Unusual Request

[Pete and Tracey]

Hey Everyone,

We have just returned from a 4,500 k trip from Brisbane to Phillip Island with the TE and Patrol. The car went "alright" but am left wondering if a 100 series would be any better.

What I would like is someone here in Brisbane with a late model 100 series diesel to chat to and possibly have a drive of thier vehicle to make an informed choice as to wether to upgrade to a 100 or not. I would like to know if the 20 odd k that I have to spend will be worth it or not.

I am sure that the Cruiser will be better, but 20 k better?? It would be nice to get sone perspective on this.

I hope I am not out of line asking this but I have a bit of soul searching to do before we head off mid next year.

Thanks, and any help appreciated.

Pete and Tracey.

[King and Deb]

Hi Peter, We have 2006/7 100 series TD and just did a 3 week trip to S.A towing our 20' ATV and was extremely happy the way both the car and van handled. I never bothered with the fuel consumption on this trip but previously I've worked it out to being between 18-20Ltrs /100klm towing the van. The TD has no trouble pulling the van up the ranges. Normally drops to 2nd gear and sit on about 30-40 Klms/Hr.Not sure what size motor is in your patrol but a cruiser has better resale value if your going to upgrade in the future. Deb & I will be going to the Xmas gathering so we can meet and catch up there if you have anymore questions.

Kingston Rose

[Zolle]

Hi Pete & Tracey

After all the suspension upgrade and intercooler mods on the 4.2 why not chip the engine and fit a mandrel bent exhaust? Then by reputation you should have a really good Patrol to pull the van.

I have a CRD Patrol with a Digi CR65 chip which gives something like 134Kw & 430Nm torque which pulls my fully loaded XC2 (about 2.75t with full tanks) as quick as I want to drive easily on bitumen or dirt roads. Your 4.2 with mods should pull your heavier van just as easily.

Regards

John

[Pete and Tracey]

Hey guys,

Thanks for the replies. Zolle, the 4.2 is not a CRD and can't be chipped unfortunately. The 4.2 is pretty old and is truck like. I have a 3" exhaust dynoed etc etc. The power on the flats is fine, just the hill climbs that worry me. Especially the long laborious ones, they sap the power!!

King and Deb, you said "Normally drops to 2nd gear and sit on about 30-40 Klms/Hr". That is encouraging as going up the Toowoomba range or Cunninghams Gap for example, the Patrol is doing much the same.

I have an impression in my head that the Cruiser will "drive" up hills like that with the van. Perhaps it doesn't and labours as well ?!?!?!

This is where I struggle, if I did spend the 15 - 20K on upgrading I may not see a return on investment and be back or just above square one! Like I said for that money I would expect the tug to power up those hills compared to what I can do now. Don't get me wrong either, I don't want to race around the countryside. I would like the vehicle not to be too stressed out. We sit on 90K/H.

I hope this makes sense, I know most of you have had Cruisers. Thanks for the feedback, keep them coming so I can make an informed decision.

Pete and Tracey

[Mrs Lynn Astill]

Hi Pete,

We have a 2004 100 series TD with rapid chip and 3" exhaust. We are also waiting for a 20 foot topender to be built early next year. I am also interested in seeing how the cruiser will tow a 3.5 ton van. The other thing is we are not sure if we can get a van of this size into our yard (battle axe block). We live on the northside of brizzie also. Perhaps you would be interested in bringing your van over so we can do some trials beneficial to us both. Please respond via email, youngharry52@hotmail.com.

Kind regards

Chris.

[King and Deb]

Hi Peter,

we've just come back from spending the weekend at Queen Mary Falls and I mentioned previously that the car did 30-40klms up the range . I was mistaken going up Cunninghams gap for 98% of the climb the car was in 3rd gear 60klms/Hr. on the odd occasion it dropped back to 50-55klm in second gear. Fully loaded the ATV is close to 3.5 tonne. So i was pleased the way the cruiser handled the hills.

King.

[Rod and Mavis]

Greetings Peter and Tracy We have a 2002 model TD Turbo auto cruiser (only 4 speed) that we downgraded from a 3L 2000 model Patrol through necessity.

The 3l 2000 model blew the engine at 150,000 k's as they did but was a great tow vehicle.

Our van was purchased in 2005 and was sold by Kedron as a van suited the 3L Nissan the Prado and the Pajaro (autos). When we picked it up it was very marginal at 2340 kg's net being that the vehicles were only rated at 2500kg's.

Due to further mods later on our van (extra water tanks solar panels and other necessary weight increases) it was decided to "upgrade to a vehicle that was rated at a legal weight" (100 series auto IFS front end).

The so-called upgrade was a disappointment for us. The towing ability of this machine was quite inferior to the Nissan. In fairness I think this was my fault in not getting a 5 speed later model, because the performance as stated by the owners of these later beasties is purported to be supremely better than ours. The lack luster performance was checked on the dyno at AAMS and confirmed to be at rated manufacturer output. So as you do when not happy we decided to have a 3" exhaust fitted. This mod made a massive difference to the torque and general pulling power. But as you do when not happy we decided that a chip needed to be installed as well so went ahead at a later date and had AMMS install a chip that was tuned on the DYNO for towing performance and economy. Again a big improvement.

Unfortunately still not happy Jan. Waiting for the new V6/V8 Renault Nissan to come out and will take it from there due to the not great stats on the 200 Toyota.

This should cause some input grin.

[Kimbo]

not great stats on the 200 Toyota.

Wash ya mouth out Rod, the 200 up against the V6/v8 Missan anytime if they ever get released :thumbsup:

[Rod and Mavis]

:laugh:

Was wondering how long it would take you :biggrin:

[TonyH]

Hi Rod,

I'll wave the flag also for the 200....its an incredible tow vehicle, power to spare, economical, stops on threepence & has more comfort than the Nissan

[Pete and Tracey]

Thanks for the replys everyone.

We are going to the Toyota dealer on Saturday to testdrive, and probably purchase, an 09 76 Cruiser V8TD. I like the v8 as it puts out about two and a half times the Patrols power and bucket loads of torque. I like the solid axles as well.

So we will see how it goes eh?

[Adam S]

Hi Pete and Tracey what a great choice we have an '08 GXL 76 series cruiser towing a fully loaded Topender. Some hills slow us down but not many average fuel about 19l/100k's the best so far has been 16.5 and we are running 28575 tyres Sparce inside but agreat little truck you'll be bappy with the choice :thumbsup:

[Pete and Tracey]

Hey Adam S,

Good news. I haven't heard anything bad about them as of yet. Must be a good thing.

Looking forward to seeing how it goes on Saturday.

[tex]

Hi Pete and Tracy,

I have a LC76 V8 and my wife and I love it. It has not all the bells and whistles of the big 200, but we never had them in the past and the 30 odd grand was a saving. We tow a 19.6 internal TE and have no problems at all. We have just completed a trip from Sydney via Canberra,Bendigo, Mcclaren Vale, Port Augusta, Wilpena Pound, Marree, Oonandatta, Dalhousie Springs, Mt Dare Station, and out to the Alice via the Painted Desert. After Alice we returned to Sydney via the Plenty Hwy not a problem was had no flat tyres, no break downs, saw plenty of wrecks on the side of the road. The LC76 and van performed as they were designed and we enjoyed our trip. We are both over the moon about our choice of tow vehicle and still have that 30 grand in the bank :thumbsup:

[dazmit]

Hi All

I'm actually surprised the 76 tows so well since it has such a short wheelbase, my understanding was the longer the wheelbase the better for stability and the 76's is shorter than the 100 - maybe that theory has been debunked.

I know when we changed from our Prado to the 100 series I was amazed at how little I realised the van was pushing the Prado around.

Pity Toyota didn't keep the 100 series and put the V8 diesel in it rather than bring out the 76 in my opinion.

Cheers

Darryl

[Pete and Tracey]

Thanks for all your opinions regarding our vehicle choice. I have talked with people both on line and on the phone and I can't get any bad reports from anyone. We have ordered a 76 and should get it early Feb.

We like to keep things simple as well, hence the 76 as opposed to the 200. We looked at both. The 30 k saving is a bonus as after ARB has finished with th 76 we will still have plenty of change.

We'll see how it goes I guess.

Thanks again everyone.