I guess its time for a wee bit of a write up.
After having a Discovery for a 2 years, it started to play up a bit. I written about my experiences elsewhere, but when they play up in the middle of nowhere there is no one to service them, and I'm not that capable either. So while I thought it was a great vehicle (around town) we lost confidence in the brand. Each 4wd we’ve had, at least once on a major trip they’ve needed a workshop (inc the 200 series too). So with that in mind we decided we wanted a common vehicle, one that has dealers everywhere, and people not afraid to service them everywhere else. The usual suspects; Ford, Nissan, Hold-on, Toyota etc, were the obvious solution. (Again, as stated repeated elsewhere, this was/is OUR experience and preference, and others have had great success with brands such as LR)
Enter the 200 series.
Never a first preference for me prior, but ticked all the boxes for us for what we really needed. (well, all except “quality interior finish and equipment”)
Berwick Toyota came to the party with price, and were fantastic to deal with. Didn’t even want a deposit. My local Mentone dealer was the exact opposite and wouldn’t even discuss pricing until we signed on the dotted line. (no, literally)
Berwick Toyota arranged the GVM upgrade pre rego; a Lovells kit taking GVM to 3800kg through TJM in Pakenham and I took possession of the behemoth Aug 2015.
The front bar was ready and weighting (that’s a pun) at the spray painter so I stopped there on the way home and made sure the paint was the right match (2 different paints with the same toyota code) and got that sorted.
Next day was to swap the tyres for a set of Bridgestone D697s, going up from a 285/65/17 to a 285/70/17 filling the raised arches a little better, and fit the tyre pressure sensors inside. Mentone Tyres gave me a nice change over deal.
A week later, the TJM T3 color-coded bar was fitted at Everything 4WD in Cranbourne. They also chucked on a couple of rated recovery points, diff/gearbox/transfer case breathers and a fat Safari Armax snorkel. I ummed and arred for a while over that snorkel and even now wonder if I should’ve gone with a prettier TJM one, but at the time went with sucking huge amounts of air in. The bar had led fog lights in it, but TJM had also changed the design between me ordering and receiving, so the preferred light assembly and part of the shape had changed.
edit: thanks to @achjimmy for his advice in the lead up to purchase too!!
After having a Discovery for a 2 years, it started to play up a bit. I written about my experiences elsewhere, but when they play up in the middle of nowhere there is no one to service them, and I'm not that capable either. So while I thought it was a great vehicle (around town) we lost confidence in the brand. Each 4wd we’ve had, at least once on a major trip they’ve needed a workshop (inc the 200 series too). So with that in mind we decided we wanted a common vehicle, one that has dealers everywhere, and people not afraid to service them everywhere else. The usual suspects; Ford, Nissan, Hold-on, Toyota etc, were the obvious solution. (Again, as stated repeated elsewhere, this was/is OUR experience and preference, and others have had great success with brands such as LR)
Enter the 200 series.
Never a first preference for me prior, but ticked all the boxes for us for what we really needed. (well, all except “quality interior finish and equipment”)
Berwick Toyota came to the party with price, and were fantastic to deal with. Didn’t even want a deposit. My local Mentone dealer was the exact opposite and wouldn’t even discuss pricing until we signed on the dotted line. (no, literally)
Berwick Toyota arranged the GVM upgrade pre rego; a Lovells kit taking GVM to 3800kg through TJM in Pakenham and I took possession of the behemoth Aug 2015.
The front bar was ready and weighting (that’s a pun) at the spray painter so I stopped there on the way home and made sure the paint was the right match (2 different paints with the same toyota code) and got that sorted.
Next day was to swap the tyres for a set of Bridgestone D697s, going up from a 285/65/17 to a 285/70/17 filling the raised arches a little better, and fit the tyre pressure sensors inside. Mentone Tyres gave me a nice change over deal.
A week later, the TJM T3 color-coded bar was fitted at Everything 4WD in Cranbourne. They also chucked on a couple of rated recovery points, diff/gearbox/transfer case breathers and a fat Safari Armax snorkel. I ummed and arred for a while over that snorkel and even now wonder if I should’ve gone with a prettier TJM one, but at the time went with sucking huge amounts of air in. The bar had led fog lights in it, but TJM had also changed the design between me ordering and receiving, so the preferred light assembly and part of the shape had changed.
edit: thanks to @achjimmy for his advice in the lead up to purchase too!!
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