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A mad vision of the future


pugwash

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so lets' just say for a minute that in some fevered dream i had last night that i had a working off roader.

this off roader may benefit from being trailered to competition events.

lets also say that i would appreciate a 4x4 for greenlaning and light offroading duties (still has to be capable off road- perferably to be able to be fitted with a front winch) but which was big enough for me, the missus and a dog, powerful enough not to tiddle you off in general driving but economoical enough and comfortable enough for commuting- so plus 25mpg would be important. This 4x4 should be able to pull my other truck (which might one day exist). My everday truck would also be large enough to carry a fair bit of kit and potentially have a flat bed to sleep in! the latter would be useful if my dream "vapour" truck ever existed.

ah yeah- lets say that having spent a rather large amount of money on my first truck, i don't have a lot of money for my second truck which means my every day truck must do all the above jobs and be brilliantly reliable into the bargain! price would be around £3k -£4k.

so i have some options:

P38 (lpg converted)

Disco

110 (not really good for the missus to drive)

delica (an interesting one and something i am quite tempted by)

something japanese- but what?

thoughts?

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Disco tdi or lwb Shougan deisal would both fit the bill nicley.

Both are well within your budget and would be what i would chose. Well they happen to be what i have chosen and do drive (well the shogan went a few years ago and oops it was a v6 not a tdi :)

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I guess that your budget will not stretch to a Td5 110, but I got 32mpg on the last tank - combined A-road, motorway, urban and greenlaneing. It is big enough to sleep in, the Mrs can drive it (Disregard her initial scepticism; see the other thread), unlike a Disco you CAN sleep in one without being a midget or curled up and they do OK on greenlanes.

In fact, you might just be lucky and get a hardtop 110 Td5 for that money, or a very good 300Tdi. I cannot see that you will get a good P38 for that money, at least, not with LPG. I suppose that something Jap will offer the most 'bang for your buck' but may lack some of the style (and repair opportunities) of a Landrover. :)

Chris

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I have a Toyota LC, it tows like no other, I also run at 80% SVO at 52p ltr.

They are not with out problems you need to do a lot of looking around to find a good one, I have done the big end bearings and a few other mods to mine since I've had it but all as preventive maintenance.

Peter

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Not sure but think the Shogun/Delicia are only 2.5 tonne towing limit whcih may be a problem with a 4x4 on a trailer.

I would suggest a LC or a Nissan patrol though neither are over economical, but reliable and tow well. Personally I would search around and find a good cheap Disco (commercial perhaps) and keep the change for the inevitable fixes!

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That was pretty much my criteria when I bought my Isuzu.

A "BigHorn" would fit the bill a treat.

I've got a single bed in mine, and its great for crashing out - slept like a baby at Billing.

The auto might struggle to get 25mpg, but a manual certainly would.

I doubt they are as good as the LandCruiser, but you do get a lot more car for your money. I couldn't bring myself to pay £4k for a G-plate LandCruiser.

Decent Isuzu's are about 2K and you'd have a job to spend 4K on one IMHO.

Andy

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Check the towing weights, cos IIRC from searching several years ago with an ex for something to tow horseboxes, few things are legally rated as high as Land Rovers.

I think that Landcruisers and Patrols are similar or close. Also, its worth noting that the SWB Patrol is the same size as a Disco.

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towing weight of a delica is a surprising 3300kg so should happily tow a range rover and trailer- thing i like about the delica is that the rear seats convert into beds!

land cruiser with lockers sounds interesting- will go and put my searching cap on and track some down in eblag

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Delicia is a bit of a numbnuts. Avoid the 2.5Td like the plague as it is poo. Avoid the rest of the Delicia as you can't get bits for it and they break with an awkward regularity when used hard.

The last of the IL6 Patrols with the 4.2 in Barge sized LWB are silly money cheap and will see 500k miles with ease whilst towing the queen mary every day. They have more space in the back than the Tardis. That Dave Symonds bloke wrote a series of articles on SH vehicles and his Patrol article makes very good reading...

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I got a Range Rover P38a when the modifications on my Defender got to extreme for it to be used as a daily driver. Comfort is great and off-road performance surprisingly good with just ATs added. The diesel had a bit of a hard time towing heavy trailers, and is now being used by the missus for the daily commute as I found a 4.6 V8 which needed a bit of work but was very cheap and drives like a dream. :)

Plenty of room for camping (just add a air-mattress) and spare bits. I got both very cheap, around 3K. The V8 is actually cheaper to run with the LPG!

And you stay loyal to the green oval. :ph34r:

Only alternative for me would be an RRC, because there just that bit more suited to offroading. On the other hand, if an L322 wasn't so expensive, I'd probably upgrade to one of those and limit it to gentle greenlaning.

I drove a mid 90s Nissan Patrol 2.8td and 2005 Mitsubishi Pajero 2.5td (different name, same car as the Shogun) and quite frankly neither came close to the RR.

The Pajero was quite comfotable, but even less powerfull then the DT and hopeless offroad. The Patrol was thirsty and unconvincing in general, quite good offroad with its rear locker.

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The last of the IL6 Patrols with the 4.2 in Barge sized LWB are silly money cheap and will see 500k miles with ease whilst towing the queen mary every day. They have more space in the back than the Tardis. That Dave Symonds bloke wrote a series of articles on SH vehicles and his Patrol article makes very good reading...

IIRC the patrol/landcruser option towing a def is very close/over 7.5 ton so i think you need a taco but i might be wrong

mike

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