Anywhere between a lash up job for £300, a reasonable job £800 or a full strip and repaint £2k plus.
It's a lot to add on to the price and they won't drop. As far as they are concerned it's priced right and flew through an MOT.
Anywhere between a lash up job for £300, a reasonable job £800 or a full strip and repaint £2k plus.
You would think an "offroad" vehicle had extra rust protection, not less...
Ford engines are usually pretty good though.
You would think an "offroad" vehicle had extra rust protection, not less...
Ford engines are usually pretty good though.
In theory the steel should hold up 20+ years even though it doesn't look good - though you do have issues like with the d40.
Poor production methods and cheap steel.
In theory the steel should hold up 20+ years even though it doesn't look good - though you do have issues like with the d40.
Chassis after 6 months
The Ford I looked at has a 7 day no quibble return on it
Surface rust and "rusting away" are worlds apart.Thats shocking lol. Wont it fail the MOT if all the welding is rusting away?
Thats shocking lol. Wont it fail the MOT if all the welding is rusting away?
Can't imagine it's going to last very long if it's that bad already.
It's a shame, it shouldn't be that difficult to prevent for a lot longer. I asked a dealer about it and he went on a rant about the MOT and if there was a problem it would show up, so I walked away. I'm now looking at Amaroks.
If it wasn't a D40 it wouldn't even bother me at all - being a D40 with the known vulnerability I'm keeping my expectations down but it will likely last years yet.
If it holds up another 1-2 years I'll probably give it a cursory treatment and stick it at the "back" of the garage so to speak as I'm a little bit attached to the vehicle despite the issues.
Maybe I'm a bit blasé and obviously there is the reselling consideration (though most commercial dealers don't seem to care if you part exchange, etc.) but I wouldn't let it put you off too much.
Nissan withdrew the official inspection program in early 2020 which I'm not too impressed about - though it meant sending the vehicle off for a week and stuck with whatever settlement Nissan felt was right if it didn't pass. With the D40 it needs proper inspection, beyond what your average garage can do, to catch early enough to treat properly as the vulnerability is deep inside the ladder frame and it rots from inside out - by the time your average garage can see it for themselves it is too late really - welding patches over the weak points isn't really a good fix (the chassis is designed to and needs a degree of flexibility that inhibits). Fortunately it isn't a general issue - an unfortunate combination of cheap steel and sloppy original spray treatment - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BToaNFg530
It is the only reason really I'd consider looking at other makes when buying my next pickup despite the D23 onwards not suffering the same problem.
The V6 D40 Navaras and Pathfinder do make pretty decent towing platforms and reasonably cheap now though but you do have to be a bit wary of the potential chassis problem. The higher spec models with automatic transmissions are ridiculously easy to drive for a pickup.
I don't have the most experience, never towed the same kind of load in the same conditions to benchmark, etc. and it might vary somewhat on model but subjectively the impression I got was the Ranger Wildtrak they'd put a bit of thought into towing while the Navara and Amarok felt a bit like "it's a big vehicle it will tow". The Navara while hugely capable towing felt a bit vague, harder to tell where the limits were and how things were going relative to the Ranger and generally a little unsettled while the Ranger felt more like it was all one unit for want of a better way to describe it. No experience of towing with the L200 or Hilux on the road.
EDIT: Also not sure what the legal limits are in terms of what you can tow weight, etc. wise with each one - I rarely do anything involving more than 300Kg or so.