Wanted - cheap 1st 4wd for daughter

[muddymatt1973]

Hi All,

My daughter is fast approaching legal driving age and of course it's dads job to supply the wheels!
I want to keep her out of the Honda Civic/toyota corolla trap and get her a 4x4. She can learn proper car control in the fields at home before she gets loose on the road.
I don't mind some work to do as we have some time before she gets going. Blown motor or stuffed diff etc
I was thinking maybe a Vitara/Scudo or similar - maybe a Rocky??
Don't mind Diesel or Petrol but must be cheap to run! No V8's lol 1600cc prob max.

What have you got? Max budget of a couple of grand.

Oh yeah MUST be manual, no daughter of mine is gonna have a restricted auto licence

[yeti]

did that a few years back for me boy...got him a wee feroza ....good little run around ,

[muddymatt1973]

did that a few years back for me boy...got him a wee feroza ....good little run around ,

Yeah something like that would be perfect! Still got it??

[yeti]

na little shit put it on its side paddock bashing ..got for 2k off some backpackers heading home ...great 1st 4wd pretty safe and easy to work on ........and before ya say anything his mother taught him how to drive

[parky]

Where abouts are you mate?

[muddymatt1973]

Where abouts are you mate?

Whangarei but happy to look at anything Hamilton North really.

[Swamped]

pmd ya

[lax2wlg]

Matt you should get her a Series Land Rover!
Then she learns to drive in style and theres no fear of speeding tickets!

[slidenyo]

watch the swb suzukis they're a bit lethal in the wet ,
cousin put aunties on its roof up vinegar hill,
I dare say the 5 door would be better although a bag of cement in the boot wouldn't hurt.
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-ca ... 818211.htm
probably get a fair few dad points if you rebuilt the engine and gave her this
+ airbags
+ abs
+ peace of mind

[muddymatt1973]

Shit thats cheap, might have to go and take a look. Cheers.

[Petemcc]

there will be a few of those that pop up that have been run dry on oil. We have them at work and the 2l motor uses about 1L of oil every 7000km (15000km service intervals). We have 3 and they all have done it since new. None of them have gotten any worse but consistently use oil. We had one that saw a similar fate to the one listed on TM. Also they average about 11l per 100km. Go pretty well for what they are though. Good on the road and would be much safer than a mid 90s vehicle.

[muddymatt1973]

That Grand Vitara would be good but even with a broke motor it's gonna be over my budget. I did go and take a look tho'
It still has oil and water at full levels and the owner reports it revved high and made white smoke before stopping.
It turns over fine now but won't fire.

I actually think I know whats wrong with it but it's a bugger I can't risk the $$$ to find out........

[zukmeista]

I did go and take a look tho'
It still has oil and water at full levels and the owner reports it revved high and made white smoke before stopping.
It turns over fine now but won't fire.
I actually think I know whats wrong with it but it's a bugger I can't risk the $$$ to find out........

This combined with the oil usage stated would IMO point to it having run away by burning the oil which usually=big bang=lots of money to fix. What did you think was wrong with it?

[muddymatt1973]

From what I saw the oil in the sump is original. i.e not all used up in an engine run-away situation. Also it turns over fine.
Coolant is fresh and green and full indicating no overheat.

From dealing with several common rail engines with lots of issues I would be looking firstly at an injector leak back test. With common rail if an injector fails it becomes a hose - literally pouring fuel in hence masses of white smoke and revs. Once either the driver switches off or the ecu detects the fault and shuts down it won't re-fire as with a buggered injector it can't make sufficiant rail pressure to switch on the injectors.

That being said. It is a direct injection motor so if it has spat the end off the injector it might be stuck in the piston, valve etc.... could have made it to the turbo and stuffed that too (seen that before - $$$$$)

Plus you don't know how long and how high the revs went before it stopped. Even if you got it running it might snap a weakened rod the first time you got some boost on it........

[slidenyo]

whats a second hand motor worth? sounds like you've already fixed it in your head,
they might take $3500 cash?
spend $500 fixing it $4k pretty cheap,
or spend $3500? on a new motor making it only $7k?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-ca ... 656046.htm
they seem to hold there value.
but I'm biased I drove shit cars chevettes vivas and a rover when I was learning,
looking back I'm probably lucky to be alive,
nearly hit a cow with the chevette, the viva had little to no brakes and the rover made a mess of the farmers paddock (farmer laughed old man nearly killed me)
could always put it to the daughter see if shes willing to put up some of her own coin/ get a job to pay for half,
utilise bribery for school grades, not touching alcohol and staying away from young chaps and your money would be well invested I reckon

[Petemcc]

My bad, didn't see it was diesel. The 2l ones that use all the oil are the petrol ones. We also have a 2.3 (or could be 2.4) petrol that uses no oil but all three of the 2L petrols use heaps

[Tonkatoy.]

whats a second hand motor worth? sounds like you've already fixed it in your head,
they might take $3500 cash?
spend $500 fixing it $4k pretty cheap,
or spend $3500? on a new motor making it only $7k?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-ca ... 656046.htm
they seem to hold there value.
but I'm biased I drove shit cars chevettes vivas and a rover when I was learning,
looking back I'm probably lucky to be alive,
nearly hit a cow with the chevette, the viva had little to no brakes and the rover made a mess of the farmers paddock (farmer laughed old man nearly killed me)
could always put it to the daughter see if shes willing to put up some of her own coin/ get a job to pay for half,
utilise bribery for school grades, not touching alcohol and staying away from young chaps and your money would be well invested I reckon

Ha Ha I had my step mothers Hillman Avenger airborn over railway lines - all was good until the landing and all of a sudden the engine was sitting on the steering and I was going nowhere other than where the wheels were pointing when it landed.

[TJ]

I'll be in a similar thinking pattern with my son in a year or so. Keep suggestions/ideas coming through. If he had his way, my TJ is old enough to be his

[muddymatt1973]

That diesel Zuk would be nice but it's gonna be over budget even before fixing it. Looking around that other one linked above is 300K and priced accordingly.

I'm thinking still of a Rugger, Vitara maybe as big as a swb Paj 2.5td. Even looked at a Terios the other day!

Nothing is urgent, if it doesn't happen till next year it's not a problem.

Please keep the ideas flowing

[zukmeista]

I'm thinking still of a Rugger,

Body's a bit rough but mechanicals are good, could go lower on the price if need be?
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=773737775