Which car?

[monstersinthedungeon]

We've recently sold my car and are looking for a cheap farm hack/shopping trolley/animal transporter to replace it (e.g., our last lot of calves were brought home in the back of our luxury cruiser :^O - far too good a car for us country bumpkins, so we sold it). It must be 4wd as parts of our property can only be accessed by a 4x4.

Only want to spend around $4-$5k on it, it's a second vehicle and won't be doing huge mileage, so would what would be the better buy; a later model Land Rover/Jeep Cherokee, or an earlier model Nissan Patrol/Landcruiser/Pajero?

Or what about a Holden Jackaroo?

We need a fairly large 4x4 as I bring home several bags of feed and bales of hay crammed in the back, so don't want a small townie 4x4.

Grateful for any opinions or info about the most reliable older 4x4 and what would be cheaper for servicing and parts.

[serendipityricho]

The Lada Niva had a great extra.

A heated rear windsceen--kept your fingers warm

pushing it home in cold weather..................................Richo.

[viewmont1071]

Ford Maverick and Nissan Patrol GQ between mid 80s to mid 90s are the same vehicle exactly just badge engineered. They have a full chassis (like your old bronco...did you sell the chassis to a hot rodder?) so rust is a little less important.

They get it around the windscreen and the rr windows as a rule. The door hinges/pin fail with wear and they "drop".

The petrol automatic models are extremely... extremely.. thirsty on juice. I had a gas petrol for a while it lacked a little power but it was ... good on economy .... It had a snake style gas tank under the floor and a custom petrol tank so that there was still plenty of room in the back

The 4.2 diesel engine has an alloy cased oil cooler built into the side of the engine this makes coolant a must for extended engine block life. If  you can see "mud" on the top of the core when looking through the top of the radiator even if the coolant colour is greener than the green green grass of home then the probability is that the green has recently been added and the vehicle should probably be avoided.

Goat corner is about .5 km from our place beautiful 364 days a year but just one day in September it looks like this... the footage over the cars looks back towards Viewmont... the rollover is onto the tree at the back of the goat photo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GydtHOIy1rQ

[serendipityricho]

Dave -for monsters requirements------turbo or non turbo-

what are your thoughts..............Richo..

[viewmont1071]

The Lada Niva had a great extra.

A heated rear windsceen--kept your fingers warm

pushing it home in cold weather..................................Richo.

:^O

Pulled all the dead keno tickets and receipts out of my wallet Richo and now it looks like a cane toad after it tangled with a Michelin

[viewmont1071]

Dave -for monsters requirements------turbo or non turbo-

what are your thoughts..............Richo..

I find turbos and short running of the engine don't mix well. You really need to warm up a turbo engine and conversely also allow the engine and bearings to 'cool' correctly... and that just does not happen sometimes with shopping trolleys and farm hacks.

Turbo timers make cooling easier  I fitted a lot but you find when they come in for a service a  lot are switched off as they have lost their "novelty' value

[the_hawk*]

Why not just buy a caged trailer