Mitsubishi FH easily beats Isuzu FRR and UD truck

Dear Baraza,

Thank you for the good work you are doing. Every Wednesday I am very eager to learn new things about the motoring industry.

Now, I am looking forward to buying a medium-size lorry that I can use to transport cement from Athi River to Meru comfortably, doing approximately 10 trips a week. I would like your advice on the choice between a Mistubishi FH, Isuzu FRR, and Nissan Diesel UD (MK 210) on durability, economy, reliability, and maintenance.

Regards,

Gitabu Munene

Hello,

Durability: The FH is the best one here, no doubt about it. Comparatively, the UD is the worst; it does not last very long under hard use, much like the FRR.

Economy: Again the FH wins. It has a 6557cc engine developing some 160-odd horsepower, while the FRR has a giant 8200cc block good for 187hp and the MKB210 makes do with 6997cc and 180hp. The smallest engine putting out the least power; this has to be economical by default, doesn’t it?

However, the Mitsubishi, again, is the oldest one here, dating back to 1996, with the Isuzu and UD making an appearance around the turn of the century or shortly thereafter, so economy will largely boil down to driver skill and tendencies more than outright engine capacity.

Just so you know, the Nissan Diesel (they dropped this name by the way. Nowadays they are simply known as UD Trucks. Even the buses…) has been derided several times for its unimpressive fuel economy and is, thus, considered unprofitable for conversion into a low-capacity passenger bus, the luxury type.

Reliability: Take a guess. Yes, you are right; Mitsubishi’s FH215 truck comes through again. Given that it is the most durable, it is also the most reliable. It is also more basic/less complicated than the other two, meaning there are fewer things that can go wrong with it. The UD suffers more incidents of convalescence compared to the Isuzu.

Maintenance: Ahem… FH. This is determined by the country-wide dealer network that Crater Automobiles sports. CMC outlets are fewer and further between in comparison, which also applies to GM. Also, it is fairly obvious: If durability is excellent and reliability is top-notch, there is no way maintenance is going to be painful, is there?

Greetings,

I would like thank you for your valuable insights into automobile maintenance. As a regular reader of Car Clinic, I must commend you for the time you spend reviewing readers’ concerns, and more importantly, offering the best professional advice.

Your advice has been useful to me and given me new perspectives in vehicle maintenance.

How I wish you would connect me to your network so that I can follow up these features via email or your Facebook page; newspapers are perishable, but the information stands the test of time.

Benson Esuza

Hi Benson,

Thank you for the good word. I try: Not only does it help Kenyans out there (I hope!) but I enjoy the work too, and I take pride in it.

My email and other useable contacts are available on Facebook. Just search for J M Baraza, and you will see a strange name appear. That strange name is my pseudonym on the social network.

I have mentioned before that I am working on a book. This will, hopefully, be done by April. And the good news, if you could call it that, is that there will be two books, not one.

The first will be a bit technical, with useful information for the reader and an in-depth analysis of motoring life and the industry in the country as observed through the years both as the force behind this column, and as a driver/owner of an automobile.

The second will be a bit more personal and will deal with controversy. My apparent dislike for the Prius will feature prominently, as will the imaginary “war” people think I wage against Subaru vehicles and/or their owners. My adventures around the world as a motoring correspondent will be there too, and just for the sake of keeping things interesting, I will also feature the worst article I have ever written for this paper. It should prove to be quite a read.

Hi JM,

Thanks for the information you share in this column. Please compare the BMW 630i Coupé and the Mercedes CLS 350, and then the BMW 730D and the Mercedes S320 in terms of performance, comfort, reliability, durability, and recommendation.

Kindly share any information that can help me make a decision on which car to buy. Assume year 2007 across the board.

Kirera Evans.

Hi Kirera,

That is quite a line-up you have listed. Performance is not very different across the board: None of those vehicles will move any faster than 250 km/h due to factory-fitted speed governors (German regulations). However, the differences arise in acceleration.

Comfort: It is excellent in the 730 and the S320, more so the S Class. It is middling (relatively, it is very good though not as good as) with the CLS and comparatively harsh in the 630 coupé, but again the key word here is “comparatively”. Nobody who owns and drives a 630 will lament about its ride quality.

Durability: Will depend on what you do with the car, but these are all high-end luxury vehicles; they tend not to wither away quickly.
Recommendation?

Depends on what you want from the car. For a sporty, enjoyable driving experience, the 630i will suffice, closely followed by the CLS. The CLS and the two bigger saloons offer more practicality, with the 730 and S320 being most practical.

The 730D will appeal if you also have economy in mind while the S Class dominates with gravitas and sheer presence. The coupés will do you good if you like to stand out and draw attention to yourself.

My personal preference is the CLS: You get the coupé good looks (the CLS is marketed as a “four-door coupé”, which I consider an oxymoron), structural rigidity, and low roof with the seating capacity and practicality of a pukka four-door saloon.

For the 350 V6, economy is not bad either, though the 730D dominates in this area.

Hi Baraza,

Congratulations for the good work you are doing.

I am a hustler who rears chickens for commercial purposes and intend to start a taxi business. I sell eggs in crates as well as scratch cards using a motorbike. But I am finding this hectic, so I want to advance to a small car.

The Jeep Wrangler is the type of a car I am looking for, if I am not wrong. Of course I do not know much about it, that is, its consumption efficiency, availability of spares, whether it can travel on rough roads, especially during the rainy season, and its price, both brand-new and second-hand.

At this point I am not really interested in comfort, but rather, fuel consumption. When I am not selling eggs and scratch cards, I would like to use it as a taxi. Please advise me accordingly. Also, compare this car with a Suzuki Maruti with regard to the above-mentioned aspects.
Bosire Ndege

Hi Bosire,

You are one strange hustler… or your hustler ambitions, at least, are unusual. Before I help you out, I do have a few questions of my own:

1. Where exactly do you intend to conduct this taxi business of yours?

2. You do know what a Jeep Wrangler is, don’t you?

You are not wrong. A Jeep Wrangler is a type of car, but it is not exactly what we would call “small”. It is an off-road vehicle, not unlike the infamous police Mahindras of yore. In fact, those Mahindra Jeeps were direct knock-offs of the original Willys Jeep, of which the Wrangler is a direct descendant.

Thankfully, you do not care about comfort levels because the Jeep you ask about is awful, really awful. It manages to take a stony, jarring ride and then imbues it with wallowy, wobbling, swaying, staggering, and bouncing characteristics.

If you have never been car-sick, this will be the car that initiates you into the experience. The interior is worse than Spartan, it is below basic, and it has no doors, so the outside weather gets in and out at will.

Now that you mention the Maruti, I daresay they share the same qualities, the difference being that the Maruti’s interior is even worse than the Jeep’s, but at least that one has doors, so the climate stays out. So how do the two face off in the traits you are interested in?

1.“Consumption efficiency” (next time just say fuel consumption or fuel efficiency): It is very poor in the Jeep. It has a huge 4.0 V6 engine as the poverty-spec power supply. That engine is archaic and it is mated to a 4-speed manual-plus-overdrive/three-speed automatic with short gears and an even shorter final drive.

This makes the vehicle very, very thirsty, 5km/l or less will be your lot. Hedonists opted for the 4.2, which is even thirstier without being much faster or more powerful than the 4.0.

Apparently, there was also a 2.5 litre engine, but I think this must have only been available in Iran, where this vehicle was assembled unchanged six years after it was updated elsewhere in the world. I am not sure.

The Maruti, in comparison, uses a puny little carb-fed 1.3 litre engine that is very good for “consumption efficiency”, though not as good as other 1.3s because a) the Maruti is a jeep (small “j” for jeep, take note) and b) carburettor. The Maruti is also feather-light. So, while the Jeep will struggle to reach 6 km/l, the Suzuki will happily do twice that.

2. Availability of spares: Difficult for the Jeep unless you have a good Internet connection, an understanding of eBay, and a PayPal account. This is because the Internet is where most of your shopping will be done; not many Jeep Wranglers found their way here, more so because they were almost exclusively LHD for a very long time (RHDs were introduced in the UK around 1998). DT Dobie now sells a modern version, which I am told is good, but I suspect is not actually that good.

Meanwhile, the Maruti has spares everywhere, and I do mean everywhere. There is not a village that lacks at least one Suzuki or its various derivatives. Its rugged simplicity makes it very difficult to break down, and very easy to fix if it ever does, and would you believe it, the things are still on sale! I think it is the cheapest SUV in the market right now.

The last time I checked, a brand-new, zero-mileage unit was going for a million flat. And it is the same car they were selling back in 1988…

3. Travelling rough roads, especially in the rainy season: Both will do the job perfectly (a bit of green-lane skill is necessary, though). Both will make you hate yourself for doing it because both are nasty and punishing to the human body.

The Jeep is slightly worse, because you will get rained on in your discomfort. Remember, it has no doors; there are some that claim to have “doors”. Those are not doors, in my opinion.

4. Pricing: I really do not know the Wrangler’s pricing. As I mentioned earlier, a brand-new Maruti costs around a million. A used one could be bought for next to nothing.

I will conclude with a repeat of my first question: Where exactly do you intend to operate this taxi business? The choice between the vehicles you have given are rather extreme:

These are hardcore off-road machines inappropriate for carrying eggs and/or paying passengers, unless the eggs and passengers live in a remote area, like, say, the top of a tall, rocky mountain…or in the middle of a deep swamp.

Hi,

During a heavy downpour, I got to my car and found a small puddle on the footwell on the driver’s side.

Should I be worried or is it just condensation? The car has had no structural damage and the seals seem to be okay and I see no signs of water leak marks.

AA

Hi,

Condensation will never lead to a puddle, if it is actually a puddle that you saw. Is there a puddle in the passenger footwell as well? I daresay there is definitely a leak somewhere, and a more thorough inspection will lead you to the source thereof.

Focus mostly on the bulkhead, especially the ports through which the various linkages — accelerator, brake and clutch — go through. The door seals could also be the culprit, but this should be apparent as you are driving, unless you normally park in a puddle before leaving your car.

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