Work Vehicle - L200 ?

Have an older ranger crew cab, had it about 7 years. Never a sqeek or peep from it. Been very reliable. The new rangers are twice the size, well finished inside and are quite comfortable. If they are as reliable as the older models, should be a good horse.

 

coming from a place where 4x4's get used for their intended purpose (not parading round chelsea or the school run) i would say go for the hilux..

 

how old are you thinking?
l200 sucks
out of the three i would recommend the ranger.again depending on what sort of age your talking.

 

a ranger? off road?

 

aye. dont forget dude. i live in the sticks. i work on a lot of 4x4's
but again, it depends on whats sort of budget your working to.

 

We used Rangers with the Afghan army and Hi Lux's were used by the Taliban, your choice.

 

I think he means new :smileys:

 

used to do alot of bush crashing back home, organized events and what not and most of the time was spent towing jeep cherokees, rangers and land rovers out of pretty easy stuff with the toyotas. this was a few years back mind so perhaps those lot have lifted their game

 

bang for buck the toyota all day long... not unknown for a military force to use inferior machinery for budget reasons....lol.. sorry im just being obtuse...

 

cool cool.:smileys: i always think maintenance and servicing costs.
cant comment on the new stuff. but i will wager the Toyota's are easier to source parts for in the Falklands

 

lol... errrr... you may be right

 

Get one of those 6 axle mercs, in black

 

3? :smileys:

 

I think it all depends if the pick up bed can comfortably accommodate a 50 cal with a 360 degree rotating tripod and seat?

 

This looks like a workable set up?

 

I own an L200 2010 warrior.
I think there are some misconceptions about these as some models were slow or unreliable. These are used by quite a few services, I think the Police and Fire Services use them.

L200 2005-2006 models were prone to cylinder head issues, the later models had a different engine according to an owners club where I asked questions before I bought one. Some are not fans of this model, the older ones they call the classic shape. The classics sound slow, unreliable and poor mpg according to the owners on that site.

I looked at Nissans many years ago and they had a common issues. I think they reduced the stroke of the engines later. I recall Rangers, were quite prone to head gasket failure issues back then. These issues have obviously been sorted since. They have become an alternative to buying a company car due to tax vs commercial use. My L200 can carry 1 tonne and this gave me better tax relief, but is more car like than older models. I've never had more than 200KG in the back. I have towed a little trailer gross 700KG, and a bigger trailer 1.2t approx no issues.

This 2010 L200 has a longer bed, air con, electric mirrors, Traction Control (which it needs) and some kind of hi, low, rear wheel drive, 4wd, open diff, lock diff gear box that Mitsubishi brag about.

It's not slow but does feel commercial-ish to drive, can be fun in the wet. They are very capable off road, look on Youtube. I'm not sure about heavy duty use, farms etc as I don't use my one like that.

Would I buy another NO.
Service costs are high (I use the main dealer). Customer service is not great.
Apparently Toyota parts are not cheap either, but if they don't go wrong it balances out.
I had valve clearance service check, that was not cheap, I've had a couple other scheduled services that were not cheap - not due to unexpected issues.

I looked at Hilux when I bought this but the interior in the Toyota was more off road bias back then, with very few mod cons. I think today pickups are a little bit less commercial focused.

I thought about getting rid of it the last two years (had a mate who wanted it) but it's very practical for me due to a variety of things I am involved with. In an ideal world I'd have 3 or 4 different cars but I got sick of having different cars and not using them, worrying about them getting damaged, so I started racing and after owning a couple nice vans, I bought the pick up.

Not the best to tow with perhaps due to high, light back end, lots of suspension travel but it pulls well.It tows small trailers fine but my race car trailer is long/big and enclosed.. so it has a lot of leverage on the truck.

Not the best (car) but it is ok on fuel 35-39mpg, 28mpg towing + looks smart enough at the gym next to nice cars. 4x4 means I can get to work and make sure workers can get home in all weather which is essential. Tools stay in the back, cab stays clean so not quite sure how I will replace it...

I think this year I will get a car with a tow bar as I won't be running race cars anymore from my own workshop.


I looked at Range Rovers but they are less economical and not as reliable.

If I wanted a truck now I'd maybe look at a new Hilux invincible but I'd probably just keep my one for a bit longer before I bought another pick up.

 

I've been looking forward to a spot of bush crashing at the weekend.

But I suspect the wife will have other ideas.....

A colleague has a VW Amarok. He's covered over 130,000 miles in 4 years & also uses it in his spare time as transport for his pyrotechnics display business. He claims the Amarok has been very reliable & doesn't plan to change it anytime soon.