Which turbo diesel ute to import from australia?

Being a Nissan fanboi, I would look for a Navarra. Seems they made those long after they were dropped in the US. Nissan uses the TD25 and TD27 in forklifts etc.

Yeah the Navara's are still in use over here, D22, D40 and i think there is a new one out now

What's your budget like? Makes suggestions much easier.

Also any preference as to how new or old? Engine size?, 2wd or 4wd?

Id say Toyota probably has the best part availability in terms of drive line stuff. Outside of that the others will be much of a muchness.

We've got some cool stuff over here, but personal taste is going to play a big part.

When it comes to Ford or Holden, the diesel Utes are rebadged Japanese stuff. Neither the Holden commodore or Ford falcon Utes came as diesel.

I always liked the early 90's Mazda offerings. I have looked at several on gumtree, and such. A lot are diesel, and seem cheaper than the Toyota equivalents. I would love a crew cab diesel like you described, but 25 year old truck are usually in worse nick than say my Delica which I imported almost 2 years ago now. Also the trucks seem more expensive probably due to the larger appeal and utility of the open bed. I've also noted that the beds on the older trucks offered in almost every other market are not these smooth sided ones that we get on trucks. These babies have cargo hooks like my old 74 REPU, and some even have fold down sides for easier loading/ ability to make a flat bed. Very cool options, and way more usable in my opinion. Good luck on your search. The easy answer is Toyota, but pretty much all of the other Japanese manufacturers made equivalent trucks for less money.

I don't get the "Turbo Diesel" focus of the plan. I would be curious as to where your friend is getting his Voice of Customer from because I don't see the market .

If I run some numbers, I don't see you getting the car bought,shipped and landed FOB your sales-lot for less than $5000 plus the cost of the vehicle. So, if you bought the car for $10,000 you are sitting on 15k investment. You need this to move in less than a month, so you cant price it too high. Lets make a grand (so add two to the COGS) and since I figure you have some overhead cost in being a car sales-business I am going to add another 2k say we are selling for $19,000. Maybe 20k asking so people can fight you down a bit.

So, just as a business plan exercise and maybe to check my numbers, what would a 15 year old Ute cost me by the time it got here and can it be registered and insured? Are you offering financing? (cause the banks probably wont) Can I be assured of not having e-test issues down the road?

I CAN see this working as a fun hobby where the value proposition is that you don't make much money but instead get to drive around some interesting tin until you find someone who wants it more than you and is willing to buy it for enough that you break even and do it all over again.

The other option is to just broker the deals for people who want Utes and pocket a fee. No fee to the company other than marketing the service.

I never said I was selling cars, did I?

I never said he was selling utes, did I?

I said I have a friend who imports vehicles from Australia and sells them, and he can get me a ute. Which I would like very much. While I appreciate your analysis of his business, that is neither here nor there for me.

Daemon, 4x4, manual transmission, turbo diesel but the smaller the engine the better as I'd be looking for a mileage improvement over the dmax in the city (I'd be keeping the dmax for heavy hauling). I wouldn't pay more than $10k all in, at that point I'd just keep running the dmax for heavy hauling and city delivery and pick up a fun daily driver.

It looks to me like at that price point you'll be limited to Fords and Holdens. To be fair to everyone who failed to comprehend that this vehicle was just for you, I think the whole "starting a business" thing is what led to all of the comments about profitability, etc.

I vote 70 series as well.

But you might find a d4d hilux surf in your price range, which I would very much like to own.... I have the US version and its a great truck (well SUV really...)

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: To be fair to everyone who failed to comprehend that this vehicle was just for you, I think the whole "starting a business" thing is what led to all of the comments about profitability, etc.

Yep.

I suppose the other thing I would consider if you plan to use the truck as a daily driver will be parts. Getting replacement parts from the other side of the globe might be annoying at times. As long as you can live with that and can afford to have the truck down for long stretches, I don't think it really matters which brand you get. Differences between brands is mainly personal opinion.

Caught up with a gear head friend of mine that lives down under and he mentioned that the only thing there that is is a diesel ute over 25 years old is the odd Japanese import. He also mentioned that those were really pretty thin on the ground and good ones worth exporting were pretty expensive.

As far as what to get, That to me is more personal. Toyo tax is still high on the old Hi Lux and LC's. Mitsubishi made some interesting options but mostly in SUV and vans and not utes. You can get some nissan options but parts would be a PITA since they weren't all cross-over with the hardbodies in the states.

Edit: Forgot you are in Canada. That will get you a few more options like the Courier which is basically a ranger with a diesel, The Patrol which is still pretty back waters till the early 2000s and the Mitsu Triton.

OK cool, that gives me a bit better idea as to what you need.

You can get a reasonably clean 10-15 year old dual cab in your budget. For the most part, due to our climate, 10-15 year old vehicles here are fairly rust free.

Your best options will be as follows. Toyota hilux, Mazda bravo/b2500/Ford courier, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden rodeo(rebadged Isuzu) or nissan navara.

They all have sub 3.0l turbo diesel engines available depending on model.

Any particular brand loyalty or preferences?

daeman wrote: OK cool, that gives me a bit better idea as to what you need. You can get a reasonably clean 10-15 year old dual cab in your budget. For the most part, due to our climate, 10-15 year old vehicles here are fairly rust free. Your best options will be as follows. Toyota hilux, Mazda bravo/b2500/Ford courier, Mitsubishi Triton, Holden rodeo(rebadged Isuzu) or nissan navara. They all have sub 3.0l turbo diesel engines available depending on model. Any particular brand loyalty or preferences?

Thanks for the list! And nope, no preference, biggest thing would be being able to get mechanical parts (suspension, steering, driveline) easily in Canada, so probably the Hilux, Courier, and B2500 would be best.

In other news, still finding it humorous that I am being blamed due to people not reading the initial post. It was not vague or unclear

All good mate, glad it helps.

I'm a but biased towards the courier/b series. Reason being is that I have had a few (non diesel though) bit also that drive line and chassis stuff should be fairly accessible given that the b series was sold in your neck of the woods. The biggest hurdle you will face would be finding engine parts for the wl-t 2.5 engine, though you may be lucky to find an industrial application for that engine with may make things easier.

If you keep it to pre 2005, the gearbox and diff should be fairly interchangeable with other Mazda stuff . The diff is a Mazda 8" and the gearbox is the Mazda r box (removable bellhousing and sump plate type)

Plus you'll probably get better value for money going with the mazford ute, with Toyota you pay the Toyota tax lol

LANDCRUISER!!!

The other thing that might help you work out is see what you have locally. IE what you can get parts out of over there.

Yeah Toyota Landcuiser or Hilux, I own a 02 Hilux naturally aspirated 3.0L Diesel, just hit 500k on original motor.  Had a few issues, I am not the first owner, but still more reliable than my Wifes Jeep Wrangler. (Which I also love for other reasons).

We love them in Australia because they are so simple. When something breaks and you are 500kms from help, you can usually fix it with duct tape or a zip tie! Haha.

Their re-sale is Awesome in Australia, but can't speak for Canada. Their payload is about 1-tonne and get used allot by farming and mining with a flat tray so you can carry larger items like a bale of hay or a shipping pallet, simply use a forklift to load onto it.

Actually the Hilux and Ford ranger were the top two selling cars over all cars sold in AU in 2017. The landcruiser is heavier duty, and more expensive than the hilux. But it is pretty tough.

The other thing to, is although we have heaps of small format pickups/utes here, the landcruiser 79 has barely changed since the 90's, just changes for saftey and emmissions and a few small mod cons. But Air-conditioning and power windows are still optional extras! They are stuck in the past, which could be a good thing. Less to go wrong.

I want an Aussie ute in the worst and most unexplainable way.