I need a 4wd, please help

[lawny]

well i need a new 4wd for the family because the one i bought 6months ago guzzles fuel like you wouldnt believe. i bought a 2004 ford escape and have just towed the caravan behind it for the first time.... and fook me it only got just over 300k's to the tank which i think is about 60 litres. i knew they sucked the juice a fair bit before i bought it but not this bad. I only have about $15,000 to spend, it needs to tow a jayco poptop caravan and i was thinking of maybe going to diesel, it definately needs to be more economical than what i have got.

anyone have any ideas on models i should be looking at?

cheers guys!

[STV4SYT]

I have a mate selling a 2001 Landcrusier 100 series at the moment, its Dual Fuel, and has dual gas and petrol tanks, think he is after about $21k for it. Very clean car it is too. has about 130,000 km on it, towbar and full Pedders suspension kit.

[Calais]

Looks like you might be best looking for a late 90's turbo diesel Pajero or something along those lines. In my limited experience, Pajeros arent typically thrashed off road like other 'harder' 4WD's. That said, a landcruiser for 15g wouldnt be a turbo diesel and would be an 80 series at best, and the petrol variants wont help you in the fuel economy stakes. Perhaps a late 90's Patrol might be ok, bear in mind though, that any around 15g would have travelled a fair distance, and might only have the 2.8L t/d mill (not the more desirable 4.2t/d).

Either way, if your towing, fuel economy wont be spectacular whatever you choose, but another option might be one of the vehicles listed above, but with a petrol engine fitted with LPG, which will negate the poor consumption with lower running costs.

[6thgear]

As above. Unfortunately 4wd + towing just doesnt go hand in hand with fuel economy - and not on that budget.

The newer 4wd's now however, have improved a lot due to technological advancement especially on their diesel engines.

In my opinion, with your budget I'd suggest getting a well maintained car with excellent service record (well treated engines means better efficiency) and consider diesel engines or lpg...

good luck and happy hunting!

[craig_the_german]

Hi, I have a Holden Jackaroo 3.2L V6

I get 400+ kms out of the 85L tank towing my Viscount Campervan.

Doesn't seem like there is much difference between towing and not towing, it still gets 400+ out of a tank.

Advantage is they are cheap to pick up now...almost giving them away.

I've had mine since new and it has now done 210000km without a spanner put on it.

[maca]

Holden Frontera?

[gregozedobe]

For $15K you aren't going to be able to buy a decent late model 4WD with an economical turbo diesel engine. These are in high demand, and accordingly cost more.

It might be be worth considering a few other factors:

How fast do you drive while towing ? Towing a van above 80Kmh is going to use more fuel, and the faster you go the worse it gets.

How many Kms do you tow per year ? Sometimes it is cheaper to just pay out a bit more in fuel with the vehicle you've already got rather than spend more on changing vehicles than what the fuel costs (if you don't tow for big distances).

Before buying a different vehicle it is worth looking at reliability, common problems, servicing costs and insurance. Some LPG conversions are known to cause expensive problems in some engines (cracked heads, blown head gaskets, excess wear on valves etc)