The book price for such a vehicle is really anywhere from $2000 to $4000. Exceptionally well-kept, low-kilometre examples will bring more, tatty ex-work trucks might even be worth less than the lower of those numbers. A quarter of a million kilometres is not ‘just around the block’ either, so you really need to take each example on its individual merits when shopping for something as old as this.

The engines, both the diesel and petrol V6, in this model Triton are both capable of long lives provided they’ve been serviced properly, but there’s the next catch. As cars and utes become less and less valuable, they tend to get serviced more and more infrequently.

Problems you could encounter will run from everything from worn out suspension to rusty bodies, smoky engines, tired gearboxes, shredded interiors and everything else. In fact, if it can go wrong on a vehicle, then it’ll probably go wrong on an old, very second-hand work ute. You might also find that getting it up to a roadworthy condition will cost more than the vehicle itself is worth. At which point, something newer and slightly more expensive might start to look pretty good.

The kerb weight of a 1999 Triton is 1485 kg, the gross vehicle mass is 2810 kg, the payload is 1345 kg, the towing capacity is 1500 kg with trailer brakes.