Land Cruiser or Patrol

Branchie · Senior Member

Land Cruiser or Patrol

Shogun · Senior Member

Hi Kevin
Both are good, depending on age cruiser will be more expensive but better resale, patrol is also good. I've had both over the years and had no real problems with either. What's the ATM of your van? That may decide which you get as I think the newer patrols can't tow as much as the the cruiser.

Good luck

Brett

Vince · Senior Member

Can probably give you an idea of fuel on the patrol. Around 18 to 20 L/100 on an average. Sorry don't know about the cruiser.

Vince · Senior Member

Sorry again .... Based on a 4.2L Patrol

dirvine · Senior Member

The general consencus is that a TD 4.2 patrol is the ducks nuts when it comes to bullet proof 4wd, grunt and strength. Issue is that they are old models as the new patrol only has a 3 ltr or there abouts motor still pulling a heavy 4wd. The other reason people like the 4.2 is that is an uncomplicated motor and the vehicle itself has less electronics and some feel more confident they couod fix things if they go pear shaped. Others say the 200 series LC has gone soft of being a rugged 4WD and the older models are better bang for your buck. Personally I dont have a prefence on either as people who own either are usually very passionate about their brand and rubbish the other. However having said all that if you are buying new and are hell bent on one or the other, then the LC is the better as it is more refined inside the cabin, bigger motor and tows more, so less stress on ths car. However if you are not brand specific, there are a lot of people who think the Discovery is the top of the heap. If you can get over the negativism of the supposed unreliability and expensive parts and service that some say come with the LR, then it has by far the best 4wd system, and the most comfortable ride. But at an asking price of close to $100k, for the SE model, which has the more powerful motor, or 90k for the base TD model, they aint cheap.

JackoFJR · Senior Member

You talking new or used , if used what years ?

Bill B · Guru

As Shogun metioned the ATM of your van is an important part of the equation.

Landcruisers (post 1998) can tow 3,500 kgs whereas Patrols vary.

A 3 ltr auto Patrol can only tow 2,500 kgs whereas a manual can tow 3,200 kgs.

A 4.2 ltr Patrol can tow 3,500 kgs

Pamela G · Senior Member

It does depend on new or used. New Patrols are only available in petrol not diesel. That is one reason we went for the Lc 200 and really like it. Fuel consumption depends on speed so it does vary. At 100 we get 20. At 80 to 85 we get around 18. Towing a 21 foot with a boat on top. We have now sent the boat home as we were not using it so it will be interesting to see if it makes a difference.

Desert Dweller · Senior Member

Didn't the 4.2TD Patrol have issues with having too smaller sump resulting in not enough oil being circulated throughout the engine? Last year friends of ours did Melbourne Perth, Broome, Darwin & back down through the centre. They'd bought a secondhand 4.2 TD Patrol & secondhand off road van. They had the rig loaded to the hilt & we asked them if they'd had it on a weighbridge? Can't be bothered, no worries mate, she'll be right. The rear suspension collapsed before they got to the SA border.

gumpybsc · Senior Member

Hi Kevin

We tow a reasonably heavy 25 ft off-road van with a TDD LC200. On most of our trips the van plus ball weights would be weighing close to or a bit over 3t. On one trip when we carried a fair amount of water I reckon the van's aggregate mass may have been very close to the cruiser's rated GVM. To assist with towing we gave the cruiser a suspension lift plus airbags. The cruiser tows the van smoothly and beautifully, and I have to say is a real pleasure to drive. Fuel consumption is consistent. When not towing we use 18 l/100 km, and with the van on we use 28 l/100 km. On my caravan to-do list is to prune a lot of tools, equipment and rarely used other junk from both the cruiser and the van in order to shed some weight, and I'm hoping that when this is done we can scrounge back a litre or 2 of diesel per 100km when towing.

Cheers

deverall11 · Guru

Branchie, get a TDD LC200. Great resale value, good fuel consumption and great comfortable tug. Lots of information on LCOOL.ORG. Once yoy've owned one you will never look back and say to yourself 'why didnt I do that sooner?'

Bill B · Guru

gumpybsc wrote:

Hi Kevin
We tow a reasonably heavy 25 ft off-road van with a TDD LC200. On most of our trips the van plus ball weights would be weighing close to or a bit over 3t. On one trip when we carried a fair amount of water I reckon the van's aggregate mass may have been very close to the cruiser's rated GVM. To assist with towing we gave the cruiser a suspension lift plus airbags. The cruiser tows the van smoothly and beautifully, and I have to say is a real pleasure to drive. Fuel consumption is consistent. When not towing we use 18 l/100 km, and with the van on we use 28 l/100 km. On my caravan to-do list is to prune a lot of tools, equipment and rarely used other junk from both the cruiser and the van in order to shed some weight, and I'm hoping that when this is done we can scrounge back a litre or 2 of diesel per 100km when towing.
Cheers

Those consumption figures seem high.

Towing a similar weight van I get 19 - 21 ltrs /100klms and highway cruising with no van 11 - 12 ltrs / 100 klms although my vehicle is stock standard.

JayDee · Guru

My guess is that the owners of each vehicle in question will give their respectrive vehiucles the thumbs up.

We have 100 series cruiseer. It gets the thumbs up from us.

we found it very hard to access a 100 series cruiser. Ended up settling on V8 with 170,000 k's. I reckon that it had never been driven out of the south east corner of Queensland.
Sure is a thirsty beast. But it is all part of the SKI benefit. Plus we like the comfort and power it delivers to pull our 3 tonne van.
Jay&Dee

dirvine · Senior Member

Please dont think I am defending either brand. As I said here and on other posts my preference is a Discovery 4. However lets just clear the air. Nissan are still making a diesel patrol. But it is on the way out. It basically has not been altered for 5 to 10 years, and is very dated. Also it has a small 3ltr motor. The old Nissans GU and GQ models do have issues with rear suspension mounting positions fracturing and there is an aftermarket solution to fix the problem. For most who drive within the cars ability dont have a problem. Big mods, big loads etc will cause any vehicle to break and in the patrols case it usually is the rear suspension that lets go. I have never heard that a 4.2 has too small a sump. If it did, then Nissan certainly corrected it as most nissan owners put 4.2 motors in their vehicles when the OEM one blows up or requires replacement. As I said in my original post, the older Landcruisers and Patrols are the more preferred vehicles for serious 4WDing. But if hell bent on brand new then the LC is the way to go for most. However I seem to recall that the new v8Petrol Patrols have been reduced in price. The price differential is about 25K. Thats an awefull lot of fuel you can use before it becomes a better option to buy the LC diesel. Also whilst diesel gives better fuel economy and a better resale/ trade in value, they cost a lot more to service. The injectors of the new models are very sensitive to dirty fuel, which can be an issue in the outback. Alos the all the polution gear causes the new diesels to soot up and it can be very expensive to repair and fix. Again the aftermarket has some solutions to all these problems. As someone above mentioned, look on the owners web site forums, as people are very ready to rubbish the car if they think its a lemon as much as the converted still think a toyota is unbreakable.

Bruce and Bev · Guru

Trevor is right about NEW Patrols not being available in diesel models.

Nissan say the Patrol is a big seller in Europe and the USA, but only popular with petrol motors. They claim that Aust. was virtually the only country wanting diesel variants and it wasn't viable for them to keep making them.

Plenty of parts around for Patrol diesels, but you will only be able to buy a 2nd hand one now.

I had a 4.2 diesel about 10 years ago and it was brilliant. Hauled a 24ft van up and down hill all over WA and never had it in for repair.

dirvine · Senior Member

Sorry Bruce you can still buy NEW diesel Patrols. I looked on the Nissan Web site and they still have the Y61 model listed. I rang two dealers in Melbourne suburbs and both have brand new models for sale. I read somewhere that Nissan has said they are ceasing production but there are still new ones around for sale.

gunna go · Member

My money is on the Nissan patrol 4.2 diesel. mainly because I own one but as someone said, They are Bullet proof,

I don't know of any other 4x4 that has done well in excess of 500.0000 km and still going strong, this I put down to changing the oil and filters every 5.000 km

the old girl has never let us down in the last 8 years of ownership, she's towed an 18' caravan all around Tassie and right around the Big Block,

It may not be the fastest on the road, or have the best in pulling power, but she can't be beaten for reliability,

It must have something going for it, as there has been a number of people come in off the street, wanting to know if it's for-sale, the answer is still the same, what can I buy that is just as reliable as this old 1989 G.Q.

RoadsidebreakbetweenCoolgardieNorse[1].jpg

G.G.

Hylife · Guru

Just been through this buying process and as soon as I said I wanted to tow a caravan with the new Patrol the Nissan dealer said,

"sorry Nissan can't help you unless you want a ute. The new patrol is only a soft-roader petrol AWD, NOT at all in the same league as the tried and proven but now ancient design old Patrols".

-- Edited by Hylife on Monday 23rd of May 2016 05:44:03 PM

copper1 · Guru

Branchie wrote:
Hi all, looking at the possibility of buying a 22ft van, but the tow vehicle is where I would like some feed back, land cruiser or nissan patrol both turbo diesel, what Klm p/ltr could I expect from either vehicle and ease of towing... Any suggestions help would be good...
kevin

Branchie, we tow a Royal Flair with out 200 series TD the van all up is 3.2 tonne fully loaded. Last year we travelled 20,000 kNorth for the winter as far as Cooktown and across to Normanton and Kurrumba then headed to SA, Vic then Home arriving back Christmas day. On average 18.30 L/100. Hope that assist's you in some way.

vince56 · Senior Member

Hi Kevin,

Like another post said, there will be a lot of support for the car driven by the responder, well I'm no different I must say.

However, if I had to choose between a Patrol and a 100LC I would definitely go the LC, the Patrol 4.2's are getting old and the 3 litre is really not up to towing a heavy load, if looking at an LC200 - absolutely no contest.

I spose I'm a little left of centre because I have a VW Touareg after owning older LC's and a Patrol and a 2004 Pajero.

Its now done 85K and I can say that towing a 2.5t van into a headwind and getting 13 litres/100k I am pleased as punch, on a long trip without a load I get around 8 litres/100k.

I owned a 2t boat and averaged under 12l / 100k everywhere we went. Comfort is fantastic, have owned some great cars but this one is like a Rolls on the road.

Servicing has not been any dearer than other cars I have owned, you can now get them for $80K ish on the road for a AWD with 3500kg towing, 180kw / 550Nm V6TDI I reckon they are good value and a beautiful car. Also, like most cars nowadays (except an LC200) they are inexpensive as a second hand unit.

My thoughts,

Vince

Bruce and Bev · Guru

seems to be confusion with Nissan dealers. In the area of Perth I am in, they say they cannot order anymore diesels. They only have new ones left on their yard or demos.....

migra · Senior Member

We have a TDD LC200 Toyota and have had no problems towing 2.7T caravan. Yes, they are rated for towing of 3.5T and ball weight of 300kgs BUT be aware of the cruiser payload capacity.

My payload allowance with standard suspension is 560kgs. difference between the tare weight and GVM, I don't have kerb weight, so if you add 138lts of fuel, caravan ball weight 250kgs, allow 160kgs for 2 adults, you are close to your limit. so it is difficult to be under the weight limit when you fit a bull bar, tow bar, luggage, tow hitch, fridge etc.

Fuel consumption without the van varies around the 11 - 14 lts/100 and with the van 18 - 22lts/100.

Then you have the caravan weight issues.

Safe traveling.

macka17 · Guru

Had a 3 ltr Patrol Manual and a Roadstar offroad 6.5mtr van since 2000 (Patrol 2002 March)

towing over central/top end and east coast down to Melbourne for 3 months ish per yr.
Combined allowed was 6.2 ton. Average, over town weighbridge with empty water was 5.7ton.

Engine never missed a beat.Total cost for car actually stopping was $450 for key ring sensor an a Belt pulley x 2.

Consumption, over all those yrs (with 3.75 tinny on top.) was average of 9+ KMPL veh by itself .
All figures taken at road speeds. with less on hills and head winds. Up to 140km's overtaking road trains etc.

With van on back average consumption was 6.2/6.5 KMPL at road speeds.

I always filled tank then cross referenced volume with mileage done.
265x75x16 Bridgestones gave 2 km variation in distance travelled according to GPS.

UP to 3 ton. the Patrol is best value for money. AND more reliable.
Over 3 ton. something bigger.

Over the yrs we travelled with a few friends and travellers with same van and both Patrols and Toyota's.

At every fuel stop the Toyota's used a fair bit more juice than Patrols.

they may have had a few more herms than us with latermodel 100ser. but paid for it.

Prev models, we left them for dead. specially on hills. (I had a chip fitted)

If you want a bigger (new) tug apart from large US Utes and jap trucks.
There is the 200 Tojo which is waaay over rated.
OR the new series Petrol Patrol

There have been several performance reviews on both and the fuel burn on both under load and working is virtually the same.
Go on net and read up. and you'll have a lot less problems with a Patrol than any Totota. Proven.

Nowadays a 2010 D-Max Dual and Tandem 18ft Coromal full van, for short hauls.

Virtually no difference in consumption between going to Melb with car and towing van back (from/to CQ)
Straight there. next day straight back. Very happy with both.

-- Edited by macka17 on Wednesday 25th of May 2016 04:13:16 PM

vince56 · Senior Member

Hi Gunna Go,

80 series LC, been with the construction company I work for since new, driven by employees on all sorts of roads and tracks, 710,000 kms. and counting.

Has had normal stuff like tyres, batteries, windscreens and minor repairs etc but NEVER had engine, gearbox or diff issues, still untouched. Pretty impressive I reckon. (Hope I haven't put the mozz on it now)

Cheers Vince