4WD - how did you get the bug???

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I think it would be interesting to hear about how people got into 4WD'ing

To get things started, I was born and raised in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea. We lived on remote Plantations and the only way to get around was 4wd. Even then, the wet season took out the old log bridges, and we had to walk for miles sometimes, just to get home. I grew up with 40 series land cruisers. I remember when the 1st motor vehicle made the trek from Mendi to Tari in the Southern Highlands. It was a 2stroke Suzuki LJ50. There was barely a track. Every time it got bogged, (which was a lot) the local villagers would pick it up and carry it. I learnt to drive in my Dads 60 series Wagon. I was in the same wagon when my older brother hit an embankment and rolled rolled it with 7 others in the car. We all survived. My 1st car was a Suzuki LJ80 with a 1ltr Sierra motor. It copped a hell of a flogging and simply refused to die. My next was A Vitara. I found it to be a lot softer than my trusty Stockman, but still a good little runabout. Now, years later I'm about to trade my 04 petrol Prado and patiently waiting on a 07 D4D Prado, and so it goes on...

It seems just about all the places I love the best, need a 4wd to access... so, in a nutshell.. thats how I got tyhe bug... how about you? Whats your excuse? :?:

[IRON-PAWW Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close IRON-PAWW]

I was a farmer over here in WA and well....... you could use a 2WD if you wanted instant death, extremely long walks, or went on nancy boy trips up the ashphalt. My favourite 4WD of all time has to be this Ford Versatile we used to have, man if only I could have driven that up a busy street. Ever since I left the farming business behind, I cannot get used to the whole 2WD urbanite slicked back hair with oonse oonse music thing. Those stupid valves that make a noise when the hoons change gear I find extremely funny rather than being ultra cool. Give me an Engel, power to 4 tyres, and a red desert road. I'll be happy then.

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

I have not done much 4 wheeling since I left the Navy, I was a crash driver at HMAS Albatross. It was my job to get the crash crews out to the downed aircraft, I spent a lot of time surveying the surrounding coastline for access points.

I doubt I will be doing all that much 4 wheeling out here as I have pretty much seen and done most of what you can do here in Alice.

We used to go up to the Barrington Tops NP quite a bit when we lived in Raymond Terrace. Now that was always fun except for the time I had to spend 10 days up there with the RAAF, it rained solidly for the entire time and the leeches came from everywhere. We spent the whole time sitting around the camp fire drinking port out of plastic 5 litre jugs, it was not a pretty site when we packed up to go. Talk about technicolour yawns everywhere.

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

I have a daily driver and for my second vehicle have always had hobby vehicles. Most of them have been built for speed or racing. I have had a 550HP Camaro and one of the new Mustangs. After purchasing an '05 Mustang GT I found out that is turned out to be a cheap pile of $#!+. I had to trade it in while they were still in demand, so I didn't loose a lot of money.

I have always had friends that off-road, so I went on the search for a capable off-road vehicle. I wanted a Hummer-2, but started looking for an H-3 because it was smaller and could fit on smaller logging trails. As I researched the vehicle I started reading comparisons between the H-3 and a new vehicle called the FJ Cruiser. I started researching the vehicle and found the FJ Cruiser to be a better buy, better looking, and more capable off-road vehicle. At the time they were hard to get due to being such a new vehicle and most people pre-ordering them. I went to every Toyo dealership and let every salesmen I could meet know I wanted one and offered a bonus to anyone that could get me one.

One Wednesday evening I got a call from a Toyo salesmen that had a customer that pre-ordered an FJ. He was in financing and had some previous discrepancies that prevented his financing. I was there about 15 minutes later waiting for the guy to release the vehicle. I was not the only one there. There was someone else there waiting (he is now my mate that I have wheeled with on vacation). I was there for about 3 hours arguing the value of my trade in and finally settled for about $400. less than I payed for it.

I have had it for about a year and a half and have since started an FJ Cruiser Club with my mates. We are about 75 strong and wheel together about twice a month. We have wheeled Moab, UT. and have meet up with 200 other FJ's in Ouray Colorado at the first FJ Cruiser Summit. I have modified it for extreme trails and I love this vehicle.

We have even talked about shipping 2-4 of our vehicles to Australia and spending a month there meeting up with some of you blokes.

See you then,

-Ben

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

I have a daily driver and for my second vehicle have always had hobby vehicles. Most of them have been built for speed or racing. I have had a 550HP Camaro and one of the new Mustangs. After purchasing an '05 Mustang GT I found out that is turned out to be a cheap pile of $#!+. I had to trade it in while they were still in demand, so I didn't loose a lot of money.

I have always had friends that off-road, so I went on the search for a capable off-road vehicle. I wanted a Hummer-2, but started looking for an H-3 because it was smaller and could fit on smaller logging trails. As I researched the vehicle I started reading comparisons between the H-3 and a new vehicle called the FJ Cruiser. I started researching the vehicle and found the FJ Cruiser to be a better buy, better looking, and more capable off-road vehicle. At the time they were hard to get due to being such a new vehicle and most people pre-ordering them. I went to every Toyo dealership and let every salesmen I could meet know I wanted one and offered a bonus to anyone that could get me one.

One Wednesday evening I got a call from a Toyo salesmen that had a customer that pre-ordered an FJ. He was in financing and had some previous discrepancies that prevented his financing. I was there about 15 minutes later waiting for the guy to release the vehicle. I was not the only one there. There was someone else there waiting (he is now my mate that I have wheeled with on vacation). I was there for about 3 hours arguing the value of my trade in and finally settled for about $400. less than I payed for it.

I have had it for about a year and a half and have since started an FJ Cruiser Club with my mates. We are about 75 strong and wheel together about twice a month. We have wheeled Moab, UT. and have meet up with 200 other FJ's in Ouray Colorado at the first FJ Cruiser Summit. I have modified it for extreme trails and I love this vehicle.

We have even talked about shipping 2-4 of our vehicles to Australia and spending a month there meeting up with some of you blokes.

See you then,

-Ben

I happen to see a FJ left hand drive in the supermarket carpark here in Alice Springs yesterday. Same colour as yours except the one I saw had been given a RV(Campervan) conversion.

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

That would of been something to see. Any pics.??

I know of someone on our message boards that moved from Hawaii to Australia. He is having trouble converting the headlights to pass the Australian vehicle inspection.

-Ben

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

That would of been something to see. Any pics.??

I know of someone on our message boards that moved from Hawaii to Australia. He is having trouble converting the headlights to pass the Australian vehicle inspection.

-Ben

I thought to myself at the time that I wish I had my camera on me.

It looked like this FJ had been brought over specifically for the owners trip and is probably going to go back to the US at the completion of the journey, or where ever they are going on to from here.

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

Can you believe my financial advisor got me into 4WDing?? I was looking to salary sacrifice my Ford XR6 Turbo 8) which I still had on personal finance at the time. She looked horrified when I told her I had a Ford. :shock: Her exact words were "get rid of it immediately. Go get a Toyota or something expensive that holds it's value". 15 minutes later I was sitting in Prado. I have always liked camping but this had opened all sorts of new doors and opportunities.

My wife and I live comfortably as we both are government workers but unless you are a multi-millionare you can't afford nice holidays anymore. We realised this was a way out of the ratrace and why should we keep spending bucket loads of money (that we don't have anyway) for holidays when we can have our own holidays in our Fourby.

Since then, we have enjoyed numerous camping trips and 4WD weekends away that we could never have enjoyed previously. And as far I am concerned, our Prado is the right combination of comfort and capable for most of our holiday plans for the foreseeable future. I have copped plenty from my mates who are Nissan men, through and through. Even though the Prado is stock and their trucks are heavily modified, I still manage to get most places with them, much to their annoyance. :lol:

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

I'm with you UberSarge.

I had been salary packaging Commodores for the last 9 years but Bek and I wanted something that we could see more of the country with.

It's now got 3 Pradopoint meetups and a 16,000 Km trip around Oz under its belt - and we love it.

The 3 boys also contributed to the decision - they couldn't all fit across the back seat of the Commodore any more :?

Cheers
Chippy

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I have had work 4wd's for about 20 years now. We do a fair bit of country work and needed the 4wd to get into some of the repeater sites etc.
(Dont do as much now though, technology doesnt break down as much )
I have had a few company lease vehicles (mainly commodores) and the accountant told me to go spend some money, looked around for a bit and the Prado was the go compared to the others I was also looking at.

Mistake was letting the Wife become involved, yeah you gop pick the colour..
She also upgraded from a VX to a Grande and chose Black :shock:

Great vehicle, I am thinking of buying a VX as well to play with, though am having a hard time in convincing myself to sell off the last company commodore (Supercharged V8 with about 600+ HP), gonna be difficult cause that things just fun!

[Treane Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Treane]

We got a 4wd to tow our pop top van, after our friends that we went away on holiday with did the same.

We had a 1992 dual-fuel Patrol, bought second hand in 2000. Of course seeing we had 4wd's we decided to go to Bunyip state park, which is near to us and try them out. We loved and was hooked then. We've been on 4wd holidays with our friends on several occasions (work keeps getting in the way). The best was probably our first foray into the VIC high country Mansfield to Dargo. 4 days, 9 people 2 4wds FANTASTIC.

The next vehicle was a brand new Patrol 4.8L in 2002 and put it on gas. Nice car - very thirtsy.

When we decided to tradeup we looked around - read the reviews, sat in a Prado and was hooked immediately. Looks like a car, feels like a car but you know it can drive like a 4wd. Hoping to get up into Bunyip again soon and try it out.

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

I did a trip around Australia in 1975 in a F100 wanted to do the cape then. Should have bought a 4w4 then. I was involved in scouting from 7yrs to 25 yrs. always did bush walks etc. Married 1980. then no chance of a 4wd. Went looking for a new car one day and she must have had a weak moment and she actualy sat in a Prado then drove it and liked it, that was 10 years ago. Now involved in scouting again as a leader,so the 8 seats come in handy. our kids have grown up and have bf's so dont want to come away any more. so we go with a group of 4wds out and about the bush as much as she who must be obeyed will allow.

Now have been to the cape twice.
Fraser Island
Morton Island
crossed the simpson each way on separate trips
vic high country 2 times
Tasie for a month.
a lot of National Parks in NSW.
now just ordered my 3rd Prado. end August order. waiting on delivery confirmation

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

Not sure really. Had a 40 series just out of school but sold it for a hot escort. Back into 4x4 with a 85 hilux which I took to the Cape then a 75 series middy. Best Toyota ever made.
That was the best vehicle.
Then a 95 dual cab hilux which we took around Oz. Cape GRR etc, and now Hillary the 120 series Prado.

[peterg4508 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close peterg4508]

I've had 4by's on and off since I was 18, started with a Suzuki Sierra.
Since then I have had a couple - F100 V8, Nissan GQ 4.2 Turbo, GQ Coil cab ute, then when back to mile munching SS Commodores for long trips at High speed over in the West.
Just got back into it this year with the Prado, met some great new friends when we moved east for work, started camping and Skiing, needed bigger wheels, Prado is no doubt the best I've had so far.

Peter

[Mike Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mike]

Lots of bushwalking and riding trail bikes and mountain bikes in the past with a bit of 4WDing on various farms. I have always preferred the bush to the city so the time was right to get a 4WD. No regrets.