MickPC said..
I've heard autos go well in the sand, I think I'd probably prefer one. Most important to me is the body is straight with no rust, engine is good with service history and under 200k km I guess.
Also heard the newer ones are all gonna be petrol, I think that was the patrols. Getting a lot of info from all directions. I wouldn't mind a petrol model, like someone said diesel is not so cheap anymore.
My old man used to say petrols the least cost associated with a car. With the rego rippoff these days, I'd say he's even more right. Mines almost doubled for my car in 5 years.
Now I'm only speaking about Toyota's here because that's all I looked at getting for 4 months (with a brief look at the d-max Ute but was a little out of my $20k budget with the model I wanted.)
With what you've said above and with a budget of $15-25k forget about the diesel cruisers. Either go the V8 cruiser 100 series (no gas conversion) or a late model 120 series petrol Prado (you should be able to find one tricked out with a budget of $20-25k).
Cheapest 1hd-fte (totally missle proof btw) I could find under 300k km was for $28k at an auction and from my research the 6 cylinder diesel and petrols weren't for me (6 cyl petrols had high running costs and lowish power/weight ratio and diesels high maitenence $$).
If you choose to go a diesel Prado don't get a GX model unless it's got full service history or you are a vehicle mechanic as most of these cars are ex-mine (you can get bargains with ex mine but you are rolling the dice).
I ended up under budget on mine with an older Prado with a few light scratches and dents but with service history and no signs of fluid leaks or undercarriage rust so I jumped at it. If you find a good 1hd-fte though don't hesitate, those things basically increase in value with time.
