D22 ST-R buyer in need of wisdom!

Hi All you Nav drivers, I am looking to put myself behind the wheel of a 4wd and would love some information gaps filled, and the general D22 basics covered. so far i am looking for somthing in the range of a 2004-06 ST-R, 3.0TD and thats essentials as i see them.

Q1, how to know (wthout actually looking) when it would have the updated dash and interior? Series 1, 2 etc.

Q2, were there any other changes at that time? engine, gearbox, blah blah.

Q3, how many Kms untill i should reconsider buying? 100K, 150K, etc.

what else should i look for? please share your wealth of knowledge, i am obsessed and cant turn the Nav thoughts off!!!!

Thanks in advance.

Will.

Looking at carsales.com.au, the price is not that much cheaper then getting it new. Unless you are dead set on the 3 litre version, I would pay the extra $5k and get a new one. $33k drive away for abn was a steal when i got mine.

Q1. series 2 has airbag steering wheel. series 1 doesn't

Q2. series 2 was when they said they fixed the zd30 from blowing up

Q3. depends really on what you want to pay. Condition of car is sometimes more important then km. I mean who knows what the real mileage is...

Yeah for the price of a late model second hand one, I'd go new also (which I did 6 months ago) you can still pick up a 08/09 plated Japanese model before the new '09 Taiwan built ones for around $32k drive away if you shop around......Whats your budget like? Not too sure on the older ones as for series 1 or series 2 changes, but personally I wouldnt buy a second hand vehcile with over 100k on it and under 5 years old....totally up to you though. Everyones situation is different, but second hand ones do seem to hold there value well.

Hi will

I got 2005 nav for $32500 (ex rural fire service).It had 41000km's with full service history.It came with all following goodies fitted bullbar,winch,towbar,canopy,tub liner,spotties,cruise control,head light protectors,dtronic chip,weather shields x2,tinted windows and new bridgestone tyres d694.I have fitted the following goodies redarc dual battery system,gme uhf radio & antenna,snorkel,long range tank,efs shocks,egt & boost gauges,tjm sump & transmission guards.I thinks thats all.

Shane

Thanks for the info folks, i'll definately steer away from the S1 with potential engine issues and no airbag.

also can you tell after driving for a while if the weight of a bull bar makes the front dull in steering or does it not make any difference? I just dont want a heavy front end if i can avoid it. then again, does the benefit you get with the addition of a winch outway the cost of the weight? (steel Bullbar).

Budget around $20K hopefully, so new is not really an option.

Will, I paid $20,000 for my 2003 ST-R with 130,000 kms on it a couple of months ago. I reckon the service history is just as important as the number of k's. Even fully laden, the steering never gets too heavy, although mine has the alloy bullbar. My missus drives it all the time, sometimes prefering to take the ute than her 2007 Territory.

Interesting that the Navara is going a lot further on $40 of diesel, than my 2003 Magna goes on $40 of petrol. Haven't done a full tank test yet, but it seems to be a lot better.

woznme said:

Q1. series 2 has airbag steering wheel. series 1 doesn't

Q2. series 2 was when they said they fixed the zd30 from blowing up

Click to expand...

actually no.

simple way to tell them apart is series 1 has square headlights. series 1 never had the ZD30 motor. series 2 came in ~2000

there is no difference between the supposed "fixed" models and the previous models (approx 2003). if your looking at a 2004-2006 model you don't need to worry.

According to redbook specs and naming series 2 starts 2004 before that (2000+) was series 1. I believe carsales.com.au also uses these namings. but yeah look 2004+ for the updated one with airbag in the steering wheel.

edit... it seems they break up each revision as S1 and S2 MY2003 is S1 and MY2004 is S2 i there books... but looking at pre2003 they show S1, S2, S3 revisions for the older model also..... its all to confusing i'm going

i know the D40 has series 1 and 2, there is a few changes. but afaik no changes in the D22 inbetween 2000-2006. only cosmetic changes (color trim). the common rail D22 would be series 3.

Spoke to a guy yesterday who says that when driving with a canopy they chew significantly more fuel; and that a lot of guys dont use first gear due to low gearing, they just use second. how hard is it to remove a canopy? i thought it was just a few 1/2 inch bolts that clip under the tray lip.

Hey Will,

I don't think driving with a canopy on would create that much more drag aerodynamically speaking, but the small amount of added weight would consume more fuel but it would be marginal at most.

The canopy can be removed with just 4 bolts generally and perhaps a wire if you have high level brake light.

Don't know who drives without using 1st gear but I reckon you'd go through some clutches. 1st gear is short but you'll need it when towing or fully loaded or starting on a hill. I always use 1st even when empty.

Cheers,

DJ

I dont know what is series 1 or 2, i think mine is series 1 and when the next model came out it had airbags, different sort of 2 tone interior colour with a dimple pattern in the seat material, chrome side mirrors instead of black and they are also electric controlled as mine are not. Also i think the very first series had orange colour numbers on the speedo dials where as mine are black.

woznme said:

Q1. series 2 has airbag steering wheel. series 1 doesn't

Q2. series 2 was when they said they fixed the zd30 from blowing up

Q3. depends really on what you want to pay. Condition of car is sometimes more important then km. I mean who knows what the real mileage is...

Click to expand...

wrong the zd30 didn't have the problems in the navara it was when it was in the patrol.

Kickars2 said:

wrong the zd30 didn't have the problems in the navara it was when it was in the patrol.

Click to expand...

I believe that too, but why is the patrol 3l the grenade?
Apparently any 3l after the 03model id say late 03 are ok.

my 2005 str 3 l is awesome bought it with 120 and its now up to 155 and i love it hasn missed a beat. gotta use 1st gear. 2;s just a lil tooo tall.

OK, so i think i've found one after driving a few. 2003 STR but it has 175K Kms on it and has been owned by a mechanic so nil service history after the very first service. looks OK and has the stock shockers still installed and it drives well, but those Kms are a concern. anyone have any thoughts? like i said the rest seems ok and not thrashed it's just the mileage thats scares me off a bit.

just putting this out there (dont mean to scare people) but my mate has a 02 dx trayback and has just blown a hole in the #4 piston & upon further inspection found cracks in the head head from valve to glowplug to valve on every chamber! he only uses it a a daily driver and farm veihcal with 150.000kms aprox, good service history etc.

Did he have it from new?

yes bought it brand new, the only mod was a dtronic after about 30,000km, no warning leading up to failure, driving home from work and car started running on 3 cylinders and pumping a massive cloud of smoke, so he shut it down and called a tow truck