Had a look at a 2012 GU 8 today. Was in reasonable condition although was originally a firetruck in the Pilbara and so it had a big cable gland in the rear right of the roof (where cable for light bar went through), dual spare tyre carriers, factory bullbar, dual battery system (had a big manual switch in the passenger footwell to switch between either the batteries connected together (for charging both at once) or manually select either battery - not sure of the brand of it and I would have thought that everything would have been automatic like the Red Arc controllers these days??

Anyway, what's the concencus on the more modern versions of the GU? Is it worth going for a later model (such as 2012) or are there advantages of going for one of the earlier ones (say 2008/9)? I'm sure I heard somewhere that the front axle changed out to a lower spec at some stage around about 2009 but I don't know enough about it to be sure.

We went for a drive and everything seemed to be pretty tight - is there anything that I should be looking at specifically apart from looking for obvious damage or faults? I did notice that the steering seemed to be pretty detached from the road (felt like lots of power assist and not much feedback although I came out of my Forester which is obviously a bit more road oriented). Once again, any further advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Gags