[ashabmy]

Friends,
Need advise from experts.........

I'm thinking of selling-off my 1 year Escape 2.0L Auto (Petrol) & get 1998
Unregistered Prado 3.0L I/C Turbo Diesel. Tested-drive the Prado & following are my
comment:

1) Best buy... my friend happened to be the importer
2) Power & accelaration: Prado much better
3) Space: Prado win
4) Fuel economy: Prado win
5) Handling: Prado can't beat Escape superb handling

But, not sure about this (never own diesel car b4):
1) Maintenance
2) Used Japan... breakdown? etc.. (mileage is 60K KM)
3) Spare part price?
4) etc...

Really appreciate your advise b4 I make decision.
I really like Prado power & accelaration, but Escape's handling is just superb.

Thanks

[hhkonghh]

On handling. I suppose you are talking about on-road handling. IMHO, any
of the designed-for-on-road usage 4WD like CRV, Escape, RAV4 etc would
beat the pants off a Prado or any of the full-framed `real` 4wd for on-
road driving. Prado are designed for tougher off-road.

As for pro and con, you already have the answers.

On maintainence. I personally find diesel engine easier to maintain. Just
regular oil, oil & air filter change. For I/C turbo engine, you
absolutely must use the correct oil quality and for a bit of insurance,
fit a turbo timer. My 2cts.

[ashabmy]

hhkonghh,

thanks a lot man.

Yah... handling still goes to Escape. Even if I decide to buy the Prado, I can tell you it will
be 90% on-road.

The strong points I consider Prado are: Good price, Power & bettter package (sunroof,
air-cond ducts to back seats, 3 rows seat (3rd row is foldable) etc. But, the groud
clearance is too high (to me).

BTW, any recommendation on:
1) good oil - For oil, I don't mind to burn ~RM150/service as that is my current budget for
my Escape. Some friends said fully-synthetic is not neccessary for engine diesel. True?
2) good turbo timer - brand & price?

Thanks again

[hhkonghh]

If you have money to burn, by all means go ahead with fully synthetic. For
us more down-to-earth type, we just stick with a good mineral oil of
sufficient grade (JASO DH-1) and change oil more frequently. I personally
liked Caltex Delo 400 15W40 that has virtually satisfy all the major grade
demanded by the major certification agency. For eg, it`s ACEA E5 whereas
the Rimula is only ACEA E3.

The only real reservation about Jap import are all those electronic stuff.
I am in East Malaysia and major repair would definitely be a big head ache
should things goes wrong. Maybe W.M`sia is better.

[ashabmy]

hhkonghh,

Where a U? I am in Labuan.
Ya, that is one of my worries, since it is 1998 used Japan.