Considering buying a new ute

Iva Biggen · Senior Member

Considering buying a new ute

Possum3 · Guru

Unfortunately many of the utes and caravans are not fit for purpose - many of the dealers are also shonks. There has never been a time when due diligence has been required more. There is a body assisting buyers of Motorhomes and Caravans by providing free checklists and technical advice www.caravancouncil.com.au/
Ensure you read all the available information on Recalls in the Techies Corner post.

Iva Biggen · Senior Member

Hi Possum3
I am just learning my way around the forum so I will check out the recall posts.
Thank you for the link on the caravan council site but at this stage I am quite happy with my van.
It is causing me a bit of concern about the reports on new vehicles seeing that I am looking or at least considering a new one.

EJP · Senior Member

This is old news. Recalls on new vehicles are common and across the range and are usually rectified early in their life, Some only come to light after problems outside their design papameters occur. One of the problems is that a lot of the dual cab type utes sold in this country are not designed for the purpose for which they were bought, ie, onerloading causing cracking and bent chassis, towing large heavy caravans with heavy towball downloads, having heavy bull bars and winches fitted, GVM upgrades, heavy duty suspensions fitted and the rough terrain which they can be subjected to. I understand that the D Max engine bay cracking issue can be attributed to the fitting of heavy bullbars/winches. The Ford Ranger/BT 50 exhaust fires was due to grass accumulating around the DPF whilst driving through dry long grass, ie, in paddocks, spinifex etc and not being cleared reguarly. The Toyota Hilux DPF issue has been fixed with a 'DPF burn' button fitted. My son works for a land surveying company which run a fleet of Toyota Hilux dual cab utes, all stock standard. They are loaded up with survey equiptment, their use varies from building sites to paddocks, have multiple drivers and accumulate high mileage. They have very few problems and are serviced reguarly. In fact his previous one, a 4.0 ltr petrol auto did over 600,000 kms (the rear wheel bearings were replaced a few times and the alternator required replacing) and his present one, 2.8 ltr auto, has done 20,000 km in 3 months with no issues. The manufacturures advertising and vehicle specifications, particualy in the vehicle load carrying and towing areas, can be missleading. The dealers will tell you anything to get a sale. As Possum said, do your homework.

Regards EJP

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Even some of the "old girls" had troubles with the exhaust, body/transmission guards, longish grass & fire - eg MQ Nissan Patrols - the gearbox guard cut the grass off & stashed it neatly around the exhaust pipe. Early Toyotas did similar tricks.

Now everyone wants to tow bigger rigs, using lighter weight cars that are made for carrying only moderate loads without having heavy accessories being fitted, & using the smallest, most powerful, most fuel efficient engine possible (but for how long?). And if they believe the crazy adverts, being able to drive like a rat bag over all sorts of terrain!

If one would fit into my garage (won't), be easy to park in suburban shopping centres (impossible), I'd love a Dodge Ram 2500 dual cab. My brother-in-law has one - needs it for towing his headers around.

I guess one has to work out where you want to go - bearing in mind we are getting older, what we want the car to do (normal use), what we want to tow & go for the most suitable compromise.

Radar · Guru

We have a crew cab ute with a real 3 tonne towing, 6 tonne gross combination but really its jack of all trades ute but not good all together at once.

As a ute only you can throw fair bit weight in the ute section and enjoy. Go four wheel driving for the day, camping for weekend, great.

With very litte in the tub you can tow a good size caravan.

But you can not load the tub of the ute up and tow a heavy caravan, gross combination weight you maybe right but your drive axle will be well and truly over weight and not a good situation with the handling of the car steering wise. The weight is coming off the steering as you load up the tub end of the car nothing is going on to the steer end.

The weight is all behind the rear axle.

Happy motoring.

kesa32 · Senior Member

Hi Ivan , what do you intend to do with it ?

Iva Biggen · Senior Member

Hi Ken,
I am basically on the road full time when not visiting my children.
I tow a Free Spirit single axle van with the ATM of 2600 and a ball weight empty of 185 from memory. With it loaded I am usually around 230 to 240 on the ball.
I like the ute for towing as I can carry a lot of gear in the tray including a small annexe if I want to stay in one place longer term.

So my use is basically just caravanning with some non towing adventures for exploring and shopping.

I was considering updating the ute but am concerned that these new models all seem to have their own problems and as others have said, most new vehicles have problems but in my situation I am concerned about how these dealers are reported to treat owners particularly if I am on the road and not in the town where I bought the vehicle.

4 years ago my eldest son bought a Landcruiser 200 wagon and he has not had any warranty issues with it at all and has only needed the servicing program which for 3 years was a fixed price. I would like one but personally it is an overkill for my needs and to be honest I dont want to outlay that amount of money and it does not have the convenience of the ute which I am used to.

Eaglemax · Guru

Iva Biggen wrote:
Hi Ken,
I am basically on the road full time when not visiting my children.
I tow a Free Spirit single axle van with the ATM of 2600 and a ball weight empty of 185 from memory. With it loaded I am usually around 230 to 240 on the ball.
I like the ute for towing as I can carry a lot of gear in the tray including a small annexe if I want to stay in one place longer term.

So my use is basically just caravanning with some non towing adventures for exploring and shopping.

I was considering updating the ute but am concerned that these new models all seem to have their own problems and as others have said, most new vehicles have problems but in my situation I am concerned about how these dealers are reported to treat owners particularly if I am on the road and not in the town where I bought the vehicle.

4 years ago my eldest son bought a Landcruiser 200 wagon and he has not had any warranty issues with it at all and has only needed the servicing program which for 3 years was a fixed price. I would like one but personally it is an overkill for my needs and to be honest I dont want to outlay that amount of money and it does not have the convenience of the ute which I am used to.

Hi Ivan,

I wouldn't let bad stories deter you from buying a new ute. We only hear of the bad stories not many of the good ones. Most dealers are very good at after sales service.

You seem wise to tow only a medium heavy van and in doing so you have a wider choice with selecting a suitable tow car.

My only comment further is I steer clear of VW on ethical grounds firstly as they tried to deceive the world with emissions and secondly my once owned Tiguan (it had a DSG gearbox) cost a small fortune for its 60,000 km service. I later needed a windscreen replacement (the type with auto wiper feature) and an initial quote was $1480. Two months later it was $590 as I'd complained.

From what I've observed with ute owners Isuzu is my preference with Toyota up there with it.

Just my views. Tony

kesa32 · Senior Member

Hi Ivan, yeah it's a tough one what to buy these days , they're all pretty good and as your article has shown , all have a problem here and there , and as you'll find most companies will not do much about them unless it threatens life etc
I don't hear many complaints against Mitsubishi tritons mechanically, though I'm not up with it really , quite a few blokes work have all of the popular 4x4s Utes and also 200 series cruisers , none appear to be having any problems

As you know people can break anything, so if you do get one of the latest and greatest just treat it ok , and as your towing , change the engine oil and filter more regularly as it's under much more stress , and add an auto cooler , and you'll be covering most bases to mechanically having a long lasting vehicle mate

Good luck with your choice

iana · Guru

We have a Mazda first service reported an oil leak at the rear engine seal, seal changed. Further down the track reported the oil leak, now out of warranty, they took the ute, put it on the hoist and had a look. We need the ute for a week or so they said, its going to have a new motor, no ifs or buts, here's a brand new loan ute until its fixed, bye bye. I didn't have a say in it. Now many km's later and all is sweet.

-- Edited by iana on Wednesday 27th of February 2019 06:05:33 AM

-- Edited by iana on Wednesday 27th of February 2019 06:07:10 AM

Iva Biggen · Senior Member

Thank you to all for your support, it kinda puts my concerns to rest.
After cyclone Oma I think we can all see how the media like to make a story seem bigger than it is.

I had narrowed my choice to the Ranger / Mazda or the Colorado / Isuzu but I will have a look at the Mitzi as well.
I only want a tray back and really dont need 4 doors although those new extra cab bodies might be handy for just that little bit extra space inside.

Greg 1 · Guru

I have a 2015 Ford Ranger Wildtrak towing a 21' van. Have towed across the continent and back 3 times with this vehicle and about to head off for a 4th time. It has been absolutely reliable and quite frankly the best tow vehicle I have ever owned and I have had a few. Would highly recommend the Ranger from my experience with the vehicle.

The Expats · Member

Hi, I tow with a Mitsubishi triton 2018 and its does mostly well . Half way around Australia started jumping out of third gear (6 speed manual) , turns out its a known fault and dealer had it fixed in 2 days. It seems that most manufacturers have had problems to Recife these days.

Ron-D · Guru

Completely biased answer but truthfully with my new Mux it was an eye opener the torque compared to my old car was amzeing ,try finding a bad towing report on the internet its imposibl,my mate owns a very big workshop on the south coast ,the Way he sees it is Isuzu manufacture truck engines they have very big torque bands,with my car compared to the old one thats the difference,this thing just wants to climb without hunting up and down in the gear box...