thinking of buying a 4x4, but which one ?
 

At the moment i have an Sti5 and a track prepped XR2i, both road legal. The wife will soon have a driving licence and theres no way she'll get insured on the scoob (under 25) and the xr2i is no good for her as it only has one seat and we have two kids as well.

So the plan is to buy a second car that will suit the missus and i can use it to tow the Xr2i on a car trailer, thus enabling me to SORN the Xr2i. that way i'm still only running/taxing 2 cars.

Why 4x4, well it seems the ideal solution and I want to have some off road fun now and again.

Anyway, ideally it should be a diesel, have reasonable MPG, comfortable (ie shopping trips, kids outings, motorway journeys etc), cheapish to insure (on my insurance with missus as named driver), something i can confidently go off road in (ie something that is supposed to go off road) and most importantly it needs to be under £3k, the cheaper the better (so no X5's, or anything brand new)

If i was to prioritise the above:

1. Comfort and ease to drive for missus
2. Price & running costs
3. Off road capability
4. Looks

We had a discussion at work and we came up with the following possibilities:

1. Isuzu Trooper (£500 - £2k for a J-K reg)
2. Mistubishi Pajero (over £2k for an early model)
3. Land Rover Defender (seem quite expensive and are bland, but IMHO the best for off road - i know i drive em for a living)
4. Land Rover Discovery (my first thought, but told not to bother, J-K reg for £2-3K)

The price ranges are very rough and were found by doing a very quick search on E-bay/Autotrader etc

Are there any other possibilites/recommedations and if you own/have owned any of the above or different how do/did you rate it ?


Oh, and BTW, theres no chance that i'm gonna;

a. Sell the Sti
or
b. Stick a towbar on it.

Toyota Landcruiser ??

Toyota Surf (only imports)

I have a swb J reg [1992] Mitsi Pajero. I have had it for 17 months now and it hasn't let me down once. Sailed through it's MoT with no maintenance beforehand ;) Has a host of extras - aircon/sunroof/rear spoiler/turbo timer/electronic compass and more.

Other half has a Surf which only comes in a lwb version and the seating/driving position isn't anywhere as comfy as the Pajero, not does it come with as many extras.

The trooper diesels are poop rebadged vauxhall units, father in law had one did 82k miles and then went through a spate of blowing pipes and head gaskets.

go for the shogun/ pajero the missus at least will be a bit comfortable the defender is a bit basic, check out your local auctions older 4x4's go for nowt.

Jeep cherokee diesel?

Very good off road, don't look bad, will tow a house.

Kev - who owned a petrol one

Nissan X-Trail, get loads of good reviews and it pissed on a shogun in a recent 5th gear test

I don't think an X-trail for £3k would actually be road legal...

Daihatsu 4-trak?

Ancient Toyota Landcruiser?

Given the reliability reputation of the early Discos, I'd avoid them like the plague.

Cheers all

Been thinking myself and its a Toss up between:

Isuzu Trooper
Land Rover diiscovery

as i can get either for under 2k (need to buy a trailer as well remember)

I even thought about a frontera at one point, eughhh

For a cheap 4x4 I'd go for a Discovery any day - they seem to have quite a class-less appeal and look far better than the other 4x4's u mention.

yeh, my mind keeps telling me that too

and to be honest i think one would really suit my needs, even over the negative points i keep reading/hearing

chris

In which case do a search on "Shardlow 4x4" - they have some nice motors in at the moment....

local to me, but all out of my price range

im looking at under 2k

chris

How about a Range Rover Classic? They're in around that price range - could get a 200 or a 300 Tdi at that price, from what I've seen. Better value than the defender, I'd say.
They'll tow the same weight as the Discovery, they're more comfy, much nicer inside, and are bloody good off road as well:)
Also, the Rangie has a split tailgate, rather than the side opening thing the Disco has, which is more handy imo:)
If you're looking at them though, don't get the 2.4/2.5 VM diesel - get the Tdi instead, as they're far better, more powerful, and more economical.

Could get an LPG converted disco/rangie V8 at that price also, but having had one, I'd not really recommend it tbh. The fuel consumption on the V8 is pretty terrible, even with half price fuel:( - not so much the price, as not being able to drive anywhere without having to fill up, and find out where the nearest LPG supplier is.

Please don't get a Frontera;)
Have fun:)

Shogun gets my vote ...

:)

Go Japanese only for serious 4WDs. Thousands of 3rd world marxist rebel guerillas can't be wrong on toughness, reliability and availability of cheap parts.

Pajero has to be the way forward.

Lots of spec, huge choice around, good looks, easy to drive (ish) and japanese! :)

Thinking along different lines....

what about a Mitsubishi Delica, sort of a small 4x4 minibus. Very practical for the misses, amazingly competant off road (based on Pajero running gear), tough as nails and reliable with it I believe. I don't know if they were imported to the UK by Mitsubishi or only as import. Only thing to check would be the tow capacity.

http://www.batfa.com/offerofweek-delica90.html

There's one of those near me - it's a newer version than those pictures though, and it's actually quite nice:)
I saw a lot of those when I was in Chamonix earlier in the year - presumably people getting to the slopes etc...
I wondered about one of them myself, mostly for getting the windsurfing stuff inside, and also, as it seemed a step up from the usual panel van, which don't tend to be very interesting. Quite a handy amount of space inside as well by the looks of it - I should imagine it's some kind of hybrid between the Shogun and the smaller Mitsi MPV, but I'm not sure if they're any good off road. High centre of gravity though:(.

They are pretty impressive offroad. They have good ground clearance and low gear ratios. I was passenger in one a few weeks ago on an adventure holiday. We were fording small rivers and driving along some pretty rough roads without too much problem. And this was with 10 people on board plus rucksacks !

I wouldn't worry about high C of G, any 4x4 with a real off-road capability would by definition have a high C of G because you need the ground clearance.

I've had two Daihatsu Fourtraks.

The first was a cheap short wheelbase one which had the "old" style interior and dodgy seats from some other vehicle.

The second was a 1993 2.8TDX SE and I had no problems with that whatsoever in about 5 years of ownership.
My wife loved it and wants another one. They aren't the most comfortable, or stylish, but they do the job!!

We have horses and needed a vehicle to tow a two horse trailer. The only two at the time with 3500kg towing capacity were Discoveries and the Fourtrak. The Fourtrack pulled the horses NO BOTHER!!!
I've always been warned off cheap Disco's, as they have a reputation for electrical problems.

For reliability I don't think you can beat the Japanese manufacturers. Watch for front ball joints/half shaft universal joints.....they aren't cheap!!!

Marty

Sportsmobile!
 

It meets none of your requirements for economy, but it can haul 10 people or a stack of plywood into nearly any terrain you can imagine. Plus, I htink yu'd be the only one in the UK with one :D
http://www.sportsmobile.com/3_traveler.html
http://www.sportsmobile.com/sections...n038_72dpi.jpg