MY WHEELS

You don’t have to buy a new vehicle to experience the joys of good service. Just ask these readers who bought second-hand vehicles and have only good things to report.

Do it all yourself

2000 MITSUBISHI COLT RODEO 2.8 TDI 4X4 If you have the engineering know-how and are patient enough to work on your vehicles in your spare time, you can buy cheap and save on labour quotes, says George Wetselaar from Iswepe in Mpumalanga. In 2006 I decided that I wanted my own deep-sea boat for fishing. But even before I went out to purchase a vessel, I had to find a 4x4 and learn how to surf launch off the beach properly – as I had seen the guys do at Sodwana Bay in KwaZulu-Natal on numerous occasions. To suit my budget I knew I’d have to carefully tread the waters of the secondhand market. I decided that a Mitsubishi Colt Rodeo 4x4 was just what I needed. I found a 2000-model that was making an odd noise but still in running condition. So I bought the fixer-upper for R60 000. Fortunately for me I knew what the culprit was: just a set of faulty injectors. Otherwise, the Colt was in decent running condition. It had only done 210 000 km up until that point and the interior was still in very good nick. The clear coat was starting to peel and there were a few scratches and dents but no rust. I decided to drive it as is and purchased a 1988 17-foot Invader Cat Ski craft with which to start my fishing expeditions. I also purchased the boat for cheap and refurbished it myself. I made numerous trips from Iswepe to the KZN north coast and even a few to Mozambique with the boat in tow. I also fitted a front tow bar and winch to launch and recover the boat. The engine finally breathed its last at around 293 000 km, and I then decided to do a full rebuild. I paid for the parts and did everything myself – including a respray and removing all the dents. I recently purchased a 2005 Jurgens Exclusive and fitted a vacuum brake in order to meet the legal requirements. The towing experience isn’t a ball of fire, but the Colt tows the caravan reasonably easy. It averages about 11.4 ℓ/100 km without the Jurgens attached to the tow bar and 14.5 ℓ/100 km with it. I’ve spent in the region of R60 000 to get the Colt where it is today, and as I’ll be going on pension soon I plan to keep driving this bakkie till the very end.

So far so good

2003 MITSUBISHI PAJERO 3.2 DI-D LWB The past 14 years with a Pajero has been a breeze, but he can always do with more power, says Jan Ebersohn from Stellenbosch. After towing with my son-in-law’s 4.2 V8 Volkswagen Touareg while I was considering buying one for myself, and enduring fuel consumption in excess of 30 ℓ/100 km while towing, I decided that I just couldn’t stomach that kind of thirst and so I opted for a diesel vehicle instead. I purchased a used Mitsubishi Pajero for R250 000 in 2004. It met my criteria of being heavy enough to tow my big old 1984 Gazelle 2100. After experiencing the ease with which a V8 Touareg tows, I think a towing vehicle must have at least 250 kW and 500 Nm of torque to make the experience effortless. Hence, my dream towing vehicle is the Mercedes-Benz G-Class, which even in its most affordable guise is powerful and extremely capable. But my own Pajero does the job. It handles well on and off-road. It’s just lacking a little power, but the automatic transmission with manual override makes towing comfortable and easy. I tow between 90–100 km/h, but the Pajero easily reaches 120 km/h. With the Gazelle on the standard Mitsubishi tow bar the Pajero consumes 16–20 ℓ/100 km, while cruising around town without the caravan returns about 12 ℓ/100 km. On the open road it can get down as low as 9 ℓ/100 km. I had to replace the transmission at 320 000 km due to wear and tear, but the Pajero has been nothing but a faithful workhorse to date. I also had to do a vacuum brake conversion to tow the Gazelle legally. Forever Badplaas resort ranks highly on my list of favourite destinations as it caters to a wide variety of needs.