Diesel Or Petrol

[Pete and Tracey]

Hey Guys and Gals,

Due to the storms that wreaked havoc in South East Queensland on Sunday, our beloved 05 Patrol had a tree fall on it as we drove down Samford Road. Damage to the Patrol is irreparable I think. Luck escape for the wife and I as a branch ended up 12" from our heads. Pictures Attached.

Tracey and I are gutted as we had just finished the build of the car having fitted Polly air Bags that day and were ready to take delivery of the Top Ender in May 09 and head off.

If the insurance company decides to write the vehicle off, as I am sure they will, what is the preference for tug's out there?? Is it still the diesel or are petrol cars doing the job efficiently now days. Obviously I will be trying to choose between another Patrol or Cruiser, as I believe they are the only two that will do it with ease.

What are peoples opinions? Putting aside the Cruiser, Patrol thing :-)

[TonyH]

Pete & Tracy,

How lucky are you guys!!! You must have had a HELL of a fright!!

Looking at the drivers seat I'm surprised it doesnt have a brown stain! :question:

Your 'old' tug was a 4.2 diesel as you would possibly be aware Nissan are no longer building these & importing them (into Oz at least). You may find a good 4.2 diesel around but you will pay top dollar for it because they are so scarce.

The Nissan 4cyl Turbo Diesel will be working extremally hard to pull a Top Ender around.

I dont know how far your budget will stretch & if you are going to buy new or used..... but you would have to go a very long way to find a better tug than a LC200 TTD.

In this current economic climate I think you will find dealers very keen to do a deal...whatever make you decide on.

I trust you bought a couple of lottery tickets! :thumbsup:

Regards

[Mark n Deb]

We are glad you guys are safe, that didnt look good from the pics. How did you go with the house all safe, we have broken windows and water damage, On the Monday i was swinging chainsaw all day helping the neighbours with thier trees down after i cleaned all our fallen ones. A hugh Thanks to Mark & Bernadette we managed to save most food in the fridge for lending their generator as our power only came back around 11pm Wed night. I have been also working the night shift at the Fertny Grove Transfer Station for the council trucks working at night. We hope any other members in the area are all safe and well

[Pete and Tracey]

Hi Mark n Deb,

The house is fine, thank christ, no damage. We have been on tarp patrol for the neighbours though as thier roof leaked. Don't know what we would of done if the house was damaged!

Ferny Grove, Keperra and The Gap look like a war zone. Haven't seen anything like it in my life.

[Mark n Deb]

Gday tete & Tracey yes i liken it to an artilary strike, i have seen very similar back when in my younger days when in the Army but never since. Iam stagered at the amount of tree waste comming into the Ferny Transfer Station. We have had 2 mill grinders running 24 hrs a day since Monday avo, when i did he paper work at midnight last night we had had 3400 tonnes of mulch out since Monday and midnight tonight i would say over another 1000 should have gone out. I am hoping we can go back to running a mulcher during the day only from tommorrow or Tuesaday. The amount of household waste comming in over the weekend hasnt been as bad as i thought it would have been but yes it has been a lot more than normal about 100 tonnes a day more than normal, anyway iam back off to work now, c you all latter.

Mark

[dazmit]

Glad you guys didn't fare too bad :thumbsup:

So is the Nissan to be written off or repaired ?

Cheers

Darryl

[Pete and Tracey]

Hi dazmit,

The car is a write off unfortunately. have the money in the bank and are going to start again with the build.

Having a look at an 05 100 series 4.2 auto and 05 4.2 Patrol on Saturday.

Really torn between the two as Tracey and I love going bush and the Patrol got us into some fantastic places to go camping. The IFS and front diffs are a concern to me with the 100 series, would love the engine though :-)

Just wish I knew how the Patrol will tow the Top Ender so I could make a more informed decision, put my mid at ease either way.

[dazmit]

That's certainly a shame.

The main problem with front diffs on 100 series is if performing snatch strap recoveries (on Nissan's - couldn't resist that one :biggrin: ) in reverse.

Since Toyota did the recall on the IFS arms there has not been one reported breakage of a IFS arm on any of the 4WD forums I frequent so that is a non issue IMO.

Having had a test drive of a 4.2l Nissan when looking at vehicles I was very underwhelmed with it's performance compared to eith er the 3l Patrol or the TD Cruiser - IMO it's no comparison and the auto in the Cruiser makes it so much nicer for towing through cities etc.

The Cruisers do perform much better from the bottom end with a chip and 3" exhaust too.

You would have to think with Diesel still 35c/litre dearer than petrol that the V8 petrol Cruiser would be cheaper to run but it wouldn't have the range of a diesel or the Tough sound :thumbsup:

Cheers

Darryl

[King and Deb]

Hi pete & Tracey, First I'd like to say your both bloody lucky the car looks very sick. I have a 07 100 series TD and am pulling a 20' ATV and it has no trouble towing it. I'm also in a 4WD Club and we've just had our Xmas party and there are members with Nissans towing normal 20' vans and they are finding the 3litre TD are struggling on inclines etc. Nissan are supposed to be bring out a new engine but that is a few years off. As far as Petrol/Deisel for towing purposes I'd stick with deisel. good luck with whatever your decision is either way it's what your towing that makes the holiday special. :thumbsup:

Kingston