My Choices...A newbie to the fold

[Keta]

Hey guys,

Afraid its another one of those threads..

I have just taken deposit on my Impreza and I have bought a cheap runabout for the work commute. A £30 tax Clio that will be used for work runs only. I initially intended on getting a Cerb, a Maserati 4200 or a Camaro SS as a second car. But I have now swung around to taking up Green Laning, a bit of P&P and possibly in the future amateur trials (unlikely though)

I have done some homework and read a lot of the past posts on here. I have therefore got a bit of a shortlist but I will explain why I have left some out first. The Suzuki's and Daihatsu's are a little too small for my needs. I consider the Disco's to be the best value and the sensible choice, not ruling them out, but I am not a fan of the look so much and they are a little more common on the roads. They look much better off road ready though in my eyes.

I have my work runabout and access to the other halves company car, new one every 3 years, which is currently a Qashqai. This will be the main family runabout. So I guess you can consider it a 3rd car and as such fuel economy is not a biggy. I have 2 children aged 3 and 10 months so it has to suitably sit us all in, and have roof space for loads of camping gear. They are the only practical needs. I am a competent amateur mechanic, albeit a slow one, and all work will be carried out myself. I was thinking as SWB as possible to be more suitable off road as long as it has a big roof cage or so.

I am guessing from my reading that getting an already modified car for off road makes sense, unless I guess the budget allows for a cheap car with £1000's free. The budget will be £4500 or so.

My fave in the looks department is a Defender 90 but I haven't seen many children friendly versions and I am unsure what rules are for adding seating etc..

I love the look of that '63 Series 2 on another landy websites classifieds. Not sure how capable old Series are as an off road toy? And that one looks too tidy to take off road.

Cherokee XJ's are very cheap to buy, don't see many pre modded though but budget would allow for that.

RR P38's, not sure how suitable given increased electrics and also high on the budget if not pre modded. Comfy and a V8 though I guess.

RR Classic

I have had a 3.2 DID SWB Shogun before but not the older model. So I have had my fun with transfer box switches but I wouldn't exclude the older model.

Any thoughts given my needs? Purely a toy, but a toy I would prefer to take camping when we go to find new lanes and such.

[macroo]

Go for the best you can afford - coil sprung land rovers ( landies and Rangies) are better off road due to the springs but also better engines ( being newer) - 90's aren't much use for families due to not much load bay room and rear seats being additional extras basically - classic range rovers around the 300tdi mark are good but getting one in good nick is another story.... P38's are getting cheaper too but have lots of problems unless well looked after - I should know I have one - 110's are holding their value well so you'd struggle to find a good one for your money - discos are cheaper but suffer the same rust probs as RR's - are you good with the spanners? Land rover ownership means that is a must freelanders get bad press at times but for green lanes and the odd pay n play day would be on - get good tires

[Keta]

Cheers,

Yeah handy enough with spanners, yet to weld but I guess that can be something I learn to do! Hmm maybe I should look into the rules for rear seats. I think the car looks right but ideally forward facing car seat friendly seats of some description.

[Keta]

It looks like you can fasten in some homemade seats in the Defender. But then it looks dodgy really and no windows and such. I should probably rule them out.

Although a potentially unreliable choice I am swaying towards the P38, it's not like it will turn into a P45 as I don't NEED it to work. Although camping may become a 2 car affair if I cannot fully trust it. I have had a TVR

I will start looking into them more. Like I say I can undertake any work myself. The none essential for running gadgets can happily fail on me. I would likely change to coils anyhow for my usage and possibly a minor lift at the same time. The gearbox failings and such are a little more scary but then its all down to replacement part cost of the big things. I would more than likely get the V8,

[skirk]

How about something a bit more interesting...swb...seats 5 in seats that point in the right direction.....bulletproof....and if i may say so...cool..........

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1988-MERCEDES-G-WAGON-30...

[bakerstreet]

£4.5k puts you in decent P38 territory. Yes they have their problems, but all are well documented on the tinternet.

I'd get the Diesel in auto or auto V8 with LPG. Try and get one with underslung LPG tanks as the ones with tanks in the boot take up a lot of boot space.

People will knock the diesel but its a BMW unit from the old 325/525TDS and they are pretty bomb proof. Cheaply chipped to 165bhp for under £200 too

Landyzone is a good resource, just make sure you introduce your self first

[Keta]

Thanks for all the pointers guys. I have swung around on choices loads of times but have now settled on and bought a Cherokee XJ. Due to the cheap cost I now have several grand to plough into making it how I want! Fun times ahead