Thread: Budget Family 4WD

Those little Japanese 4w4 light trucks are very interesting, not road legal but very capable when given a little stilts job and some slightly bigger feet. A wee bit lacking in grunt (some are only 550cc) but the one the farmer mate has pisses all over the side x side's and comes in at 1/3rd the price. Much more comfortable cab, uses standard Repco automotive parts which are a fraction of the cost for spares and service components.

The weight distribution is also quite interesting with the rear-engined versions, as i understand it the mates one is quite unusual being diesel powered and not petrol. Not sure if that's something that happened here in NZ or it started life like that?

Possibly a bit light for wading and crossing duties and as I said the road-legal aspect is limiting but if you were in off-road areas only they'd be spiffy.

Just looked at the cost of those sherps, US$115,000 - ouch!