Thread: I think we might have sorted the Ranger...

Originally Posted by tac a1

I wouldn't. Get rid of the fucking thing before it costs you another 10 grand.

What are you going to get that won't have the same risk of costing you 10k out of the current crop of new utes? Not being a smart arse, serious question.

Me mate has gone off Toyota after his last one - this guy is or was one of Barry Crumps kids. The latest Fords aren't proving completely reliable, the Mazda Isuzu mix has issues, the mitsi new model is only a few months in and Nissan, well yeah. Nice but not work trucks.

Sometimes the devil you know... Add to the replacement vehicle price circa $6k suspension sort out that the current ute has already and changing out for someone else's cast off is the same risk or worse in a new wrapper...

Originally Posted by No.3

What are you going to get that won't have the same risk of costing you 10k out of the current crop of new utes? Not being a smart arse, serious question.

Me mate has gone off Toyota after his last one - this guy is or was one of Barry Crumps kids. The latest Fords aren't proving completely reliable, the Mazda Isuzu mix has issues, the mitsi new model is only a few months in and Nissan, well yeah. Nice but not work trucks.

Sometimes the devil you know... Add to the replacement vehicle price circa $6k suspension sort out that the current ute has already and changing out for someone else's cast off is the same risk or worse in a new wrapper...

While under warranty none of the new utes will cost ya 10 though.
You obviously love ya ranger that's very clear but you've dropped 10k on 25k ute once you've got that mindset you keep pouring money at it until one day you realise you've spent 30k on a 25k ute
Reminds me off a john deere I had.
If we all listened to others on what utes to buy
We'd all walk everywhere for fair of them blowing up.
I wouldn't judge other makes just make up your own mind.

Sent from my SM-S916B using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by BRADS

If we all listened to others on what utes to buy
We'd all walk everywhere for fair of them blowing up.
I wouldn't judge other makes just make up your own mind.

Fair point. Another crowd up the road from us bought 5 rangers, they all had a motor within 100,000km, which was 2 years the rate they were using them. One didn't even make it's first service, a dodgy injector fucked the motor in a month. Then the replacement motor fell out (no shit, they didn't torque or locktite the mount bolts to the block.), just endless issues that left them short on wheels

They have since moved to 70 series VD and had a much better run, although that's not reeeaaally comparing apples with apples I guess. They still manage to smash them, given the beer bottles in the back of all of them, it's not really a mystery how that's happening, but it ain't toyota's fault hahahaha

Originally Posted by BRADS

While under warranty none of the new utes will cost ya 10 though.
You obviously love ya ranger that's very clear but you've dropped 10k on 25k ute once you've got that mindset you keep pouring money at it until one day you realise you've spent 30k on a 25k ute
Reminds me off a john deere I had.
If we all listened to others on what utes to buy
We'd all walk everywhere for fair of them blowing up.
I wouldn't judge other makes just make up your own mind.

Well said. A lemon is a lemon and lemons can be horribly expensive in the long run if you don’t get rid of them at the first available opportunity. The flipside to this is that there are literally thousands of lemons hiding in the used car market, because owners that understand this principle get rid of them to unsuspecting buyers. You can never be too careful.

Regarding Ultimate Ford and dealers in general. You already know that I am a Toyota man. Based simply on high mileage in numerous LC, Hilux and other models in crazy places around the world. I bought two brand-new Toyotas for me and the wife in Australia in Perth, both did high mileage in their first two years all over the place, so I got to experience a lot of different dealerships for in-warranty servicing.

I’ve just looked through the service book for my Hilux and reminded myself that only 2 of the first 10 dealership services were satisfactory. The rest were half-assed shoddy efforts, including two where they blatantly lied about what they had actually done.

For example, I had been forewarned that the Alice Springs dealership was notorious. I put a little bit of clear sellotape on the back of the brake fluid reservoir cap, and filled the differential drain plugs with wet mud which was rockhard by the time I handed the vehicle over. Took photos of all the places I expected them to go according to the service schedule, noting that everything was covered in mud, dust and cunning bits of tape. I had a fantastic row with the service manager about all the things that have been ticked in the book but not even fucking touched by the “technician”. He was a bit taken aback by the measures I had gone to to catch them out. I caused a big stink right in the middle of his reception. I won.

In Mackay in sugarcane country the dumb cunt drained the sump without removing the ARB underbody bash plates. When I turned up in the evening to collect the vehicle there was a big puddle of oil underneath the truck, it was still fucking dripping! I’ve got photos of that somewhere. I had a look in the engine bay and blow me down he hadn’t even changed the oil filter, it was the exact same one that I had marked on the corner… and taken a photo of. I blew my stack and nearly thumped the guy but luckily the service manager was a GC and sorted it out, making the technician fix there and then after hours,b with me standing right next to him, growling. That was fun.

There were other annoyances along the way but those were the highlights. But also we’ve encountered really good bastards, usually in much smaller dealerships, like the guy in Devonport in Tasmania who went out of his way to help me fit some accessories and mods on a Saturday morning just because he was enthusiastic. When he gave me the bill it was a fraction of what I expected. Our local dealer in Paeroa has been fantastic and the young service manager who’s been there for years regularly helps me out with diagrams, suggestions and advice now that I do everything myself. Plus I get all my parts at trade which helps.

Unfortunately dealerships are a law onto themselves and I’m a firm believer that it very much depends on the culture and attitude of the leadership team. Bigger, generally iffy, smaller, not so bad. Not many of them pay the respect to the brand that they should and we are the ones that pay for that.

Originally Posted by Flyblown

Well said. A lemon is a lemon and lemons can be horribly expensive in the long run if you don’t get rid of them at the first available opportunity. The flipside to this is that there are literally thousands of lemons hiding in the used car market, because owners that understand this principle get rid of them to unsuspecting buyers. You can never be too careful.

Regarding Ultimate Ford and dealers in general. You already know that I am a Toyota man. Based simply on high mileage in numerous LC, Hilux and other models in crazy places around the world. I bought two brand-new Toyotas for me and the wife in Australia in Perth, both did high mileage in their first two years all over the place, so I got to experience a lot of different dealerships for in-warranty servicing.

I’ve just looked through the service book for my Hilux and reminded myself that only 2 of the first 10 dealership services were satisfactory. The rest were half-assed shoddy efforts, including two where they blatantly lied about what they had actually done.

For example, I had been forewarned that the Alice Springs dealership was notorious. I put a little bit of clear sellotape on the back of the brake fluid reservoir cap, and filled the differential drain plugs with wet mud which was rockhard by the time I handed the vehicle over. Took photos of all the places I expected them to go according to the service schedule, noting that everything was covered in mud, dust and cunning bits of tape. I had a fantastic row with the service manager about all the things that have been ticked in the book but not even fucking touched by the “technician”. He was a bit taken aback by the measures I had gone to to catch them out. I caused a big stink right in the middle of his reception. I won.

In Mackay in sugarcane country the dumb cunt drained the sump without removing the ARB underbody bash plates. When I turned up in the evening to collect the vehicle there was a big puddle of oil underneath the truck, it was still fucking dripping! I’ve got photos of that somewhere. I had a look in the engine bay and blow me down he hadn’t even changed the oil filter, it was the exact same one that I had marked on the corner… and taken a photo of. I blew my stack and nearly thumped the guy but luckily the service manager was a GC and sorted it out, making the technician fix there and then after hours,b with me standing right next to him, growling. That was fun.

There were other annoyances along the way but those were the highlights. But also we’ve encountered really good bastards, usually in much smaller dealerships, like the guy in Devonport in Tasmania who went out of his way to help me fit some accessories and mods on a Saturday morning just because he was enthusiastic. When he gave me the bill it was a fraction of what I expected. Our local dealer in Paeroa has been fantastic and the young service manager who’s been there for years regularly helps me out with diagrams, suggestions and advice now that I do everything myself. Plus I get all my parts at trade which helps.

Unfortunately dealerships are a law onto themselves and I’m a firm believer that it very much depends on the culture and attitude of the leadership team. Bigger, generally iffy, smaller, not so bad. Not many of them pay the respect to the brand that they should and we are the ones that pay for that.

Attachment 250260

That is a terrible photo FB. I would have gone ballistic.

Yeah, I like dealing with the Richards boys at Valley and TR Toyota. Good parts men, not the cheapest, but they will stand behind their product. I had a previous Hi lux that the alternator crapped out just after 100, 000kms. Out of warranty, but still replaced no questions asked.

These little things keep you going back.

Originally Posted by BRADS

While under warranty none of the new utes will cost ya 10 though.
You obviously love ya ranger that's very clear but you've dropped 10k on 25k ute once you've got that mindset you keep pouring money at it until one day you realise you've spent 30k on a 25k ute
Reminds me off a john deere I had.
If we all listened to others on what utes to buy
We'd all walk everywhere for fair of them blowing up.
I wouldn't judge other makes just make up your own mind.

Sent from my SM-S916B using Tapatalk

I think you missed the point that the dealer service crew threw their hands up and walked away from the problem - twice in fact with issues with this vehicle. It would likely have been a case of swap an entire vehicle piece by piece around the faulty part until the entire thing expired - I can't think what the downtime alone would have cost on that process so at least with the approach we've taken the downtime and cost (apart from the actual injection system clean and replacement of injectors) has been virtually nothing. I note that most sources are recommending replacement of these piezo injectors at 120-150,000Km now which this vehicle is bang in the middle of mileage wise.

No particular love for this vehicle (especially after the shite tricks it's pulled) - but looking at all of the issues and factors and weighing up the "issues and factors" list objectively - $10K is the saving in fuel burn alone in the first 100,000km. If I was going to replace the vehicle, it would be a low mileage or new option and it would cost a lot more than 10K. As I said, business decision and to get something brand new to do the job of this one is currently not easy, will cost something like 85K+ and take months to arrive and back to the previously mentioned issues with servicing and the like. Something had to be done in the meantime either a second hand replacement vehicle which might have other issues or fix what we have and also factor in for a business asset R&M is 100% deductible so it's not someone spending on a toy situation.

Also, not many vehicles have such an interesting failure of the powertrain control module which has taken out a shopping list of other sensors and parts (which actually served to hide the actual problem) - and not many have such a "I'm going to brick myself" instant reaction to a replacement module getting powered up in the vehicle in place of the original with the failure. Also, I could have gone cheaper and only replaced what needed replacing and done the repair half arsed for about $2000, instead of the full set of five injectors and EGR delete instead of repairing that bit too. That would have been an option if I was flogging the thing to be fair.

Originally Posted by No.3

What are you going to get that won't have the same risk of costing you 10k out of the current crop of new utes? Not being a smart arse, serious question.

Me mate has gone off Toyota after his last one - this guy is or was one of Barry Crumps kids. The latest Fords aren't proving completely reliable, the Mazda Isuzu mix has issues, the mitsi new model is only a few months in and Nissan, well yeah. Nice but not work trucks.

Sometimes the devil you know... Add to the replacement vehicle price circa $6k suspension sort out that the current ute has already and changing out for someone else's cast off is the same risk or worse in a new wrapper...

2012 70 series. 200000 kms not one mechanical or electrical issue. A lof these kms are towing. Maybe Ive just had a really good run, Maybe its just my maintenance efforts. Who knows