4WD Advice

G'day all. I want to trade my Outback for a 4WD so I can get deeper into country faster to hunt.

Looking at older Surf or Prado Diesel.

As a family man though, I'd prefer something more comfortable and modern inside.

Is the 4L petrol Prado worth looking at? Or any other thoughts?

How much should I be looking to spend? I know there's a threshold below which it's wasted money, but don't think I'll have above $20k.

Thanks in advance.



Sent from phone - forgive typos etc

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

OK, you want get into country 'faster', but you can get yourself further into country and also further into the crap...

What you want is good ground clearance, lightweight, small external dimensions combined with stability and cheap purchase price with something that isn't abused, used for heavy towing and 4x4-ing and not a lot of value if the morons attack it in the back blocks. i.e. unicorn turds...

4L petrol prado is a target vehicle in the back parking areas in my view, what you want to look at is something like a good order xtrail or the like in terms of size and brand and as a second vehicle to the outback retaining that as your 'daily driver'.

Others will chime in to what they use and find good for your area...

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My old '96 Prado 3Lt turbo diesel fits this bill perfectly for me.

It does all the hunting duties plus does the school run every day, my wife drives the nice family SUV ��

4wd Hiace.

Hi/lo range

Basically a hilux.

2.8Liter diesel. Bullet proof engine (engine code 3L)

Slow, but cooler than a ute any day (unless you want to chuck half a dozen bloody carcases in the back, on top of the mattress......)

Should find one for 6-10k if you look around and are patient.

A minter is rare, but worth the dosh.

Might be stink if some asshole pinched it from the carpark though.


Here is a picture of a nice one...
Toyota Hiace 4x4 Photo Gallery #8/10

Beaten up Suzuki vitara

Have a '96 SWB 3L diesel Prado coming up for sale shortly.
Been a good solid performer for the last 10 years, but replaced as the wife wanted a vehicle with 5 star safety.
Sing out if you are interested. Probably in the wrong island tho.

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Originally Posted by quentin

Have a '96 SWB 3L diesel Prado coming up for sale shortly.
Been a good solid performer for the last 10 years, but replaced as the wife wanted a vehicle with 5 star safety.
Sing out if you are interested. Probably in the wrong island tho.

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ah, the classic safety story from the wife!

My missus brought a cruiser, the seller had to sell it for the same reason.

I reckon they are as safe as the driver feels like being.

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Originally Posted by 40mm

ah, the classic safety story from the wife!

My missus brought a cruiser, the seller had to sell it for the same reason.

I reckon they are as safe as the driver feels like being.

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And a portion of the rating relates to pedestrian safety


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Best bet would be to talk to the Ashburton 4wd club if your in Christchurch. From experience you don't want anything flash it will get scraped and scratched its the mechanical or toughness bit your after if proper off roading like driving up the rakia or a bit of bush bashing you are going to need about a 2inch suspension lift and 2 inch body lift with 33 inch or bigger 15inch tyres for a surf or safari mu or hilux and if going with a suzuki 31's will do the job. Diff breathers a snorkel and winch won't go astray either.

^this with the winch idea, would do something similar with 2" receivers mounted front and back

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

You have TWO SUV's? My god man, how do you sleep at night?

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Like a baby!

After all its only those filthy polluting utes that Aunty Cindy doesnt like......at this point :wtfsmilie:

I run a 2007 ford ranger i paid 20k for it has 2 inch lift arb bars, winch and a snorkel. You wont even need all that stuff but it gets me as far as i need to go has done few river beds and plenty of tracks. Also is nice enough on the road. I have 2 kids they fit in fine. So plenty of options around that price range for sure.

we have cheap run around car...and a older td28 powered terrano (or should that be underpowered?) and it does all Ive ever asked of it...tows loads of firewood,doesnt get stuck with half decent tyres on it and has done a heck of a lot of on road KMs with chunky off road tyres and they still have plenty of life left in them.
I park on funky angle if I can at road ends,if some prick want to try jacking it up to pinch wheels ,good luck to them.
a good family wagon and a crappy old 4wd is a good way to go for us...I can abuse the crap out of terrano and not worry about it...first three things you NEED to do with 4wd if the thing is to be used properly,scratch it ,ding it and get it stuck.....if you treat it like a rolls royce and too scared to plant foot to get through sticky spot,or bounce it through matagouri rather than through mud hole...you will be getting stuck often.
if you use you top two inches you can go a long way in simple 4wd without all the add ons. knowing when not to go there is just as important.

Whatever you get, go hard on light bars
Attachment 173601

Suzuki vitara five door and a basic set of muds tires and snorkel. they are a lighter suv and do float. Not a tuff truck by any means.
All depends how off road you want to go.
The likes of a suzuki will take you up your mud tracks, river beds etc but your high flow rivers and big boulder bouncing you will need a heavier truck.

Dont buy a 12valve 80series.

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Originally Posted by bigbear

Suzuki vitara five door and a basic set of muds tires and snorkel. they are a lighter suv and do float. Not a tuff truck by any means.
All depends how off road you want to go.
The likes of a suzuki will take you up your mud tracks, river beds etc but your high flow rivers and big boulder bouncing you will need a heavier truck.

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If you go suzuki get the grand vitara has the steel diff housing in the front instead of the standard alloy that snaps pretty easy

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

Starting to get into some serious mods and certing there though. One option for a winch especially a 'working' installation is a heavy duty power fitting either end, a pair of shackle points at either end and a narrow-drum winch mounted to a heavy plate with a pair of soft slings. Advantage of this setup is being able to pull from either end i.e. back out of the crap rather than further in, and less weight permanently mounted over your front axle (where a lot of vehicles struggle with legal weights).

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Yep but with all the new rules anything apart from stock standard pretty much needs a cert so do it all and do it once kind off job

Isn't it funny on people's standards of what a 4wd needs to be its like guns one will say all you need is a gun and bullets and learn to shoot others will be it has to be custom or it won't shoot straight all will get you a deer out to 300 but the custom will go further and a little easier and be nicer to use. But at the end of the day it's what you want to do and need it to do

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Originally Posted by country cuts

Yep but with all the new rules anything apart from stock standard pretty much needs a cert so do it all and do it once kind off job

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You should see the amount of (mostly rangers) 4wds here with massive offset wheels and tread of tires sticking way outside the guards......also sooty tunes and loud exhausts.
All seem to go unnoticed by the warrent places and traffic enforcement.

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Originally Posted by country cuts

Isn't it funny on people's standards of what a 4wd needs to be its like guns one will say all you need is a gun and bullets and learn to shoot others will be it has to be custom or it won't shoot straight all will get you a deer out to 300 but the custom will go further and a little easier and be nicer to use. But at the end of the day it's what you want to do and need it to do

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I have had a few different 4x4 now and been through the body lift etc custom bumper. Now i would only own a truck with the standard mud tyre that dont rub and a snorkel for piece of mind. And breather extension's for all those south island rivers.

I’ve had hilux (too hard on my repaired back) a Suzuki Grand Vitara (thirsty as) and d-max. The Suzie was most impressive in the sands of Rangipo near Waiouru and easily matched, if not bettered my sons Prado on the route we took. I still have an unfitted snorkel kit here.

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Originally Posted by Mohawk .308

My missus has a 2003 4l petrol prado, really nice to drive ,comfortable and plenty of power but bloody expensive to run. I’d be looking for an earlier diesel 96-98 if it was me. One with the old style odometer :thumbsup:

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Hang onto that....
Sick of spending the purchase price and more to keep old Diesels running I stumped up and bought a new budget brand 3 years ago.
Knowing what I now know I would do the same but buy a petrol.....any petrol I could get.

just wish they would put the vitara motor in the jimny !
be a drop in juice from my legacy 3.0 but the roads are so crap it doesnt matter

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

I dunno, the new petrols with sensors everywhere aren't a huge improvement over... anything really.

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I was more thinking of this government taxing diesel's till they are not viable to run rather than any reliability issues

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

I dunno, the new petrols with sensors everywhere aren't a huge improvement over... anything really.

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once you understand modern petrol engines they are ok to work on with a few access issues to the parts involved. everyone raves about engine management unit failure, its 90% a peripheral part.

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

I dunno, the new petrols with sensors everywhere aren't a huge improvement over... anything really.

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once you understand modern petrol engines they are ok to work on with a few access issues to the parts involved. everyone raves about engine management unit failure, its 90% a peripheral part.

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Originally Posted by Mauser308

Yep, done a few engine transplants and rebuilt a few so a fair idea. The biggest issue with the new ones is bloody CanBUS systems - unless you can address the replacement part and sensors to 'talk' to each other and get everything to play nice you're kinda screwed as a back yarder DIY man. Your average OBDII reader won't perform that level of intervention in an ECU and being able to recode something to talk to the propriety ECU is a major undertaking.

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What ya reckon about refreshing an ln106 2.8 and putting a turbo on it?
Looking at the kaiapoi lads and they get some impressive results .
I'm not a big lwadfoot these days but towing the trailer in the highway is painful with 65kw!

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Originally Posted by veitnamcam

Hang onto that....
Sick of spending the purchase price and more to keep old Diesels running I stumped up and bought a new budget brand 3 years ago.
Knowing what I now know I would do the same but buy a petrol.....any petrol I could get.

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I have a petrol VX Prado. It's not a daily driver but a weekend toy for fishing and hunting trips. Bloody comfy and plenty of herbs under your right boot. Fuel costs don't really worry me and it's only used occasionally anyway. It's just ticking over at 100km/hr. Some of these in the outback have over a million kms on them, if you service them well.

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