Toyota Land Cruisers everywhere. Nissan Patrols. Hilux. Snorkels everywhere.

Obscure Japanese 4WD makes that I have never seen before. One of them was a 4WD lifted minivan (Mitsubishi?).

Chinese 4WD vehicles have entered their market in strong fashion. My buddy says a few years ago, quality was considered suspect, but are now viewed to be much better and a reasonable buy given their low prices. I saw several and they looked really sharp.

Saw some American makes as well. Jeeps every once in a while.

A big thing in Australia is having a vehicle that can navigate deep soft sands of beaches at high tide.

My buddy was driving a 4WD 4dr diesel Nissan pickup (Navara I think). His other vehicle is a Ssangyoung (diesel!) minivan.

When I told my friend that diesel is more expensive than gasoline in America, he was very surprised.

Just look at this list. It will make you feel sick for our options in America.

https://www.canstarblue.com.au/vehicles/four-wheel-drives/

Federal regulations and batteries have ruined our car market. Toyota $10000 truck would be awesome. You can't get a good SxS for that.

A Hilux or real LC would be awesome.

Our bird boy in Argentina a few years ago had a 4dr 4x4 diesel Hilux. That thing was absolutely awesome,man's unstoppable. We took it out to the field in some pretty nasty mud a few times without batting a eye.

hiluxes are cool trucks, but they are a bit spartan and rough. i don't think the average US consumer would find them very pleasant to use on a daily basis.

In other countries, there are lots of different vehicles that we don't get here. Yesterday, I was driving from Big Bend back home to Galveston and I passed a Renault pickup truck with Mexican license plates.

Pertaining to Australia, below is a link to my epic thread from 2009. Unfortunately, my 54 year old uncle died unexpectedly (at his deer lease which is just the way he would have wanted to go out - versus on the job at The Plant) in November that year so I didn't finish the last month of my daily thread.

I lived in Sydney's Northern Beaches from November 2007 - January 2020. I did have to travel around the country a bit for work so I got to see some interesting things including a $260k Lexus with massage seats in the back.

Australia closed its last domestic manufacturing plants for Ford and Holden sometime around 2016 as I recall so all vehicles in Australia are imported now.

To the point about Chinese Utes (Aussie slang for a pickup truck), the Great Wall came in around 2010, I think. At that time, nobody was really buying them due to brand loyalty to Ford/Holden/Nissan/Toyota but, the Great Wall was "cheap as chips".

Four Wheel Drives are important for Blokes who need their trucks for going into the Bush. Or for families towing a caravan (small travel trailer) up the coast on holiday.

The entire continent of Australia only has one area that gets snow (Appropriately called "The Snowy Mountains", or "The Snowies") so 2WD is fine for most applications. With the closure of domestic manufacturing, they've stopped making the half truck - half car "Ute" (think El Camino) so that could be a reason that people would now be switching brands away from Ford and Holden.

One other factor to consider when Blokes are buying vehicles for work is that the tax office allows a higher deduction for vehicles with a larger displacement. So while everything in America was getting turbo boosted, Australia was cruising right along with V8s even though petrol was $5 to $6 per gallon most of the 12 years I was there.

Since everything is imported you do get some interesting brands - Proton from Malaysia, Seat from Spain and of course Renault, and some people import JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) vehicles. They have some luxury minivans in Japan and there was even a car club for them in Sydney. If you like glammed out Asian girls in bikinis, the Sydney Hot Import Nights car show is worth the trip.

One of my coworkers from Hong Kong was an organizer of that car show. His daily driver was some sort of Honda Civic hatchback "hot hatch" that we never got in the USA.

Another point about the all import market is that everything costs 50% more that what it would cost in a market the size of the USA. Keep in mind the population of Australia is about 5 million people less than Texas.

Unfortunately, TexAgs changed the way they display images now, requiring SSL and https and I'm too lazy to go back and update all the links so you'll have to open pics in a new window.

https://texags.com/forums/46/topics/1332035/replies/18548576#18548576

Looking at that list, I totally forgot about the Volkswagen Amarok.

Also, the reason for the snorkels is to bring in cleaner air when driving on dirt roads in the bush.

Kind of like lots of the mods you see here, probably not something many people really need but it does have a purpose if you ever needed it.

The list had Chevrolet but, that's a funny one. There are a couple people who specialize in importing US vehicles and converting them to right hand drive.

The rules vary by state or territory.

In New South Wales, vehicles less than 30 years old must be converted to RHD. In Western Australia, the rule is vehicles less than 15 years old have to be converted to RHD. And in the Northern Territory, vehicles don't have to be converted to RHD at all.

The reason for not needing to convert vehicles to RHD in the Northern Territory is most likely due to the large number of American military and spy agency people living in NT. And that's a whole big political topic that could be discussed at length. If you want to get started, research "Pine Gap", or just listen to a lot of Midnight Oil that pre-dates their commercial success in the USA.

Thanks for that deep dive. Very interesting. I've been researching four-wheel drive vehicles since I came back home. Even though I have zero use for one.

If you do get crazy and decide you want to do a personal import from Australia, I documented what the process was like 4 years ago.

https://texags.com/forums/46/topics/3127040/replies/57029848#57029848

HollywoodBQ said:

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If you do get crazy and decide you want to do a personal import from Australia, I documented what the process was like 4 years ago.

https://texags.com/forums/46/topics/3127040/replies/57029848#57029848

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that's nuts.

That's why I like my first Gen Xterra. Same drivetrain as old d22 based Patrols. Tough and reliable. The Australians basically invented overlanding and all the tent tops and tent trailers and that type of thing.

One of my co-workers had a Diesel Nissan Patrol that he would take on tours of Australia.

For his 10 Years Long Service Leave, he took almost the full two months to drive all around Queensland and The Northern Territory before heading down to South Australia.

We used to see a lot of Nissan Patrols, Isuzu Troopers and Mitsubishi Pajeros when I was a kid in Saudi Arabia.

One of my Filipino co-workers in Sydney drove a Pajero. But I don't think he did anything too exciting with it.

Looking through the first list, that Suzuki Jimny looks pretty fun. It looks like the Samurai grew up.

Just got an Email from a place where I bought tires in Australia, letting me know there's a sale on tyres.

This might sound funny but in parts of the world - American Made still carries over as a mark of high quality.

Here are a couple of graphics from that ad that I thought y'all might enjoy.

Quote:

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Now is the time to get better value from your Tyres.
Every Cooper Tyre is on sale in the More Mileage Less Coin Sale.
Cooper Tyre's are made to last, and are guaranteed for up to 80,000 km.
For the month of June only!
Get in Touch with your local Cooper Dealer today!

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