I've never copped negative feedback about the Rangers. And trust me, if or customers aren't happy you know about it!
You can't go wrong with a Ranger, $10000 cheaper than the Hilux and jst as much if not more equipment in them.

Wait till you see the new Ranger, they're awesome! 3.2L 5(!) cylinder diesel (147kW) so it's gunna be a rocket.
The Wildtrack is standard with reverse camera, 18" wheels, leather. The rest of the range is standard with stability control, bluetooth, etc, etc, etc....

Yeah good buses. I need to put some weight in the back of mine. Im gunna make up a short 6 inch galv pipe with water fittings and a drain tap. Fill it up when I dont have a load or not towing and drain it when I have a load on. mate did it with his falcon ute and it made all the difference to handling in the wet.

Ive got an 05 navara d22 str great tow car and in the 4 years ive had it has never given me a problem despite what you hear about them. You should be able to pick up a good one for a bit over 20g

you work for ford dont you shoota? our work utes have been very reliable, i just wish they would give one to me lol.. how is the clutch and gearbox in them whilst towing? The usual "dont tow in 5th gear" and so on..

Wombat- yeh the ones i have been looking at have been cab chassis, then ill make my own steel tray instead of alloy to get a bit of weght into it.. what revs does she sit on in 4th at 100k's? My courier sits on over 3500rpm! hence the reason for selling it lol

trb012- yeh a mate of mine just got a D22 str, he stepped out of a commodore and complains bout it being slow! he hasnt owned a diesel before.. if i was to buy a navara i would prob try and stretch the budget for a D40.. but i can justify spending cash like that at the moment, buying a house next year so ive srta capped the ute price at sub $20k

Yeah I work at a Ford dealer.
I haven't heard of clutch problems with the Ranger but as you say, you shouldn't load the trans up too much when towing. 5th gear is fine but not in hills and not when driving into a head wind.

If you need useless weight in the back, buy off shoota and I'm sure you could negotiate him to sit in the back when you need traction. He does like it in the rear, but it takes a big ladder to reach

You really cant go past a Landcruiser, any of the coil sprung models are great, even an old troopy is still an unkillable and economical workhorse.

You might think they have high mileage but we had an 80 series from new and got 650,000km on it with the original donk before someone stole it, and it still went great.

wow i really think there is a some kind of secret afair going on here, you guys should just come out and say it. Will make you feel much better

Also thought about the landcruiser sidedraught, but ultimately im after something fairly modern (06+) as i want it to be comfy, quiet and nice to drive. The cruisers i have looked at would eat my entire house deposit up and then sum.. a mate of mine has a 2010 Cruiser and its bloody awesome.. i cant justify spending that coin on a car.

Just don't buy a manual with a dual mass flywheel if your going to tow... or even drive it

Navara D40
BT50
Patrol 3.0 TD

Anything with a dualmass will hit you up for $2k+ for clutch repairs within 50k km's

ah yes i hadnt thought of that, it will be towing my car around once a month, maybe more. so its important its reliable in doing so.. My grandfather bought a D40 new, tows his 24ft caravan everywhere. stuffed the clutch. ended up shopping around and found a direct replacement clutch and flywheel combo (single mass) for around $800!

Reminds me of back in teh day when SS commos used to crap clutches all the time, they had a dualmass on them also