Which 4x4 for light off road use - 7 seats...

[wiliferus]

Afternoon gents.

Just after some advice as I'm a bit lost in the minefield of the second hand car market.

I'll keep it brief... need a 4x4 for light off road use, ie soggy fields, potentially frozen/lightly snowed on dirt tracks. Also for towing and family camping holidays.
It has to be a 7 seater as I have 4 kids, and the budget is approx £4K, could go a bit higher, but no more than 5.

My thoughts -

Land cruiser Colorado - like them, if the rumours are true it should be a reliable thing. Hard to find in VX spec within budget, and I'd like leather. Not a lot to dislike but £4K doesn't buy a particularly great example!

Discovery 2 - Love the classic shape. Easy to find a good spec'd one. Very tempting but internet horror stories of rear end rot and general issues is a bit scarey!

Mitsubishi Shogun circa 2003/4 - quite like these. Other than the rear bench seat being a single piece all or nothing affair, I can see much wrong with them except for the common cam chain pulley issue which is easily sorted with some preventative maintainence!

Volvo XC90 - I like these in principle but everything I've researched suggests XC90s in this budget would be ruinous due to gearbox borkage, prop shaft spline issues and electric gremlins.

So what do the Off-road beards of PH think?

Thanks in advance.

[wiliferus]

Should add, all diesel, all auto.

Oh, and left field choice- Merc ML270... but not too keen on the softroader thing.

[Alex]

Nissan Pathfinder? A bit agricultural, but good value.

Left-field choice: Jeep Commander.

[techguyone]

Theresa a Qashqai +2 model that might fit the bill and budget.

[wiliferus]

Thanks for the suggestions gents.

Only 2 Pathfinders in budget, both nails. Really like Pathfinders but realistically they're out of budget.

Can find any Commanders with 7 seats, was it an option?

The Qashqui+2 is over budget, but it searching for it did put the Terrano on the radar.

[Mammasaid]

Shogun Sport like this >> http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/m...

[Bill]

I've just got a Subaru Tribeca for that, petrol only and the slushbox is a bit pants but I really like it. It's basically a 7 seat Outback rather than a 4x4 but is a much better car than the D2 it replaced (and will hopefully be more reliable...)

[wiliferus]

Shogun sport is only a 5 seater isn't it?

The Subaru is a solid car, but is waaay out of budget unfortunately.

[Bill]

There's a 2007 7 seater on for £3995 on auto trader at the moment. They're a bargain.

[LandRoverManiac]

Toyota Land Cruiser - very capable, but somewhat overkill for 'light off-roading'; they cost a lot of money for the mileage/condition. Like driving a small lorry with similar road-manners. Personally I don't like them - they are overrated as paragons of reliability (which keeps the prices up) but everyone I know who has one spends just as much time and money keeping them on the road as I do with my Disco. A 4K example will be in worse state/condition than a 4K Landy/Shogun - won't look particularly nice (gotta love the Japanese approach to styling/interiors) and guzzles the juice.

Discovery 2 - very nice if you get a decent high-spec one (preferably one that has spent most of it's life on the tarmac as a family hack). Rear rot/TD5-specific issues often easy to spot/detect - many issues are electrical gremlins which will be a factor on anything of that era. Lots of info on the common faults - spares are cheap and they are generally easy to work on. Lots of old ones still running around - they keep on going if the owner looks after them. Hate to say this but I wouldn't honestly buy one unless I was happy to do my own spannering/tinkering as and when it misbehaved. If you want something that just goes from A to B and doesn't need much attention maintenance-wise - then perhaps avoid.

Shogun - pretty good and more value for money pound-for-pound than the Toyota. So long as you check the issues (which you're already aware of) it's not a bad choice. Probably more reliable than a Disco of the same age - parts are dearer but then again you may not need to buy them so often?! I've been tempted in the past by them - but the ones round here seem to be beloved of those of a certain scrap-metal-collecting/liberating-fraternity so that kind of puts me off them. DMFs seem to be weak.

XC90 - Dunno - the next-door neighbour has one and it's pretty nice. He's had several XC90s since they first came out - so if they were that awful I don't think he'd keep on getting them!

Only other one is a Ssangyon Rexton 7-seat variant. Yes, I know - it looks ghastly and foul. They are ridiculously ugly. However it's got old-school Mercedes mechanics in them - the diesel engines that just don't die and go on forever. Some of them have the later 2.7 inline-5 diesel that powered the Merc vans/M-class/Jeep WJ. Best of all, because of their foul-ugliness (did I mention yet that they are ugly?) they are dirt cheap and 4K will buy a mint one. A co-worker bought one and it sounded like a Sherman tank - kind of handled like one as well. However it was very capable in the mud while towing a heavy trailer - a very 'old school' 4x4.

Just thought I'd throw that last marmite suggestion out there as well.

[wiliferus]

Thank you for taking the time to give me such a comprehensive response. Shoguns do seem good value with a lot of car for the money. Must admit I struggle slightly with the image issues you mention, but at the end of the day if it fits the bill for my purposes, I think I can get over that.

[TurboHatchback]

All Jeep Commanders come with 7 seats as standard, the rear row fold out of the boot. I think they're great, I had a 5.7 Hemi and apart from the hideous fuel consumption it was very nice indeed, I tried a diesel and it was also excellent (I should have bought that one). The Quadra-Drive 2 4x4 system is the best in the business too.

Personally I wouldn't go for a Landcruiser Colorado, the 3.0 4cyl diesel isn't that great and they are very compromised as road cars. The larger Landcruiser Amazon 4.2td is very nice but probably huge overkill for your usage and a bit of a lumbering beast on the road.

I've no personal experience of Landrover stuff, the Discovery seems expensive to buy and has a poor reputation for reliability and I don't personally like the design.

[300bhp/ton]

wiliferus said:

Afternoon gents.

Just after some advice as I'm a bit lost in the minefield of the second hand car market.

I'll keep it brief... need a 4x4 for light off road use, ie soggy fields, potentially frozen/lightly snowed on dirt tracks. Also for towing and family camping holidays.
It has to be a 7 seater as I have 4 kids, and the budget is approx £4K, could go a bit higher, but no more than 5.

Personally I think the biggest issue is the need for 7 seats. I know some 4x4's like the ones you listed have tiny seats in the boot. But have you ever actually sat in them yourself?

Horrid nasty things, difficult to get in and out of and no real room. Ok at a pinch for occasional use, but not nice for any length of time. Also when in use you have no boot space left.

A Defender 110 has sufficient seating, but not likely to be in budget. You would pick up a Series 109 however. Bit more rudimentary, but probably better seating space than any of the ones on your list. Good residuals too and prices are rising if anything and it would be a real 'fun' vehicle.


Santana PS-10 is a bit like a 110, well actually it's a modern development of the 109 and beats the 110 in many areas. Probably still over budget slightly, but these can be had for half the price of a 110.

Apart from these, it would be time to look outside the box. Some American dayvans could be had with 4wd, as they are essentially built on pickup truck platforms. And there are large American market SUV's that have much better seating arrangements than the UK market offerings. But I think you'll struggle with pricing.

e.g.

Ford Excursion (and can be had with a diesel )



Proper seats with leg room and boot space at the same time.

[Alex]

300bhp/ton said:

But I think you'll struggle with pricing.

...and parking.

[wiliferus]

Thanks for the usual and expected suggestions 30bhp! Small seats aren't an issue as all the are between 4 and 10 years old so small seats will be fine for a fair few years.

As it happens today I stuck what appears to be the ultimate compromise vehicle - Volvo XC70 with optional 7 seats.
It's the D5 163 lump so powerful enough for the family bus, frugal, 4x4 enough for the light use I need it for.
If I can find a good one I think it may be a short term option until funds increase for a proper big boys 4x4.

[Bill]

I was looking too and they're rare as hen's teeth.

ETA although I was looking for petrol ones.

[wiliferus]

This is the one I found. Happy to post the link as I'm not in a position to buy for about 6 weeks or so.
Agreed it's strong money, but they're worth what someone will pay and he XC70 has a strong following.

And also agree about suitable tyres... I shall be starting a thread in a few months asking about decent road biased car tyres with a bit of off road capability!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...