Small 4x4 recommendations...
- Thread starter Geoffrey_Bubbles
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I had a Jeep Cherokee sport for 4/5 years. Lovely car to drive, comfortable seating postition, no reliabiity issues, no longer than an estate car for parking etc. Not bad MPG on the motorway but around 20ish in town. I had the petrol version, the diesel is better on MPG.
My wife would love to have another. We only gave it up because we were worried about the £400 tax and we had just bought a new house.
My wife would love to have another. We only gave it up because we were worried about the £400 tax and we had just bought a new house.
Unless you are buying brand new (2007 onwards), the tax is not an issue.
My 2004 registered Landy....
Costs £175 a year to Tax.
It's a little valve on the exhaust manifoild that recycles some of the exhaust gasses back into the air intake. It's purpose is to put some of the exhaust through a second burn to reduce some toxic emissions (not CO2 though). If you blank off the valve, you get a better running, cleaner burning engine.
My brother has an old X-Trail that he used during the floods, he was going to sell it but it proved so reliable that he is now keeping it.He tells me that it was cheap to buy, relatively inexpensive to maintain when compared with proper 4x4's and gives a good return on fuel.
I also rate the Renault Kangoo 4X4 Ive seen them abused by the post in France and Switzerland very tenacious little beast. Carrying capacity well in excess of most small to medium 4x4's.
I had a Dihatsu 4 track about a million years ago very good workhorse bit tippy in the forest didn't like hidden logs and harsh on the motorway.
As for land rovers you either love or hate them, I'll say no more.
Pothunter.
I also rate the Renault Kangoo 4X4 Ive seen them abused by the post in France and Switzerland very tenacious little beast. Carrying capacity well in excess of most small to medium 4x4's.
I had a Dihatsu 4 track about a million years ago very good workhorse bit tippy in the forest didn't like hidden logs and harsh on the motorway.
As for land rovers you either love or hate them, I'll say no more.
Pothunter.
just skimming this post and sounds like you dont even need a 4x4.if a freelander was too big then how about one of those citroen thingys like the street wardens/dog groomers seem to have plenty of room for kit,basically anything with fair amount of ground clearance to go over a field/up a farm track .when i was 17 i did more driving over arable land ,tracks in a marina van than i ever did in the landys i used to own.
I TOTALLY agree with this! I have had one for the last 2 years and consistantly get 63mpg. I live 2 miles up a single track road which gets a considerable amount of snow in winter. The Dublo may not be a 4x4 but it handles snow very well. It has bags of room, you can sleep in it easily, and the slightly higher than a car driving position gives a great view of the road. You can get second hand for a good price. I have roof bars on mine for the canoe but I have had all sorts of things up there. A superb all round vehicle. Go have a look!
That's a misnomer. The problem is, £3000 will buy you either a 5 year old Suzuki Jimny with 30k on it, or a 25 year old Land Rover with 250k on it.
I think you could expect any vehicle that is a quarter of a century old, with a quarter of a million miles on the clock to have some reliability issues.
Land Rovers are generally very reliable, but they do need regular maintainance, regular oil changes, nuts tightened, regularly greased nipples etc. It's the nature of the beast. Ignore them and they will break down, maintain them and they will run forever ...or at least long after all the jimny's and rav4's have been reduced to shrapnel.
But I agree, the said required, regular maintainance of Landy's is an issue. If you dont like the taste of waxoyl under your fingernails and you just want to buy a 4x4 and run it without liftng the bonnet - get a toyota.
Landrovers have allways had poor reliability the only reason there are so many old ones on the road is because people who love them keep them going or restore them.
And the build quality of the new ones is terrible.
The reason most people in the outback drive toyota is they are reliable even Rm drives
a landcruiser in oz. (this is just my own opinion and experience no offence ment)
Martyn, love your landy, I'll buy it off you for £3k
Yes I know, I can see your point/s, I may not necessarily NEED a 4x4, but millions of people don't need them and still buy them. I like the slightly higher driving position and I like the sense of adventure or the knowing that if you needed to you could do a little off roading. I'd say 95% of my driving is on roads that any car could happily cope with and for most of the year a car makes sense, especially with what little snow we have these days in the winter, but what if...its that whole deal in my head.
Like I said with the Freelander, I liked it, but didn't like that engine and it was very juicy. If I could afford it I'd happily have a TD4 one though, but then I though as our other car is a Citreon Picasso we don't really need another big family holiday type car, I just want to have a bit of fun.
I've got quite a few models to check out now and will be looking through some of the clubs/forums to see what the score is with most of them.
Cheers
Geoff
Yes I know, I can see your point/s, I may not necessarily NEED a 4x4, but millions of people don't need them and still buy them. I like the slightly higher driving position and I like the sense of adventure or the knowing that if you needed to you could do a little off roading. I'd say 95% of my driving is on roads that any car could happily cope with and for most of the year a car makes sense, especially with what little snow we have these days in the winter, but what if...its that whole deal in my head.
Like I said with the Freelander, I liked it, but didn't like that engine and it was very juicy. If I could afford it I'd happily have a TD4 one though, but then I though as our other car is a Citreon Picasso we don't really need another big family holiday type car, I just want to have a bit of fun.
I've got quite a few models to check out now and will be looking through some of the clubs/forums to see what the score is with most of them.
Cheers
Geoff
there was an article in lro a while ago rm owns 4 landys and i expect the reason he drives a toyota is that its cheaper to hire over there than to ship his own truck there and back.the reason there are so many old landys on the road is not so much the enthusiasts,but the fact every piece comes off/apart and bits are cheap.a lot of people choose them for this very reason.i think this offsets the fact they need more maintenance than other make 4x4s.
Why not go for a Pajero/Shogun short wheel base 2.8TD? They're really not much bigger than what you list and have the usual Japanese reliability and can happily run on a veg oil/diesel mix to aid economy. They go reasonably well too..
£3k will get you a very nice example. Spares are reasonable and plentiful too. Mine is very quiet and comfy at speed.
Have a look around here:
http://www.pocuk.com/forums/
£3k will get you a very nice example. Spares are reasonable and plentiful too. Mine is very quiet and comfy at speed.
Have a look around here:
http://www.pocuk.com/forums/
Just adding a small bit of advice , the first 4x4 I had experience of was a 2 1/4 Landrover series 111 santana , My father drove our family all over Yemen and Saudi in that jeep and I have always had a soft spot for Land Rovers ever since. My fathers buddy a older man back then was a Royal Engineer who was involved in North Africa during the second world war ,Ken Banister and Ken always spoke of traction and the rubber . 4x4 s are very much a part of my work and a passion check out www.ckmc.ie . Almost all production 4x4s nowadays offer the owner a great sence of reliability and comfort . The most important thing to consider is how is 4 wheel drive selected is it push button or gear stick, sound silly but buttons tend to give trouble in flood or high water level situations. Rubber , the correct tyer choice would be next a good quality A/T All terrane is the most important factor , just like buying decent boots . In terms of make I have won two Irish challanges in a Suzuki jimnys beating far more expensive 4x4s power to weight ratio and centre of gravity being the wining factors , I cannot describe the ability of this 4X4 and its drive ability very serious kit out of the box with very little mods , I personall drive a Toyota Hilux Mk 111 for bush craft and a Hilux crew cab SR5 for site and road works, reason being that Long wheel base 4X4 s take the bumps out of the road better than short wheel base and I carry lots of Surveying Gear for work , GPS , Total Stations and crew.
My advice is what ever 4x4 is attractive to you and makes you smile when you see one is the 4X4 for you after that you have to embrace the fact that every one has a preferance and that your choice is just as valid as the next , learn about the development of the 4x4 and see what was changed from the last version a good indication of the 4x4 will be is after sale value , diesel while cheaper to run tends to be a bit more noise and petrol a quiter drive . Join a green lane culb and practice recover methods , buy a rachet strap , ive use these to recover 4x4s in the past , the chepest winch you will buy . I hope that this has been some value to you and sorry bout the spellings.
Jonny
My advice is what ever 4x4 is attractive to you and makes you smile when you see one is the 4X4 for you after that you have to embrace the fact that every one has a preferance and that your choice is just as valid as the next , learn about the development of the 4x4 and see what was changed from the last version a good indication of the 4x4 will be is after sale value , diesel while cheaper to run tends to be a bit more noise and petrol a quiter drive . Join a green lane culb and practice recover methods , buy a rachet strap , ive use these to recover 4x4s in the past , the chepest winch you will buy . I hope that this has been some value to you and sorry bout the spellings.
Jonny
Spotted this mad little pick-up on Ebay, imagine turning up to Bushmoot in it...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=300150755349&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020
How long do you reckon it would last in the hands of a Land Rover owner?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....m=300150755349&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT&ih=020
How long do you reckon it would last in the hands of a Land Rover owner?
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