VW Amarok.

Gidday Silver

Even a 2.5L N/A Forester has tons of torque. Unless you are contemplating towing a couple of tonnes, it's more than adequate.
A 3.0L turbo diesel is overkill for most applications ... Maybe for towing a 30 foot caravan or 25 foot boat.

As for the turbo diesels. Well! The 2.0L turbo diesel Forester has about 50% more torque than the 2.5L N/A donk, nearly the same as the 2.5L turbo petrol engine in the XT etc. Even the latest Landrover Defender comes with a 2.0L diesel (and practically nothing else, :rotfl:).

So I reckon that any 2.5L turbo diesel, whether twin or single, should be more than adequate for anything you have suggested so far; with better fuel economy to boot.
 
The 2.5 TD in my Triton provides plenty of power.
If I was looking now I would also include the DMax & Amarok. I would exclude Navara. A major influence on my decision to purchase the Triton in 2010 was the capability of AWD. I've had AWD cars now since 1981 and didn't want to give it up. The Triton has RWD, 4WD Hi Centre Diff unlocked (i.e AWD), 4WD Hi Centre Diff Locked and 4WD Low Centre Diff locked.
 
mr turbo said:
I totally agree.
I've heard a few bad stories about them.
In particular with the way they spray & treat the chassis, or should I say only half spray & treat them.

Regards
Mr Turbo
Click to expand...

Not to mention the recall for asbestos gaskets. :rotfl:
 
Originally they wouldn't even supply them for ANCAP ratings. Great idea...buy one because it is cheap and go and pick your kids up from school..never ceases to amaze me.
Roughly speaking an equal crash in an equal vehicle one rated 4 star and one rated 5 star...your risk of injusry is 50% greater in a 4 star vehicle so imagine how much greater it is in a 2 star car!!
It's easy really...don't let cars under 4 star be sold...what a joke.
 
^ There are some political ramifications to this, Silver.

Had such a policy been implemented in (say) 1997, most "Australian" cars would not have been able to have been sold in this country ...

IIRC, the only car to reach a 5 star ANCAP rating in 1997 was the Forester with air bags ... Someone please correct me if I'm wrong about this.

Also, most modern "shopping prams" are very safe (for their size, etc), yet most cost more to repair after even a minor, low speed prang than it costs to buy a new one! Probably because of the cost of repairing the damage done by/replacing air bags, pyrotechnic seatbelts, etc.

A further consideration is that the ANCAP (and similar) tests do not even attempt to mimic real life conditions. They use a series of standardised tests to establish comparative baselines for those specific testing methodologies.
 
It does seem you are not to keen on the safety factor ratbag.No good looking at 1997...it's 2013. Regardless of how they do the tests..and i don't beleive they are worthless..cars are now unbelievable safer then they were.
When i first got my licence in 1968 the population of Oz was around 11 million and in NSW alone, repeat, NSW alone, the road toll was around 1,300. People had steering columns going through their chests,motors coming into the cabins and squashing them etc etc.
Sure seat belts and RBT were huge factors in reducing deaths but we now have much faster standard cars,23 million people who are extremely mobile and millions and millions more klms traveled than we did in my day.
Cars are made to crumble and if you get out alive the car doesn't matter.
The tests they do may not be real life but they still give an idea of what will happen to the car in an equal test. The difference is enourmous.
All i'm saying is that if ANCAP do a test on a Forester and give it 5stars and do an equal test on a Chinese bit of rubbish and give it 2 stars it's junk.
 
^ On the contrary, Silver, I am extremely hot on safety - primary safety, secondary safety, improved driving skills after licensing, etc.

Much of my activity here on this forum is trying to ameliorate and reduce risk taking behaviour in these things in (particularly) our younger members. Often to the point of preaching from the pulpit, as it were.

By the time I was 20, 12 out of the (approx) 70 kids I finished high school with were dead in motor vehicle "accidents".
Bloody lucky it wasn't more than this!
Bloody lucky I wasn't one of them!

And I don't think you will find too many professionals who hold a National Heavies licence - I do ...

Dead is DEAD.
No second chances.
No coming back.
The wonderful, unique, bright light that is each and every one of us is gone forever at that single point in time.

I try my best to encourage others to see this simple fact.

I was merely looking at the relative merits of cars, and how these things have changed.

My '93 Impreza is now classed as "almost dangerous" because it had no airbags. These are only one of many safety factors in a car. Its primary safety was second to none, even today. It was very strongly built, with predetermined crumple rates and other secondary safety features - such as dual, welded box section door sills - that still don't exist in some cars to this day.

Sorry if I came across as believing that car safety isn't important - it is. What I was saying is that these highly controlled tests may be helpful, but they are not the sole, definitive answer to car safety.
 
Funny enough..although i was involved in one accident i probably should have been killed in...came out of a 'shagging wagon' and was laying in the gutter...the car rolled up an emabankment,hit a wall and came back..one more roll and it would have been on top of me..i hardly had a scratch and my mate who was the driver ended up it the back of the wagon..i can't remember any of may mates being killed in car accidents although one of our group, and his girlfriend, were killed on a Kawasaki 750 coming down to Narooma.
Victoria went alone and made stability control mandatory on most cars a few years back and no problems there. Give the car manufactures 2 years notice and then that's it. 4 stars or nothing.
I also agree about 'primary safety' and think that 'secondary safety' should be your licence. I reckon it is a joke. One year just to get your Ps in my book. Parents NOT allowed to teach their kids..defensive driving courses,car handling courses,basic technical courses,the effects of bald tyres,tyre pressures etc.
If it costs money,bad luck. If you can't afford the courses you can't afford the car,petrol,rego,maintainence etc.
Maybe they could grade licences to match your ability.
My own opinion of Australian drivers is that they are rubbish. You only have to look at Easter,Xmas holidays etc and ask yourself why this should happen.
 
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