City or Rural Territory owner POLL - Page 2 - Ford Forums

GTP193 · 01-16-2005, 16:09

Just bought the minister of finance a new black territory ghia. It will be used for city driving most of the time. The main reason for the purchase is to tow a 17ft van and travel around australia over a period of 3 months. We have just finished a trip to cairns towing the van with a BA XR8 ute, but found the ground clearance on the ute too low with the speed humps in van parks. Why they put Mt Everest speed humps in van parks is beyound me.

dan.76 · 01-24-2005, 22:26

country of course , why else do you buy a car that costs more to run than a standard sedan except for clearance , on dirt roads

Frosty · 01-25-2005, 15:56

I live in south western Queensland and the main reason I bought a TX RWD Territory was for the extra clearance on gravel roads,also the extra leg room.I travel on dirt road often but I have no real need for AWD.The Territory has very poor clearance around the wheels inside the mud gaurds and front suspenion struts,when it does rain the heavy black mud out here would clog the wheels solid in no time,AWD or RWD.I live about an hour from the nearest town so most of our driving on the open road, at present after nearly 10000 km it is averaging 12.1ltres per 100km, not bad for the size and weight of the vehicle I crusie between 100 & 125km/hr.

new2ford · 01-25-2005, 17:17

This clearance debate sounds really funny to someone who spent his idle youth spinning around bush roads and tracks in Minis and other BMC FWD cars, but in those days they had some pretty solid ironwork underneath including metal sumpguards that could have served as armour on a battleship. I was probably responsible for grading the humps off most roads in the Riverina so nobody taking a Terri there should have any problem now. When I look under the Terri and see all those protruding boltheads and other bits (including the stuff around the fuel tank that looks like it came from a builders supply yard) I do wonder!

Frosty · 01-25-2005, 18:33

I see you point but in those days there were nowhere as many high clearance 4WD drives on the roads so the tracks were nowhere as deep hence the hump in the middle of the road was alot lower.Less 4wds so when the roads were wet there was less traffic so they did not get cut up as much.I have had a succession of holdens before the territory and they all suffered damage to the underneath.I was looking at buying a station wagon then raising it to cope with the road out here but then the territiory came onto the market and the rest is history.

new2ford · 01-27-2005, 17:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frosty

I see you point but in those days there were nowhere as many high clearance 4WD drives on the roads so the tracks were nowhere as deep hence the hump in the middle of the road was alot lower.Less 4wds so when the roads were wet there was less traffic so they did not get cut up as much.I have had a succession of holdens before the territory and they all suffered damage to the underneath.I was looking at buying a station wagon then raising it to cope with the road out here but then the territiory came onto the market and the rest is history.

Yes that would be right Frosty - its quite a few years since I've driven some of those tracks. Its a pity that 4WDs are creating this problem in return for their marginally greater accessibility capabilities which in turn reduces accessibility for others. Gives more fuel to the anti 4WD lobby. I still think the Territory is a good compromise because I wouldn't want to see that terrific on-road capability reduced - and I notice that the new Discovery and Rangie also address on road safety seriously. (I suspect the Landies have always been better on the road - and off - because their aluminium bodies probably give them a lower centre of gravity: pity nobody has done comparative tests on that.)

I wonder how long it will take for people to figure out that those Jap 4WDs need to travel on-road to get to their off-road venue and that they are fatally flawed as on-road vehicles. How many lives have to be lost in single-vehicle rollovers in the meantime? To those who want to raise the Territory's clearance (and therefore its centre of gravity) I would say don't. If more people go into Territorys and there are less of those poorly-designed Tonka trucks maybe we wouldn't have so many deeply rutted roads. In these circumstances it is very stupid of the 4WD mags to criticise the Territory for its clearance. On balance, a great vehicle for Australian conditions both country and city and clearly the vastly superior successor to the old Holden of the 50s and 60s. We use ours everywhere.

grahill · 01-28-2005, 16:30

Nicely put new2ford. Finally a vehicle for city and country. Certainly not an off roader and that’s why we purchased one. I wanted on road comforts and safety, yet a soft roader for tricky gravel roads (which we live on) and paddock crossings etc, not river crossing or boulder crossing. The poll is certainly displaying the market well.

In yesterdays Herald Sun you may have noticed the Ford Territory as the winner of a prestigious award. Surprising that all but a few famous reporters voted it number one, two voted it close to number one, but one only reporter slapped it at the bottom. Not sure why the vast discrepancy though. But I guess the majority rules hey!

sboucher · 05-08-2005, 05:45

On fuel, I have just returned from a day trip to Launceston. 11.9/100. City driving around Hobart gives me mid 14's/100

John S. Hodges · 06-20-2007, 22:19

I live in the Sydney Metro area, but hook up my caravan and head to the country whenever I can.

Have just returned from Wilpena Pound, covered 2600 odd K's and averageg 15.9 l/100klms.

John H.