Car cost revision

Hi Mum - You said you'd be reading, so here is a shout out!

OK, so the car I mentioned below I speculated would go for 35-40K which as mentioned is a long way out of our price range. However looking at previous auction results (I've been keeping a spreadsheet) I predict it will probably go for 20K give or take 2K. I'm certainly no car buff, but past performance is the best predictor of future performance.

It's so important that I put the money away in a term deposit because I would totally be bidding tomorrow on this car. Urghhhh the pressure!

Clarified a bit further the costs of registering the car.
$750 stamp duty
$750 comprehensive insurance
~$1000 1 year's registration (inc. 3rd party insurance)
Plus a few tanks of diesel to get it back, and a flight to Alice Springs, looking at 3K in hidden costs.

A little bit of excitement and a glimmer of hope. I just need to take a deep breath and accept that another one will come along when we are ready.... however hard  to do when something awesome is waved in front of your face. . I can't help but devise ways of juggling money to avoid the whole term deposit issue, but I must resist the temptation.

There are two things I particularly like about this one; The rear ladder and the side rails to protect the side steps and fenders. The nature of four wheel driving sees damage easily done to these areas.

We'll be making a purchase during or after October when the funds are released, so if we register in October, our 12 months of registration should have us covered while overseas without any unneeded complication of renewing registration whilst overseas.

Sorry this is a fairly boring post people, but it is a timeline of thought which in the fullness of time will be interesting reading.

Ideal truck

Here is the perfect example of an ideal truck. ~100,000KM, 4.2NA diesel, roof rack, dual batteries, side rails, oh and importantly - grey interior, but I estimate it will go for 35K, about 10K over our budget.

I've been giving some thought to the turbo diesel option available. You can get a factory electronic fuel injected turbo diesel, but considering we are buying a vehicle for premium reliability, the EFI diesel means electronic thottle linkage, computers etc. I feel computers certainly have a place in modern vehicles, they provide excellent economy and heaps if power. I'm no mechanic, and I want something that has less things to go wrong. Mongolian people on horseback need to be able to fix my car, not lab coats and laptops. A power surge, botched river crossing, broken wire or dirty sensors reek havoc with electronic systems - reliability is the premium concern over speed and power.

Location:Sunshine Bay, NSW

Flap of a butterfly's wings

I have no spell check on this device, so excuse any spelling mistakes.

I thought I'd share one of those minute details that gets us to where we are. It occoured to me, as I glanced at my long way round book on my bedside table, that if it wasn't for all of these small sequencial events you wouldn't be reading this blog.

-Cassie's mum bought me a Keith Urban DVD for Christmas.
-Took it home, gave it a good play but the audio was somehow wrong, like it was missing mid-tones.
-Cassie returned it and replaced it with Long Way Round DVD which Cassie suggested as it tweaked my attention in an advettisment (which I don't normally watch)
-Watched it, fell in love with it.
-Somehow (I wish I could recall how and when) I decided that I needed to so this trip.

I'm sure there are so many details I can't remember, but these were just a few.

-If I hadn't been so picky about the sound quality
-I didnt watch commerical TV, so seeing the ad was so unlikley.

Location:Queanbeyan

Lets not get carried away

I'm adding together the costs of sourcing, registering and insuring a vehicle (I'm estimating everything around a 2003 Troop Carrier)

$750 Stamp Duty
$750 P/A Australian comprehensive insurance with AAMI
International comprehensive insurance is a topic for another day.

I'm beginning to think about some accessories for the car that previously I would not have worried about.
The previous post of wish-list/must have list is starting to blur. It's becoming more of a 'It will need to eventually have' list.

Roof Rack
Yes - I avoided it this far, but EVERY overland traveller has one. I thought 'ahhh rubbish, they just carry too much junk'. My mind has been going in circles trying to figure out where to put Maxtrax, highlift jack, chairs, table, additional spare tyre, spare water, recovery gear & vehicle spares.
One huge drawer in our last trip was dedicated to vehicle repairs, fluids, tools. It would be nice to keep all this heavy equipment lower in the car to reduce the centre-of-gravity, but I suspect we're just going to have to live with it. Anything else that needs to stay dry and clean (like clothes, food) can pack nicely in the under bed section.

The choices are... ARB Steel roof rack, or ARB Aluminium roof rack. The aluminium being 40% lighter yet carrying the same payload. I suspect we will quickly see return on the additional cost in handling and fuel economy. One might accuse me of being biased to ARB gear, but I find it better value for money, sure its double the price, but lasts forever. "The poor man pays twice" as the saying goes.

The shipping agent is much more comfortable shipping the vehicle in a container for security, which typically adds a bit more to the cost, but means we can take what we need, rather than scramble to source things in a strange country. This includes the roof rack which was not an option with roll-on, roll-off shipping. We would have only made it by a few centimetres anyway.

Bull-bar
It's not one of those 'must have's but, they are a must have in order to mount a winch. They are handy for mounting antennas, lights and winches on. I've been fortunate to avoid damage so far, but I can see it saving us if we hit a bear, kangaroo etc.


Winch
Wow - that's a topic for another day - there is so many variants in speed, strength, size & cost.


So the sum of this post is I need to be ever conscious to not let the costs run away with us. There are substantial upfront costs, running costs, travel costs that we need to budget for, so we must not spend the whole budget on the car.

Sold Pajero

Pajero drove off on Thursday night. A 20yo man and his grandfather came and had a look twice through the week and decided on it Wednesday night.
I'd say the battery was fairly flat when the first part of the video was taken - you can hear all the actuators calibrating themseleves prior to starting.

The joy of small details

As we know, I enjoy planning, researching and building solutions. I've seen some hideous 240V installations in campers with the RCD/Fusebox in awful positions. Look at this example below - it's in the worst position for smacking your head on or even using it, but aesthetically, it looks awful.

I like the idea of having a small 240V inverter for powering those odd little thinks like camera, phone, laptop & radio batteries. Yes I know you can get all manor of 12v chargers, but why reinvent the wheel?
Our cameras both charge off 110-240V. Because the laptop will be on all the time it will have it's own dedicated 12V charger, but as we saw on our previous trip - it can and did fail, meaning we relied on the inverter to charge it. So - now that we are confident of the need, lets get smart about implementation.

I've had own one of these for several years - it's a 300W modified sine-wave inverter. I can hear all you purists out there poo-pooing my MSW inverter saying it's not that as good as a pure sine-wave inverter. True, but for most appliances they work perfect. Think about it, regardless of how dirty the AC input might be going into a transformer, comes a perfectly clean stable DC voltage so I'm not in any rush to replace it.
I probably wouldn't use it for an AC/AC step down transformer, but outputting DC will be perfect.


I'm planning on integrating this into our fitout in such a way that it's secure, well ventilated and aesthetically pleasing. I'll extend the tiny LED and switch on the back into a switchable bezel which gives a confident on/off indication whilst looking tidy. I won't be 'extending' the 240V outlet but rather wiring a plug to a double powerpoint. Taking this two steps further, I wanted a double powerpoint but also a RCD or Residual Current Device. These are an excellent safety device which detects any imbalance in the 240V circuit... consistent with an electrocution condition.

I needed to do some reasearch as I couldn't figure out how you being electrocuted isn't just like a normal electrical load. After some reading, it identifies an electrocution condition because only one pole tends to get loaded up in an electrocution. So again, after deciding the need was worthy, it's now about the implementation.

See this - it's a twin socket (der) RCD power point. So, mounted flush on our timber fitout, provides two power points AND RCD protection - it ticks all the boxes.

Progress

OK - we're starting to make some progress. small steps, but progress none-the-less.

Today a young man and his grandfather came to look at the car I'm selling for the second time.
They took it for a test drive and came back wrapped! There was some confusion about operating the 4WD, but after a quick demo they were stoked. It was a bit sad taking it for a drive. The sound of gravel under the tyres as it climbed up an embankment was awesome. I am going to miss being without a 4WD. The truth of the matter is, I've not used it since our Australia trip, so I can obviously live without it - but it's nice confirmation that I do enjoy it. I feel so much better that they have taken it for a good long drive and came back happy, not a quick deceptive drive around the block. He also said he showed his mum and young son and they were both excited - it feels good to know that the car is going to a good home.
After some negotiations we settled on a sum pay cash and pick it up tomorrow. Exciting times.

I've convinced myself to put the holiday savings and money from the sale of the car into a term deposit for 6 months to eliminate the impulse out of choosing another car. Hopefully 6 months gives us enough time to buy something, put 12months registration on it, fit it out and ship it over.

So far I've narrowed it down to a Toyota Land Cruiser 78 Series (Troopcarrier) - It's got to be 2000 or newer. After 1999 they introduced coil front suspension, better dash design, longer wheelbase and longer leaf springs to give better wheel travel. Wikipedia link

It would be nice to get 2007-current 78 series as they come with the v8 turbo diesel - we'll see, but I'm not holding my breath.
The perfect buying decision will somehow satisfy all of these needs:

Maybe a pop-top
We can't get a fixed high top as we can't get it in the container
If we have a look at a troopie and we think we can design the back to be usable without a pop-top, that would be best as adding the pop-top reduces resale value considerably.

Lowest KM's possible
I get mixed reports about how many KM's a car can have before you get problems. My brother has a 75 series ute with 400,000KM on it, and it's never missed a beat.
Everyone tells me that they will last forever, which is true... if you replace parts. In my experience however it seems to become a slippery downhill slope after 200,000KM. The car I'm selling now has 242,000KM and it's shagged. It's had a life of pure 4WD'ing with very little road work. When I bought it, it needed a new clutch - $1500 later. Universal joint, idler arm, wheel bearings, - wow, now that I think about it, it's not needed much else. All components are directly related to the use the vehicle has seen.
I've been fortunate enough to land free tyres through the life of the car.

One thing my dad brought to my attention years ago which is applicable here is the story of people buying ex-taxi's. The thinking is, sure they have a million (literally) kilometres on them, and probably do have new drive-train due to repairs and replacement. It's the millions of little things that add up on a car with high KM's such as wiper motors, door locks, suspension components, deteriorated electrical components, worn switches, window winders - the list goes on.
I suspect there is a seemingly obvious relationship between KM and price. I suspect the price you pay, is for how many KM between what it currently is and it's estimated lifespan. For example, you
Imagine you buy a car with 200,000KM for $20,000 and sell it a few years later for $10,000 with 300,000KM - you've paid $10,000 for 100,000KM
If you buy one with 100,000 KM on it for $25,000 and sell it for $10,000 you've only paid $15,000 for 200,000KM
I'm yet to prove this theory, but it certainly seems evident in the pricing of used cars - KM = price. I see no value in an old car with lots of features that are all worn out.
It's the cake and icing theory - you can't build a cake out of icing.

To summarise, Lowest KM should mean higher reliability and higher resale value.

Best condition
As a summary point, I want it to be cosmetically very clean an undamaged. Lower KM's is usually a good predictor for good cosmetic condition. I'm trying to get out of the mindset of buying a tool to perform a job, but rather buying something I will have for some time. Long term vision people!

Must Haves:
Dual fuel tanks (180L)

Wish List:
Look factory - I don't want someone's super customised rig; I want it plain and unmodified.
Skinny tyres - Again, same point as above. From what I understand there are some risks with these - so I need to do some research. From some reading, skinny tyres perform better in all scenarios - again yet to prove but the evidence is certainly convincing.
Bull Bar & winch
Dual wheel carrier - sounds contradictory to the 'unmodified' point, but it's one thing I do want. I've seen a few designs which have both skinny wheels on the right hand side of the door, allowing quick access through the left hand rear door.
Dual Batteries - this is surprisingly common, 90% of the NT/WA auctioned cars have them. This does qualify as a must have, but if it doesn't have it, I'll fit them.
Towbar - again very common, but sometimes they don't have them - if it doesn't have it, I'll fit it.

On an awesome side note, we won't feel so weird registering for a lap around the Nurburgring:

We had initial hesitations thinking we would be laughed off - but I think we're still going to do it!

The upside of doing the trip in reverse is that we'll have more time for stuff like this. As you can imagine, we would hesitate doing this at the start of our trip... if we broke something or crashed, that would not be cool.

There are more steps to write about but I will post these in a later post.