Oh no!

Just when we've shelved our plans to buy a petrol 4wd after being convinced that diesels (turbo diesels) were the way to go .... in particular a lot more economical when towing ........ well C'MON!! (as Loud Leighton Hewitt says on the tennis court).......  GN members, please convince us one way or another....... or will the great Petrol/Diesel Debate be tested on a future episode of Myth Busters!

In other words is diesel's economy and efficiency a myth .... or should we give petrol a myth ............sorry ..... a miss.

I'm sure a few more opinions on this subject can only help us make an informed decision before purchasing our towing vehicle in the coming weeks.

yep, I can see all the interstate truckies lining up to go petrol as we speak, got our header an kenworth and all our tractors booked in for a petrol transplant next week

We have a diesel Captiva yet to be tested towing our camper so ask us again in May and we will know the economy of towing then after our WA stint.

will this help, Had my old GQ patrol for 12 years, wouldnt part with it comfort with all the mod cons ,air CD CB and things that sing as we wend our way along, Sorry Jude, we have reached 13433 ks starting from Sapphire in September up to Mt Isa, over to Threeways, Ulura, Port Augusta, Burra, Mildura, Bendigo, Melbourne Albury, Young, Mt Kosciuko,, Young, tweed Heads, stil to go is Kingaroy, Gracemere, and then to the Mine Werent in any hurry, spent $2988.63, changed the oil once, never missed a beat, used 1862 litres ,and kept within the $30 a day we set out to do, with a 1550 kg van on her bum the whole time , even down to the RSL and Maccas cannot speak for Petrol, but can see the old girl being retired for a smaller DIESEL when the bus is finished, I make my own Diesel when I get home , That is a big plus for me M&J enjoy your sunrises

Thought I should add that it is a normally aspirated 4.2 litre motor with about 400000 on the clock,, had an option to fit a turbo but didnt go throught with it as the cost wouldnt have paid for the extra savings over 5 years, (according to my son) I also may add, that I have HAD the old farts sydrome, growing up a diesel was a slow heavy and reliable bit of machinary, not to be revved hard, I have been told to redline it on warming it up and towing a heavy van at least once a day to clean out the pipes and keep the power up to its designed limit ???????????????????????????????? so it has been worked hard

Mike the red line is there for a reason, and it is red for a reason, I wouldn't recommend running any engine anywhere near it on warm up or any other time, major damage will be done if you do, particularly in a cold oil lacking engine, thats why the modern large diesel powered machines have "prepump" oilers on board as well as preheaters I am surprised that you were able to achieve 400,000 ks with this practice, we have a computer monitering system on the truck and header that I operate during harvest and if I did this once on either machine, tractor or dozer I would be out on my ear maximum "power" is not achieved at maximum revs, it is achieved at the top of the "power band" and that varies from model to model and can also vary from vehicle to vehicle, you will actually achieve a drop off in horsepower as you gain maximum revs "the pipes" do not need cleaning out, they are self cleansing of any build up that may occur during normal driving

Really no comparison if you want to tow. The higher torque of the diesel will pull your van better than the higher KW of a petrol engine....Simple unasailable fact.... sorry to ruin the debate....I'm a party pooper am I not?
Why not debate auto or manual?

Thank you Dave for the info on the LPG Regarding the redline, used a little exagerration, Power band is a yellow line from 1600 rpm to 2700, redlines at 4150, never had any motor near it yet, The expert at the diesel injection place in Sth Brisbane (remember when the fuel was ruining all the seals, change of formula or something )(why I make my own at home ) told me to push it a little harder towards the redline to remove the buildup of coke in the pipes, which I do, but I feel its pain when she spins beyond 3200 when she is warmed up the once only, other than that dont push it beyond 90ks and that is at 2200 approx Let the other mad max's have the road thanks again mate

thank Christ for that Mike, I came from the generation that was taught to look after and respect machinery, having an engine screaming its lungs out, to me, is far worse than fingernails down a blackboard and should be avoided at all cost petrol motors do need to rev a LITTLE higher because they have a narrower power band but diesels get their pull from lower revs with a much wider power band (in your case the band is 1600 - 2700) and thats what makes them far more popular for towing and rough work (crawling around), some choose to use the word "torque" as a terminology to explain the "strength" and position of a power band, in the end it is all the same , all that you must remember is that with diesels maximum power is gained, lower in the rev range than it is in petrol engines, "torque" is the ability to hold that power, and in the case of your vehicle, would be significantly felt at roughly 1800 rpm (she refuses to stop pulling and will dig her toes in at that) all vehicles are different horse power is also a relevant terminology, there are two types of horses, Chinese and American/Australian, the Chinese horses are smaller and thereby they get more in, cant say they exaggerate their claims of horsepower because their lawyers are bigger than mine then there is the important bit, where are the horses, one is measured at the source (engine) which is known as flywheel horsepower the other is an axle measurement (the important one), I've also encountered draw bar horsepower but that is the same as axle and only relates to tractors, if a salesman talks about draw bar horsepower he doesn't know what he is raving on about when I come across a mechanic that revs the engine or recommends overevving an engine when doing a tune up or something similar, that mechanic does not get near my vehicles or work for us but anyway Mike only too glad to help, if I cant provide an answer then I have 3 mechanics at my disposal (diesel trained) I better go or I'll be kicked off. but as you can see it is one of my favourite subjects, I'm a bit of a big engine junkie, steam, diesel or oil fired

Well, regardless of who wins the great petrol/diesel debate it's too late for us.  We just purchased a 4 year old, low km, 3.0L turbo diesel Patrol yesterday.  We owned a petrol/gas GQ patrol in the late 1990's which we were pretty happy with so hopefully our updated model will get us around Oz with van in tow early April this year.

couldnt have done better, she wont let you down!!

dave06 wrote:

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couldnt have done better, she wont let you down!!

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Thanks Dave, the ironical thing is we bought it from a Toyota dealer while initially looking at Prado diesels ....... but the deal and price on the Patrol was too good to refuse. 

told you good things come from toyotas, even the dealers!! happy trails from now on hey, you bloody little (or should that be liddle) ripper LOL!!!

Good choice . They tell me in 2010 all petrol will be at least E 10 so some of the older petrol units may be in for an expensive repair bill . I also heard that diesel is going to have an ethanol component about the same time not sure it that's correct , anyone out their heard anything

I'm having a look at a 2003 Mitsubishi Pajero 4 cylinder 3.2lt turbo Diesel...today.its done 95,000 klm...any comments would be helpful Dave

Dave, what I am about to say will stir up a hornets nest in amongst the die hard mitsubishi pajero fraternity. but I must tell my experience with them my B.I.L. works as a mechanic in a mitsubishi dealership, they see at least two come in every month with MAJOR gearbox problems, granted that they are mainly the v6 models, the problem is still there and cost a lot to repair the problems are not driver related, I.E. bush bashing or town driving, it doesnt seem to matter which, the box just fails I say this even though I am a mitsi fan, I have owned 3 magnas now and have had a fantastic run out of them without a moments problem, all v6

Bugga.now you tell Me dave, I got a 2005 Mitsubishi Pajero NP GLX .today...its done 85,000 klm its 4x4 3.2lt diesel turbo has MATT Automatic stability traction control..very clean vehicle..I doublt its ever been off road...so if you see a white Paj.towing a black CT.......get out the way..LOL..joking Dave

well Dave, I just hope you have a good run with it and never come across the failure, they are a very nice vehicle to drive nothing like the offroaders that I had to battle with