Alternatives to a Nissan Xterra

[Lorne]

Using an Nissan Xterra from the car pool at the moment, mainly for driving around on sandy stuff see picture below. It's good offroad but the suspension at the back is horrible; too solid and with a nasty bounce when you go over something hard (like a speed bump). The front suspension is good, but the back bounces like crazy and puts me off. I like to drive over speedbumps and indeed anything else that's in the way as fast as I can, using the principle that someone else's car is completely capable of doing this.

However, I now need to order my 'own' 4WD and the company I'm working for isn't going to be too pleased if I keep bringing it back broken.

The question then is which 4WD has suspension that can deal with my driving style? All other considerations, such as interior size, actual offroad ability, wading through water etc come second as if I get stuck somewhere I can ring someone up to pull me out. Budget I guess is something in the range of an Xterra or a Prado.

Any suggestions??


Edit: I'm checking which way the nearest Starbucks is using just my watch and a pen - see the watches section of pistonheads

[IroningMan]

A man of your calibre should be using a Range Rover, but failing that a 4x4 that isn't based on a leaf-sprung pickup truck, so Land Cruiser or Grand Cherokee?

[Lorne]

IroningMan said:

A man of your calibre should be using a Range Rover, but failing that a 4x4 that isn't based on a leaf-sprung pickup truck, so Land Cruiser or Grand Cherokee?

Ha! I wish a Range Rover. Have settled on a Land Cruiser Prado. No one else here is British so they thought my method of trying out 4WDs a bit weird - took them no where near the desert but instead a couple of miles up the road and up and down the speed bumps until I found the one that could take them at 60 mph, ie without having to slow down.