Replacing the D40 - suggestions?

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this is pretty much black and white.

Crusier ute or patrol ute, both are pretty capable off the factory floor, the cruiser in particular, V8 and factory F/R e-lockers...mmm nice.

neither are particularly safe though, hilux is due for a refresh at the end of the year, probably the D40 to.
 
so what?

apples and oranges mate.

very much apples and oranges mate, just in my opinion it would annoy me to go back to something slower. parents have a GU 4 3.0L they are great but performance leaves you wanting more
 
Like others have said, check out the defenders, brand new one for about $50k, half the price of a cruiser. I never really thought of them much,but that's what I would be getting if looking for a new ute.
 
Thanks for all your replies.
I'm not really in to the bush bashing off roading. I just do a lot of dirt driving and often get into mud - that's what the 4wd is for.
I'm not going to bother with the Toyotas - you pay a lot for the name and I think I'll get a lot more out of spending the extra on upgrading a vehicle.
As I do about 50,000k a year, I don't want to buy and build anything for the long term.
Think I'll look at the Patrol and Defender with a bias to the Navara D40 again, beefed up a bit.
Nao, if I can get in the early $20k for mine, I'd be happy. It owes me $23k, so a little spending money for the newbie will be a bonus. Here's hoping ....

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Just an update and hunting feedback on my replacement thoughts; I'm thinking of a Mazda BT50 - any ideas what these are like now? It has a good payload capacity. Otherwise it might be a LR Defender or Nissan Patrol.
 
If the bt50 is anything like the ranger. Run, run fast. My ses unit just got one. Faily loaded and in standard form. It has the 3.2lt diesel. struggles to get 80 on the flat and nothing but problems from day one.
 
I've got the opposite to say about the bt50. My dad just got one and he has a fully loaded aluminum canopy on it with a boat towed behind and it just hauls arse effortlessly. Get the auto as opposed to the manual. The diesel in them is a very good thing, putting out figures similar to the 76/79 series cruiser v8 turbo. Also factory locker is a bonus. All he has done for the extra load is put an extra leaf in the factory leaf pack. I was extremely close to putting the money down for one after driving the old mans but instead decided to keep the Navara and throw some coin at it to improve the engine performance a bit. Aren't the Land rover a 2.2 diesel now? No thanks.
 
I've got the opposite to say about the bt50. My dad just got one and he has a fully loaded aluminum canopy on it with a boat towed behind and it just hauls arse effortlessly. Get the auto as opposed to the manual. The diesel in them is a very good thing, putting out figures similar to the 76/79 series cruiser v8 turbo. Also factory locker is a bonus. All he has done for the extra load is put an extra leaf in the factory leaf pack. I was extremely close to putting the money down for one after driving the old mans but instead decided to keep the Navara and throw some coin at it to improve the engine performance a bit. Aren't the Land rover a 2.2 diesel now? No thanks.

Maybe mazda put a bit more finish on the end result. The ranger is useless once loaded
 
Just going to put my two cents in haha.


Mate, I just sold my 2003 D22 Navara with so many goodies on it to buy a brand new dual cab 4x4 triton and can I honestly say I miss the D22 a bucket load. It felt like a rugged truck compared to this princess triton. They are all the name these days bar a Landcruiser V8 ute. The Dmax would be my pick of the bunch if you really had to purchase a new car but still wanted to retain some toughness however with all these new Emission laws strengthening because of the Euro 5 compliance coming into effect soon, engine reliability will suffer enormously. Already with the triton I've found the intrusion of electronics bloody frustrating. Fly by wire throttle is a pest. Keep it simple, stick to a D22 ( not sure how a D40 is fellas but I assume it has heaps of electronics sensors and the like) only thing I like about the triton is the 4x4 activation is through a lever/gear knob action rather than push button/knob like the Dmax and D40 Nav
 
I think what ever you get you will need to beef up the suspension if you intend on carrying big loads.
They are all built to feel as nice as possible unloaded there for the "PAYLOAD" every brand tries to out do each other with has no real bearing on how well the rear end will last or handle said payloads.

I suggest what ever you get order it with new suspension, so from day 1 the thing is good to go.
 
Maybe mazda put a bit more finish on the end result. The ranger is useless once loaded

Yeah dunno mate they are esentially the same thing with a higher price tag on the ranger so maybe that one is just a Friday car? Dads camper box weighs 750kg and the boat I would guess around 1600kg and its like its not even there. I was tossing up between the D-Max and the Bt-50 before I decided to hold on to the D22 for a few more years.
 
if carrying a significant amount of weight in the back of your vehicle is a concern and of high importance, may i suggest the ford f250, they are sold here as an import, your looking AT 130K according to carsales and i see an optioned up 2013 patrol ain't that far off the price

if you want to up the payload if the vehicle and still have everyday useablity then you need to up the size class, back home the frontier/nav is a small pickup, the f250, dodge ram silverado/titan/tundra are the next sizes up, when you get into the dodge ram dually the towing ability goes up to around 15 ton

(theres also a place here in Perth selling silverados and tundras http://www.performancewest.com.au/ )

just remember they are less than half the price in North America new
 
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if carrying a significant amount of weight in the back of your vehicle is a concern and of high importance, may i suggest the ford f250, they are sold here as an import, your looking AT 130K according to carsales and i see an optioned up 2013 patrol ain't that far off the price

if you want to up the payload if the vehicle and still have everyday useablity then you need to up the size class, back home the frontier/nav is a small pickup, the f250, dodge ram silverado/titan/tundra are the next sizes up, when you get into the dodge ram dually the towing ability goes up to around 15 ton

(theres also a place here in Perth selling silverados and tundras http://www.performancewest.com.au/ )

just remember they are less than half the price in North America new
you can get a brand new cruiser ute for half that (which is still to much essentially for what it is), dunno what your on about comparing utes to luxury wagons...

IMO the best thing to do (if he wants serious power) would be buy an older GU patrol (ZD30 variant) throw the motor in the bin and put a duramax in, would cost like $45000 or so I'd imagine and would be 100x better than buying like a TD42 patrol.
 
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If the bt50 is anything like the ranger. Run, run fast. My ses unit just got one. Faily loaded and in standard form. It has the 3.2lt diesel. struggles to get 80 on the flat and nothing but problems from day one.

Are u sure this is not just a "one off" experience?

There have been of good reports about these vehicles as well.... Personally I'd go for the Ranger over the BT50 purely for looks.

I'd be searching the net for the good/bad points of the ranger. The rangers are being used in the mines as well these days....
 
Im 99% sure Mazda & Ford use an entirely different suspension package to one another, Yes they are essentially the same car, BUT they changed allot of things including the obvious cosmetic differences.

If you have a read of the "shoot out" style reviews between the two you will see that there are differences like suspension ect all over the vehicle.
 

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