Jamie Jenkins
New Member
- Joined
- Oct 28, 2018
- Messages
- 18
- Country Flag
Hi everyone, spent the last couple of days checking this place out, what a great community!
My girlfriend and I are planning on driving to South Africa from Netherlands next July. With no 4x4 experience and no mechanical knowledge, I have a lot to learn to make the trip a success!
Firstly, we need to buy a 4x4, of course, a tlc would be ideal, I see that hilux's are good value for money too. The plan is to pick one up this coming January/February. We'll be heading to Tuscany to fix up my girlfriend's parents new farm and while we're there it would be a good opportunity to check some out and then drive back to NL if we find a good one. Then spend the following months back and forth to Italy (through the alps to put it to the test! And also to Scotland to whip up some mud). I've been looking at autoscout24.com and there are some really good deals on the 70 series, and for some reason most of those good deals are in Italy (no idea why, but convenient!).
For instance, this thing, what a badass: https://www.autoscout24.com/offers/...a8bbfae-1db2-47a3-8837-051105601ec9?cldtidx=5
And for only 3500e! (about 3100gbp).
But I need your help folks, I really have no clue in what I'm looking for, I'm a complete novice that's spent the last couple of weeks reading through build threads and recommended mods, slowly familiarising myself with the terminology. The above car I see has the wheels I need, snorkle for swamp emergencies/alligator pov's, some third party shocks, but judging by the trip meters inside it may have been trashed in some races. What would I check for, though? I'll be driving throush some pretty harsh conditions and the build threads make me more nervous, like using polyurethane bushings on the shocks instead of rubber since they withstand heat better, little things like this... are they such a necessity? Scared to be picking one up from some guy that has broken English... If I were to go out tomorrow to buy one, I may be p155ing my money down the drain.
Like I said, the plan is to head to Italy and hopefully pick one up there, if not there then I'll be heading back to my home country (Scotland), and I'll have the UK market accessible to me while I'm there.
Our budget for the vehicle is 4500e (4000gbp), with an additional 1500 for the necessary repairs/mods. So it would seem that it'll be either the 70 series or the 90/100 series that we'll end up getting for that price range. MPG is something to consider too I guess, a 10mpg compared to a 25mpg will add up with such a distance!
So, do you have any recommendations? What series/engine/checks etc. I should be looking for, bearing in mind it'll be a trip through Africa in some pretty extreme heats and conditions. I don't know what I don't know so any advice is welcome!
My girlfriend and I are planning on driving to South Africa from Netherlands next July. With no 4x4 experience and no mechanical knowledge, I have a lot to learn to make the trip a success!
Firstly, we need to buy a 4x4, of course, a tlc would be ideal, I see that hilux's are good value for money too. The plan is to pick one up this coming January/February. We'll be heading to Tuscany to fix up my girlfriend's parents new farm and while we're there it would be a good opportunity to check some out and then drive back to NL if we find a good one. Then spend the following months back and forth to Italy (through the alps to put it to the test! And also to Scotland to whip up some mud). I've been looking at autoscout24.com and there are some really good deals on the 70 series, and for some reason most of those good deals are in Italy (no idea why, but convenient!).
For instance, this thing, what a badass: https://www.autoscout24.com/offers/...a8bbfae-1db2-47a3-8837-051105601ec9?cldtidx=5
And for only 3500e! (about 3100gbp).
But I need your help folks, I really have no clue in what I'm looking for, I'm a complete novice that's spent the last couple of weeks reading through build threads and recommended mods, slowly familiarising myself with the terminology. The above car I see has the wheels I need, snorkle for swamp emergencies/alligator pov's, some third party shocks, but judging by the trip meters inside it may have been trashed in some races. What would I check for, though? I'll be driving throush some pretty harsh conditions and the build threads make me more nervous, like using polyurethane bushings on the shocks instead of rubber since they withstand heat better, little things like this... are they such a necessity? Scared to be picking one up from some guy that has broken English... If I were to go out tomorrow to buy one, I may be p155ing my money down the drain.
Like I said, the plan is to head to Italy and hopefully pick one up there, if not there then I'll be heading back to my home country (Scotland), and I'll have the UK market accessible to me while I'm there.
Our budget for the vehicle is 4500e (4000gbp), with an additional 1500 for the necessary repairs/mods. So it would seem that it'll be either the 70 series or the 90/100 series that we'll end up getting for that price range. MPG is something to consider too I guess, a 10mpg compared to a 25mpg will add up with such a distance!
So, do you have any recommendations? What series/engine/checks etc. I should be looking for, bearing in mind it'll be a trip through Africa in some pretty extreme heats and conditions. I don't know what I don't know so any advice is welcome!
