need a Patrol advice please

[christine]

hello folks, just found your site, hope you are able to help us. Hubby and I want to buy a Patrol so we can caravan around. We have no idea what we are looking for..... except that it has to have air con!!!! we do not want to spend anymore than $20,000. so what do we look for to tow? we really are not the fancy type who need leather and carpet, just basic is good, the other thing is we will want to keep this vehicle till we retire. There are so many different types available, so would appreciate any advice you can give, many thanks Christine & Wayne

[kevin07]

firstly hi and welcome,you will need to tell us what your going to tow with this troll your looking to buy. kev

[christine]

um a caravan??? thought we would buy the truck first and then spend whatever is left on a van, not looking for anything big, maybe about 16 footer....:)

[nissannewby]

Is your budget able to be higher at all?

Overall for reliability, fuel economy and towing ability you cant go past a 4.2 diesel. Some of the earlier models can be had for around the mid 20's in a GU. Be patient and keep your eyes out for a turbo variant as this will be the go.

[christine]

thank you, any thing else you can add would be greatly accepted, :)

[SonOf]

As nissannewby said if you are going to be touring andnyour budget is $20K then your best bet is TD42 turbo. If you look for a while some will present themselves for around $20k for a Gu, most likely a 99 or if yiu are lucky a 2000 model. If you want to look older models then a GQ for around $10k and then you can spend therest on seat upgrade (not very comfy) suspension uogrsde to cope with the van etc. At the price you are playing with you will be getting a car with close to 300k on it, but on a 6 cyl Td42 diesel that is just run in. With a GQ look for rust around the rear windows, seems to be where they go. I got my turbo GU TD42 for $19k with 278000 on the clock about 9 months ago and my brother in law picked up a sweet GQ for $8k with about the same milage so it is just patience.

There is heaps on here about buying 2nd hand patrols,
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?8299-Advice-on-buying-a-second-hand-Patrol

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/showthread.php?15992-Buying-a-GQ-what-to-look-out-for

Good luck withyour search, anyother questions just post em up.

[BigRAWesty]

Welcome guys.
Not to sound like im flogging a dead horse but for reliability you can not beat the TD42 engine.
Mine has been in the family since New in 91. It's done my parents well and I inherited it 3 years ago and it's clocked up half a million k's, but sti'll going strong..

You can get a turbo variant but if you want to try your best to stick to 20g then It might just have to be an NA engine. Nothing wrong, mine is non turbo, it just takes a little longer to get from A-B..

Try grabbing a gu as they are a comfier and quieter ride than the GQ's and have a few more little luxuries.
Gq and gu's both run the same chassis and ssuspension setups, the GU's have better leg room but less cargo area than the gq's.
Also the GU are a few hundred kilos heavier than the gq's, due to extra sound deadening and electronic gizmos..

So jump in and enjoy the search.
Cheers

[christine]

wow thats great info, thanks to all of you for that, will take this info with me, not in any hurry so happy to wait for the correct vehicle to come along.I have a 1990 Triton, has 468,00 on it and goes like a rocket..... but not what we want for a caravan either. also I just remembered I had an 85 corolla, had over 570,000 on the clock befor the clock broke....hahahah and was still going.... I guess if you get a good car you just have to hold on to it huh??? thank you so mych once again.....

[my third 256]

hey mate head over to the intro section please and tell us a bit about youself and your rig just one of the requirments and you will find you get a lot more responses
http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forum...-Introductions

[christine]

sorry but I cannot open that link :)

[Bob]

Try this

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/forumdisplay.php?2-Introductions

Or fill in from this

http://www.nissanpatrol.com.au/forums/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=2

[threedogs]

Hello and welcome to the forum.
Dual /fuel variants are cheaper than their diesel brothers,
have tripe loads of power, and driven sensibly should return reasonable fuel figures.
Avoid early 2000-2003 models, but History, history ,history, make sure the one you want has it.