Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

Nah, I don't have an issue with people choosing something that can actually go off road (Heck, I was looking at a Defender myself), but your situation is a little extreme for the majority of Melbourne :p

My gripe has always been with 4x4s like the Lexus LX570 and Honda CRV, which don't do off-roading or comfortable family car well. The fact that they're often driven around my area by blonde women taking little timmy to school whilst sipping on a cafe latte and texting doesn't help me views either.
 
The LX570 should get a pass, though. It's just a Land Cruiser with leather and gadgets; a few LX570s have already been spotted on trails around the US. One guy is supposed to be running the Rubicon with one later this year. It's certainly capable and it was built to compete with the big Range Rover. But, like the RR, its not the vehicle's fault if the owner never takes it offroad.

The CRV, on the other hand, is worthless offroad... which is why Honda markets it in the US as basically a tall Civic wagon.
 
I can tell you right now that almost all of the current Prados, Pajero, LX570, etc that I see on the roads are absolutley mint and look as though they haven't seen anything more than grass on a field.

The 4x4s which actually go off-road round here tend to be very old Patrols, Landcruisers, defenders, hi-Luxs and stuff like that. And when I say off-road I mean covered in mud up to the windshield off-road.
 
wasent nissan owned by ford at some point? or still is? :mrgreen:
 
Spectre said:
No, they had an alliance where they collaborated with Ford on minivans, but that's pretty much as far as that ever got.
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They had a model-sharing / development agreement here for a short while, giving birth to such gems as the Ford Maverick (Nissan Patrol), Nissan Ute (Falcon Ute) & the Ford Corsair / Nissan Pintara twins.
 
fbc said:
They had a model-sharing / development agreement here for a short while, giving birth to such gems as the Ford Maverick (Nissan Patrol), Nissan Ute (Falcon Ute) & the Ford Corsair / Nissan Pintara twins.
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Yeah; on the other hand, didn't GM Aus end up buying Nissan engines for their Holdens for a while?
 
Spectre said:
Crossing Fords, more like. :D



No, they had an alliance where they collaborated with Ford on minivans, but that's pretty much as far as that ever got.
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hmmm, then I must be misinformed....
Btw it wasnt just minivans, over here they marketed the european Terrano as a ford maverick back in the 90's

S7002614.jpg


*edit* beat me to it
 
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Cowboy said:
hmmm, then I must be misinformed....
Btw it wasnt just minivans, over here they marketed the european Terrano as a ford maverick back in the 90's

S7002614.jpg


*edit* beat me to it
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That's.... not a Terrano.
 
Indeed it was... and the aussie 'maverick' is indeed always been a patrol here ;)

european Terrano, same generation as the ford version posted above :

NISSAN-Terrano-II---1995-1996-.jpg
 
Of course, you could split hairs and say it was called the Terrano II.

But let's not do that.
 
This is a Terrano to us:
Nissan_Terrano_D21_001.JPG
 
Actually, for a short period, every car for sale in Europe was also marketed as the Nissan Terrano.

They had to stop that when people found it difficult to find the exact parts for their Terrano at a parts store.
 
Karoug said:
This is a Terrano to us:
Nissan_Terrano_D21_001.JPG
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That was the terrano we had before the one I posted...But with slightly different style front end I think...... God this is confusing......lets call it Bob. :mrgreen:
 
nsx_23 said:
I can tell you right now that almost all of the current Prados, Pajero, LX570, etc that I see on the roads are absolutley mint and look as though they haven't seen anything more than grass on a field.
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Just because they don't in fact go off road doesn't mean they aren't good off road. And they actually are really good as family cars. When my dad was looking at his ml, he also looked at the Lexi lx 470 and the land cruiser. That Lexus was damn smooth. Now we looked at the lx 570 recently, and it was a freakin truck...its huge. If he gets an suv, its goin to be mid size instead of something like the Lexus...which is what he used to want to get.
 
I'm not so much doubting their off-road ability, more that they don't ever get used in situations that they were designed for.

It annoys the hell out of me in the same way that morons who buy supercars and just leave them sitting in climate controlled garages annoy the hell out of me.
 
nsx_23 said:
I'm not so much doubting their off-road ability, more that they don't ever get used in situations that they were designed for.

It annoys the hell out of me in the same way that morons who buy supercars and just leave them sitting in climate controlled garages annoy the hell out of me.
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got it :nod: I see that too...just that it doesn't really annoy me at all.
 
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