Is a TD42 Patrol the right choice for the job

[davidvdm]

Hope I am posting this in the right section, if not, please move it...

So I love Nissans, and dream of a Patrol in my driveway. My Son is busy with a tender, and a job offer is on the table, but he is looking at DC bakkies as the mobile site offices for the site managers who supervise the teams of horizontal drillers and trenchers. The vehicle may need to haul bigass loads of up to 3ton now and then between sites in town, but needs to be comfy enough in a hot environment for the supervisor to spend hours at a time in the car as the site progresses a few meters per day. My son suggested Amarok or Hilux as he gets these easily on auctions, and sees them as disposable items in this application. I got the prices he has been paying for some of these vehicles, and pretty sure I can fit a Patrol into a 300k-400k budget, and I am sure he can add a bit for his Dad This should be about a three year contract, and we have already agreed that I will be taking the vehicle over at the end.

So now the big question, is a TD42 Patrol the right "tool" for the job? Am I blinded by my passion and greed, and should rather be looking at something else. I am asking here, because I know I will get totally unbiased opinions and suggestions . If I wanted to hear a bunch of drivel and start a pissing contest, I would have asked on the "other" forum.

So lets hear it please.

[Peter Connan]

If you want to "inherit" a working vehicle after those 3 years, I suspect it's the only choice...

[Digger]

No Brainer, Patrol all the way.

My unbiased opinion


G

[Dungbeetle]

For 300-400k you can get a very nice 3.0CRD

[Reenen]

Nope. Verkeerde tool vir die job. Voldoen nie aan jou verskafte vereistes nie. Tensy jy iets custom wil laat bou.

[XenoBlitz]

For what you are planning to use those vehicles for, I doubt you would want to inherit the vehicle after the abuse it may subjected to...

I'm not sure there is any vehicle I would "recommend" specifically for the scenario you are creating but there are a few ways of looking at this:

1. Buy vehicles as cheap as possible, and consider them to be "disposable" at the end of the project. In that case, probably looking at something like Mahindra, and you definitely do not want to spend more than 150k on the vehicle. Alternatively maybe an older NP300. They can also be picked up relatively cheaply.
2. Buy the strongest toughest vehicle you can find, and then "hope" there is something left at the end. In this scenario, the Patrol (or similar) is probably not a bad choice, but rather than a flashy new 3.0, Id' try to find an older 4.2 (N/A). It will be slow, but it is a donkey, and it just keeps going. Alternatively, move away from "bakkies" and look at light trucks (such as a 5 ton truck).
3. Use the "bakkies" only for the supervisors' to move around and leave the hauling and loading to better suited vehicles. In this case, get something lighter on fuel such as the Amarok suggested by your son. (I think you can do a little better on the price through, especially if you browse the local second-hand market.) A lot of company vehicles are now up for sale after the whole Covid thing.

No facts here.. just opinion.

[Reenen]

Jou seun soek n DC bakkie. Patrol doen nie DC bakkies nie. Tensy jy spesiaal een laat bou uit n stasiewa. Dan kyk jy seker na R300K teen tyd wat jy klaar is as jy n td42ti wil hê

[davidvdm]

Gees Guys, sorry, I forgot to subscribe to my own thread, and did not get notifications... And here I thought everybody was just ignoring me

OK, so many valid points, thanks for the input everybody.

I think a DC bakkie is more a suggestion in veiw of lockup, personal space, for the supervisor to stash his goodies in comfort while out in the field. As a supervisor, I can determine what is the limits of what we haul with the vehicle's, in terms of legality on the road, and what is just plain abuse of the vehicle which is company property at that stage. There are trucks on these sites, so they should be used accordingly.

I wanted to steer clear of the ZD30 as I don't like all the electronics, and then there is the grenade problem. We have a 2012 ZD30 Hardbody here that has just blown it's second motor. I suppose it's unfair for me to judge the vehicle, as I don't know it's history, but I do know the owner's ways, and it's very possibly not the vehicle that is the problem.

The vehicle choice is more around the comfort of the manager than the heavy work it could be doing. Doing a deal to keep the vehicle adds a factor of respect and pride of the vehicle that the others would not enjoy. Looking at what is available out there, the ZD30 looks to be all I am going to find. I think I found one 4.2NA in all my searches, and it was a private sale on the south coast somewhere.

This one caught my eye as a keeper... https://www.cars.co.za/for-sale/used/20 ... a/6738990/
And this one as a disposable... https://www.cars.co.za/for-sale/used/19 ... l/6658457/

I need to keep in mind that the vehicle will become the replacement for the Sani as my long distance to West Coast trips (1900km each way). It will see offroad use when the wife wants to tag along, but the Sani will become the toy. Selfish me is thinking of what will work for me on that 1900km trip towing a trailer up and down to the coast. I do see the ZD30 gives us more power, and better fuel economy, but may be a lot more expensive to fix. I also want to steer clear of an IFS setup on anything higher than a platkar, hence the Patrol

For the spanner in the works, watching a few vehicle's down here, I have come to like the Foton DC with it's 2.8 Cummins. That motor in a GU could be a nice combo.

Anyhow, we sit and wait for the go-ahead on the contract, which could be as long as another 3 months. We will see how much time we have to source a vehicle, and what is available at the time.

[Reenen]

My persoonlikke opinie.
Bly weg van die fong cong copy van die 2.8 cummins. (Vir dieselfde rede as wat ek voorstel om weg te bly van die fong cong 4y copy)

[davidvdm]

Het nie geweet dis a fongkong copy nie. Gedog hulle koop Cummins motors en sit hulle in. Dan mag hulle mos nie die Cummins teken op die ding sit nie. Maar hy klink presies soos a Cummins.