JohnM
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2006
- Posts
- 11,432
- Qantas
- LT Gold
So what did @JohnM end up buying, or is he too embarrassed to tell us? Or possibly I missed it.
I went for the Everest.
Before the guffaws from:
- The hard-core off-roaders.
- The caravan or camper towers.
- The plutocrats.
I wanted:
- A full-size (but not large) vehicle in wagon style (not a dual-cab).
- A diesel motor.
- The nearest I could get to a car in terms of long-distance fast, comfortable cruising on both sealed and unsealed roads (eg. talking about wanting to comfortably cover 700-800 clicks a day at times).
- Full-size spare.
- Reasonable fuel economy.
- Towing a caravan or camper.
- Heavy-duty off-road rock-crawling or sand-digging (other than incidental to dirt-road use).
Those considerations eliminated:
- 200 series LandCruiser.
- BMW, Audi, Merc, Jeep.
- Subaru Outback or Forester (let alone their gutlessness and droney CVTs).
- Dinky SUVs.
- Pajero as too old.
So it really boiled down to Prado or Everest. Some horror stories still exist around Prado's engine, but more I feel Toyota has tended to rest on its laurels. Ranger is beating HiLux in 4WD utes, which is an indicator of trends to me, even though Prado doesn't sit on the HiLux platform.
The motoring reviews are consistently praiseworthy of the Everest (& Ranger) and rate it pretty much at the top of the above-mentioned four-pack, pipping Prado. I've driven plenty of Prados, so in the end after visiting Ford dealers, I went no further.
There was only one white 2020 build Trend model with the newer bi-turbo donk left in WA and it turned out it's in Albany, so there's a bit of messing around transferring it to my city dealer and getting it back to Perth. If that had been sold, I would have chose a colour but I prefer white for the bush and it avoids paying $650 extra for 'premium paint'. As I understand it, further deliveries from the factory have been suspended. I'll probably take delivery early the week after next.
My dealer did have a white bi-turbo Sport on the floor. The Sport looks the schmick and is superficially attractive. But it's all cosmetic and the increment in price doesn't seem worth it, being rational. But the biggest downside for me was 20 inch wheels and the associated lower-profile tyres. Head has to rule over heart.
Time will tell on the engine - as it will for just about all diesels from now on... It has a 5-year warranty and fixed-price servicing. I think it's pretty telling these days that the Germans, despite their much-vaunted quality, resolutely stick to a piddling 3-year warranty. Even Jeep has 5 .
So - that's my story and I'm sticking to it!