What Is The Best 'value For Money' Unregistered Double Cab?

kanchanap · May 11, 2012

I want to buy an unregistered double which I hope to use for personal home use in addition to bussiness purposes. I know there are several types of cabs avaialable.. Nissan navara, Mitsubishi L200, Toyota Hilux ..... etc

What would be the best one for buy in terms of comfortness, Price and fuel efficiency?

T-Bag · May 11, 2012

Forget the Mitsubishi L200.. Compare the rest. I think Hilux is good. But I told according to my needs. Your favor not be same.

In Advance I have to say this too..

the navara is better go for the aventura and you get everything the nissan is better on fuel,and also has a full size bed on it,has a more powerful engine in it and more torque on it than the Toyota,it also has a lot more room inside than the hilux and is a lot more durable than hilux ,Toyota is really a car with big wheels,

Edited May 11, 2012 by T-Bag

zayan X · May 11, 2012

I think both L200 and Hilux are assembled in Thailand ... Some navaras are assembled in Japan.. Though they are horrible with fuel consumption... Hilux edges by little margin over L200 in terms of fuel efficiency.. But generally Hilux are too expensive to buy...

The Don · May 11, 2012

On 5/11/2012 at 2:04 PM, kanchanap said:

I want to buy an unregistered double which I hope to use for personal home use in addition to bussiness purposes. I know there are several types of cabs avaialable.. Nissan navara, Mitsubishi L200, Toyota Hilux ..... etc

What would be the best one for buy in terms of comfortness, Price and fuel efficiency?

Well it depends on which version and where its sourced from. What I mean is you get a lot of cabs in SL which are sourced from the UK and then you have Japanese imports as well. You can also buy them brand new.

And depending on where its sourced from the engine might be different. Most European imports will have common rail diesel engines while the L200 bought brand new still has the 4D56 engine fitted to it. I don't think you can buy the Navara brand new yet.

If it was up to me I would chose the Hilux as its the most reliable and has an enviable reputation of being as hard as nails (just look at what you see most in Africa).

I have used an L200 Warrior and found it to be pretty good as well.

The Navara from what I hear is a bit of a problem child, and part of the problem might be the Renault sourced common rail diesel engines. If you Google you will find out about the specific issues.

zayan X · May 11, 2012

Hey Kanchanap,

I advice never to go for Nissan navara.. Bcs one of my friend who bought one recently said it is awful in terms of fuel efficiency

It Should be either Hilux or L200

zayan X · May 11, 2012

On 5/11/2012 at 2:38 PM, The Don said:

Well it depends on which version and where its sourced from. What I mean is you get a lot of cabs in SL which are sourced from the UK and then you have Japanese imports as well. You can also buy them brand new.

And depending on where its sourced from the engine might be different. Most European imports will have common rail diesel engines while the L200 bought brand new still has the 4D56 engine fitted to it. I don't think you can buy the Navara brand new yet.

If it was up to me I would chose the Hilux as its the most reliable and has an enviable reputation of being as hard as nails (just look at what you see most in Africa).

I have used an L200 Warrior and found it to be pretty good as well.

The Navara from what I hear is a bit of a problem child, and part of the problem might be the Renault sourced common rail diesel engines. If you Google you will find out about the specific issues.

I fully agree

CyRaX · May 11, 2012

Got a Hilux here, bought around 2yrs back from toyota lanka, the bloody thing is hard as a rock.

A frequent outstation runner, to tell how frequent it is , the first company service was done just after 1 1/2 weeks buying the cab . No issue at all, highly recommended.

And comfortness, come one you cant expect a cab to be that comfortable, your better off with a suv then.

Edited May 11, 2012 by CyRaX

zayan X · May 11, 2012

Check these 2 buties if your requirement is a double cab..

http://www.autolanka.com/ad.asp?ID=77880

http://www.autolanka.com/ad.asp?ID=74799

( I personally like BLACK ones ; )

VTEC · May 11, 2012

Just checked out some reviews and forums on the doublecabs (specially UK sites since most of them seem to be coming from the UK) and got to say the nissan navara seems to have very poor reviews and major issues.

Seems like the vehicle starts giving trouble in just a couple of years. Hilux seems to fair better then comes the L200 and Navara the last. All in all all of the 3 models seem to have their own issues.

Navara: http://www.whatcar.c...sultPageCount=4

L200: http://www.whatcar.c...sultPageCount=4

Hilux: http://www.whatcar.c...sultPageCount=4

Most of these cabs in the reviews start having issues in the first 3 to 5 years and since they seem to be under warranty over there the costs are covered, but the repairs and parts really seem to be expensive and the owners seem to dispose them once the warranty is up. Someone in the UK would be able to shed some light on this.

Since most of these doublecabs brought down to SL from the UK are older than 4 to 5 years, one cannot be too sure of the reliability. Plus no warranty here in SL and something like a half shaft replacement or a turbo issue like in the reviews could be quite costly, seems to be GBP 2000+ for a busted turbo!

I was torn between deciding to go for an unreg japanese van or a unreg uk / thailand doublecab myself and after reading the reviews and forums going for a recon double cab seems to be scary. Best is to look for one with a proper service history!

Maybe experts or owners of recon doublecabs could elaborate on this.

Edited May 11, 2012 by VTEC

zayan X · May 11, 2012

BTW We know that a same Japanese company make the vehicles in different quality based on the target market requirements.

For Example they will try to produce a bit low cost product to the asean market and high quality product ( may be bit expensive )to the domestic Japanese market. I donno What factors they would have considered when they are making a product to the European Market

kanchanap · May 12, 2012

Thanks for advices

Ripper · May 12, 2012

I've been using a 98 ford double cab for the past two years or so. Lot more space inside than a similar vintage Hilux. Haven't been in nissan DC's so can't really comment.

New Ford rangers seem to look pretty darn good. at least in my view. I would checkout that option too if you dont mind not having a more mainstream vehicle.

venomafiax · May 15, 2012

Ive been in the Hilux and the Navara... i like what the Hilux looks like... to me it just looks really good, the Navara is quite good too if your looking for something thats going to be on the road most of the time...

But hey if you want something that is really as hard as a rock go for the Mitsubishi L200... my company owns a fleet of 3 now and the first one is almost 2 years and its been put to hard use every day... yes... to tell you how frequent.. its used every day for Safaris at all the national parks in Sri lanka... the company i work for is into wildlife safaris and we use L200's brand new from the agent in colombo... we also currently use a Toyota land cruiser, has good 4wd but also has alot of repairs once in 2 months... the L200 is solid!

its just my opinion in terms of hard as a rock use... It doesnt look that good but does the job!

zayan X · May 16, 2012

If you want a Japanese made vehicle that is intended to be used for hard work, Mitsubishi is my no.1 choice ...

YALA · May 16, 2012

check out the 2012 ford wildtrack http://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2012-ranger_wildtrak/ it looks good plus the specs on that seems to be quite good as well. as another option have you tried the defender 130 or the 110 double cab version. might suite your needs as well. it would all depend on your budget and how much youd like to stretch it and whether its 4x4 or 2wd that your looking for.

Ripper · May 16, 2012

On 5/16/2012 at 12:07 PM, YALA said:
check out the 2012 ford wildtrack http://www.netcarshow.com/ford/2012-ranger_wildtrak/ it looks good plus the specs on that seems to be quite good as well. as another option have you tried the defender 130 or the 110 double cab version. might suite your needs as well. it would all depend on your budget and how much youd like to stretch it and whether its 4x4 or 2wd that your looking for.

wow! that new ranger looks awesome!!!!