Crewman, hey, didnt think of that, perhaps an Adventura.....

Holden pos crewman? Awd parts anywhere in aus and decent towing capacity- not 2t I think though.

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sorry for the late reply, but ive been out at Kambalda for the last few days without access to a real internet connection.

Bert,
Thats the sort of story that I have heard from a few people who own the cars. Yeah sure its not a perfect car, but its freaking awsome value for $25,000.

Datsamore,
Yeah Im out in toodyay. Dad, is located wherever someone will let him park is bus. Currently, he is staying with friends at the Kalamunda Camel Farm. He was out here for about 6 months a while back, but getting to work is hard for him. (yep he still works at 70!!). If he moves up here again, we will need to build a unit for him. He drives me and the missus mad!

The new lady friend is based down in Bussleton though. We are trying to "encourage" him to go and stay more often with her, in the hope that he will move in down there.

As Dad is somewhat fickle at times, he has now said that he doesent want a dual cab, but rather a wagon of sorts so that he can take friends about in the back witout them cramping too much. Fair call I spose since dual cabs are not known for their back seat room.

He has also now told me that the bank will only load the money on a car less than 7 years old. That makes things hard, but there is the possibility of getting a car thru a finance mob provided by a dealership or something. At his age defaulting on a loan isnt a problem. This will be his last anyways.

Im still keen on pushing him towards a mid 90s landcruiser or patrol. Sure older tech, and will have around 250,000km, but both are relaible as, and pretty unbreakable (which is really important for my dad. He can break anything!)
But the Great Wall is dirt cheap, is new with 3 year warrenty, and from what bert said should two upto 2 tonne reasonaly well. Its likly that in 3 years dad wont be able to drive anyways, so a 3 year lifespan is not a bad thing as long as he owns it.

So to update the critera
wagon
Tow a caravan (weight to be determined)
4wd (Low range not neccessary but prefered)
$20,000 price tag

Any more thoughts?

definitely, I love old european bikes but i know id kill myself on a bike. Reason I sold my pushbike the day I got a license! people around here have no respect for cyclists and its too damn scary.

hear hear absolutely right thats why I also prefer to be in my 1000 than my old BSA if it came to a bingle :(

I mean that in an equal crash say head on with a smaller vehicle id rather be in the great wall, im in no way saying it has a higher rating than them. Ive seen a few photos from a few great walls that have crashed in the real world and I know this only represents half of the story but they seem to fair quite well in those cases. What im trying to say is for the money, the vehicle meets all my needs and exceeds some of them. Im also talking about the fact that its now my daily driver instead of the 1200 ute and being 6"6 tall I was always very worried of a crash in the datto!

It's a good thing that depreciation is a tax deduction for your business, given that a 2011 V200 has already dropped between 55 & 64%!
And speaking of rather being in a Great Wall than a Datto or a small car, we all acknowledge our pride & joys are veritable pie tins, but today's small cars?? Picture this: You're in your Great Wall driving at about 70km/h and you run up the back of, say, a Honda Jazz (5 star ANCAP, like just about every other new small car). Going by the ANCAP footage I posted earlier in the thread, you'll be trapped with broken/crushed legs and the Jazz driver will walk away with whiplash and a sash-like bruise from their seatbelt.

With the depreciation of car values after 3 years you are still better off with a quality vehicle from Japan and I wouldnt look at a Ford or GM 4x4 at all except a late Territory with the Ford 6 and even then Id be still worried.

Thought Id add, I just Bought one, the v200 single cab 4x4 2l turbo diesel, 6 speed manual. I purchased it for my business for a few reasons, For $22990 on the road its half the price of any "japanese" 4x4 single cab, 3 year warranty with roadside assist, 6 year rust warranty, and borgwarner transfer case and turbo. Fuel economy is fantastic at 8.3l/100 combined and 105kw and 300nm torque or thereabouts. I couldn't be happier. In 3 years when the warranty's up I will either grab another one or if its gone well, keep it for a few more years. For this sort of price, after tax offsets and depreciation, it will have cost me far less than 20k. Usb mp3 stereo and all the mod cons. Driver and passenger airbag, I know id rather be in this in a crash than my datto or any new small car! Anyway that's just my opinion, let the flaming begin lol. cheers

I haven't driven Tritons much but can't remember anywhere near the understeer the Amarok would give. Also the feel on a bumpy road seemed smoother in a Triton.

If you'd driven a Ranger/BT50 though you'd be hard pressed to beat it in the segment at the moment.

Everyone will have new models soon enough, although I doubt the hilux will change in a hurry.

The Amarok is a good commerical vehicle, I am judging all of these trucks more on how close to passenger car handling they have - which is not what they are acutally designed to do so I guess I'm not judging them in the same way they are judged by those who want to buy them.

I imagine most people would care less how well they handle, they're trucks meant to carry a lot of #OOPS# and tow a lot of #OOPS#.

So I should declare my criteria a bit.

Don't want to dis on your Amarok either, I was just surprised a bit that it's handling that I expected it to piss all over the Mazda offering (being European) just didn't.