I'm now commuting in a 4.5 litre turbo diesel Land Cruiser! No I am not selling the Prius, the Land Cruiser is my work car, I need the Cruiser for towing the 3 tonne boat I need for work. I also am allowed to drive it home. I no longer commute across the city but now I commute about 70km each way, 55 of that on a freeway at 110km/h. I'm now a Marine Safety Officer at Murray Bridge, South Australia. The Prius will see a lot less use now though.
Pat, Is your fuel provided by your employer? If so, I guess MPG is not a real concern. Still, as a point of interest, what kind of MPGs are you seeing * when not towing * when towing the boat
Well, don't be shy. Any photos of the Cruiser? Has anybody slapped on a sticker "I'd sooner push my Landy than drive a Cruiser?" Does your Cruiser have the stick shift and V8 turbodiesel?
Will post pics soon. It is a 100 series 4.2 litre 6 cylinder turbo diesel and the company provides fuel. Not had a chance to check consumption yet, I drive a twisting road to and from work so it wont be great. More soon, work time now.
Indeed. Figures would be great cause we only get the V8 petrol versions here (one model, one engine, one loaded price). congrats on the new position!
The only Cruiser I've seen for sale in Canada is the >$89,000 Lexus LX570 Lexus.ca - 2010 LX 570 Test drove one in July. Very, very nice, but oh so very, very expensive Well, to be fair, I don't like solid front and rear axles for highway driving - very uncomfortable. For tricky offroad driving, they still are hard to beat, especially with a locker like this one POWERTRAX® LOCK-RIGHT LOCKER BY RICHMOND Again, for highway driving and especially city driving, a "real" locking rear end is hard to live with. You will have inner wheel hop while going around sharp corners at low speed A properly designed independent suspension is great, but so far the only ones I've seen that actually BEAT a solid axle, are those for military purpose Oshkosh M-ATV MRAP All Terrain Vehicle The video for the heavy truck, the MTVR, has a video where you can clearly see the rear suspension articulation over bumps Oshkosh MTVR – Medium Tactical Vehicle Replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps TAK-4T Independent Suspension System-Improved off-road capability. Increased payload, unmatched combat performance. Their videos on their proprietary Tak-4 suspension outlines the advantages at the Aberdeen and Nevada Proving Grounds, the so-called Belgian Block test track is a very clear difference Oshkosh Products TAK-4 Independent Suspension
It has non independent axles front and rear, yes, locking? No. Here is a picture taken with my phone, I forgot to take my camera, sorry about quality. The "tinny" on the back of my car isn't the patrol boat, they can be seen in the shed behind. We are using the "tiny" to place navigation buoys in the river because we are running so low on water. I'll post some idea of mileage soon, I have been really busy with work, as you might have noticed by my lack of input on PriusChat of late.
Wow, what a wonderful job! I would trade my office chair for a boat in a hearthbeat :fish2:. Congrats to your new position and a new duty car ! Will you put "My other car is a Prius" sticker on it :hippie:?
I'm not sure if I would be allowed to put any stickers on the car like that, but if I can I will, just not for a few months. The Land Cruisers are getting pretty old as government vehicles go, they are all 100 series not the 200 series. Unfortunately Toyota have priced the 200 series too high for us to be able to justify their purchase as they exceed the luxury car tax threshold, but we were able to get the department to stick with Toyotas after showing the purchasing group how bad the Landrovers were to drive with a 3 tonne boat in tow. Now we will get Toyota Land Cruiser Troop Carriers as replacement vehicles. This job is not all drifting about in boats, there are still the endless meeting and mindless data entry (statistics, statistics, statistics) as well as paperwork to be done. Then there is mixing concrete for maker buoy anchorage, placing those buoys, and mapping their location. About 2/5 of the time is in the boat, that's when I go hunting, but my quarry isn't some fury animal, but silly people doing silly or dangerous things. I really wish they would stop doing those things. Catching fish? well that isn't really something people like to see governement workers doing in a government boat. People are funny like that.
Too bad you can't leave the boat docked and ride your bike to work. And yes, your absence has been noticed.
Yes, I can see that it's not all about being in a boat, but it's still much better than a pure office job . And I didn't mean you were fishing in the duty, but I couldn't find a smiley on a boat without a fishing pole, so I settled for that one . It still seems like a great job, although demanding and responsible no doubt. So congrats again and enjoy your boats and cars!
Things grow on the bottom of moored boats and it's hard to secure them against vandalism. Enforcement vehicles/vessels tent to be a target. It is also quicker, and uses less fuel to trail a boat to a location up or down stream, or even into the ocean than to motor on water. These boats are fast but not that fast. By keeping the boat on a trailer we can deploy almost anywhere within 100 kilometres in about an hour.
I've never had a pure office job except short periods acting in higher duties <edit> and 12 months running a mechanical workshop but I still got my hands dirty sometimes<end edit>. I hated it! I want to be out doing something, I don't want to be an administrator. The coal face is my place. It is a great job, I love it and I think as I learn more about the way to do the job I'll enjoy it more and more. Mostly, I like dealing with the people in boats, truck drivers and taxi drivers can be a real hassle. Truckies get angry and taxi drivers beg and plead, I hate that more than anger!!
At first I resisted the move from field to office engineer. Now you couldn't force me back into the field. Must be getting old and cranky
