Not Grenadier related - Cheap pickup - Hilux or something else?

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 20, 2024

My son absolutely loves the grenadier but A: is 18 can’t afford one and B: is 18 so can’t even get insured on mine. Plus I don’t want him pinching it when I need it so he’s after a pickup.

Few options, in the £5-10k range.

Mk7 Hilux. 2.5 or 3.0? Seems the default choice but quite expensive for their age compared to others. Maybe because they’re just better? Or perceived to be better?

I’ve had a few new or nearly new L200’s and whilst I got on fine with them (I bought 3x) as they get older I worry about parts availability now that mitsubishi don’t exist in the UK any more. Plus crank issues and I have bad history with shogun fuel pumps.

Isuzu Rodeo / D-Max, never been in one let alone driven one but I see lots around in basic farmer spec - suggests they’re trusted.

Ranger - best mate has a 3.2 but it’s rusting badly already and he’s had a fair bit of bother with it. Are they all like that?

Amarok, a bit fancy. Anything in his budget is likely trash.

Navara. Hmmmm, lots of rust issues and snapped chassis.

Any opinions? What did I miss?

landmannnn · Nov 20, 2024

Baron von Teuchter said:
My son absolutely loves the grenadier but A: is 18 can’t afford one and B: is 18 so can’t even get insured on mine. Plus I don’t want him pinching it when I need it so he’s after a pickup.

Few options, in the £5-10k range.

Mk7 Hilux. 2.5 or 3.0? Seems the default choice but quite expensive for their age compared to others. Maybe because they’re just better? Or perceived to be better?

I’ve had a few new or nearly new L200’s and whilst I got on fine with them (I bought 3x) as they get older I worry about parts availability now that mitsubishi don’t exist in the UK any more. Plus crank issues and I have bad history with shogun fuel pumps.

Isuzu Rodeo / D-Max, never been in one let alone driven one but I see lots around in basic farmer spec - suggests they’re trusted.

Ranger - best mate has a 3.2 but it’s rusting badly already and he’s had a fair bit of bother with it. Are they all like that?

Amarok, a bit fancy. Anything in his budget is likely trash.

Navara. Hmmmm, lots of rust issues and snapped chassis.

Any opinions? What did I miss?

Insurance for my last pickup was more expensive than the IG, so it might be a complete non-starter.

Your assessments are about right.
Toyota, reliable, slow but overpriced. Great residuals.
Ranger, avoid! Rust and bad engines.
Isuzu, not bad, but you are unlikely to find anything that hasn't been worked very hard.
L200, weird styling and some faults, but pretty good. You would not buy Mitsubishi parts (expensive) so no issues.
Amorak. Looks nice, not reliable, but the VW addicts mean they are overpriced.
Navara, 2011 to 2015 great (especially the V6), the rest rubbish.

Jeremy996 · Nov 20, 2024

There's no really good answer for someone of his age, any vehicle is going to be a bear to insure.

My go to if it has to be a pickup would be the Toyota, but have a look at a Land Rover Double Cab, Td5, (the bits will be cheaper, insurance will hopefully be less, it's still a DIY proposition, but it will need a lot of maintenance)

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 21, 2024

The insurance isn’t an issue, business pays it and it’s surprisingly not bad (he has a car of his own which he insures in his name as main driver so nothing dodgy going on).

Jeremy, yes he’d love a Defender but a 110 or 130 DCPU will be too expensive. We have extensive Land Rover experience so are no strangers to home maintenance!

Thanks for the thoughts on the Japanese options. We are going to look at a 2011 Hilux 2.5 D4D tomorrow. 90k miles, year MOT, £6k.

Rust is my biggest worry.

I’d probably rather he got something pre-DPF but it looks like a new one for the Hilux is “only” £500 so not really end of the world.

The Isuzu’s seem to be twin turbo which possibly suggests more failure points / maintenance costs. And if they are generally used by farmers I can imagine them living hard lives.

Logsplitter · Nov 21, 2024

Personally I wouldn’t go Mitsubishi again. I had a 2012 L200 Barbarian from new. At 50k miles head gasket blew and screwed the engine. It’s a known problem with Mitsubishi of that era. For me Toyota is the safe reliable choice if it hasn’t been worked too hard

Tom D · Nov 21, 2024

I have 2 rangers and a Hilux. One of the three will be for sale soon, haven’t decided which yet… If you want more info DM me.

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 21, 2024

What are your thoughts on relative merits of each?

Tom D · Nov 21, 2024

Much or a muchness TBH, the Hilux is probably more reliable but the ranger is nicer to drive. One of the rangers is on its second engine.. The ranger has a better GCM / GTW. The hilux can tow 3.5 ton but the GCM is 5800kg so I think we worked out that to legally tow 3.5 ton the driver must be under 50KG…

trobex · Nov 22, 2024

landmannnn said:
Insurance for my last pickup was more expensive than the IG, so it might be a complete non-starter.

Your assessments are about right.
Toyota, reliable, slow but overpriced. Great residuals.
Ranger, avoid! Rust and bad engines.
Isuzu, not bad, but you are unlikely to find anything that hasn't been worked very hard.
L200, weird styling and some faults, but pretty good. You would not buy Mitsubishi parts (expensive) so no issues.
Amorak. Looks nice, not reliable, but the VW addicts mean they are overpriced.
Navara, 2011 to 2015 great (especially the V6), the rest rubbish.

Isuzu 3.0 Diesel is one of the most reliable in Australia - so long as not worked hard. I wouldn't touch any of the others. You get an Isuzu Twin Turbo - Diesel? I think UK variants are also made in different factories to Australia... so almost impossible to draw a comparison?

landmannnn · Nov 22, 2024

trobex said:
Isuzu 3.0 Diesel is one of the most reliable in Australia - so long as not worked hard. I wouldn't touch any of the others. You get an Isuzu Twin Turbo - Diesel? I think UK variants are also made in different factories to Australia... so almost impossible to draw a comparison?

Correct, in Europe only the little 1.9 engine.

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 22, 2024

They did 2.5 twin turbos too, I was going to look at a 2013 one but it had sold.

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 22, 2024

example:

Tom D · Nov 22, 2024

Yup we always get the shitty little engines. I was surprised when the Hilux got the 2.8 to be honest.

We also have a 1.9 Isuzu. It actually pulls better than either the rangers or the Hilux! Not sure it will do 300,000 miles though.

Baron von Teuchter · Nov 22, 2024

I see in South Africa they get Hilux with a big petrol v6. That’s what I want.

NQ94 · Nov 22, 2024

trobex said:
Isuzu 3.0 Diesel is one of the most reliable in Australia - so long as not worked hard. I wouldn't touch any of the others. You get an Isuzu Twin Turbo - Diesel? I think UK variants are also made in different factories to Australia... so almost impossible to draw a comparison?

Got to see what they are doing in Thialand with both 3l 4JJ and the 1.9l Isuzu. There is a big tuners and diesel racing market over there that do everything from those long boats to rice paddy tractors.
The 3l is also popular in the engine conversion market in Australia being fitted to Land Cruisers, Patrols and Land Rovers.

Baron von Teuchter · Saturday at 11:50 AM

Just to close this out…

Very happy 18yo son.

2010 2.5 d4d HL3. 90k miles, years MOT, four new wan-king ditchfinder XL’s (which in fairness seem pretty good in the snow). Everything works, including rear diff lock.

Clean oil and new filters. Interior is like new, amazingly. Few spots of rust on rear tub and a couple of dings.

We’ve spent the morning removing the wind deflectors (harder than it should have been, stuck on with crazy sticky material which all needed rubbed off the doors), shiny metal bonnet bra (harder than it should have been because the screws had rusted out so needed drilled out), knackered bed cover and generally giving it a bit of a once over. It’s had some recent welding on the sills but chassis looks fairly solid, with some surface crust. Really needs a damn good rub down and paint underneath.

Cost us £5k including vat (which we’ll get back) so I’m treating that as a win.

trobex · Saturday at 11:53 AM

landmannnn said:
Correct, in Europe only the little 1.9 engine.

I have the 1.9L TD Isuzu - fantastic on fuel and 30,000kms no issues at all. For me, way more comfortable than the Gren to drive!

trobex · Saturday at 11:54 AM

Tom D said:
Yup we always get the shitty little engines. I was surprised when the Hilux got the 2.8 to be honest.

We also have a 1.9 Isuzu. It actually pulls better than either the rangers or the Hilux! Not sure it will do 300,000 miles though.

The 1.9 TD in the Isuzu is well tested and highly reliable.

landmannnn · Saturday at 12:20 PM

Baron von Teuchter said:
Just to close this out…

View attachment 7878637

Very happy 18yo son.

2010 2.5 d4d HL3. 90k miles, years MOT, four new wan-king ditchfinder XL’s (which in fairness seem pretty good in the snow). Everything works, including rear diff lock.

Clean oil and new filters. Interior is like new, amazingly. Few spots of rust on rear tub and a couple of dings.

We’ve spent the morning removing the wind deflectors (harder than it should have been, stuck on with crazy sticky material which all needed rubbed off the doors), shiny metal bonnet bra (harder than it should have been because the screws had rusted out so needed drilled out), knackered bed cover and generally giving it a bit of a once over. It’s had some recent welding on the sills but chassis looks fairly solid, with some surface crust. Really needs a damn good rub down and paint underneath.

Cost us £5k including vat (which we’ll get back) so I’m treating that as a win.

Sounds a bargain, mileage pretty low for the age too.

Baron von Teuchter · Saturday at 12:55 PM

Yeah, worryingly so to be honest. There were a few around in the range £5500-6500. This one is pretty basic, no leather, climate control, parking sensors etc etc but that’s what we wanted, I suspect a lot of people want a higher spec.

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