So my girlfriend and I decided to take some time off and tour Oz with my parents caravan. After lots of research I settled on a Prado as my tow vehicle and after several dud inspections I finally found a 2006 Prado GXL 1KZ-TE Diesel engine in the Western Suburbs of Sydney with only 177000kms on the odometer. The car ran perfectly, looked immaculate, no cracked dash or obvious damage underneath and 4 new tyres. It seemed like a winner. I rang the mechanic that performed the most recent service and he confirmed it had been serviced recently and was sound. Unfortunately, I forgot to check the odometer reading….
The next day and $15,000 later I noticed some suspicious pen in the book and started to properly investigate. I finally got in touch with the real previous owner who had sold it 5 days previously with 350000kms on the odometer. The next 2 days were pretty stressful, but after driving 3 hours to get back to the scumbag's house in Liverpool, I managed to get $3000 out of him; probably the best result considering apparently the police/fair trading/anyone can’t do a thing.
Net result is I now have a 350000km Prado with a decent service history (filled in from previous owner). Everyone is keen to remind me about the expensive lesson I’ve learnt but I’m feeling optimistic that it has a whole lot of life left. My question is what can I do to keep it going and get me at the least through our towing trip.
Getting it serviced on Monday including timing belt change, new brake pads and rear shocks replacement per previous legit owner.
Tips on what else I should ask him to look at??
Thanks for any help
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