Gu patrol coil cab with td42 engine none of the other suggestions given can match it for strength or off road ability should be able to find one second hand in your budget will be good for a easy 500000 plus km also easy to get big power and torque from them with the right mods as they can be a little slow in standard trim

Technically most 4 wheel drives are actually three wheel drives as the front differential doesn't lock.
Center diff locks equal power between front and rear axles, rear locking diff locks equal power between each rear wheel but with an open front diff all the power to the front axle will go to the wheel that is spinning free while the one with traction will get no power.
Ever seen an all wheel drive stuck? it's rather interesting, different wheels individually take turns spinning while the other three sit idle.
In the states Range rovers, jeeps of most models and hummers have amazing 4x4 systems.
A lot of old timers say a 4x4 will just get you stuck further out in the woods...

^^ that's why we put a difflock in at the cost of about $1000, if we want to really go places. Not really needed for just getting down the beach, any real 4WD will do it just fine with open centres.
Better than putting up with Range Rover cost / unreliability, Jeep horrendous parts cost and continual breakdowns, and Hummer costing a mint and looking like a shoebox that will not quite fit anywhere you want to put it.

Jap 4WD all the way.

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Simondo said..

I like the look of the new(ish) FJ Cruiser...

www.toyota.com.au/fj-cruiser

Sandstorm, or Retro Blue...

got one of them 2, m8 that was in car thought it was funny that we got bogged first outing and took a photo be nice if he helped let the tyres downeh!!! , please keep in mind the tires were not let down (dumb I know but wanted to test it ou) and was the first tracks down to boranup for the season supper soft. after we let the tyres down and learnt how to put on the crawl function 9its my wifes car and she was about 8 months preg at the time we sat back and let the car drive its self out, crawl function is really cool although sounds funnny as it uses a hydralic system to drive wheel with the most tension I think

How can you get this far in a 4WD thread and not name the best 4WD in the world??
get a discovery mate
get yourself a disco
have a ball

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Rails said...
How can you get this far in a 4WD thread and not name the best 4WD in the world??
get a discovery mate
get yourself a disco
have a ball

Love me a disco or troopy.

How realiable are the discos, parts cost?

Troopy

Ya cant sleep in a NORMAL dual cab trayback

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Jared888 said...

Simondo said..

I like the look of the new(ish) FJ Cruiser...

www.toyota.com.au/fj-cruiser

Sandstorm, or Retro Blue...

got one of them 2, m8 that was in car thought it was funny that we got bogged first outing and took a photo be nice if he helped let the tyres downeh!!! , please keep in mind the tires were not let down (dumb I know but wanted to test it ou) and was the first tracks down to boranup for the season supper soft. after we let the tyres down and learnt how to put on the crawl function 9its my wifes car and she was about 8 months preg at the time we sat back and let the car drive its self out, crawl function is really cool although sounds funnny as it uses a hydralic system to drive wheel with the most tension I think

Is your girl reading you instructions on 'How to let down a tyre?'

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rod_bunny said...
Troopy

Ya cant sleep in a dual cab trayback

I can in mine it has a 2 m long tray

How far did you get with 40PSI in your tyres??

I was on a beach up north a few months back when I got stuck. I had been there a few times before but this time it was much softer than usual. Someone pulled up, wound down the window and asked what pressure I was running. I told him about 18 PSI.
"Too hard for this beach mate" he said, "but because you got half a brain and made half an attempt, I help ya out". I was left with the impression that anymore air than that and I would've been left there.

There are some beaches where that is the rule. Not sure if I would've tried it on a beach unless I had mate back-up.

Old school diahatsu rocky (Unbreakable).

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Mark _australia said...
any real 4WD will do it just fine with open centres.

What are these centre diffs of which you speak? None of that fancy-shmancy trickery on the 1982 Hilux. Same power to the front and back axle regardless. Just don't drive it in 4x on the blacktop, the tyres will work against each other and wear out quick smart, plus you'll struggle to shift out of 4x to 2x with all the torsion in the drive shaft (reverse a little can help).

In all seriousness though, I'm also in the market. I looked at this:
www.caradvice.com.au/249408/ute-comparison-ford-ranger-v-holden-colorado-v-isuzu-d-max-v-mazda-bt-50-v-mitsubishi-triton-v-nissan-navara-v-toyota-hilux-v-volkswagen-amarok/
I've also read a similar review of 5 of those same utes in a print magazine at an airport in 2011, just after I bought a Navara. It came last out of the 5 at the time overall, though it did alright in some of the sub-categories. I didn't mind it, but did run out of clearance a couple of times and I gave it a knock on the underneath. Just cosmetic though, no real damage.

Not that I was put off, the only reason I sold it was to move to Canada. It was still pretty good.

In light of the reviews though, and the other two Hiluxes (one being the 1982 model) and one Navara I've owned over the years, I'm going for another Hilux now. I'm pretty tempted to go the wagon idea people have mentioned, but I think the convenience of putting long things inside and sleeping inside it would be outweighed by the inconvenience of being careful about wet gear and not being able to throw the occasional fridge or cupboard on the back without renting or buying a trailer. As a tradeoff I'm aiming for a canopy on the ute - the lockable hardcover I used to have didn't have enough room under it for a lot of stuff.

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Pitbull said...

Jared888 said...

Simondo said..

I like the look of the new(ish) FJ Cruiser...

www.toyota.com.au/fj-cruiser

Sandstorm, or Retro Blue...

got one of them 2, m8 that was in car thought it was funny that we got bogged first outing and took a photo be nice if he helped let the tyres downeh!!! , please keep in mind the tires were not let down (dumb I know but wanted to test it ou) and was the first tracks down to boranup for the season supper soft. after we let the tyres down and learnt how to put on the crawl function 9its my wifes car and she was about 8 months preg at the time we sat back and let the car drive its self out, crawl function is really cool although sounds funnny as it uses a hydralic system to drive wheel with the most tension I think

Is your girl reading you instructions on 'How to let down a tyre?'

probably... 'self delivery on a beach whilst bogged, with an idiot by your side'

OR - 'How to break your wife's water whilst driving on fully pumped up tyres on a soft sand beach.'

I bought a 2012 Hilux and would do it again. I have driven on beaches and mountains on both sides of the country and loved it.
Sure some of the other utes are on paper more technically advanced but the Hilux still holds its own both on and off the tarmac. Aftermarket product range is great as well if you decide to add bits later. After having helped mates do some electrical mods on their Navaras and Tritons the Lux is easier to work on as well. I am averaging around 10L/100km on the fuel at the moment.

If you google hard enough you will find equal amounts of haters of all brands able to pick "massive problems" on all of them.

And also if you do hit the beach make sure you have the basic recovery gear onboard with you. Always happy to help but there is nothing worse than cruising down a beach to find someone bogged to their sills with their hand out needing to borrow your shovel as well as your strap and maxxtrax so you can drag them out.(although they usually are the ones that throw a 6 pack or more your way after you help them)

Center differential is for an all wheel drive vehicle, a 4X4 that can be driven on the road. It splits the power between the front and rear axles. Some of them like the Subaru I think have a limited slip feature, when one axle starts to spin free it heats up a fluid, the fluid to start to solidify which slows it down thus sending the energy to the other axle because the energy always wants to go to the axle with the least resistance.
A hummer has a transfer case (originally used in jeeps) that allows 2wd, AWD and fully locked 4WD

I'd go a Toyota.

Purely on the fact that almost every mid sized country town has a Toyota dealership. Lets see what the price is for a Euro part in the middle of know where.

They have the best parts back up in the country.

Go bush and have a look. Everyone drives a Toyota.

What echunda said.

Beagle, most 4wds in Australia don't have a locking rear diff, so they're technically 2wd.

Lots of the more expensive wagons have electronic traction control these days. E.g. mine can walk out of a ditch with wheels in the air, but it makes a godawful noise and puts a load on the brakes and drivetrain in doing so.

Full lockers all round are great, but I guess it's not cost effective to include them as standard on most vehicles and users who don't know what they do risk drivetrain damage and accident damage.

The other day the person driving my car took it to be cleaned (god knows why) and the cleaners pressed the centre diff button while wiping down the dash and the driver drove home with the centre locked. Luckily only a couple of kilometres but I still wasn't particularly impressed.

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Pitbull said...

Jared888 said...

Simondo said..

I like the look of the new(ish) FJ Cruiser...

www.toyota.com.au/fj-cruiser

Sandstorm, or Retro Blue...

learnt how to put on the crawl function

Is your girl reading you instructions on 'How to let down a tyre?'

as above she;s confirming the use of the crawl funtion, for those in the know its quite strange and you need to get it right or you could damage the tranfer box and diffs

Guess your not in the know neither was I

Doctor quack quack quack!!! ur funny

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theDoctor said...

Pitbull said...

Jared888 said...

Simondo said..

I like the look of the new(ish) FJ Cruiser...

www.toyota.com.au/fj-cruiser

Sandstorm, or Retro Blue...

got one of them 2, m8 that was in car thought it was funny that we got bogged first outing and took a photo be nice if he helped let the tyres downeh!!! , please keep in mind the tires were not let down (dumb I know but wanted to test it ou) and was the first tracks down to boranup for the season supper soft. after we let the tyres down and learnt how to put on the crawl function 9its my wifes car and she was about 8 months preg at the time we sat back and let the car drive its self out, crawl function is really cool although sounds funnny as it uses a hydralic system to drive wheel with the most tension I think

Is your girl reading you instructions on 'How to let down a tyre?'

probably... 'self delivery on a beach whilst bogged, with an idiot by your side'

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oldgumtree said...

Rails said...
How can you get this far in a 4WD thread and not name the best 4WD in the world??
get a discovery mate
get yourself a disco
have a ball

Love me a disco or troopy.

How realiable are the discos, parts cost?

I did 150k in this disco with nothing but basic servicing and tyres replaced. It was an unstoppable beast
Its not bogged in the first photo either.

^^^^I do love the creasing from your ,maybe, board padding?

Re: ruggedness, I'd say you were just lucky. I've heard of horrors!

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Buster fin said...
^^^^I do love the creasing from your ,maybe, board padding?

Re: ruggedness, I'd say you were just lucky. I've heard of horrors!

Actually the creases were from a makeshift luggage rack that came unstuck at Warroora. Definitely got lucky I've heard some horror stories.

just picked up an Isuzu MU-X, goes very well for what you pay 15k better than a Prado

The best 4wd eh. How about the best boat / 4wd hybrid?

Nahhhhhh.......
this is more outback / hold my beer and watch this, style.

or here is a better way to cross water, although I think a cruitrol would be a bit awkward getting on the dinghy.

would score more awesome points if he used the PTO to run a long-tail, Thai style.

ultimate wet crossing 4WD is on display at a local W.A. school.
This one was "driven" around the world by one of their students, only had 1 x flat tyre, and 2 burnt valves.
valves were fixed somewhere in the Atlantic.




stephen

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GreenPat said...

Mark _australia said...
any real 4WD will do it just fine with open centres.

What are these centre diffs of which you speak? None of that fancy-shmancy trickery on the 1982 Hilux. Same power to the front and back axle regardless. Just don't drive it in 4x on the blacktop, the tyres will work against each other and wear out quick smart, plus you'll struggle to shift out of 4x to 2x with all the torsion in the drive shaft (reverse a little can help).

I was talking about diff centres, not centre diffs.

Your Hilux still has open (not LSD or locked) diff centres so still suffers from the wheel in the sky = no forward motion.

No one said Jimny yet?

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Mark _australia said...

GreenPat said...

Mark _australia said...
any real 4WD will do it just fine with open centres.

What are these centre diffs of which you speak? None of that fancy-shmancy trickery on the 1982 Hilux. Same power to the front and back axle regardless. Just don't drive it in 4x on the blacktop, the tyres will work against each other and wear out quick smart, plus you'll struggle to shift out of 4x to 2x with all the torsion in the drive shaft (reverse a little can help).

I was talking about diff centres, not centre diffs.

Your Hilux still has open (not LSD or locked) diff centres so still suffers from the wheel in the sky = no forward motion.

Shouldn't the wheel by wheel electronic braking of new-age stability control systems soon be fitted to all 4wds and make these fancy diff centres obsolete?
( Then again if the manufacturers of 4wds got serious about hub electric motors they could do away with diffs altogether.)