SketchGarda

17 minutes ago, desertdude said:

The problem is you want to have your cake and eat it too. You will have to cross one or more out. You gotta be willing to give somewhere. And Ive been driving offroad almost 20 yrs now and none of my cars have had a difflock. Dunno why its such a essential requirement in your case, specially being newbie and with no intention of extreme driving? 

I'd go for the 100 series land cruiser. Buy the nicest one you can in your budget or even if you have to pay a little extra. Nowadays Im seeing some very good, house runaround Mrs 2 car in house non abused very well kept models going for as low as 20k from the early 2000s. If I wasnt so broke Id get one agaib. Always wanted to get one again. With your budget you should have no trouble to be in mid 2000s and the fully specced VXRs do come with difflocks if that is something for some reason you cannot live without.

Hi desertdude, thanks for the reply. I will looks at the VXR now. Re the diff lock, it's not something I require, bit I was of the understanding that it would be foolish to go on the dunes without one as it's what needed when you get stuck, but good to know it's not essential, I guess I better not get stuck. 

1 hour ago, Rahimdad said:

Thanks Sketch for a comprehensive write up and allowing us to share with you our choice as per our experience. As my friend once told me, buy expensive and cry once or buy cheap and have to cry time and time again. We are in the middle of off-road season and people always tend to sell at a higher price during the season. My experience says even if you go for older but once you have a 4.0 6 cylinder Prado you will never regret it and it hardly looses its resale value. Pathfinder classic box shape 4.0 V6 and Pajero 3.8 are good choices but need a few mods to improve the ride height and approach and departure angles. With Pathfinder you should look for 2010 and beyond, and with Pajero 2014 and above.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Rahimdad, re the "2014 pajero and above" , did mitsubishi change/ add something that year? 

55 minutes ago, sertac said:

I would go with xterra. Diff lock is good to have but if you dont have its not a big problem. With that budget i think you can get 2011-2012 mid option. 

Thanks sertac, the xterra seems to have some good dune cred. It's close to the top of my list. 

Hi all, 

I am looking for some advice on which make and model would suit for a family off roader and daily driver. My budget would be around 45k. I have done a minimal amount of off roading before and would be taking it fairly handy (ie not hardcore) because of two youngsters in the back and I don't want to wreck or wragg which ever car I go for. 

I have done a bit of looking and have come to the following conclusion: it needs to be a long wheel base with 4/5 doors, Japanese make, roof bars for a roof tent and have decent space for car seats and all the camping gear. 

FJ cruiser would be my ideal, but seems to be very expensive and models in my budget are in sh1t condition. 

Patrol and land cruiser seem to be over priced. And way too much for what I need. 

Pradro seem to be priced quite high for the year/milage I am interested in. Kinda the same with Fortuner. 

Nissan pathfinder and armada don't have diff locks, but are well priced and have all the bells and whistle. Xterra off road is capable but is to high priced for the quality of the interior. I also wonder about Nissans electronic 4x4 system. 

Land rover lr3 seems like good value but resale would be a nightmare and the air suspension is sketchy. 

I'm kinda pointing to a pajero lwb 3.8 at the moment as it has what's needed, diff locks, low range and loads of space.  It's well priced and can fit all the family and extra gear. 

Please tell me there is something I have overlooked and there is a really cheap off-roader we'll within my budget.