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| THE DUAL CAB UTE STORY |
THE DUAL CAB UTE STORY
This is not a tech article, but my 1st hand experience. The information in this story is to the best of my ability (so do your own research) and is my opinion only.
Prices are as quoted to me in December 2007.
Well, after my accident, & the insurance company writing off our Holden Rodeo single cab 2wd, we decided the next car would be a dual cab 4x4 for maximum versatility.
All the models I test drove were diesel, cab chassis spec & manual, unless stated otherwise. All prices included, on road costs, air con, CD player & aluminium tray. Spec of vehicle was to be base model.
So off to the car yards I went, I had my money organised so that was no problem, all they had to do was have one in stock that I could test drive & give me their best price. Each salesman was told the same thing, no trade, money organised, has to be in stock for a sale this week, Best price straight up. I would be test driving every model on the market & money will be the deciding factor, I would be buying within the week.
1st stop?FORD.
Ford Ranger, 3litre diesel, Manual gearbox.
Well the looks of the Ford Ranger had me straight away. It had a presence about it that says, look at me ? So I liked it straight off the bat. So after some small chat with the salesmen, he threw me the keys for a test drive.
1st impressions once behind the wheel.
Wholly dooly, is thing a diesel, right from idle this motor pulls like no other diesel I have driven, right through to red line, if you feed it around a corner you better be ready to straighten it up as it has bucket loads of power.
Vision is ok from inside the *bleep*pit, but I found the layout & seating position slightly awkward for me & after a bit more time behind the wheel I felt uncomfortable driving it. This left a sour taste in my mouth as the rest of it is A1.
Price: $44 000, but if you come back to us we will be able to save you 4-7 thousand off that. This made me cranky as I asked for their best price?not a ball park figure. He then tried to coax out of me how much I wanted to spend?so I just said? go speak to your manager & come back. He did, with the exact same story? I should be able to save you $7k on the ute.
2nd stop ? Nissan.
Nissan Navara, 3 litre diesel, Manual gearbox.
I test drove both the manual & the auto, mainly just to see why Rookie was having so much trouble in his. The manual & auto are like 2 different motors, the manual feels so much more powerful & that stupid torque converter in the auto?Nissan should be shot!
So with the manual out on the road for a test drive, it went well. Plenty of power, although the turbo was a little slow spooling up. Nice & smooth to drive, but not setting anything on fire.
Vision from inside the *bleep*pit is ok, & the lay out inside is comfortable?although it was looking a little flash inside for a work ute.
Outside looks are good, but it sits a little low for my liking.
Price: $47 000 ? Once again I got the bull*bleep* retail price with the ?you come back & we will see what we can do? spiel. The usual what are you wanting to spend story again?.. Blah blah.
3rd stop ? Toyota.
Toyota Hilux, 3 litre diesel, manual gearbox.
Well I had high hopes for the Toyota, they seam to be selling well, so I figured they must go well & be priced ok?how wrong can a bloke be?!
The Hilux was not even in the race, ride was terrible to say the least, & the new 3 litre turbo diesel they have is like driving an old style turbo diesel. It suffers badly from turbo lag and you always seam to be waiting for the turbo to spool up? Gutless & Ruff in comparison to the others I had driven.
Inside they have very bad vision through the small rear window, but were comfy to sit in (until you started to move) & all the controls where wear you would expect them to be.
Price: well hold on to your hat????????? $54 000 retail + Air con & they reckon they would be able to save me $6-7 k off of that. Toyota was the only company not to have A/C standard? well hold me down & flog me?. How the hell are they selling these things in such large numbers?!?!
As far as I was concerned the Toyota was not on the same page, let alone in the race?
4th stop ? Holden.
Holden Rodeo, 3 litre diesel, Manual gearbox.
Well already owning a few rodeo?s in the past I was pretty confident they would be a good truck (although that last 1 was a bitch for power & fuel as the 2.4L petrol struggled with a full tonne on its back all the time), but the diesel is a different beast.
Goes ok, I would rate it 2nd in the power stakes; the interior has had an update from my old one, but nothing special. It drives well, although a little rough when empty. But nothing like the Hilux.
Vision from inside was good, was comfy to sit in & all the controls were where you would expect.
I have owned a few now (3 in the past) I have always rated them as good all-rounder, not perfect at anything, but ok at it all?
Price: $38 000 & we throw in tinted windows. The guys here treat you well & are very much like talking to a bloke on a job site (I like that!) & they pulled no punches with the price. I was very impressed, to say the least.
5th stop ? Mitsubishi.
Mitsubishi Triton, 3 litre diesel, manual gear box.
They had no base stock model, but had a demo top of the line that they would do a good price on.
It drove well, probably the most comfy on road. Went ok, not setting the world on fire but went well.
Vision from inside wasn?t the best, but not as bad as the Hilux, & the interior was way to flash for a work ute. Due to it being top of the line model, so in my opinion was not really in the race for what I wanted to do with it. But if it was to be the family car? it would be right up there.
Price: $42000, not bad seeing as it was top of the line with all the bolt on gadgets.
6th stop ? Mazda.
Mazda BT 50, 3 litre turbo diesel.
Due to it being the same as the Ford ranger I didn?t test drive it. I only got a price.
Price: $42 000, not bad, but their base models has carpet & lots of gadgets.
Conclusion
We ended up buying the base model rodeo (I like the vinyl floor). $38k brought us the 3l diesel dual cab, with A/C, tinted windows, remote central locking, power windows, power mirrors, alloy tray, all dealer delivery & on roads.
Gidget
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Created on 01/20/2008 08:19 PM by admin
Updated on 01/29/2008 04:44 PM by admin
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