petrol prado thoughts

[89lux]

hi ive been looking at the petrol prados. anybody had any experience with them? running costs, common probs etc

[Jerry]

plenty of power but thirsty

[BlakeNZ]

are you talking the 90 series?
3.4 litre v6 or 2.7 litre 4 cylinders?
how many kms do you think you will do annually?

[89lux]

yes the 3.4 v6. not many as i have a work van and a runaround car so just for trips away and towing

[Marco Polo]

Girl at work has one as a daily and to tow horses. Seems reliable but yeah she's good mates with the gas station owner....

[1000dollamitzy]

My father in law has one, good truck, goes well, but as everyone says they drink like a fish.

However if you are doing less than about 7000km a year then it will still work out a lot cheaper running the petrol as there are no rucs, the rego is cheaper, they are cheaper to buy and you have to service them less often.

The up sides are that you can actually pass another car on the open road, they are a lot quieter and they don't blow heads if you tow something up a hill.......

[muddymatt1973]

Not exactly the same but I was looking at Prados etc for the same sort of use. Towing the float and very occasional trips. Be lucky to do an average of 100K a month.
All the diesels I looked at had mega K's were worn smooth inside and were on 2nd or 3rd heads! And they still were asking well over $10,000 for them.
So I did the maths regarding RUC's, rego costs and servicing and bought a 2004 Mitsi Pajero 3.8 V6 for $5000. Only had it for a couple of weeks so no idea on fuel use yet but it sure pulls the float well
Mate has a manual Hilux with the V6 in too. Not sure if it's a 3.4 or a 4 but I'll ask him what his fuel use is.

[derk]

blah blah blah ....and bought a 2004 Mitsi Pajero 3.8 V6 for $5000... blah blah blah

x2 on those mitzi's mate most people don't really give them a second look and head straight over to the $$Toyota$$ department for an over priced 20 year old worn out $$80 series cruiser$$ or a 1kz hand grenade theres some good bargins out there if you know where and how to look

[Jerry]

Some of the late model mitsi's are known for brake booster problems that cost $$$ to fix

[BlakeNZ]

if you are only doing low kms, you can afford to buy the 3.4 litre V6. Be aware that you need to find a very well maintained one, because they are hard to work on, due to the way the V6 fills up the engine bay. Access to things like exhaust studs is very difficult. If stuff goes wrong, it takes longer to fix, and a poorly maintained example, stuff goes wrong more often.
also be aware, that while they are cheaper to purchase than the diesel versions, that is because they are harder to sell. So it may take a little while to sell when you wish to move it on.
I saw one trade me advert that the owner said he got 10km per litre from his 3.4 V6 Surf, but that is very rare. One owner i talked to said he got less than 7km per litre.
The 3.4 V6 is a vast improvement over the 3.0 V6 in the VZN130 surfs, and doesn't do head gaskets the same, but the 3.4 litre will also start to develop flaws if the cooling sytem hasn't been well maintained.
So do your homework.
BTW, i bought a 2.7 petrol Surf, and found it was so practical, I am doing twice as many kms per year as i thought i would. A prado is also very practical.

[timmay556]

If you are doing low k's then just buy anything really.

[muddymatt1973]

I spoke to my mate with a 3.4V6 Hilux.
He gets 350k to a tank towing.
Most he ever got was 480 on a long run to Taranaki. Loaded light not towing.
I think it's a 65litre tank on a lux?? Sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.
So if my maths is right - between 13.5 and 18.5 litres per 100Km which sounds about correct too.

[boon]

I have a 3.4 swapped VZN130 Surf.
Drives bloody well, tows happily the few times I've had something on the back. Worlds better than the 3.0 that it came with.

But as above, drinks petrol like it's going out of fashion.
I found I get way, way better mileage running it on 95 octane over 91 but I think highway average is around 16L/100km and a round trip of the Ohakune Mountain Rd will use a fifth or so of a tank :/