What car to buy for a very long trip

[hawke]

I'm giving some thought on going on a long drive - Sydney to London, and wondering what would the best car to use. I haven't worked out the exact route, but would probably be either Sydney - Perth - Singapore - India - Iran - Turkey - Bulgaria - France - England. Or - Darwin - Hong Kong - China - The Stans - Moscow - St Petersburg - Stockholm - Denmark - Germany - France - England.

There would be two of us - me and my wife.

I suspect that 4WD would be useful - something big enough to sleep securely inside if needed - diesel probably. Reliability, ease of parts and fix-ability would be important.

[Express]

Something that floats.

For that type of trip something that is as rugged and tough as possible.

What about hire cars?

[new2ford]

Toyotas are popular along parts of that route too, should be no problem with spares:

[brismike]

A Landrover would be the best for that kind of trip. It will be difficult crossing some of the borders. Do your homework on visa's etc before you go. Good luck.

Cheers Mike

[SensationFG8]

Surely you need something that's good in water too...



Honestly though, Sydney to Perth, you need something that can carry some jerry's and has a reserve tank in my opinion, preferably diesel, CB radio and distress beacon are also a must.

[Franco Cozzo]

WF Festiva, with the Mazda B5 engine, unkillable

[TheZHLANE]

Anything should do Sydney to perth. Just make sure its comfortable.. Recently did Melbourne to perth in a vs ss (bought sight unseen) and had no dramas other than it was thirsty.

[HULK_I6T]

Large suv..

Plenty of spac for people and luggage, comfortable, safer in event of accident, reasonable fuel economy on highway especially diesel.

Id go an awd territory. Be a sensational run.

[ingles]

Landcruiser troopy, with dual tanks, and fitted with sleeping/cooking/storage options of your choice-probably look at some aftermarket seating (suspension type maybe),Parts easy to come by and generally pretty reliable.

[buggerlugs]

3.2lt DID Auto Pajero, 6th and 7th seats fold into the floor, seats behind driver fold down flat, easy to sleep in, reliable, fuel efficient, comfortable and easy to get parts........

[Ratmick]

Someone did a similar trip a few years back in a London cab (obviously coming the other way) and it made it. You're going to need something that can be fixed with gaffer tape and bailing wire when you're in-between towns hundreds of kilometres apart in what remains of the Soviet bloc. For that reason alone I'd be steering away from the AWD Territory and Pajero and would be looking at a manual Hilux or a LWB Landrover/Landcruiser style of vehicle. I'd even forgo the turbo and go straight induction diesel. Yeah it'll be gutless but the only way of killing them is to flatten them with a very large rock...and diesels are diesels wherever you're motoring. If you want to get an idea what is involved have a read of 'The Long Way Around' where Charley Borman and Ewen McGregor motorcycle the other way. Check out the pictures of some of the 'roads'.

You'll need a good selection of tools and spares (including tyres), plus I'd invest in a good winch if you're going the 'Stans route and practise pulling yourself out of bogs before you go. Practise getting the tyres off the rim and repairing punctures too.

[hawke]

Thanks for all the great ideas. Landcruser manual diesel seems to be the vehicle of choice. From reviewing what others have done, it seems to work well for them.

My wife seems to be OK with the idea, so well plan on.

[Ratmick]

Originally Posted by hawke

Thanks for all the great ideas. Landcruser manual diesel seems to be the vehicle of choice. From reviewing what others have done, it seems to work well for them.

My wife seems to be OK with the idea, so well plan on.

That's half the battle done then mate, good luck with it all

When I was married years ago I tossed up with working OS in the UAE or somewhere like that but thought my ex would have been stoned or locked up within a few days

I'm all for equality of the sexes but in some parts of the world it just doesn't work like that, even in this day and age. Speaking out of turn, the wrong choice of clothing, even driving in some parts of the Middle East are all dodgy undertakings and sunbathing in a bikini in somewhere very conservative will get all the wrong types of attention.

My current partner is a bit more circumspect but has medical issues that would make your sort of trip extremely risky. However I envy your upcoming expedition and wish you all the best.

[XR Martin]

1HD-FTE Landcruiser.

[thefargo]

my 80 series diesel, 5 speed manual land cruiser, would be the go.
basic and primitive, no turbo, no electronics, just keeps on going; slowly.
great carrying capacity, and with twin tanks I usually can get about 1,000km between stops.
did I mention it was somewhat slow?
cruising speed 100km/hr
top speed prob 105 km/hr

[Yellow_Festiva]

Look at transportation costs for your vehicle and try to get something that fits in a standard space. You would hate to buy a large vehicle only to find that it's too tall / long and is considered 'oversize'.

Hmmm sounds like an interesting trip. Hit up TripAdvisor for advice. It's hard, but not impossible.

I'm thinking a van may be better suited? Like some of those grey import 4x4 diesel (Delcia?) things.

Perhaps a 4x4 isn't needed? Check your routes.

I would prioritise reliability and ease of repair or access to parts.

[jpblue1000]

my neighbor did this about 7 years ago, bought themselves a new toyota cab chassis troopy and built a removable sleeper, kitchen, storage unit for the tray with bike racks spare wheels, can holders, lights, and bull bar and reserve tanks, tested it across Australia for 6 months with no dramas then set off. got there with no car problems then set out across Africa again no dramas.
Car has over 300,000km's on it and still commutes daily (without the camper on the back)
Says something really

JP

[malazn mafia]

Wow, didn't know a car could be driven overseas? How about rego/permit/etc across different borders? Would love to bring the GT over to Malaysia via Singapore and hammer their awesome highways and give-me-money-and-I-turn-away cops.

[marty351]

Originally Posted by hawke

I'm giving some thought on going on a long drive - Sydney to London, and wondering what would the best car to use. I haven't worked out the exact route, but would probably be either Sydney - Perth - Singapore - India - Iran - Turkey - Bulgaria - France - England. Or - Darwin - Hong Kong - China - The Stans - Moscow - St Petersburg - Stockholm - Denmark - Germany - France - England.

There would be two of us - me and my wife.

I suspect that 4WD would be useful - something big enough to sleep securely inside if needed - diesel probably. Reliability, ease of parts and fix-ability would be important.

Legs.

[cheap]

Landcruiser, but not even a Landcruiser will get you through parts of your intended journey. I'd give Iran a big miss and there's countries called Pakistan and Afghanistan along your proposed trajectory, they may prove somewhat problematic...

[Franco Cozzo]

http://www.lencoarmor.com/law-enforc...t-variants/g3/

[cheap]

Help support Aussie industries...

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushm...bility_Vehicle

Admittedly the initial price and ongoing running costs are somewhat high, but then again how much do you value your life?

[Vesper Martini]

If you stick to the roads, there is probably no reason for 4WD.
I've travelled through Syria up to the border in Iraq and they have sealed roads, the gravel roads are not too bad either.
but saying that, out of reliability its hard to go past a Landcrusier

[nuthin' fancy]

Have you read Jon Faine's book "From Here to There"? He's on ABC Mornings here in Melbourne.

He did the same trip in a Prado bought secondhand from Canberra.

Book from $9 on ebay.

[Mr Hardware]

Diesel Toyota 4WD, either Prado or Landcruiser or Hilux.

Anything else is just asking for trouble.

[hawke]

Guys

Thanks very much for all your tips. My wife is OK with it, and we have driven together from San Francisco to LA without a map or GPS.

[Ratmick]

Originally Posted by hawke

Guys

Thanks very much for all your tips. My wife is OK with it, and we have driven together from San Francisco to LA without a map or GPS.

San Francisco to LA is mostly freeway and 382 miles (according to Google). Given the attention span of most Americans I know you'd have to have road signs in English and big arrows pointing the South way every ten-fifteen minutes .

Sydney to Perth is a smidge under 4,000km and would be a doddle, compared to Moscow to Paris (2,837km) as I'm crap at reading Cyrillic (as would be most of us)...plus Russian drivers are nuts. Slightly different ball game when you don't speak the language and can't read it either

[hawke]

Originally Posted by Ratmick

San Francisco to LA is mostly freeway and 382 miles (according to Google). Given the attention span of most Americans I know you'd have to have road signs in English and big arrows pointing the South way every ten-fifteen minutes .

Sydney to Perth is a smidge under 4,000km and would be a doddle, compared to Moscow to Paris (2,837km) as I'm crap at reading Cyrillic (as would be most of us)...plus Russian drivers are nuts. Slightly different ball game when you don't speak the language and can't read it either

I have to admit that it wasn't too hard going from SF to LA. Just drive west from SF, turn left before you get wet, and keep going. We did go the coast route, not the freeway, so that was more of a challenge. We just aimed for the place where all the planes were taking off and landing, and followed a Hertz bus so we could drop the car off.

[xr8territory]

The guy who lives across the road from me is half way through the trip you describe. He is doing it in a Land Rover. He has a blog and talks about fitting the Landy out what what mods he made to it. I will ask the wife for the details of his blog and post it for you.
He is doing it with his wife and 2 children ( 9 and 6 years of age).

[xr8territory]

Originally Posted by xr8territory

The guy who lives across the road from me is half way through the trip you describe. He is doing it in a Land Rover. He has a blog and talks about fitting the Landy out what what mods he made to it. I will ask the wife for the details of his blog and post it for you.
He is doing it with his wife and 2 children ( 9 and 6 years of age).

try this.
https://mitchellsoverlandadventure.wordpress.com