwise caught up in events out East in the last big one I'm getting more and more averse to spending my money on vehicles with Japanese connections. Obviously these are my own personal views.

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I'd buy an Anorak for the family bus - if I had the pennies. It's a lovely drive. But the family bus doesn't get worked so hard. I'd even go for the 2.0litre - when the self destruct unit on the oil pump is sorted it's a big miles engine and capable of some good fuel mileage.

I've always found IM easy to deal with for Isuzu spares - some are pricey, but not as bad as Toyota or in many cases Ford. The Ranger is an expensive old bus for bits

 

 

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:angry2:  I may have to change my mind and cancel my order with VW, I'm now informed (as of yesterday) that ALL imported Amaroks into Australia will have the AdBlue V6 engines and the non-AdBlue motors will not be sold here and will only be exported from Mexico to Asia, China and India.  

The small AdBlue tank would mean having to either sacrifice additional fuel capacity or carry jerrycans of AdBlue when I go bush because its simply not available way out there.  

The Isuzu 3 litre 4 cylinder D-Max is beginning to look very good especially the top of the line LS-Terrain model, while they dont have the sheer grunt and torque of the Amarok it's got more than enough at 130 Kw and 380 Nm and it's got the reputation for being a great long lasting engine and drivetrain.

Appearance wise it doesn't look as attractive as the Amarok nor does it have the comfort level but I'm comforted (I think) by Julie telling me I'm not the best looking 69 year old she has seen either but she's happy with me, I'm still thinking about that, is that a put-down or a compliment ? 

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I wouldn't worry about adblue. If it has it it doses at a very low rate. I never worked out what percentage on the lorries but if I had to guess I would say 40 litres of adblue to 2000 litres of diesel. Also, it's a mix which includes pigs wee which is sprayed into the exhaust, it's not unknown for drivers over here to just pee in the tank so the pump doesn't run dry 

That said if I was going as remote as you are I think I'd rather be in the isuzu. Lol

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We've lost the 3.0litre Isuzu in the UK - so second hand ones hold their money and IM (the importer) has a whole range of high quality upgrades to extend the life of the 3.0

I think the 3.0 is a better engine than the 2.5; not by much as the 2.5 is a good lump, but the 3.0 is an exceptional lump. I rate the D-max very highly.

Iain - why don't you just get spendy on the D1? fit some decent seats and buy a rug for your knees?

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That's good news I have a 3.0 Isuzu to sell in a month or so :D

 

I must admit the child in me was tempted with the arctic trucks Isuzu but then the old man in me decided that the 35" tyres and 5" suspension lift would become tiresome after a few thousand motorway miles.

 

I think the Dodge Ram is coming to the UK in RHD next year through Fiat with the 5.7 v8 in it... now that I would like :D

Edited by Cynic-al
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2 hours ago, Cynic-al said:

 

I think the Dodge Ram is coming to the UK in RHD next year through Fiat with the 5.7 v8 in it... now that I would like :D

oooo. Now that's interesting! I;d love it if Ford did that with the F150 as well and a decent V8 petrol option!

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  • 2 weeks later...

AdBlue is available wherever roadtrains go, which as you know is everywhere up here, so you should be able to get it without any trouble. Tyres will be a big headache if you need to order one, (or more!), so you might want to check out what you'd do in that situation. I know a tourist or two gets caught by this every Dry season. Tritons and similar cars were breaking chassis a few years ago because of bad design and loading, the unfortunate thing being that it takes some time for a new car to develop these problems which makes buying a new car somewhat risky. You'd think that by 2017 buying a new car would be easier than in, say, 1980, not harder! 

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