First Drive

[Jackofjr]

I pick my Ti up next Tuesday ,
A couple of weeks ago I had a look at a Patrol fitted with a Rhino Bar , thought it looked ok so paid a deposit it should turn up late this month or early next month .
What sold me was by removing the grill the Winch can be fitted / removed from the top , no need to remove the bar ,
Anyone know if steel wheels the same size and offset as the Patrol are available, I would like to fit them to my Tvan Camper but the hole in the centre needs to be 100mm , I believe the Patrol centres are 47mm

[CamJam]

Rhino - good choice. For me it was between that an the TJM Explorer and OnTrack down in Melbourne can manufacture recovery points for the Explorer so went with that. I can have lights (rounds potties) that I think may look out of place on a Rhino bar... Good call on the winch though... I have time before it's fitted to save up so perhaps I need to do that. Never had a winch before though - just used an old tirfor. perhaps it's time to upgrade

First service tomorrow. One thing is for sure - they can refund me the headlamp protector price (and they're going to). It's a rubbish design that has had them fall off twice (yes, in mountain ranges but mostly fire trails) and I can't see where they clip onto a reasonable point. Other than that, all I see is the AVE Fuel economy going down. at 900km's it's 14.0 flat - if it stays something similar, then I will be more than happy with that. I've convinced myself to be happy with 17.0L/100!

Also get the Front Runner Slimline rack tomorrow which I'm excited about. Add's another 11.4mm if anyone was wondering. Definitely done my dash with Rhino - and it's only rated to carry 48Kg when 'off road' which is up to their own definition of anything other than tarmac. Slimline doesn't have that - up to 150kg (but the roof is limited to 100Kg less the rack, so 67Kg-odd).

[Jackofjr]

The Rhino Bar I'm getting has 2 rated recovery points std , I got the light mounting bar it was a extra , tossing up if I will get the Bar colour matched or not , never really been one to make a vehicle look pretty , not that I think there's anything wrong with that , it's just me to each their own ,

I have a small lightbar off my Dmax it's only a 10inch , I might use it or maybe get a bigger one , we don't really drive much at night .

[CamJam]

The Rhino Bar I'm getting has 2 rated recovery points std , I got the light mounting bar it was a extra , tossing up if I will get the Bar colour matched or not , never really been one to make a vehicle look pretty , not that I think there's anything wrong with that , it's just me to each their own ,

I have a small lightbar off my Dmax it's only a 10inch , I might use it or maybe get a bigger one , we don't really drive much at night .

Yep - the Rhino was on my radar because of the rated recovery points. Like you, I pretty well ignored the 'it looks nice' comments and wanted the functionality of it. With a light bar, I think it looks pretty good - I personally was just after the upper radiator protection (which, when all is said and done, really takes one of those one-in-a-million events for it to be of use, I suppose). But the Rhino with a couple of spotties looks a little odd.

I was going to get the colour coded bar with black in the middle, with black centre and light hoop bar. For the light bar, I was looking at Rigid Industries, which you can get from Snake Racing here in Aus. Pretty pricey, but only heard good things about them.

In the end it came to a Rhino as described for $3820 (colour coding was pretty well thrown in free) fitted, or $3100 for a TJM Explorer with 2 x rated recovery hooks done up as well (colour coded - a first for me but it again was thrown in for $100). Then when I was choosing lights (was thinking combo 20" Rigid Industries Amber/White https://shop.snakeracing.com.au/20-e...r-white-combo/) I came to the conclusion that a $600 pair of 8.5" Stedi Lights and the TJM bar with recovery hooks would end up still less than the Rhino.

But I'll be adding a bit of length to the car, some extra weight (about 20kg more than Rhino), and as you point out - need to make a decision on the winch. So it's all swings and round abouts. I hope you enjoy the Rhino! I'm sure on here there's a thread on the bull bars - we should be adding to that once we get stuff fitted.

[Jackofjr]

Rhino -
Also get the Front Runner Slimline rack tomorrow which I'm excited about. Add's another 11.4mm if anyone was wondering. Definitely done my dash with Rhino - and it's only rated to carry 48Kg when 'off road' which is up to their own definition of anything other than tarmac. Slimline doesn't have that - up to 150kg (but the roof is limited to 100Kg less the rack, so 67Kg-odd).

I'd be interested to see what you think of the Slimeline Rack , I would prefer not to have a Roofrack but I don't think I will be able to avoid it . We do have a Rooftop Tent , never got around to using it after we bought the Tvan but it might be handy at times , also things like recovery boards , chainsaw and extra fuel will have to on the roof .

[CamJam]

Slimeline Like it. Hopefully it slimes under the garage door (I think I have 16mm worth of clearance). Only reason I need a rack is because of our tent - a BlackWolf Turbo 300+ which fits sideways in the back but has to rest up on the rear window - so it's a pain to pack. Can't go in lengthwise without putting the seats down, and with the kids that's a no.

What I would say is be cautious of Rhino Rack Backbones. Ive just taken one off my Prado that I had, and although it seems pretty sweet, it's official load rating for 'off-road' is 80kg LESS the weight of the system itself. That means it can carry around 48kg in total up there. The Slimline has a 150kg loading, with no reduction in use for off-road (except we're limited by the 100kg roof limit of the Patrol, less the 40-odd Kg of the rack - so 60Kg's). I'd be reasonably certain the Backbone could handle more, but it won't warranty the results if it falls apart. And sometimes if it does, you can't pretend you were on a sealed road!

Add to your list the Christmas Tree, the random mattress you may buy or move, a sixth wheel/ 2nd spare, gas bottles - they've all gone up there on my Rhino and will no doubt do the same!

[Jackofjr]

Yep thanks CJ , I did Google Slimline Racks , yep they do look to be the go ,

When we pick up the Patrol Tuesday , first thing I will do is fill it full of juice ,that's if the Dealer hasn't , ( should of negotiated that in the price ) then drive it over the weighbridge and measure hub to guard on all 4 corners ,
We plan on using a few tanks of petrol to see how it goes completely std , before I bolt anything to it ,
the front bar will still be at least a couple of weeks away , so will have time to do that .

[CamJam]

Yep thanks CJ , I did Google Slimline Racks , yep they do look to be the go ,

When we pick up the Patrol Tuesday , first thing I will do is fill it full of juice ,that's if the Dealer hasn't , ( should of negotiated that in the price ) then drive it over the weighbridge and measure hub to guard on all 4 corners ,
We plan on using a few tanks of petrol to see how it goes completely std , before I bolt anything to it ,
the front bar will still be at least a couple of weeks away , so will have time to do that .

I'm not at all dissappointed that I didn't negotiate the tank of fuel - they'd have filled it with the lowest grade chepest fuel they could find, possibly from their own dealership tank that hasn't been checked in decades... so I went off and filled it with 98.

I was ok with it - because very early on I heard the salesperson telling me the Ti had heated seats (I was test driving a Ti-L and made comment on the cooling part). I knew this wasn't the case, but to take the piss when we were emailing details back and forth, I asked him to confirm. True to form, he put in an email that the Ti had Heated seats.

Rock up (the sales person had since left the dealership) and waved that, stating it was going to cost me $990 to put heated seats in, as it was a deal breaker. They offered to pay it all. So I ended up getting sheepskin seats (don't hate me - I love them) that cost $1130 for $140 out of my pocket (the agreement we came to was he'd just give me the $990). So to lose $170 odd in fuel didn't matter - and as I say, you will at least know you've put quality fuel in from day one.

[Plasnart]

I'm not at all dissappointed that I didn't negotiate the tank of fuel - they'd have filled it with the lowest grade chepest fuel they could find, possibly from their own dealership tank that hasn't been checked in decades... so I went off and filled it with 98.

I was ok with it - because very early on I heard the salesperson telling me the Ti had heated seats (I was test driving a Ti-L and made comment on the cooling part). I knew this wasn't the case, but to take the piss when we were emailing details back and forth, I asked him to confirm. True to form, he put in an email that the Ti had Heated seats.

Rock up (the sales person had since left the dealership) and waved that, stating it was going to cost me $990 to put heated seats in, as it was a deal breaker. They offered to pay it all. So I ended up getting sheepskin seats (don't hate me - I love them) that cost $1130 for $140 out of my pocket (the agreement we came to was he'd just give me the $990). So to lose $170 odd in fuel didn't matter - and as I say, you will at least know you've put quality fuel in from day one.

Nice work CJ! Bloody jealous of Y62 owners. A few days ago heard a great burble taking off, looked around to see a Y62 hammering away. Nice!

[Jackofjr]

Yeah I'm not worried about filling the tank , can the heated seats be fitted to the Ti , that's interesting if they can , I would consider fitting one just to the passenger side .