WHAT 4x4?
 

what 4x4 would you recomend looking for a 4/5door one but not too huge.

am interested in the rav4/crv

need to check prices though.

price limit 17k

2nd hand range rover

discovery

I bought a 1998 Range, V8, lpg, leather, climate, heated seats, cruise, sat nav, tinted windows, air suspension, 18" alloys. TV, DvD. Electric everything.

£16,550

http://www.nevetas.co.uk/albums/albu...arge.sized.jpg

Either the Ranger Rover of Rav 4 are excellent choices - Rav 4 has superb reliabilty.


Vogue 4.6 Range Rover not the most economical - but great driving position.

Check recall notices on 1995 - 1998 4.6 HSEs (coolant pipe replacement).

Both are great cars.

Richard

What do you want it for? Commuting, green-laning, serious off-roading, people-carrying? Do you expect to sell it in a year and make a big loss? Tell more...

Shogun Pinin - Dealers are giving £1,600 off (some models) if you can register by end of September (That'll be a week to go ;)).

Yeuch - those Pinins are NASTY!

That'll swing any decision ;).

I'm just back from a 1,000 mile tour of the Highlands in a 2.7 CRD Grand Cherokee.
Great Merc engine and auto box. Austrian built and lots of toys. Did 27mpg despite being fully laden and thrashed. You can squeeze in an 02 one for £18k

I've a new 5-door Rav4 diesel and like most of it. I wanted a MPV thing with big rear seats that come out (most have 3 little ones rather than 2 big ones). I thought Toyota are supposed to be v. reliable, and so far it's OK. Seems to drive well on road, I don't give a damn about off-road as I'll never go there, but it's useful for some of the dodgy cart tracks around Portugal. I found the interior very dark and miserable, and have changed this by specifying a leather/alcantara mix, including door panels.

Dislikes-
-The diesel is not economical at speed, presumably due to aerodynamics. Can use a remarkable amount of fuel cruising at 140-150kph.

-Seems to stall easily, engine doesn't have as much low-down torque as I'd expect. Toyota will sell a chip to take it from 105?-150bhp for about 7-800quid, I'm tempted.

-I have an unsolved battle with the dealer who sold me "rear" sensors but it turned out they were only corner sensors - I've insisted on them being re-sited so they work as advertised, which the ba5tards charged me for, and now they are almost always on when you select reverse.

-Crashed at low speed (20mph max) last year into the side of a Renault 5 and was amazed at how much damage the front of the car suffered - 4k's worth. Thought it would have been stronger.

Niggles:

-Aircon isn't freezing, is just about cooling in a Portuguese summer (35C).

- I wish you had the option of taking the front passenger seat out like the back ones come out.

Otherwise, fine. Just passed 20 000km.

I ruled out CRV as I wanted a diesel, and I think the X-trail wasn't out yet. Land Rover had an awful reliability reputation and were too off-roady for me (I don't need HDC or diff lock FFS). All other MPVs were out as I hate the mean little seats in the back, and I have one teenager rather than 3 sprogs. I'd probably have gone for an X3 if it had been out, but not least as I could get a massive discount off one, which Toyota wouldn't give.

Pinins supposed to be great off-road but crap on-road, so I'm told. Work colleague has one, I've never been in it but it looks tinny from the outside.

I always feel a hypocrite as I hate people who drive jeeps on-road, but that's what I ended up with as it best answered my needs at the time.

HTH

Might be useful when avoiding people driving on the right side of the road ;).

The Rav is too much of a Road-Car compromise for me (But then you probably get a lot more Snow etc in Aberdeenshire than you do in Portugal :D).

Have heard different reports about the Pinin On-road capabilities - only one way to find out - Try it.

There's more things to fiddle with on the Pinin - 4 options for transmission - including 2H for some rear-wheel action in the Snow ;).

Jasey, they're all fair comments (except the first - it's still on-road, just the other side :p). I've absolutely no need for off-road abilities, but as a number of people on here come from Scotland, your point about the snow is very valid.

Too bad we still don't have a clue where the questioner is or what he wants...:)

I have a Rav4 and wouldn't recommend it to my worst enemy. The dealer is terrible, Toyota customer service is no better and I was left with taking legal action or sticking a hot poker up my ar$e. The rear sensors as mentioned are of no use, I have a number of bits of laquer missing that are a result of bird lime that are not covered under warrenty, the laquer missing on the bonnet was a bird $hit that was on there for 2 hours !!!!!!and the car is no longer washed as the laquer is so soft it scratches to bits and yes I know how to clean a car. I spoke to a Toyota head office employee "off the record" and they have received a large volume of calls regarding the paint quality and have decided it would be too expensive to do a recall to respay xxxx thousand cars.

Buy anything except a Toyota as they really are by far the worst car I have ever purchased for the overall impression.

Mrs STi-Frenchie now owns a new petrol 5-door, Rav4 (following recommendations on here). Paint quality (hers is black) could be better as I tried removing some bird crap with a brand-new totally unused sponge with just a bit of water and it damn well scratched. Scratch-X fixed it but we made a right mess of it on holiday in Corsica when we took it off road (again Scratch-X to the rescue, and 4 hours of elbow grease). It stood up well to the rigours of a 12km track which had pot holes easily 20-30cm deep. We bounced around a lot on the inside (no surprise) but the car held its own. Fuel-wise, my wife reckons she can do 300+kms and still have half a tank left compared to my empty STi tank. Aircon is good - no problems as per Brendan's observations as it was plenty cool enough for us during the summer in similar temperatures. Ride-wise, it's a lot more comfortable than the scoob ! I did 3500kms and no back-ache problems as I would expect from the scoob. It's a bit too roly-poly for my liking and the oversteer takes a bit of getting used to when you first drive it around but generally speaking it's a pretty good car and if the relaibility is as good as they say (no problems so far but then we haven't even racked up 10,000kms yet) then I'll be happy having to pay for it whilst Mrs STi-Frenchie drives around in it :)

only wanting it for commuting, hope they are better at bad weather.

i am VERY interested in the rav 4 and CRV

i love a black 3dr rav4 as it looks cool

BUT i don't think i'm allowed a 3 door (parents driving it too ) PX their car.

i think the main problems were after sales (?)

had a few toyotas before

corolla/carina e and they were erm ok,.nothing to declare sir

lexus is200 (if you call that a toyota ) which my dad hates!!!!!!!!

Forester?

Out of experience of spending weeks looking and driving all the SUV's with a retired neighbour who wanted to replace his second Forester:-

- Nissan Xtrail with the DCi (136bhp) engine
- 6 months on and he still loves it. NO Subaru regrets either

Or a Forester STi - even better :)

A wee pic of our black beauty :)
http://www.alwyngreer.com/temp/rav4.jpg

in-laws have a crv, its a shed to drive compared to the x-trail and rav 4. The 2.0vtec has to be thrashed to get the brick moving along, and it is the worst handling out of them all.

The xtrail would be my choice the 2.0 diesel is the best bet. should be able to get a nice used one with leather ect in your budget.

cor yummy

went to a toyota dealer today to browse

i agree the sales people are stuck up.

the price JEEZ

looking for a auto prefer 5 door

20k mark.

theres a 2nd hand one outside
MY FAV COLOUR AND mod.

black, with chrome extras and AUTO (even though i prefer man myself)
but its 13995 51 reg AND its a 3 door boo.
ain't that pricy?

saw a santa fe next to it.

auto (tiptronic) for 17995 brand new.

are they any good?

do they hold their value well?

also interested in a CRV but they don't look as cool as the rav 4

saw a forrester today it looks like an estate. don't like it.


anyone knows any decent either car supermarket/importer etc