O

Ozymandias24

New Member
Hello All,

I have recently accepted a job in Antananarivo, Madagascar, and would like to ship a 4x4 out with me so that I can explore the island. I will be working in the capital, where the roads are OK. The main roads out to the provincial capitals are tarmac and OK but the majority of the island is covered by dirt roads that disintegrate into a muddy mess during the rainy season. I will also likely do some driving on the beach on surf trips. Below is an image from a typical rural road, taken in 2015:

stuck_in_mud_madagascar.jpg


I am based in London. Importing a RHD vehicle into Madagascar is illegal, so I need a LHD. For some reason Freelanders seem to be very cheap in LHD configuration here in the UK (maybe they are easy to convert?) When I say "very cheap" I mean half the price of equivalent age and mileage Mitsubishi or Toyota 4x4s in LHD.

I am hoping for some advice from the experienced members on this forum - basically, what car should I buy, and what modifications would give me the biggest bang for my buck in terms of improvement in off-road capability? Below are five of my considerations when buying:

  1. Budget is around £4000. This would include any modifications I might need to make to the vehicle to ensure it is ready to go off-road (i.e. buying larger tyres, snorkel, any suspension raise etc.)
  2. It has to be LHD (this is Malagasy law). So no importing a UK RHD sadly. Also, I hear that converting most 4x4s from RHD to LHD is a complete pain, and likely to waste most of my budget.
  3. The more seats the better. Ideally I'd like 6 or 7, or some sort of bench arrangement in the back. Folding seats with lots of storage space would be great to load up on camping supplies. This is one of the factors pushing me towards a Mitsubishi Pajero / Shogun or a Toyota Land Cruiser rather than a Freelander, but I imagine a Defender or Discovery might also have more room? Also means a Suzuki Jimny or similar is out of the question.
  4. Diesel or petrol makes little difference. Fuel economy also doesn't matter too much as fuel is cheap out there.
  5. AC is borderline essential as it's bloody hot out there!
I guess the overall question is: if I buy a LHD Freelander for £2000, and spend £2000 on it, will I be able to get it up to a suitable off-road standard? Or is there a more suitable type of Land Rover (like an old Discovery) that I should hunt around for in LHD configuration? Or should I scrap the Land Rover idea altogether and go for a Japanese 4x4 (Shogun / Pajero / Hilux / Land Cruiser / L200)?

Before people say this is a crazy budget: in 2006 a friend and I drove a 1973 Land Rover Series III 88' from London down to Liberia in West Africa...and that only cost us £900! Story of that journey can be found here: http://polosbastards.com/west-africa-monrovia-or-bust/

Any advice much appreciated!
 
Welcome chap - love the story and your previous trip !

Sounds like you need a Discovery if you want a Landy....
 
What about an exmod defender? Im not sure how close they would be to your budget, but a lot of mod vehicals are / were LHD, due to britain's 'interests' abroad.

If you buy in the uk, LHD will always be a bit cheaper, unless, maybe, the vehical is already setup as an expedition camper (in which case LHD is often desirable)

My 101fc (ex mod, obviously) is LHD.
 
What you need to also ask yourself is can you get landy parts quickly for we it goes wrong and it will at some point . Can you get all size tyres out there if not might be worth not getting larger tyres get a more bog standard size if there more available or take a another set with you as back up when you ship it out there .
 
How common is LR in Madagascar?
Will spare parts be readily available and at reasonable cost? Tyres are the least of your worries. With regard to a Freelander they must have a matched set of tyres all round including the spare. Other LR vehicles may be more tolerant on that point.

What is the prevalent type or brand of 4x4 out there? I'd guess Toyota would be very common along with Nissan...
 
Personally I'd forget LR where access to spares is difficult.
Why not look at the Nissan Terrano 2. They are cheap in LHD, although not common. They are ridiculously reliable with a 7 seater option available.
Just my thoughts on it.
 
The Freelander would cope with the conditions, although a 40mm lift would be good. Bear in mind there is no low-range in the gearbox.

You've said you'd like 6 or 7 seats: if so, the Freelander will be too small. You'd be better off with a disco or 110 safari.

I seem to remember reading an advert in the back of LRO recently of ex-MoD LHD 110s being sold cheap: these HAVE to be exported outside of the EU, so ideal for you?
 
While a Freelander may be capable for the conditions and fine on price, I don't think it meets your other requirements.

Space inside will definitely no meet your requirements as it is definitely only 5 seater and there's not heap of room in the back - you can check that out for yourself by going and looking at one!

I wouldn't think there are to many (if any!) Freelanders out there and spares will almost definitely be a problem. I seem to recall reading a blog by someone who had a Discovery in Madagascar and all spares were imported and it took ages to get them there.

As said, worth checking out what the common vehicles are over there and they are likely to be Toyotas! I think the only 7 seat Toyota, that is more than a few years old, is the Land Cruiser - I don't know prices around the world, but your price bracket you are looking at the older 'square shaped' one (model 80 is it?). An alternative would be a Hilux with either UTE bodywork or the station wagon 'Surf'. With all Toyotas - the petrols are usually much cheaper than diesels - but once again - find out what's common and has spares are over there. I may be wrong, but I'd imagine there's not going to be to many Nissan Terranos over there - but Nissan Safaris might be popular - and good trucks. If there is a Defender community there - I think the prices of them is going to put them out of your price bracket.

One last thing - fuel may be cheap, so you won't mind getting a petrol initially - but it doesn't take to long living somewhere to price adjust and it will soon seem expensive. That's what happened when we moved here, petrol was much cheaper than UK so went out and bought a D1V8 - it was a wrong move, we were soon wishing we had bought a diesel.
 
Thinking outside the box here - but why export from the UK rather than buying once you get there? Given the relative economies would it not be cheaper to buy the car once you get out there, especially once you factor in the cost of shipping it?
 
I bet Land Rovers are cheaper here, and certainly much more choice. It's then a question of how much it will cost to ship and then import the car at its destination (may be a bunch of punative taxes to consider)...
 
How patriotic.........
now you know the dilemma Darwin faced when he was in Madagascar !!... only he was funded by his wealthy grandfather of Wedgewood pottery.

£4k is a substantial budget for any vehicle, all depends how long you will be out there, question is what do you do with the vehicle after the trip? Would you really want to ship a LH vehicle back with no resale value?

Personally I'd hire some pack mules !
 
The shipping and import taxes are not a concern as these are being taken care of by my employer (it's basically free for me to get it from Europe to Madagascar). Buying locally is an option, but because most people have to pay such high shipping costs and import taxes, vehicles are much more expensive than here in Europe!

After doing some research, I see that Land Rover recently shut down their official dealership out there, leaving people in Madagascar reliant on getting spare parts from South Africa. So I guess Japanese 4x4 it is then! Common vehicle types are the usual for southern Africa: Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan, Mitsubishi etc. Nodge68, Nissan Terrano is a suggestion I have not heard before. Could that handle the off-road conditions Madagascar would throw at it?

I will be relocating there permanently, not for a short expedition, so worth getting it right! Leaning more and more towards an old Mitsubishi Pajero. Anyone got any experience with the diesel versions?
 
GrumpyGel said:
Looks like there are some Freelanders over there, £3,500....

https://www.jumia.mg/land-rover-freelander-mod-1999-pid846214

Similar price, and cheap at that in any country for a '93 Classic!...

https://www.jumia.mg/range-rover-mod-1993-pid478381

Not sure I'd want to go live in Madagascar, what will you be doing over there?
Click to expand...

Yea, I think the issue is going to be getting parts and servicing given the lack of a Land Rover dealership! I will be working at an international school out there in the capital.
 
Ozymandias24 said:
Japanese 4x4 it is then! Common vehicle types are the usual for southern Africa: Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan, Mitsubishi etc. Nodge68, Nissan Terrano is a suggestion I have not heard before. Could that handle the off-road conditions Madagascar would throw at it?

I will be relocating there permanently, not for a short expedition, so worth getting it right! Leaning more and more towards an old Mitsubishi Pajero. Anyone got any experience with the diesel versions?
Click to expand...
I suggested the Nissan Terrano 2 as they are an old technology 4X4. They use a basic 4X4 system that gives 3 drive options.
Rear wheel drive through a limited slip rear diff.
4 wheel drive high range.
4 wheel drive low range.
The 2.7L turbo diesel is as tough as they come and is known to do stellar mileages. This same 2.7L engine was used in the FX4 London taxi, so it's got a reputation for reliability.
My own Ford Maverick (rebadged Nissan Terrano 2) did 100,000 trouble free miles in my possession. I only sold it on because of tin worm in the chassis.
If I was going to be visiting a part of the world with little in the way of support. I wouldn't hesitate in choosing the Terrano 2 as my vehicle of choice.
As for its off road ability. It's as good, maybe slightly better than a Discovery. I never managed to get mine stuck. Even in thick mud, under 2 feet of water.
Good tyres are a must, but otherwise they are very good off, from the factory.
In some parts of the world. The Terrano 2 was badged as a Nissan Mistral.
The only thing they do suffer is rust, so check carefully. Oh and sometimes the dash LCD display goes iffy. Otherwise they are as tough as they come.
 
OK, Nissan Terrano 2 sounds promising then! There's definitely a Nissan dealership out there to service it, and diesel engine would save me some money on fuel. Apart from slapping some good tyres on it, any other suggestions for getting it "bush ready"? Thanks!
 
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