TheCriticalMember

Just a little PSA here. Been on the road for work for the last few days and had occasion to stop at a 7-11 (there are none near me), so I grabbed a cheese and bacon traveller pie, with very low expectations. It was surprisingly good for a mass produced, packaged, hot box pie. The pastry was nice and held together well, and the filling seemed to have all the flavours and textures I'd expect.

Later in my trip I stopped there again and tried a smoky bbq beef pie and again was pleasantly surprised. Pastry might be a little thick for some, but it was enjoyable, and the filling had real chunks of meat in it.

So if you're like me and you'd normally avoid trying a 7-11 pie in a plastic bag just on principle, maybe reassess if you're in a pinch, you might be surprised.

My qualifications - going back not that many years I travelled constantly for work, and have had far more than my fair share of servo pies. Mostly I'll avoid them, though I don't mind a villi's. The only ones I refuse to eat no matter how hungry I am is four n twenty. They're absolute trash. I'd rate the 7-11 pies near the top of the pack for frozen, bagged, reheated pies.

I work in a small regional engineering consultancy. On Thursdays we have byo meat BBQ lunch, company supplies bread, sauce, and onions and I cook. Well a few weeks back our old coolabah 4 burner finally kicked the bucket, so I was tasked with getting us a new one.

I wanted something footy club style, not built for finesse or style, but for brute forcing it's way through mountains of meat to feed a crowd. Saw a lot of bad reviews of the ones sold in store at Bunnings, and bbqs galore didn't even really seem to have anything in that category, so eventually I settled on this one - https://www.bunnings.com.au/char-griller-premium-flat-iron-4-burner-griddle-gas-bbq_p0353728?region_id=117343&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1

It finally arrived yesterday, I put it together this morning. Only had time to put one quick season on it before cooking (I gave it a good clean and oil after and I'm not worried about getting it to where I want it). What an absolute joy to cook on. This thing slaps. Heat control was a little bit of a learning curve, but the one big solid plate with a lip all around and nowhere for anything to go except down one credit card sized hole on the front corner was awesome for my giant pile of onions.

I wouldn't pick it for my home setup, where I cook a wider variety of foods and am a lot more adventurous. But for smashing out snags and onions or an occasional steak for 10-20 people, I think this thing nails it. I'm excited for next Thursday!

G'day all. Having an internal debate atm and interested in other's thoughts. I'll try to keep context as brief as possible:

I currently have a 2009 GU patrol and a 2003 xtrail, would like to replace the xtrail in the short term and the GU within 5 years or so. Both vehicles are pretty solid and reliable, but showing their age. The GU is set up for camping in remote areas, which we do a lot of - it's definitely not a mall crawler. Been looking lately at the Pajero Sport as a replacement for the xtrail. Reasoning is it would be far better than the patrol for highway trips, my daughter and her boyfriend could use it to tag along with us on camping trips, and if push came to shove it could be a somewhat reasonable stand-in for the patrol, even if it doesn't go as far (not likely to invest in aux battery, rear drawer setup etc). The pajero sport could never replace the GU though, just in terms of packing space and roof load capacity - we camp in national parks a lot so we have to bring all our firewod in with us and it's not uncommon for me to have 100 kg on the roof. For my budget, I could get a 2020+ with under 100k, and reasonably well equipped if I hold out (which I'm doing). The plan so far has been to do that and then 5 years down the road look at replacements for the GU.

But a particular 200 has just popped up for sale. Appears to be very well maintained, and exceptionally well equipped. It's definitely been around, 270k, but one owner with full service history. Asking price $40k. 2013 model. I've gotta say, I'm seriously tempted. Neither my wife nor myself has much of a commute, so fuel costs of running a landcruiser and patrol are pretty negligible, and the additional costs in servicing both would be manageable until I can pay off the cruiser and trade the GU.

Am I crazy? I know it sounds that way for sure, but this particular cruiser is pretty special in terms of what's been put into it and the fact that it's a 12 year old car with a single owner and full history. At first I thought no way, but I think I'm starting to talk myself into it. Of course I'd pay for an inspection first.

I don't need anyone to make the decision for me, I'm going to do what I'm going to do. But I'm interested in hearing some perspectives. Given the spend is about the same, an exceptional (presumably) 270k 12 year old 200 series, or a 100k 5 yeard old pajero sport?

Cheers.

I hope we respond by putting tariffs on American pickups. Democratic nations need to cut the US out of the global economy entirely until they learn how to act right.

Apologies if there's any weirdness in this post, it's my first one.