Advice from UTE owners

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#3433164 11-Nov-2025 09:08

Jiriteach:

Solid! - great road handling, towing and overall features that make sense from an NZ perspective. Even at the bottom of the range XLT's have all the practical features to make ones driving experience great including aspects like the infotainment system - car play etc.

The Ranger ad's do stick - guess thats why its NZ's most popular vehicle.

Neighbour is a builder who runs 2 Ford Transits that AFAIK have similar engines to Rangers. Service costs seem high, fine if you have a business doing well to pay it but I'd think twice about any 2nd hand trade focused vehicle. Any business struggling a bit is likely to cut servicing to minimum.

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#3433172 11-Nov-2025 09:35

Bung:

Jiriteach:

Solid! - great road handling, towing and overall features that make sense from an NZ perspective. Even at the bottom of the range XLT's have all the practical features to make ones driving experience great including aspects like the infotainment system - car play etc.

The Ranger ad's do stick - guess thats why its NZ's most popular vehicle.

Neighbour is a builder who runs 2 Ford Transits that AFAIK have similar engines to Rangers. Service costs seem high, fine if you have a business doing well to pay it but I'd think twice about any 2nd hand trade focused vehicle. Any business struggling a bit is likely to cut servicing to minimum.

Engine in the Transits are the single turbo diesel or v6 which will be going into the 2026 Rangers from next year. They arnt the 2.0l bi turbo diesel which is a very different engine.

Regardless though - yes service costs are high. They do need to be serviced for valid warrenty over the 5 years. Also most tradies get it included within their leases.

-- opinions expressed by me are solely my own. ie - personal

dimsim

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#3433196 11-Nov-2025 10:45

Jiriteach:

Bung:

Jiriteach:

Solid! - great road handling, towing and overall features that make sense from an NZ perspective. Even at the bottom of the range XLT's have all the practical features to make ones driving experience great including aspects like the infotainment system - car play etc.

The Ranger ad's do stick - guess thats why its NZ's most popular vehicle.

Neighbour is a builder who runs 2 Ford Transits that AFAIK have similar engines to Rangers. Service costs seem high, fine if you have a business doing well to pay it but I'd think twice about any 2nd hand trade focused vehicle. Any business struggling a bit is likely to cut servicing to minimum.

Engine in the Transits are the single turbo diesel or v6 which will be going into the 2026 Rangers from next year. They arnt the 2.0l bi turbo diesel which is a very different engine.

Regardless though - yes service costs are high. They do need to be serviced for valid warrenty over the 5 years. Also most tradies get it included within their leases.

what these "good tradies" probably dont understand is that their maintenance is costed up front and they're paying interest on that maintenance cost from day one of their lease. so while it may appear that it is "included" it is actually costing them more. a better way for them to do this would be to purchase a service plan from the manufacturer.

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#3433329 11-Nov-2025 12:56

BlakJak:

Why not an SUV? Will be more comfortable for touring and has basically all the benefits if you get the right one.

Yeap - Toyota Fortuner = Hilux, Ford Everest = Ranger.

If you don't actually need the tray these are probably better options. Old article but you get the idea - https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/trends-in-suvs-and-vans/101847153/heres-a-tough-squad--the-big-suvs-that-have-been-built-off-utes

Are you planning on actually doing 4WD tracks? Otherwise I can't think of much road wise in NZ you'll need something with a solid chassis.

MikeB4

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#3433350 11-Nov-2025 14:02

The need for a tray in our case is to facilitate a hoist and or ramp system to put an electric wheelchair or scooter onto the vehicle. SUVs have limited height access, weaker floors, poor harnessing abilities and often less space.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

johno1234

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#3433361 11-Nov-2025 14:30

MikeB4:

The need for a tray in our case is to facilitate a hoist and or ramp system to put an electric wheelchair or scooter onto the vehicle. SUVs have limited height access, weaker floors, poor harnessing abilities and often less space.

You will know more about this than most of us but I thought this would be the domain of minivans, especially if you want your scooter out of the elements?

e.g. https://milnermobility.co.nz/used-vehicles

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#3433371 11-Nov-2025 14:41

johno1234:

MikeB4:

The need for a tray in our case is to facilitate a hoist and or ramp system to put an electric wheelchair or scooter onto the vehicle. SUVs have limited height access, weaker floors, poor harnessing abilities and often less space.

You will know more about this than most of us but I thought this would be the domain of minivans, especially if you want your scooter out of the elements?

e.g. https://milnermobility.co.nz/used-vehicles

We have looked at the van options that Milner sell. Vans generally have much lower ground clearance and with exception of the likes of Mitsubishi Delica (a rarity here now) do not offer 4WD.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

BlakJak

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#3433381 11-Nov-2025 14:48

Mercedes have a 4WD Sprinter variant?

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Scott3

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#3433409 11-Nov-2025 15:58

BlakJak:

Mercedes have a 4WD Sprinter variant?

Yip, but getting a bit big for daily use (Of course, if one is going to use it as a campervan base, and have it as a dedicated tourer this size is valuable).

Transit has an AWD is the same segament.

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If looking for a smaller AWD/4wd van the top options would be a Satria AWD (Very nice, but the only AWD option is the flash 8 person passenger version at around $90k.

Delica is only avalable as a used import from japan, but one can get a 2023 for $53k.

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#3433426 11-Nov-2025 16:52

for utes, older ford ranger 3.2 is hard to go past. avoid the 2.0l versions, i think they are the wet belt disaster engines. the 3.2 is well known everywhere and the whole ute is a bit bigger/heavier than most other utes.

the other pick of the bunch is later mitsi tritons. 2.4l. cheaper but top model comes with AWD as well as normal 4wd.

nissan 2.3 is not to bad but some complaints of the suspension of the dual cabs. they went to coils and people complained about it so i think they put stiffer springs in the later ones and i'm told its uncomfortable to drive. so test drive first. the kind cab version comes with leaf springs and is like every other ute. the engine seams really nice.

Handle9

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#3433437 11-Nov-2025 17:33

If you are looking at used utes redriven.com is worth a look. Their YouTube channel is also great.

Their view on all the modern double cabs utes is pretty accurate IMO - they are all pretty great and also a bit shit. The flavour of both will probably make the decision.

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#3433558 11-Nov-2025 23:21

MikeB4:

The need for a tray in our case is to facilitate a hoist and or ramp system to put an electric wheelchair or scooter onto the vehicle. SUVs have limited height access, weaker floors, poor harnessing abilities and often less space.

The setup here is going to have a big bearing on your decision.

Went through a similar process with my late grandmother, who I assume has quite different needs to you. With her, getting her into the passenger's seat of the car was the big issue (and needed to be the front seat or she would get carsick), and she needed to be the passenger, which ruled out most vans. Ultimately found a more modern version of the below, for relatively cheap (basically zero premium over a regular car) that worked brilliant. The ability to use the car seat as a wheelchair didn't really get used, but the ability to have the car swing the seat out and set it down near the ground with good access from three sides was invaluable, to allow a transfer to a wheelchair, or for an aided walk into a building.

gallery carousel 1

In this case the wheelchair was simply loaded manually.

But versions with electronic wheelchair loaders do exist:

gallery carousel 15

As do versions where the passenger remains in a wheelchair:

gallery carousel 6

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I OP's case it sounds more like getting in and out of the car is not an issue, but the desire to transport a larger / heavier wheelchair or scooter is.

Obviously a much older car / cheaper than you are after, but it's an AWD with raised ground clearance (and the X-trail, along with the Subaru forester is one of the better soft SUV's off road)

gallery carousel 15

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/cars/nissan/x-trail/listing/5559159559

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In general it seems the main offering's are cranes (typically rated at 80kg) designed to hoist a folded scooter or similar, and tail lift style (typically rated at 300kg+) designed to lift a occupied wheel chair, which is then wheeled into the back of a van, before the lift folds up .

Likely neither of these options will work with a ute tailgate, so you may need either a side opening tailgate like the GWM Cannon, or a Service body or similar.

And you will want to keep your stuff dry, so a canopy of some type if you are not getting a service body will be important.

Passive ramps are likely to be cumbersome. 4x4 ute tray floors are 800mm+ above the ground, so 3m+ of clear space behind the car will be needed to set out the ramps.

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Note the mods are likely to be expensive, and utes depreciate slow, so I would seriously consider going new if that is the route you choose.

MikeB4

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#3433618 12-Nov-2025 07:18

Handle9:

If you are looking at used utes redriven.com is worth a look. Their YouTube channel is also great.

Their view on all the modern double cabs utes is pretty accurate IMO - they are all pretty great and also a bit shit. The flavour of both will probably make the decision.

I have watched a few of their videos and been subscribed to them for a long time. I like Adams description of double cab utes "all double cab utes are great and all double cab utes are pretty shit"

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

sidefx

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#3433619 12-Nov-2025 07:29

Scott3:

Diesel engines are not as reliable as the utes of old. most models don't like doing a heap of city running due to the need to burn off the DPF during a high speed run.

It's probably worth reiterating this. Be very wary of how you drive modern diesel engines, when DPFs start going wrong they can cause major issues, I speak from experience.

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MikeB4

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#3433621 12-Nov-2025 07:29

@Scott3 thanks for that, there is a lot of food for thought. A van for us would need to be bigger than shown. The hoist in Nissan depending on load limits looks good. We discussed it last night and we are going to revisit the SUVs again.

We were told that it is not legal to remove the third row seating in a SUV, do you have any idea about that?

We will be flying up to Auckland again to visit Milners to reassess their offerings. A friend has suggested the GWM Tank, I have briefly looked at these but don't know much about their details, drivability and reliability. I guess a visit to Brendan Foot is on the cards over the weekend.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

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