My builder husband is looking to buy a diesel SUV for a work vehicle up to $10k. He's not overly familiar with suv's or diesels so Interested to know what people would recommend. I test drove a 1998 Mitzi Challenger and a 1999 Izuzu Wizard today. Had the Challenger checked over by a mechanic but it had numerous issues including the gear box. The Wizard seemed a bit dodgy too and seemed quite gutless. I've been told Toyota Surfs and Nissan Terranos are the best but not many around for sale in our price range it would seem except for those with really high mileage. Thanks in advance.
mugenb20b,
Nov 9, 2:23am
Buying an SUV in the $10k price bracket is a bit risky. You're either going to end up with a good one or a lemon. Avoid Wizards, Mitsis, and Nissans. They all have their problems. If your husband is a builder, he will regret getting an SUV as a work vehicle, they never hold enough gear. The most practical vehicle for him would be a van (with a LSD), or a 2wd ute (with a LSD) if he's not carrying much equipment. If you must have an SUV, I would recommend a 2.7 litre, 4 cylinder petrol Toyota Hilux Surf, or a low mileage, manual Isuzu Bighorn with a 3.1 litre turbo diesel engine (but not the 3.0 litre).
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 9, 2:33am
I won't pollute your thread with lots of posts but I still think he would be much better with a common rail diesel van as discussed last time. The comfort, economy, power etc is going to be far superior to any SUV you can buy for the budget.
It all comes down to getting a common rail diesel as opposed to the old fashioned kind. The trouble is its very hard to get a common rail diesel SUV for your budget but you could likely get a van.
It may also be worth doing the math on financing a bit extra and getting a common rail SUV as the fuel and service cost savings may cover the payments (I don't know for sure but remember he was doing big km's).
Until you drive a common rail diesel you just won't grasp the monumental difference in power, economy etc.
asa50,
Nov 9, 3:10am
Well said, people often say they "need" a 4wd to carry either stuff or people. However for those tasks a ute/wagon/van would be superior in these tasks 99% of the time.
mugenb20b,
Nov 9, 3:15am
Yep, I've been there myself a few times. 4WD capability was only required once (when I had a 2wd van) of around 300 different building sites / properties I've been on, but wasn't necessary, it just took a little longer to get back on the road, hence why I recommend commercial vehicles with limited slip diffs.
stevo2,
Nov 9, 11:11am
As a builder myself I can tell you that SUV's suck as a work vehicle because they have nowhere near enough room for all the gear you will need. You will have to leave a lot of your gear at home and end up needing it onsite. You will be best off getting a large van such as a Hiace diesel. You will achieve about 10lt/100km which is better than an SUV. Stevo
r15,
Nov 9, 1:26pm
and to throw a spanner in these guy's works, i went from a common rail to a surf, best move i ever made, though i dont carry a van load of gear and my work sites tend to be at the top of hills with or without only farm tracks to get there. and i dont get to choose the weather.
fuel economy in the 2.5 turbo diesel manual hiace was about 10km/l fuel economy in the 3.0 auto turbo surf is about 10km/l
the hiace was much lower geared than the surf so at 100k the hiace was always pulling heaps more revs
modie61,
Nov 9, 1:30pm
And gabby,how come your road testing the vehicles and not hubby ! Who will drive it most !
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 9, 4:08pm
To put things into perspective a good European common rail van will do about 7.5l/100km for your kind of running. So you can see the economy advantage for a start.
r15 probably had a Japanese common rail diesel, the Japanese are a good decade behind the Europeans on diesel engine technology. Thats because other than commercial vehicles they havn't really had any diesels on their roads for the last decade. Europe on the other hand sells more diesel cars than petrol cars and has done for some time. Fiat also invented common rail technology and another European company Bosh now holds the rights to it.
If you are going Diesel European is the way to go, thats why couriers, posties etc are swapping to VW's etc hand over fist.
gabby3,
Nov 9, 7:00pm
Because strangely enough due to growing up with a car enthusiast father and six petrol head brothers, three of whom race cars, I'm just a tad more motor savvy than my beloved hubby.I also have two car mad adult sons who are keen to give advice, but are generally not in agreement with each other;) hence my asking on here. Steveo is a great builder but mechanics are not his forte, particularly diesels. Steve will drive it most of course but he is currently hard at it finishing a large house he's been building 40 minutes drive away whilst I'm currently unemployed so have the time to run around test driving.
gabby3,
Nov 9, 7:08pm
Yes we did wonder about that but (my) Stevo reckons he'll get what he needs in the back of an SUV with the rear seats down. He's currently driving a 1990 Mitzi L300van which has been a trusty work horse for the past 10 years or so but is struggling a bit when towing now and is expensive on fuel. He just wants a more comfortable and economical ride for work that we can use to take our Labs to the beach as well
gabby3,
Nov 9, 7:09pm
Thanks for all the info. I have lined up a couple for Steve to look at and compare.
modie61,
Nov 9, 7:35pm
Go Steve,tell him hes spoilt have a Mrs like you Gabby. Haha.
savanna71,
Nov 9, 8:28pm
Nearly every courier that i have spoken too, is trying to get out of the euro vans all saying reliability is there downfall
rovercitroen,
Nov 10, 1:47am
Guy I know had a VW Transporter van from new. What a POS. Spent more time off the road than on in its first two years. He sold it and bought a Toyota van. Not quite as economical but in last two years hasn't missed a beat.
rovercitroen,
Nov 10, 1:49am
And on depreciation alone compared to a Toyota van of the same age it cost WAY more than the fuel savings. VW Transporter van was very hard to sell or trade for decent money. That may be a NZ phenomena but NZ is where we live and its a fact of life.
swannie3,
Nov 10, 2:17am
Sorry I butchered the quote, but Im making a point. Why do you think they have so many km's on them!Our surf got up to 375,000 km before she was going to cost too much to WOF.Awesome vehicle (second one we had), got her at 108,000 came with a spare gearbox, new paintjob, and all sorts of other goodies.Never had to use the spare parts, was rust that got her in the end.-Made to be used!
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 10, 3:43am
What on earth are you smoking! The likes of a 10K Mercedes Vito have dropped almost nothing in price in the last couple of years and are unlikely to depreciate much at all in the coming years, in fact its probably about as good as you can get from any vehicle for likely depreciation. Sharp depreciation in the few 3 or 4 years from new is actually an advantage for this poster. You need to think through the specifics of the situation at hand as saying stuff like this is just confusing and unhelpful to poster one.
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 10, 3:44am
This might be remotely useful if you put what year/series and engine.
thejazzpianoma,
Nov 10, 3:51am
Poster 1, If asking around about Mercedes Van's etc try and stick to talking first hand to owners. There are a lot of silly 3rd hand stories floating around that won't help you out at all.
BTW, the worlds biggest producer of Vans is Fiat, Euro Diesel vans are capable of massive km's and its common to see them sold on Trademe with well over a million km's on the clock and still going strong.
Its just such a shame we have so many haters when the European Diesel vans are the cheapest to run and in my opinion much more reliable than the Japanese equivalents.
rovercitroen,
Nov 11, 2:58am
It was a 2006 TDi. Don't know exactly what "series".
rovercitroen,
Nov 11, 3:00am
I was talking about vehicles owned from new in the case I quoted.
thejazzpianoma,
Feb 18, 11:06am
Its in a different price point to what poster 1 is looking at so not super relevant.
Interesting though because the thats a T5 which is the current model and as far as I know quite highly regarded (have heard great things from some Rural posties who run them). If its a DSG one though it would be about ripe to have been one of the short runs that had trouble like the Coke Golfs. That said I don't really follow the transporters much, more so the Ducato and some of the Mercedes.
Good input.
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