Thanks for notes of advice & understanding regarding the pen repair fiasco. Much appreciated. I guess if my hands were more like fine musician's hands rather than like slabs of boxer's mallets, that would have helped.
Anyway, onto cars, and 4WD vehicles...I bought a 2015 last of the line D22 Nissan Navara 4x4 dual cab pick up, or ute, in 2015. I'd always liked them since back in the early 2000s and, apart from an engine, they haven't changed at all, and I like that. Whilst ISIS chose Toyota, because ISIS had more money than I did, I went with the humble Nissan. A good turbo diesel 2.5 common rail engine, heaps of used parts available, and a good long record as a strong vehicle. I kinda bought it as my 'final' car, trading in a 2011 Mazda BT50 2WD single cab one ton alum tray ute. I wasn't sure of the wisdom of this at the time as the Mazda was very good, with a 2.4 common rail diesel engine...but it could only fit 2 people in it, unless the third was an armless and legless Laotian person in the middle.
The Nissan has been really quite faultless in the drives around the tropics, the drive down here, 3000km to melbourne, and getting round the Melbourne streets. It is not a city car at all and yet does everything with a simplicity that I like.
It features 4 ash trays and an actual cigarette lighter and a 6 stacker CD player...but no other technology per se. The only thing that beeps is the horn, and there is no screen entertainment, just a pretty shitty radio...but everything works simply and is predictable.
The Mazda BT50, 4 years older, was somewhat more advanced in some ways but it did always fishtail out on turns and I kept reversing it into poles and other cars due to the cramped vision out the back.
Anyway, yesterday's massive downpour here was a great way to see how the Nissan went in absolutely horrid flooded road conditions, and it did so very well. Sure footed and secure and never missed a beat even with a few hundred gallons of water coming into the engine bay. The high engine snorkel seemed, for the first time, a pretty smart choice.
I'd recommend to anyone the last of the line 2003-2015 unchanged D22 Navaras...still some of them near new with low mileages...nothing pretty but designed to last a long time. Minor dents and scratches simply add to the truck's appeal...and it pretty well can and will go anywhere. The engine isnt as free-breathing as the Mazda's but then the Mazda was 2WD and so benefited by being lighter...but wow, did it fishtail in the wet...and I was tired of reversing it into cars especially. Very unpopular. The Nissan does give you a higher view of the road and the landscape, and I like that too.
The worst car I guess I've ever owned was a Russian Lada Niva constant 4X4, years ago but still it had its strengths and the strength was...its strength. On a country dirt road it stayed on the road and when it hit a cow, as it did once, at 50 miles an hour... no damage to the Lada at all. Poor bloody cow was a mess. Fortunately I was a remote area Director of Nursing at the time so I pumped the cow full of morphine by the side of the road and stayed with it til it left the world. The Russians didn't build a good car, but, fuck it was strong.
Anyway, onto cars, and 4WD vehicles...I bought a 2015 last of the line D22 Nissan Navara 4x4 dual cab pick up, or ute, in 2015. I'd always liked them since back in the early 2000s and, apart from an engine, they haven't changed at all, and I like that. Whilst ISIS chose Toyota, because ISIS had more money than I did, I went with the humble Nissan. A good turbo diesel 2.5 common rail engine, heaps of used parts available, and a good long record as a strong vehicle. I kinda bought it as my 'final' car, trading in a 2011 Mazda BT50 2WD single cab one ton alum tray ute. I wasn't sure of the wisdom of this at the time as the Mazda was very good, with a 2.4 common rail diesel engine...but it could only fit 2 people in it, unless the third was an armless and legless Laotian person in the middle.
The Nissan has been really quite faultless in the drives around the tropics, the drive down here, 3000km to melbourne, and getting round the Melbourne streets. It is not a city car at all and yet does everything with a simplicity that I like.
It features 4 ash trays and an actual cigarette lighter and a 6 stacker CD player...but no other technology per se. The only thing that beeps is the horn, and there is no screen entertainment, just a pretty shitty radio...but everything works simply and is predictable.
The Mazda BT50, 4 years older, was somewhat more advanced in some ways but it did always fishtail out on turns and I kept reversing it into poles and other cars due to the cramped vision out the back.
Anyway, yesterday's massive downpour here was a great way to see how the Nissan went in absolutely horrid flooded road conditions, and it did so very well. Sure footed and secure and never missed a beat even with a few hundred gallons of water coming into the engine bay. The high engine snorkel seemed, for the first time, a pretty smart choice.
I'd recommend to anyone the last of the line 2003-2015 unchanged D22 Navaras...still some of them near new with low mileages...nothing pretty but designed to last a long time. Minor dents and scratches simply add to the truck's appeal...and it pretty well can and will go anywhere. The engine isnt as free-breathing as the Mazda's but then the Mazda was 2WD and so benefited by being lighter...but wow, did it fishtail in the wet...and I was tired of reversing it into cars especially. Very unpopular. The Nissan does give you a higher view of the road and the landscape, and I like that too.
The worst car I guess I've ever owned was a Russian Lada Niva constant 4X4, years ago but still it had its strengths and the strength was...its strength. On a country dirt road it stayed on the road and when it hit a cow, as it did once, at 50 miles an hour... no damage to the Lada at all. Poor bloody cow was a mess. Fortunately I was a remote area Director of Nursing at the time so I pumped the cow full of morphine by the side of the road and stayed with it til it left the world. The Russians didn't build a good car, but, fuck it was strong.
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