4WD ute, wagon or van?

For ‘tradies’ the decision between 4WD ute or van and a wagon is simple. A one-tonne-rated ute or van can be a weekday worker and holiday player, while potentially avoiding the fringe benefits tax slug. For the rest of us the decision is less clear-cut.

Vans, utes and wagons each have their advantages and disadvantages, so let’s work our way through the list.

PROS AND CONS

There are few 4WD vans on the market and the VW Transporter is the most common. Its drawbacks are ground clearance and the lack of low-range gearing.

Mercedes-Benz has introduced the Sprinter 4WD van, but only in basic specification, with part-time 4WD, limited off-road gearing and an open centre differential.

These German vans make good motorhome bases, but they’re not serious off-roaders.

The ute situation has changed radically in recent years, so where there used to be a huge performance difference between wagons and utes there’s none these days.

In fact, the newly announced Nissan Navara V6 turbo-diesel ute will show a clean pair of heels to almost every wagon in the marketplace.

However, even ‘cooking’ turbo-diesel, four-cylinder utes perform very well.

A 4WD ute is the right purchase if you need to keep people and freight separate, within the one vehicle. You can stow trail bikes in the back of a ute or throw muddy tools and wet camping gear in the back, without having to worry too much.

A canopy won’t fit over bikes, but it will cover and secure camping gear quite well.

Short-cab or extended-cab utes are obviously suitable for a couple, but small kids can be fitted in the back of extended-cab models, if you don’t need the behind-seat space for a fridge and luggage.

Crew-cab utes are popular alternatives to wagons, offering full-time seating for four or five, depending on the size of the back-seat occupants.

Utes, apart from the Land Rover Defender and the Patrol Coil Cab, ride on leaf rear springs and the medium-sized models have drum rear brakes as well. Large utes like LandCruiser 70 Series and Patrols have disc rear brakes.

Even the latest top-shelf utes can match the ride and handling dynamics of modern wagons, although Mitsubishi’s Triton, with optional selectable full-time 4WD and electronic traction and stability control (TC and ESC), comes pretty close.

Next best are the Navara and HiLux models with part-time-4WD and optional TC and ESC.

The handing limitations of the ute design are caused by radically different front and rear suspension roll centres, a live rear axle rather than independent rear suspension and the fact that a ute’s rear suspension is rated to carry much more weight, making it somewhat ‘skittish’ when lightly loaded.

Wagons are intended to carry people, so their second-row seats are almost universally more comfortable than those in the back of crew-cab utes.

Crew-cab ute back seats are fine for sub-teenagers on long trips, but not for most adults.

Wagons are also available with third-row seating, although only the Land Rover Discovery 3 and 4 third-row seats are comfortable for adults on long trips. The other 4WD wagon third-row seats are kids’ perches.

Wagons come with coil or air rear springs, with live axle or independent suspension and therefore ride better than utes, but they don’t have the same payload capacity.

This situation has become worse in recent years, as wagon makers put more and more equipment into their vehicles. Wagon payloads used to be around the 600-800kg mark, but are now typically only 400-500kg. That makes it impossible to fit a family and all its bush camping gear on board.

UTE AND WAGON MODS

The foregoing illustrates the differences between vans, utes and wagons, but most bush travellers make after-market changes to their vehicles, to better adapt them to off-road life.

Tyres are a major consideration and that’s covered separately in this site.

Keep in mind that if you plan to fit special-purpose tyres you need to know that the tyres and rims you’re thinking of will fit the vehicle you plan to buy.

Many new 4WDs have specific rims designed to fit over large brake packages and can’t accept traditional rim sizes.

All modern utes, except the Land Rover Defender, can do with a suspension ‘lift’ to improve ground clearance and after-market springs and shock absorbers can be specified to improve ride and handling at the same time.

Replacement rear springs can be softer in action than the standard ones, which are usually dimensioned for some degree of overloading.

The standard dampers fitted to 4WD utes are universally of marginal ability and are best replaced by aftermarket ones for bush driving.

Part-time 4WD utes routinely unload their inside rear wheels when cornering hard, making wheelspin and ‘fishtailing’ possible on loose or slippery surfaces, so a self-locking rear differential is an ideal fitment.

Coil-sprung wagons can also do with a suspension lift around 50mm, but air-sprung ones already have height control built-in, allowing them to self-raise to clear obstacles.

All new 4WD wagons have traction control and electronic stability control, and those electronic traction aids work well enough for most wagon owners. Locking differentials are available for most popular wagons, for the more adventurous.

Most utes and wagons can be turned into useful bush travel machines, for about the same financial outlay.

TOWING ISSUES

Turbo-diesels make the best towing engines, providing plenty of torque across the rev range, while drinking a lot less than petrol engines.

There’s little real towing-performance difference between most turbo-diesel wagons and utes, with torque in excess of 350Nm a good starting point.

Towing requires optimum tow vehicle stability and state of the art in this regard is full-time 4WD and an ABS/EBD braking system, with TC and ESC.

Mitsubishi’s top-shelf Triton heads the spec’ list, closely followed by the TC and ESC-optioned Navara and HiLux part-time-4WD models. Note that lower-spec utes score only ABS.

Utes have strong rear springs that can handle towball loads well.

It’s hard to find a 4WD wagon that doesn’t come loaded with full-time or 4WD on demand, plus TC and ESC. However, the soft standard rear suspensions on many wagons don’t like heavy towball loads.

Medium-sized utes have disc/drum brakes that in theory can’t match the all-disc arrangements found on wagons, but our testing shows little practical difference.

An advantage of the rear drum brake is a full-sized parking brake, in contrast to the little drum-in-disc designs used in wagons.

SUBSTANCE OVER STYLE

The golden rule here is to buy what you need, not what looks ‘macho’.

Before you settle on a van, ute or wagon it’s important to differentiate between what you’re actually going to do with the machine and what your fantasies are.

For example, there’s no point buying a hard-core 4WD with huge suspension lift, fat ‘mud’ tyres and heavy bar work if what you really need is a beach-capable vehicle to go on family fishing trips.

Most 4WDs have to serve double-duty, as work vehicles or people movers, so that needs to be an important consideration when making the ute or wagon choice.

Wagons generally offer higher levels of impact safety than utes, because they comply with stricter collision safety laws.

If you’re buying used, make sure the turbo-diesel you’re keen on has a full service record. These engines are usually boringly reliable, but need the right oil, changed at the right intervals.