Articles by Graham Smith

So popular is the idea of going bush it has spawned a new breed of car capable of leaving the black top while retaining the attributes of a family sedan.  Most of these newcomers are sneeringly referred to by 4WD enthusiasts as soft-roaders for their limited offroad ability, but they offer acceptable around-town road manners and quite reasonable ability for the occasional dirt trip.Along with the Toyota LandCruiser, Nissan's Patrol is definitely not soft. Around town it's big and bulky, but it really comes into its own in heavy going.Nissan launched the GQ Patrol, also known as the Y60, in 1988. It was aimed fairly and squarely at Toyota's LandCruiser, which was the top-selling four-wheel-drive. The GQ was a traditional 4x4, designed for heavy-duty use in the bush or beyond.  It came in short wheelbase hardtop form or long wheelbase wagon and cab chassis.Its foundation, and the source of its great strength, was its separate chassis. Unlike softroaders, which are of unitary construction, the Patrol's body was perched on top of the chassis. As a result, getting into the cabin was quite a climb.There was a choice of three powerplants initially, a 100kW 3.0-litre petrol in-line six, a 125kW 4.2-litre petrol in-line six and an 85kW 4.2-litre diesel in-line six. They were all overhead-valve and carburettor fed.An update in 1992 brought a fuel-injected 4.2-litre petrol engine, which generated 129kW, and an 85kW 2.8-litre turbo diesel.  The standard transmission was a five-speed manual, and there was an option of a four-speed auto.Power was then delivered to the wheels through a two-speed transfer box. High-range two-wheel-drive was available for highway touring, with the choice of high and low-range four-wheel-drive once you left the blacktop behind. Coil springs were employed front and rear, with discs at both ends, and power steering.Models included the DX and ST Hardtops, and the DX7, ST, TI and ST3.0.  The entry-level DX had tilt-adjust steering, two-speaker cassette sound, cloth trim and vinyl mats. The ST also had airconditioning, power windows, power mirrors, central locking and four-speaker sound.Perched at the top of the model line-up was the TI, which had a leather sports steering wheel, woodgrain highlights, leather seats and seven-speaker sound. There were a number of upgrades before the arrival of the GU (Y61) in 1997.The trade gives the GQ Patrol the thumbs-up. There is little that goes wrong with them. The petrol engines are prone to cracked heads when run on LPG, but it's usually because the coolant has been low or lost. Gearboxes, drive lines and diffs give little problem, though leaks from the rear diff seals are common. Properly serviced, however, the leaks can be eliminated.Early Patrols were known to suffer from front-end shimmy, at 70 to 80km/h, but most were fixed under warranty. The fix was to remove the shims from the top and bottom of the steering knuckles, eliminating the free play. Generally, the body and body hardware stands up well.For more than a decade, John Thompson and his 1989 LWB GQ Patrol were as much a part of the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship as Peter Brock, Dick Johnson and the cars they raced.Thompson drove his long-wheelbase 4.2-litre petrol Patrol from one side of the country to the other towing a trailer laden with more than two tonnes of Shell track signs, flags and banners to every round of the championship. The Nissan has just ticked over 500,000km, and Thompson says he's delighted with it.It had bad wheel shimmy before the front end was realigned; has twice cracked cylinder heads; second-gear synchro went at 450,000km and it has blown a clutch.Tough and reliable heavy-duty off-roader for the serious off-road enthusiast, but a little big and beefy for anyone contemplating buying a four-wheel-drive for city duty.Tough and reliable off-roaderBig and bulky for regular around-town useSigns of heavy off-road useBig climb to get aboardCan have head problems

The LandCruiser has a long and proud history in this country. The big Toyota arrived here in the 1950s when it was put to good use on the Snowy Mountains Hydro-Electric Project.  In some parts of the country there is simply no other vehicle that can compete with it.MODEL WATCHThe LandCruiser's 100 Series is larger overall than earlier models. Weighing in at around 2.5 tonnes, it is perfect for heavy towing but is heavy on fuel unless you purchse a diesel model.  The LandCruiser isn't as roomy as its exterior dimensions suggest it should be.The petrol engine choices consisted of a 4.5-litre double overhead camshaft 24-valve six which boasted 165kW peak power or a 4.6-litre double overhead camshaft 32-valve V8 which delivered 170kW of peak power.  If you chose the diesel route there was a 4.2-litre single overhead camshaft 12-valve six cylinder unit with 96kW, or after 2000 a 4.2-litre double overhead camshaft 24-valve turbocharged six which could belt out 151kW.There was a choice of five-speed manual or four-speed auto transmissions with high and low range four-wheel drive and high range two-wheel drive.  Toyota offered a multitude of model options, including the base wagon RV, GXL, GXV. The entry wagon was a six-seater with split rims, manual front hubs, hard wearing vinyl trim, power steering and basic two-speaker sound.Step up to the eight-seater RV and you drove home with styled wheels, cloth trim, central locking, full-time 4WD, centre diff lock, power mirrors, carpets and better sound.The GXL features included anti-lock brakes, power windows, cruise, CD sound, front airbags and remote central locking. Add the V8 engine, auto trans, velour trim, cut-pile carpet, power seat, auto air, alloy wheels and a CD stacker and you were driving a GXV.IN THE SHOPThe LandCruiser is bought by most people to work hard, so look for wear on the interior trim and general lack of care around the car like dings and dents on the body.  Inspect the underside of the vehicle for damage through offroad use. Look for sandblasting of the underbody from being driven on unsealed roads, if it's severe enough it can lead to rust in exposed steel panels.Also look for bashed and beaten underbody fittings, like brackets, fuel tanks, suspension components, even the underbody itself. Inspect all drive-line joints for broken seals that could have let water into the joints.  Check for a service record and have a specialist check done before purchase.Don't be surprised if fuel consumption is as high as 20L per 100km from the petrol engine models. Many owners convert their LandCruisers to dual-fuel to save money, but be careful as the cost of the more regular valve lash adjustments needed with LPG can rule out any cost saving.CRUNCH TIMEA recent used car survey rated the 100 Series significantly above average in protecting its occupants, but much worse for the impact on the occupants of what it hits.OWNER'S VIEWLes Wilkinson owns a 2000 Landcruiser 100 Series with the turbo diesel six and auto trans which has what appears to be backlash in the drive line.  Brian Montgomery has a low-kilometre 2001 100 Series LandCruiser which has a chassis squeak when driven over slightly uneven roads.TOYOTA LANDCRUISER 100 SERIES 1998-2002Check for signs of off-road abuseCheck drive line joints for broken sealsGood off-road capabilityLarge towing capacityVery thirsty petrol enginesHigh seating positionTough and reliableRating12/20 The big bruiser is still the king of the heavyweight four-wheel drives. It's great for towing, but its size also means regular stops at the petrol pump.

Buying cheap second hand cars is a risky business. Buy the right car and you can look forward to many years of affordable, worry-free motoring, but buy the wrong one and your motoring dream could become an expensive nightmare. In buying a cheap used car you're potentially buying someone else's problems, but there's no

Buying a car that has been officially written-off could cost you heaps, but a few minutes spent checking the Written-Off Vehicle Register could save you a lot of heartache and lots of cash.

The transmission's filled on the assembly line and will never need servicing. But to take that advice on face value is to court disaster.The fluid in an automatic transmission is its lifeblood, it depends on it to operate efficiently over a long period of time, and to ignore it is to risk an expensive meltdown.While carmakers tell you automatic transmissions don't need servicing, specialists in the field say regular maintenance is required to keep them working the way they should.It doesn't matter what you're told, oil does break down over time, and with high temperature, and its efficiency is reduced.The service routine recommended by specialists for cars in normal use is to change the oil and filter every 12 months, which equates to 20,000 km, and carry out a full flush of the transmission every two years.For vehicles working in more punishing conditions, such as hilly terrain, on sandy tracks, using four-wheel in the bush, or towing regularly, those intervals should be reduced.It's also important to ensure the fluid doesn't overheat, which usually happens because the transmission is worked too hard. If you plan to tow with your vehicle on a regular basis, like on that dream trip of a lifetime around the country, consider having an external transmission oil cooler fitted.It's also important to select the best gear in which to tow for the conditions.On the flat it's ok to drive in top gear, which is usually an overdrive gear in modern five or six-speed gearboxes, but it's important to read the road ahead when you do that, and change down one, or perhaps even two gears, when approaching an incline or hill. Leaving it in top gear will force the engine and transmission to work harder when you hit the hill, and the temperature in the transmission will rise as result.But selecting a lower gear on the approach to the hill will get you up and over the hill without excessively stressing the transmission.

We makes all sorts of assumptions about the cover the manufacturer's warranty gives us, and we usually only find out what it doesn't cover when we strike a problem and find we're not covered at all.In essence, the warranty covers us against design and manufacturing faults that might crop up for a period or time or distance, whichever comes first. What it doesn't cover are the bits and pieces, known as consumables that regularly wear out or are replaced as part of regular servicing.Parts replaced during servicing are oil, oil filters, air filters, fuel filters, cam timing belts, spark plugs, spark plug leads and the like. Most owners are aware of the need to replace these parts and accept their replacement without complaint.Other parts that aren't covered, and not regularly replaced as part of the service routine, are brake linings, brake rotors, clutches and tyres etc. that inevitably wear out requiring replacement at the owner's expense.Complaints usually relate to these parts when they wear out faster than we expect and cost more to replace. Brake linings and rotors wear out much faster on today's cars than there ever did on cars in the past, much to the consternation of their owners.It has to be kept in mind that the braking performance of our cars is much higher than it ever was, the speeds we travel at and therefore have to brake from are much higher than they have ever been, the traffic we have to endure every day is much more congested then it has ever been, we have more traffic lights, stop signs, give-ways and speed zones than we've ever had, and we never used to have speed humps. All that contributes to brake wear, so it's no wonder our brakes wear out faster than they have ever done before.Clutches are also a particular complaint and wear out much faster than they have ever done in the past, but manufacturers are designing their cars closer to the limits of weight and performance than they have ever done, so clutches have less tolerance in them than they once did.Tyres also wear out faster. Cars today are heavier, suspensions are set more aggressively, engines have more power so the cars are faster, they brake more powerfully and all of that finds its way to the tyres that have to work much harder than the tyres of old.

In times past you were lucky to be given a test drive, and when you were it was usually a quick lap of the block.But that was back when it was a seller's market and there wasn't much choice anyway. It's a very different market today when buyers have the upper hand, and there's a wide choice of cars to buy.It's important to do everything you can to ensure the car you buy is the one for you and test-driving it before you buy it is one of the things you can do.Insist on a test drive, and don't settle for a lap around the block as that will tell you virtually nothing about the car and whether it suits you or not.You need to have the test car for an extended periodThe best way to do that is to drive it in the environment that you would normally drive it in, that is around your neighbourhood, to and from work, to the kids' schools or sporting venues.To do that you need to have the test car for an extended period of a few days to put it through its paces on your patch. Any dealer keen on sealing a deal will agree to lend you a car for at least a day or two, try for more if you're feeling lucky.When you get it take the time to adjust the driver's seat to your position, and don't stop there, get all the drivers in the family to do the same thing.Check the mirrors. Make sure they can be adjusted to give you a clear view. Many owners detest the curved mirrors carmakers fit to cars today, if you don't like them you have the time to negotiate with the dealer to replace them with flat glass.Drive the car around local streets, and around roundabouts, where visibility issues really come to the fore. One owner recently told us here at CarsGuide that they would not have bought the car they did had they been aware of the visibility issues caused by the thick windscreen pillars.Living with the car, even for a day or two, allows to properly evaluate the controls, where are they located and how they fall to hand, the sort of things that will have to become second nature once you own the car and drive it daily.If you do a lot of highway driving, check out its performance on the freeway you normally use. If you live in hilly country it's good to know that it will handle the hills with ease.You should be able to identify anything you don't like, or couldn't live with, before you buy itWhile you are driving it you can monitor the fuel consumption on the trip computer to get an indication of what its fuel usage will be in the real life conditions that you will use it in.If you've got kids check out the installation of safety seats, are they easy to get in and out of the car.Fill the boot with what you would normally want to carry in it to make sure it will fit and you won't find yourself having to leave gear behind.By putting the car through its paces in the way you will use it you should be able to identify anything you don't like, or couldn't live with, before you buy it.

After buying our house, a car - new or used - is the most significant spend of our lives. So it is a purchase we need to approach with caution and as much information as possible. Most people would prefer to park a new car in the driveway but, for many reasons, it is not always possible and so we have to, or

Ignore them at your peril, you could miss important pointers to a problem, ones that if left to develop could develop into serious problems and possibly cost you thousands of dollars in repairs.Checking your car's vitals doesn't take long, so spend a minute or two each week to check the engine oil and the coolant level, it could literally save thousands of dollars in the long term.Before you open the bonnet open the owner's manual and read up on the things the manufacturer recommends you should check on a regular basis.Most owner's manuals will contain a diagram of the engine compartment pointing out the main things you need to find. It will not only show you where to find them, it will also show you what they look like.First park your car on a flat spot, don't attempt to check the oil when the car is parked on a slope, up or down, or side-to-side.The engine shouldn't be running while you do your check.The best time to check your engine oil is when the engine is cold. That way the oil will have drained back from the top of the engine into the sump and you will get the most accurate reading of the amount of oil in your engine.If you check it after the engine has warmed-up turn the engine off and wait a few minutes so the oil has a chance to run back into the sump. Checking after you've paid for fuel at the servo is a realistic scenario.The oil level should always be between the two linesAfter locating the engine oil dipstick remove it, wipe it clean, reinsert it, and remove it again.There are two lines scribed on the dipstick. The higher one shows the level the oil should be when the engine is full. The lower one is shows when oil needs to be added. The oil level should always be between the two lines.The gap between the two lines usually represents one litre of oil. This is worth double checking in your owner's manual though, as this figure can vary.Check your owner's manual to find out where you should add oil, do not try to add it through the dipstick tube. You will find a cap on the top of the engine; remove it and add the oil through that.Add oil once the level has dropped to the lower line, do not let it drop any lower. Do not add more oil than is needed to reach the full line.Use the gap between the two lines as a guide to know how much to put in. Do not use the lines as a measure while pouring, as it takes some time for oil to drain down to the sump and can easily result in overfilling and cause expensive damage.To find out what oil is recommended by your carmaker refer to the owner's manual, which will give you the appropriate grade of oil.There are many brands of oil you could use; the important thing is to use the correct grade.If you are unsure ask for help from your mechanic, or at your local auto store.Most cars today use a separate coolant reservoir located alongside the radiator. Refer to your owner's manual to find out where it is on your car.Before you actually check the coolant, check the markings on the reservoir.The coolant should only be checked when the engine has cooled down, checking when the engine is hot is dangerous, and can result in severe burns.With the engine cooled down the coolant should come up to the line on the reservoir marked COLD. If it's below that line add enough coolant to bring it up to the line. Don't add more than that, it will only be lost through the overflow.It's very important that you use the correct coolant as recommended by your carmaker. To find out what that is refer to your owner's manual.Do not add water alone. Coolant is a mix of water, anti-freeze and corrosion inhibitor. Adding water alone could lead to freezing in low temperatures, such as when you go to the snowfields in winter, and it could cause corrosion in the alloy parts of your engine.You can buy coolant at your local service station or auto store and mix it yourself, or you can buy pre-mixed coolant that doesn't need to be mixed.While you've got the bonnet open check the level of fluid in the windscreen washer reservoir.Refer to your owner's manual to find out where the reservoir is situated.Fill the reservoir with a mix of water and anti-freeze or windscreen cleaning solution as per the carmaker's recommendations. Refer to the owner's manual if you're unsure of what they are.Anti-freeze is used to prevent the windscreen washers from freezing in cold conditions, so never add water alone.

In a perfect world, like a perfectly dry road, tread actually reduces a car's performance because it has the effect of reducing the contact patch area, and the forces that can be transmitted through the contact patch are correspondingly reduced.But in a not-so-perfect world, on a wet road, the tread is vitally important.The tread is designed to disperse water from the contact patch, thereby helping the tyre grip the road.Without tread the tyre's ability to grip a wet road is severely limited, making it almost impossible to stop, turn, accelerate and corner.The contact patch is the area of the tyre that is actually in contact with the road.It's a small area, only about as big as the palm of your hand, through which the cornering, steering, braking, accelerating forces are transmitted.Tread wear indicator bars are moulded into the tread grooves at regular intervals around the tyre to indicate when a tyre is worn to its limit of safety.{C}{C}{C}The minimum legal tread depth is 1.5 mm across the width of the tread.When the tyre is worn to the legal limit the bars will be flush with the surface of the tread.While that is the legal requirement some car manufacturers recommend you replace your tyres before they wear to that extent.Check your owner's manual to find out what your car maker recommends.Maintaining the correct inflation pressure is one of the most important things you can do to look after your tyres.A correctly inflated tyre should wear evenly across the tread, but one that's incorrectly inflated will wear unevenly.An under-inflated tyre will wear more heavily on the outer shoulders, while an overinflated one will wear more in the centre of the tread.The inflation pressure should only be set when the tyre is cold. The pressure increases when the car is driven, so setting it after driving for some distance will result in an incorrect pressure.The recommended inflation pressure is shown on a placard attached to the body – usually on the driver's door pillar – and also in the owner's manual.Inflation pressures are given for normal driving, and also when loaded up with the maximum number people the car can legally carry and luggage.Tyres need to be checked regularly, at least once every two weeks.They should also be checked before you go on a long journey, or before towing, when they might need to be set higher.Remember to also check the spare.Rotating your tyres can also help to get the most out of them.Tyres wear at different rates depending on their position on the car. On a rear-wheel drive car the rear tyres wear faster than the front tyres; on a front-drive car it's the front tyres that wear the fastest.Rotating the tyres around the car can even out the wear on all tyres. That way they should all need replacement at the same time.If you do rotate your tyres do it regularly, at 5000km intervals, so the disparity between those that are wearing the fastest and those wearing the slowest is minimised.When rotating your tyres you can also include the spare.The spare is almost always forgotten, left to sit in the dark in the boot of our car until needed in an emergency.Spare tyres that are six years or older should only be used in an emergency.A tyre that is 10 years old should be replaced.Some mechanics and tyre men will tell you your tyres need replacing by simply looking at them and telling you they're worn.Don't take their word for it, check them yourself. Visually inspect them for wear and damage, and check the depth of the grooves.To maximise your tyre life avoid spinning the wheels on acceleration, or locking them when braking.Keeping your car in tip-top shape can help extend the life of your tyres and regular wheel alignment checks are a good idea.