Dmax coming??

silver

silver

Forum Member
Joined
Jul 10, 2008
Messages
1,018
Location
Tathra, Far South Coast, NSW
Car Year
2005
Car Model
Forester
Transmission
Manual
I reckon I am going to make a move and get the Dmax. It does appear to be the best value and I have not been able to find anyone to say bad things about it so I am ringing my superfund tomorrow to organise some extra money.
The MY15 spec models have just been released and I have rung 2 Sydney dealers and 1 Canberra dealer.
I am going to get a Spacecab (extracab) Auto SX (poverty pack) Cab chassis, no tray. The SX has been upgraded to have the same sound system as the LSU model and the motors are a bit quieter and fine tuned a bit.
Quotes so far, drive away, Auto are Canberra $40,000 for MY15 or $38,000 for MY14. Taren Point Sydney...$38,320 for MY15 and Suttons Arncliffe Sydney ..no return of call yet.
I want...to start.. tinting all round, bonnet protector, headlight protectors, rubber mats all round and a tow bar.
I will also be getting Old Man Emu 300kg springs front and rear and Koni Heavy Track shockies. The tray will be an O'Brien HD aluminium one with a 1800mm trundle draw.
Snorkel, breathers,bull bar, winch etc etc will be added over the next six months and hopefully all will be done ready for a trip up north next May.
The SX model has 16" steel wheels which are the ones I will fit the more offroad orientated tyres to and I already have a set of 5 17" alloys and tyres off an MUX I bought for $500 that are stored at my mates place in Vic. I'll use these for normal driving.
 
Nice !

If I had to buy a pickup, I'd probably take that one too.
 
THE DEAL IS DONE!!!!
MY15 Spacecab, White, Auto, C/C with bonnet protector, headlight protectors, rubber mats all round and reduced service costs drive away $37,500 from Suttons Arncliffe.
I will be getting an O'Brien tray fitted at the dealers and it will have a fully enclosed 1800mm trundle draw. Not cheap but anyone that knows them have told me they are one of the better ones. I'll also get it tinted before I drive it away.
As far as the suspension goes Koni shocks are not made for the 30mm lift from the Old Man Emu set up I will be using and they don't recommend using them as they can't be sure if they will work properly without a full inspection of the front end etc. I will therefore go a full OME set up.
I bloke has offered me a tow bar from a MY12 or 13 (when they were rated 3t now 3.5t) for a carton of VB and the dealer said it will fit. Can't pass that up!!
Maybe about 2 weeks and it will be home. Time to think about my faithfull MY05 Forester...i'll post when I am ready to sell but it will be going for a good price.....could be a good deal for someone that is handy with cars and wants to do a bit of work on it.
 
I came up to Sydney a to see the dealer and finalise stuff. Deposit paid and delivery will be mid/late Dec. A bit of wait but Spacecabs are not high priority deliveries I guess. it's OK anyway as it will help me budget and as long as it is done by around May next year all is good.
I will be putting ARB OLD MAN EMU suspension right through as this is the best, easiest way to go. It's quite a process to get a GVM upgrade.
It has to go through the dealer before rego. ARB give me the quote which I give to the dealer. When the car has arrived the dealer rings ARB and gives them the VIN number etc and orders the stuff. ARB send off the info to Melbourne Head Office who tell the Federal Transport mob and a plate is sent back to ARB who fix it the ute and do the work and bill the dealer and I pay the dealer...phew.:ebiggrin:
I will get tinting done at the dealer and have a loom put in for the towbar. The tray will be an O'Brien std tray just over 2.1mtrs in length with 4 lugs welded to the front bar for lights or aerials if I want them. The price they wanted for the trundle draw was stupid...over $1,600 and I can get one made by a guy at Bega for $1,200 and it is custom made ,fully welded not a pop rivet in sight! The tray is just over $2,300 but I have been told they are a better sort of tray so I will get that.
The suspension set up will be OME all round with the springs at the front for steel bar/winch combo and constant rate 300kg in the rear. OME nitro sport shockies all round BUT the shockies at the rear will be the softer of the two that I can use to try and keep the ride good with no load on.
The only real way of finding out how the rear will be is to test it in the real world. Once I get the camper and the car loaded and do a trip I will then be able to make up my mind.
I can always go to a heavier shockie and put a helper spring on. Personally, I reckon it will be fine.
The guy at Suttons has been really good and helpful. They will deliver it to ARB, which is only about 2 klms away and organise the tinting and stuff. I am pretty happy with them.:ebiggrin:
 
yes, congrats Silver and seems to be coming together really well.
 
^ ^ Sounds terrific, Silver :ebiggrin: :biggrin:.

Now you just have to sit on your hands and wait ... and don't think about monkeys ... :iconwink:.

I must admit, I'm not very good at waiting ... ;).
 
I'm not good at waiting either but it will suit my budgeting. So much money to spend it is a bit frightening! I don't think i'll go a Warn winch and might try an Ironman 9.5 as they have a good warranty which apparently incudes water ingress.
https://www.4x4earth.com.au/forum/g...59-winch-warrantys-who-support-when-walk.html
The above was interesting.
I will have an ARB steel Deluxe bar and breathers right through. Tyres for the steelies might be the new Toyo Open Country AT2s. Snorkus will be a Safari.
Radio will be a GME probably. I might well invest in a Galaxy tab and get the off road maps set up but I'm not cluey about that stuff and could well just get a Hema HN7 ...OR both!!
As I said....lots of stuff to go. :ebiggrin:
 
Hey, mate. I do understand sensible financial planning ... ;).

If you are not cluey about techno stuff, get the simplest possible solution. Hema has a very good reputation AFAICT. I have their paper atlases from the RACV shop (something like 30% off for members, IIRC). I also have two GPS units. The later of the two works for up to 4 hours without charging and acquires the satellites about 2-5x faster.

Travelling alone, I don't think it's even optional these days NOT to have a Spot Messenger. If my worthless remains need to be recovered from somewhere, then just send the nearest Divvy van to pick it up. I am quite sanguine about all that. I just don't want the community to have to spend $250,000 on finding said worthless remains!! There are far better things for the community to do with this kind of bread, IMNSHO.
 
I quite like the D-MAX, will be interested to see how they hold their re-sale
 
From what I could see looking through Gumtree, Carsales etc all of the 4x4 utes hold their resale value pretty good. They are a good portion of the market and good clean examples always seem to have a good price attached to them.
The 'pay more, get less' Toyota people used to make me angry with their stupid comments like 'you might pay more but you will get more when you sell it'. My comment was that if I pay more I would EXPECT to get more when I sell it. If you sit down and work out the maths Toyotas are not really good value. They generally cost about $10,000 more than an equal ute. They are advertising the SR5 dual cab right now at almost $49,000 drive away...mind you...that is what they call a 'deal'. Dmax are advertising a low spec dual cab for $38k drive away with $1,500 free stuff. It has almost everything the SR5 has and you could nock at least $1k of the price with some hard bargaining. I had 3 dealers wanting to sell me the car. I will say that I think the Toyota is better inside but the Dmax is updating each year. The Isuzu dealer told me they are getting more dealers all the time so that's a good thing. I also get 5 year or 130k warranty with full roadside assist. Makes Toyota look sick in my opinion.
Most of the modern utes will do everything a Hilux can do and are just as reliable. The only advantage of a Toyota is they are everywhere. That's it.
 
A bit of an update. Nothing on the delivery front as yet. Around 7 weeks to go.
I have, however, got the towbar...all nuts, bolts, wiring loom and tow ball for $50...nice :ebiggrin:.
I also got 4 more alloys with tyres for $400. I am going to go with the alloys all round for on and off road. I'll probably fit 245/75/17 Toyo Open Country 2s for the off road stuff and use the tyres that are on the OEM rims for onroad. I'll sell the steelies if I can. Quite a few farmers around here are using the Dmax now. Also the local council has just started getting the spacecab in and Essential Energy has a few.
5 alloys at my mates place in Vic and 4 at my sons place in Qld...i'll just have to go for a drive I guess!!
The local ARB guy came up with an OK price for an ARB steel bar and Safari snorkus and is letting me pay it off. It's up there waiting for me. Before the 28th of Novemeber I will also order an ARB rear diff lock with the compressor that also does your tyres. It is around $300 off until that date.
I'll have the goodies and can than just budget for the fitting costs. Slowly,slowly...as long as it is all together by mid June I will be happy.
Next month I am going to the Batemans Bay 4bie show. The fellow that makes the slide on camper I will be getting will be there and I am going to leave a deposit so I can book a slot in May for him to start making it.
Funny enough he bought a Dmax spacecab earlier this year so this pic is exactly how my setup will look except my ute will have all the bells and whistles.
https://traytopcampers.com/photo-gallery/
The top 4 pics.
 
I'll check up but I would imagine ARB are well aware of this and up to date with the regs. Anyway, i'll ask. It will be good to see some of the stupid and dangerous bars off the road in my opinion. I hope they do police it.
 
I was looking at dmax while waiting for a car to be serviced at Melton Suzuki. Was quite impressed with the price and features especially compared to the hilux. I'm meaning to go back for a test drive of the mu.
 
I reckon the price of a Dmax compared to a Hilux a no brainer. The new Hilux next year might be a different ballgame but you will still pay the Toyota tax and the new Navara and Triton will be around. Because the Dmax is still relatively new it would not need much of an upgrade to compete with them.
The Mux is good value considering a Prado starts at almost $64k. I reckon the Prado is a step above the Mux inside and probably ride refinement and I would wait for the first upgrade at least before I got a Mux. Still, they are capable and good value.
 
Slowly, slowly. No news on the Dmax yet but Dec 14th is just around the corner. I'm happy if it doesn't come until next year if it meant getting 2015 plates but I don't really care.
Went to a Caravan and Camping show at Batemans Bay last Friday and of course HAD to spend money I don't have getting a few deals.
Bought a ARB recovery kit, a GME TX3120s UHF radio with bonus 2w TX670 handheld and a AE4018K1 aerial to suit. This aerial is a 'multi purpose' one I guess you would say. I told the GME guy I wanted the smallest, most powerful easiest to use radio and an aerial that will work around hills but still be OK out west. read the instructions on the radio and put the book down totally baffled!! Duplex,Simplex, voice scramble, blah, blah!! Hate to think what a 'complicated radio would involve!!
Also got a twin pack of Wurton 4x5w LED Cube lights. 1850 lumens each. These will be for the tray at the rear for night time parking in the bush.
While I was at it...got a set of Maxtrax 1150mm...may as well!
I also got the 3t towbar delivered to me. Complete with all nuts and bolts and a brand new TJM wiring loom. At $50..my best buy yet:)
So I now have the above plus 5 alloys in Vic and 4 alloys in Qld, a KORR light bar and am paying off the ARB bar, rear diff lock and Safari snorkel.
I also put a deposit on a slide on camper which will be started in May for delivery in June.
The fellow that makes them has the same ute I am getting except mine will look 'tougher' with all the goodies on it:ebiggrin:. The top 4 pics will be my set up.
https://traytopcampers.com/photo-gallery/
I've got lots of goodies...just need something to put them all on:lol::lol:.
 
^ and a lotto win to pay for it all!!:rotfl:
Sounds like a great days shopping!
 
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