Thoughts on Nissan Safari swb

I am looking at getting a 1992 short wheel base Nissan Safari and was wondering peoples thoughts on the pros and cons

Have you got one you are looking at?
It would help to know the kms, as it is getting quite old now.
What will you be using it for?

In the absence of further info I'll assume it's 4.2 N/A diesel with a manual gearbox:

Pros: Nearly a bullet proof engine and pretty much bomb proof running gear , stable resale

Cons: Ponderous road holding and vague steering, terrible much over 100kmph, average brakes, average power, cramped rear seats (very limited head room), not much load space, relatively noisy, not particularly efficient, heavy

For carrying rear seat passengers and/or going shopping=absolute crap
Towing a horsefloat in.muddy paddocks=about the best you can get

They're not everybodys ideal daily driver but for certain.jobs they are the bees knees. Check for rust everywhere and for general signs of abuse, and that all electrical bits work ok. The 4.2 diesel is superb and lasts a long time but it needs good maintenance along the way, this is more expensive than average as it is effectively a truck engine and two filters and a lot of oil is needed compared to most cars. Beware of any that seem too cheap, there are examples about that have a gutless and generally ghastly 2.8 diesel that is best avoided.

Disagree with that too. Most import Safaris have large 4 wheel discs - which are very effective. NZ new Patrols of that vintage have rear drums - not so good.

Oh, a lift job or tired front bearings make them way worse, but in comparison to other 4x4s of the vintage the road holding of a Safari (he/she said it was a Safari so I'm guessing not a Patrol) is barely OK, and nothing like a '92 SWB Pajero or a 92 Hilux.

The entire Patrol range dives poorly. I had a 2003 Patrol 4.8 for years, and it started with less than 80,00kms, the bushes were perfect, but it still it drove like a bag of mashed potatoes (and was the same underneath as this '92). A coil spring Landcruiser drives much better than a coil spring Patrol/Safari does (IMO)

I like/love Patrols, but they aren't the best on road vehicles.

rust will be the most biggest issue .

If you reckon that was bad, you should have a drive of my old 89 lwb patrol with lifted suspension and 33" mickey Thompson's down the Bruce Highway at 110 kph

My '88 SWB Safari (owned by me since 1998) drives fine on the open road. Several others I've driven don't - in fact I'd say that typically they don't, but most don't have standard sized tyres / rims, many have had DIY lift jobs, and the only simple alignment adjustment is toe-in. There's typically no way to check for rooted panhard bushes, the symptom is toe-in not staying set/consistent - you cant assume that the bushes are okay by trying to feel for play in them and thinking they're okay because you can't feel or see anything obvious going on. The rubber gets rooted, but the bushes still feel tight A very slight movement from loss of elasticity in the rubber translates into a big shift in toe-in. Nissan's advise is to replace the entire rod (= $$$) - they're useless at even disclosing that they stock the bushes for only about $30/pair - you need the part numbers or they "can't find them" on their system. Many people replace them with nolathane - good because it's harder, but they don't last as long as the OEM rubber bushes - which isn't very long anyway. Any decent 4WD shop should be able to sort steering issues - unless it's a bent diff housing (a few degrees of bend might be able to be sorted with offset kingpin bearing shells - available aftermarket).
I do the toe-in adjustment on mine myself - straight forward job (1mm toe-in).

Yes as above if the tyre's are cheap rubbish then it will handle not as good, I had mine for 11years and loved driving it on the open road, very relaxed, the steering was good and cornered s good as my other cars, at the speed limit, when towing the car and trailer didnt push it around at all, just they lack that turbo towing power , each to their own.