Goodbye Challenger.

[pajeromack]

G' Day Guys

After four years and 90,000km of ownership of my fantastic Challenger I sold her today to an older couple looking for a touring tug. My lifestyle has since changed a little and I was also getting sick of rowing through the gears in the manual. She has been a fantastic chariot.

The Challenger is a great car a number of strong draw cards: seriously good off road capabilities with an agile narrow body, good sized boot for camping (five seater), amazing super select system and good fuel economy on the manuals. It is a fairly no fuss design that gets the job done. It was also very well appointed in base configuration with standard climate control and rear locker.

If I had any complaints about the Challenger it would be the spongy throttle response, turbo lag and the limited 1.9 low range reduction. Oh and who can forget the bash plate mounts which broke very early on. And the painted interior plastics which had flaked off rapidly.

Another thorn was that logbook service costs of my Challenger were getting excessive. The 2.5L is an expensive little number to maintain primarily due to the pricey 90,000km service plus timing belt, which worked out to be about 15% of the cars value

Residual value ended up being about 55% at four years. Reasonable, probably about market average. From looking at carsales I would have lost a lot more money if I had owned a Prado.

Thanks to this sub forum for all the advice and tips on the Challenger! You've all been a great help. I'm off to chose my next vehicle.

[old Jack]

Farewell PM, it will be interesting to know what your next vehicle is and why?
Most new vehicles are complex and expensive to maintain.
All diesels are expensive to maintain.
All 4wd are expensive to maintain.
So a modern diesel 4wd is very expensive to maintain especially if you have to pay someone to do the servicing.

OJ.

[Dicko1]

Farewell PM, it will be interesting to know what your next vehicle is and why?
Most new vehicles are complex and expensive to maintain.
All diesels are expensive to maintain.
All 4wd are expensive to maintain.
So a modern diesel 4wd is very expensive to maintain especially if you have to pay someone to do the servicing.

OJ.

I disagree with you Jack about all modern 4wds are expensive to maintain. I will not include any after market accessories as you can spend $5 or $25,000 depending on your tastes and wants. In one weeks time my NW will be exactly 5 years old (bought it brand new). Annual oil and filter costs would a total for 5 years of around $150 for oil filters, $500 for oil and $75 for fuel filters. 2 air con filters $30. One K&N air filter for town use..$75..wash and reuse.I wont include batteries as once again you can stay with the factory size or go larger. On my third battery but second one was replaced under warranty...so still on second battery $230. One set of tyres $1750. Average, I estimate , about 11klms/litre...city driving, towing, highway..lot of klms towing. Probably $2500 annual fuel bill.


Rego...$550 annual. Insurance $900 annual..I paid cash brand new so no loan fees. Residual value is irrelevant to me as I intend to keep the Paj till they take my licence from me or I hang up my cue!


Thats it..not much different to owning and running say a Toyota Corolla...oil, filters and tyres. Insurance may be cheaper. Rego the same.

No mechanical issues at all. Not one that needed a trip to Mitsubishi or a mechanic...For me owning the Paj is cheap.


cheers

[Jasonmc73]

I disagree with you Jack about all modern 4wds are expensive to maintain. I will not include any after market accessories as you can spend $5 or $25,000 depending on your tastes and wants. In one weeks time my NW will be exactly 5 years old (bought it brand new). Annual oil and filter costs would a total for 5 years of around $150 for oil filters, $500 for oil and $75 for fuel filters. 2 air con filters $30. One K&N air filter for town use..$75..wash and reuse.I wont include batteries as once again you can stay with the factory size or go larger. On my third battery but second one was replaced under warranty...so still on second battery $230. One set of tyres $1750. Average, I estimate , about 11klms/litre...city driving, towing, highway..lot of klms towing. Probably $2500 annual fuel bill.


Rego...$550 annual. Insurance $900 annual..I paid cash brand new so no loan fees. Residual value is irrelevant to me as I intend to keep the Paj till they take my licence from me or I hang up my cue!


Thats it..not much different to owning and running say a Toyota Corolla...oil, filters and tyres. Insurance may be cheaper. Rego the same.

No mechanical issues at all. Not one that needed a trip to Mitsubishi or a mechanic...For me owning the Paj is cheap.


cheers

In comparison only,

My wives Mazda 3 will cost me half that for tyres & half the cost for alignment
No valve clearances to do.
Fuel filter you change that minimum 5 year intervals or more
Transmission, does not even have a service interval, lets say do it at 100,000k's
Genuine Eng oil filter is $20
5 litre Drum of Penrite GF5 Full Synthetic on special $39 for 5 litres, it takes 5 litres. I brought few drums
Air filter Ryco not expensive, lets say $30.
Insurance $550 NRMA
Average fuel useage 7.6 litres/100k's thats urban, 2.5 litre engine

[littleriver]

Keeping us in suspense... what did you upgrade to ????

...

[pajeromack]

I picked up a base model demo MR Triton dual cab and have done a lot of driving already.

The new six speed auto is fantastic and pairs well with the new aluminium 2.4L. Torque lag is reduced, power comes on much sooner (1500rpm). And service costs are substantially reduced. And fuel economy is about 8.8L/100km mixed use. It's a fantastic package.

The old cast-iron 4D56 2.5L feels like a bit of a cold-blooded dinosaur in comparison. Nothing before 2000rpm, peaky output and higher fuel consumption. Not sorry to see that engine go unfortunately.

[Dicko1]

Good choice. I like the new Tritons. Like all the twin cabs though I cant get my head around the ridiculously high tub sides. What colour?

[pajeromack]

Just a white one. My Black challenger absorbed far too much heat and showed too many scratches. I think white really is best for these trucks.

Other things I noticed are that the new 4N15 engine warms up much faster and has a decidedly different sound, a slightly higher pitched diesel rattle. It's also far more willing to chirp a wheel than the Challenger ever was. I was surprised by this given that the engines have almost the same peak output. The new engine has a much wider torque band which makes it 'feel' gruntier.

[Greg Grey Grumbly]

Just a point on Pajeromack’s comment that he would have lost more money on a Prado, it gets worse as you have to consider that you would have paid about $10,000 more in the first place for the Prado.

Ten thousand invested over five years in bank shares could have earned you say 5% per annum in dividends, about $2,500 over five years, plus capital appreciation of your shares, depending on what you bought, perhaps another few thousand. So it’s not always what it seems.

Personally, money aside, I chose the Paj because I liked it more than the Prado anyway.

[pajeromack]

Just a point on Pajeromack’s comment that he would have lost more money on a Prado, it gets worse as you have to consider that you would have paid about $10,000 more in the first place for the Prado.

Yeah, from looking at carsales, a $65k new prado is now only about $38k after four years. That's a massive $27k loss, which is much more than what the Challenger cost me.

I like the Prado, but the depreciation is a killer.