Buying a weekend car?

[Brodie Tas]

So me and my partner have been thinking about buying a old 4wd for camping and a bit of offroad, I have a 2011 triton and get a bit nervous where I take it because it has no bar protection and by the time I set all that up and a canopy to I would say around 5k so my fiancé suggested buying another car for camping and something that won't stress us out as much on the track, has anyone else done the same thing? Looking at a older cruiser or pajeros seem to be a comfortable car for the same price range, the car would be just for weekends a small lift and 33's is all I want

[dales133]

Hilux or landcrusier

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[Brodie Tas]

Yeah were leaning more towards the wagons unless tha ute has a nice canopy

[NewieCamper]

$5k on bits for your new, reliable truck or $5k plus rego, insurance, tyres, maintenance, upgrades (you know you will) on an old unknown vehicle. Think I'd tip the $5k into what I had.

[speewa158]

$5k on bits for your new, reliable truck or $5k plus rego, insurance, tyres, maintenance, upgrades (you know you will) on an old unknown vehicle. Think I'd tip the $5k into what I had.

\
What he said ,,,,,,   & enjoy the fun           

[Riguez]

Why sink money into someone else's older, unknown history, vehicle that you will never truly trust? Upgrade the Triton and it will reliably take you everywhere you want to go.

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[Alan Loy]

If you only want it for weekends I'd be looking for a short wheel base model.  Better clearance without going mad. 

[Bird]

I agree with others.. 5 grand may just buy you 10 grand of problems.

2011 car isnt exactly new, and you can possibly find used bits on Ebay/Triton forums for them.

[Mace]

^^^^^^

What he said

[Paddler Ed]

I'm going to go against the others as I can understand your logic, and have some questions for you - depending on the answers, it'll shape whether or not it makes sense to do it...

1) If you put $5k into the Triton are you going to get it back? Are you going to get a % back of that? If you put $5k into another car, you're likely to get a good percentage back in a few years time if you sell it; $5k into the Triton might only add $1-2K to the sale price (but makes it easier to sell in some cases). $5k Cruisers etc are just about at the bottom of their depreciation curve, and are getting to the point they're worth more in parts than as a whole.
2) How long are you planning on keeping the Triton? If it's for another few years, until it's say 10 or 15 years old (2021 - 2025) then it's probably worth putting the money in, because you're going to get the most ROI on it.
3) Cheap cars aren't always cheap in the long run.... trust me... My 4Runner cost me $3250 4 years ago, and has cost me about another $2k in that time for repairs/mods... OK that was the headgaskets and new exhaust, but I'm lucky I do 99% of the work on it myself - how happy are you to do the same? It's also still worth about $3k, so realistically it's been cheap motoring on the whole...
4) How much modifications would it realistically need to do what you want to do (either Triton or 2nd car)? My 4Runner has generally had upgrades done as the parts wore out - tyres worn out? Change to 31s and sell the part worns ($150 a corner change over, sold those ones as part worns and got to $100/corner change cost), suspension worn out? Replaced with upgraded shocks and lift kit.... see it's not hard to do, and is easier to get past the Alternative Bank Manager...

Just some bits to think about...

[Pete79]

As someone who was in a similar position a little while ago I can appreciate the logic here.

Especially if you intend to drive some serious tracks in your 'spare' car.

Tritons are great highway cruisers and soft-roaders, but proper off road rigs they ain't. Sure you can chuck a heap of barwork under that stupidly long tray and make the terrible departure angle even worse, if bending panels is your thing.

Or you can buy something that was made (or can easily be modified) to take on the harder stuff.

I have a Triton for my work car and we bought a 2 door JK with a few mods as our camping rig / play thing.
It's been perfect, doing exactly what we bought it for. It's dragged the trailer into some cool spots and proven it's more then capable playing around on the tracks with the boys.
But even it's a bit too pretty for some of the tracks I like to drive, so I just picked up a $3k Sierra put $200 worth of parts in it, $200 for some second hand muddies and hit the tracks.
Care factor 0, fun factor 100.

Keep the Triton for the daily stuff and get a toy to go have fun with.

[Brodie Tas]

Some good points made, the triton will stick around for 3-5 years then will upgrade, if I was going to get something it would more then likely be  60 series always wanted one (it would end up being a project and will end up getting rebuilt from ground up to our needs) and the triton will still be used when it can, but we kinda want something so we can leave the camper behind for a day or two and hit a few tracks, in summer time were away every second weekend so it would be packed ready to go all the time, witch ever way I go I will be losing money, and with a cruiser you can get parts next to nothing

[Brodie Tas]

As someone who was in a similar position a little while ago I can appreciate the logic here.

Especially if you intend to drive some serious tracks in your 'spare' car.

Tritons are great highway cruisers and soft-roaders, but proper off road rigs they ain't. Sure you can chuck a heap of barwork under that stupidly long tray and make the terrible departure angle even worse, if bending panels is your thing.

Or you can buy something that was made (or can easily be modified) to take on the harder stuff.

I have a Triton for my work car and we bought a 2 door JK with a few mods as our camping rig / play thing.
It's been perfect, doing exactly what we bought it for. It's dragged the trailer into some cool spots and proven it's more then capable playing around on the tracks with the boys.
But even it's a bit too pretty for some of the tracks I like to drive, so I just picked up a $3k Sierra put $200 worth of parts in it, $200 for some second hand muddies and hit the tracks.
Care factor 0, fun factor 100.

Keep the Triton for the daily stuff and get a toy to go have fun with.

Spot on to what I'm thinking something  goes wrong in a 5k car it can sit at home till its fixed when the triton has  broken its a rush to get it fixed asap and a dent on a 5k car wouldn't stress me on my triton it breaks me haha

[Brodie Tas]

The other thing is my misses is keen on the pajeros she likes them more because more features and comfort.

[Bird]

The other thing is my misses is keen on the pajeros she likes them more because more features and comfort.

You wont get much Pajero for $5000...

[vern]

You wont get much Pajero for $5000...

Please view this ad:

2002 Mitsubishi Pajero Wagon,
http://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/bondi-beach/cars-vans-utes/2002-mitsubishi-pajero-wagon/1154178494?utm_source=com.google.android.apps.docs&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialbuttonsVIP&utm_content=app_android

Price: $5,000 Negotiable

Download the application from the Google Play Store.
 http://goo.gl/7NzhP

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[rags]

I went the opposite, nice kitted out Prado for recreational duties and a cheapy Suzuki Swift for Monday to Friday commuting to work.

[Brodie Tas]

I went the opposite, nice kitted out Prado for recreational duties and a cheapy Suzuki Swift for Monday to Friday commuting to work.

Yes that's a good idea but need the triton for work to tow my tool trailer and tools

[rags]

Yes that's a good idea but need the triton for work to tow my tool trailer and tools

Yes that makes it difficult then. I was lucky previously in that I had a work ute and 4wd in the shed. Before that my work ute was my 4wd and I towed a trailer with the tools in it so I could drop the tools for the weekend get away.

[trinityalyce]

...Buy a Jimny! 

Well that's what I did and I haven't looked back. Though I may shed a tear when the XR6 finally drives off and the Jimny is my only "daily driver".

It really depends on what you want to do with it as to what I'd seriously suggest. There's merit to investing $5k or so into your Triton, but if you want to do anything technical, well... its probably not the best vehicle out there for that. But if your budget is only in the realm of $5k to spend on a whole vehicle + mods, you might be a bit tight with much of anything.

...Cheap ute to tow the tools, spend a bit more coin on the weekender?

[Brodie Tas]

We have been talking more about it and we reckon we will look for a pretty stock 60 series with bull bar etc all ready and then put some money into it as we go like witches lift etc for what we are after this is the way we will go looking at tackling a few hard tracks around here and I know a well looked after 60 will do the job and it will end up over 5k haha and can't see losing a lot of money on one because there going up in price around here

[NewieCamper]

Yes that's a good idea but need the triton for work to tow my tool trailer and tools

Or maybe getting a full time work vehicle is an option. Like a small truck or van. You won't need to worry about tagging a trailer along with you that way and can keep your other car in recreation mode rather than having to de-work it all the time.

I test drove a navara that turned out to be a tradie who had dragged a trailer around full of tools since new then upgraded to a truck - didn't buy that 'well used' Navara, got one without a towbar that had been on family duties so not worked hard.

[loanrangie]

Series 1 discovery, cheap and easy to work, very capable with just at's or add 2"lift and 32's and go almost anywhere. Most comfortable vehicle in the price range and if you get a TDI they are very economical and reliable.

[l0ckym]

My weekend car...
In its defense, it is 4WD