Alternative car ...? dont want to but what to get.

[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

Hey Guys,
Well with a change in financial situation and the fact that with injector problems and seals and everything else that goes along with our kdj120r, we are moving on from this before it costs us an arm and a leg.

I hate to see it go, as its a beautiful car, inside, outside and to drive. But its just too expensive to maintain and run. We are therefore looking at something to replace it with. I know it seems odd to ask here, but i trust the community here and would think they probably have a good idea about whats out there. We Tow a very light (maybe 900kgs fully loaded) 12ft van maybe 3 times a year, need room for 5 + gear. Want something that is going to be more realiable than the prado (it has cost us a lot in the short time we have owned) and not to heavy on the wallet to start with. Happy to go second hand, but must be less than 3 years old.

options so far are: (in no particular order)
Outlander, Captiva, Xtrail, X240 (eeeek idk about this one), forrester, rav4, mazda cx7...

None of these excite me in anyway, so you see where im at. ANY HELP???

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Have a look at the Hyundai SanteFe (2.2 CRD) Pretty economical,feature packed, good build finish, 114Kw & 340 odd nm. I think the Turbo ones are something like 145kw & 430nm. might be worth a gander...

[Disco4 Member Find all posts View Profile Close Disco4]

Try Kia Sorrento - very good reports.

Cheers

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

petrol prado? :P

[Guest Close Guest]

petrol prado? :P

My 03 petrol Grande hasn't missed a beat. Won't be trading it in for a while.. oK i might if there is a cheap Kakadu.

[craigm Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigm]

Now you're talking Wooley! That's certainly a big upgrade from the underpowered, stinky diesels....


(Ducking for cover)


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[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

problem with going down the petrol prado route is that it needs to be young enough to salary sac. will check out the others. cheers

keep the discussion coming.

[Justo77 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Justo77]

I second CraigM, my uncle has a Santa Fe and it's a very nice car, really comfy inside, all the mod cons, 7 seats and heaps of power.
He tows a 16' van with it and apparently goes really well with the van in tow.

[Dusty74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dusty74]

Mate if you don't want proper 4wd you can't go past the Toyota Kluger. Plenty of room, well maid and same V6 as current Camry, Hilux and Prado? As I said, not a real 4wd but my wife loved it.

Cheers,
Dusty

[Richoson Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Richoson]

Ditto on the Kluger.


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[Drj Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Drj]

Out of the options you are looking at in my mind the x-trail is a stand out, good towing ability for size fantastic fuel economy and not a Dickie goes wrong with them, the others are either thirsty( cx-7 , forrester and outlander), unreliable or untrustworthy( captiva and x240) or can't tow (rav4) have a chat to any xtrail owner and the answer will be decided, as for a terracan I wouldn't have a Hyundai in mt isa

[rags Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close rags]

We have only this afternoon picked up a new car for the wife, a Mazda CX5 with the 2.2lt diesel [129kw 420nm 6 speed auto and 1800kg tow limit] . On the 70km drive home over the Bells line of rd thru the mountains it did drive beautifully showing an average of 6.1 lt/100 km with effortless power up the climbs. We settled on the mazda after considering many other AWD suv ,was tempted by the Hyundai ix35 and Kia Sportage but we already have 2 other mazdas 2 & 3 so have been happy with the make so forked the xtra few $ for the CX5. I'm lucky that i can have the prado in the shed for our touring ,towing and play duties and drive a ute for work ,but would consider towing and touring in the CX5

[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

sorry havent updated my local, we are now in the hunter. though im unsure how that makes a dif with the hyundai. Max budget is $25k, which puts a few out of range. there is no petrol prados that fit, unless they have 400k kms on them, which puts the fear of cost in me. will go drive a few today and see what we can do. thanks guys. the kluger doesnt seems to stack up cost v what u get.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

im not sure whether you could do anything worse than buying a CRAPTIVA . i have it from 2 different owners that the 4 cylinder model , reliably chows down on 19 litres per hundred around town all day . thats without using the gutless engine to tow a trailer . according to choice magazine it also holds the record for national recalls at 21 .( now lets clarify in case someone on here bought one) , i don't know whether this is true of THE NEW CRAPTIVA . but with a history like that you wouldn't go there anyway . IMHO

[mcfisherclan Member Find all posts View Profile Close mcfisherclan]

pretty much narrowed the test drives down to xtrail and santa fe. Just need to find one that fits the cost to performance ratio we need.
heres hoping. thanks guys. (dont like the sportage's window setup, kids cant see out those windows)