What 4x4.... Sorry!

[wiliferus]

Greetings,

First off all i wish to apologize for polluting this forum with a 'What' thread, but i really am confused by choice! I am new to this area having previously visited the Bike Banter, GG, and the Lounge often! I thought i'd come and speak to the experts rather than post this up in GG and be told to buy a 335d or an MX5...

So, have recently moved to outer bumblefk and reports for this winter are concerning - that being it will be as snowy, if not worse than last year. That would leave me with the prospect of being housebound with a pregnant OH and two dogs for weeks on end, which is worrying.

Most of the roads around me are single track tarmac with some decent gradients, so i just need something that is going to be competant in the kind of snow we had last year (possibly 6+ inches?).

The criteria is as follows -

Budget is tight - £2000 absolute tops.
7 Seats would be perfect but not essential as got two nippers from previous marriage, 2 Rottweilers, and poss another nipper on route
Diesel as may have to cover 50-60 miles a day in it
Manual (i can't abide auto's)
I'm reasonably handy with a set of spanners so a bit of tinkering ok, but would prefer to avoid welding jobs etc...
It will see some minor off road action and maybe a bit of towing as OH has three horses, but nothing extreme!

I've considered so far -

Disco circa 1995ish (lots have welding issues)
Maverick/Terrano
Cherokee & Grand Cherokee
Trooper/Bighorn (Quite juicy)

Any other thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated, and i bow in advance to wealth of knowledge that i hope will follow!

Many thanks in advance

[JCW]

You're going to open a can of worms with this one. I'd discount a Landy for that money, although you may get a reasonable 110 for your budget, but I'd have thought a decent Pajero could be found for circa £2000.00. Discos at that price will be a bit ropey, but it may be possible to get a Cherokee in decent nick so there's another option.

They'll all fit your requirements...

[Kermit power]

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend a Shogun like mine.

7 Seats, heated leather seats, cruise control, etc, etc. Unbelievably comfortable - 600+ miles in a day and get out feeling fresh as a daisy comfortable - and highly competent off road.

Mine is an S plate on 170k miles, but still feels perfectly bolted together, and would fall well inside your £2k budget.

A few suggestions I would make...


1. At the very least try an automatic. I wouldn't dream of having one in a car designed to be driven on tarmac, but they're great in a 4x4! It doesn't sound as though you're going to spend too long in traffic jams where you're moving to, but if you do ever hit one, you can't get less stressful than a nice, tall, automatic 4x4 to waft along in. I was also very, very surprised to find out how good they are off road.

2. Whatever you get, leave enough in your budget for decent All Terrain tyres if you want to go anywhere near mud & snow. Believe it or not, even an X5 would get further off road on ATs than a Defender or similar on road tyres.

3. With the sort of trucks you're going to get for your budget, I wouldn't be too hooked up on the thought of buying a diesel. When I was looking to buy, most of the people on forums I looked at were only getting maybe 10% better consumption out of them over petrol engines. Factor in the higher buying and servicing costs of a diesel, and it's questionable as to whether it's worth it.

I got mine a couple of years ago now, and I love it. I quickly ruled out anything by Land Rover because I absolutely needed decent on road performance (scratch Defender), 7 seats (scratch Rangies) and had to have forward-facing back seats for child seats (scratch Discos in my price range).

I would've liked a Landcruiser, but they're far more expensive than the Shogun, and the very few I could find were beyond budget.

Cherokees were out due to the seat count, the Trooper out because of their rather too agricultural nature on road, and the Bighorn out simply because I wasn't prepared to tell anyone that I had a big horn.

[SystemParanoia]

GV200 grand vitara should just come into budget

[stone-islandV8]

Shogun, Pajero as previously stated....if you're not too bothered about age then Toyota Hilux?

IIRC the facelift 2.5D Cherokee engine wasnt that highly rated but that budget should get a decent GC or Cherokee, just make sure its a decent 1 as a bad 'un can eat your wallet without a moments thought!!

Double cab pick-ups no good if you could get 1 in the budget?

[wiliferus]

stone-islandV8 said:

Double cab pick-ups no good if you could get 1 in the budget?

I would love a twin cab, as long as i could get a hard top for the back! What are you thinking, as all the ones i've looked at are over budget..

[muddybuggy]

the thing with asking what is best you will get each to there own and they will tend to argue that their own trucks are better than everyone elses, ive had a few 4x4's and for fun and ability i tend to go for the old suzuki sj, but havng kids and for a comfier drive i prefer the discovery, 300tdi is perfect and for 2000 buns you should be able to pick up a really good one, shop around and go look at a few different trucks, youll soon decide yourself!!!!

[wiliferus]

I know what your saying, but with asking other people, there's always a chance someone will suggest a vehicle i hadn't considered or perhaps even heard of!
Also you get bit of opinion, like ^^^^ its good to hear a good report about a Shogun, as they were low on the list, but might consider one now?

Disco was always high on the list, but the boot floor/sill welding issue scares me a bit!

[stone-islandV8]

It'll take some hunting but I've seen pre-2002 L200 double cabs go for £2-£2.5k.....other options Nissan Navara (not sure on prices on them), Ford Ranger.

[muddybuggy]

wiliferus said:

I know what your saying, but with asking other people, there's always a chance someone will suggest a vehicle i hadn't considered or perhaps even heard of!
Also you get bit of opinion, like ^^^^ its good to hear a good report about a Shogun, as they were low on the list, but might consider one now?

Disco was always high on the list, but the boot floor/sill welding issue scares me a bit!

well te shogun is jap so very reliable, as for the disco's and the tin worms, theyre not to hard to fix, new boot floor is section is approx 65quid and sill are similar priced, if you go for a disco try find one without rear sunroof as they leak in and make the floor worse, i suppose the reason i like the landy more than te japs is because the parts are easily found and cheaper compared to the jap motors

[Kermit power]

muddybuggy said:

i suppose the reason i like the landy more than te japs is because the parts are easily found and cheaper compared to the jap motors

This is true, but to get a complete picture, I suppose you'd need to compare the actual amount spent on parts over a given period of time.

I've met Landy owners at P&P days who carry spare half shafts with them on the basis that if they break one, they've got it with them to replace. When I needed one for my SJ, the specialist breaker I spoke to said I was the first person to ask him for one in nearly 15 years of breaking them.

For the record, there was nothing wrong with the original halfshaft. My mechanic at the time was a fkwit.

[muddybuggy]

yes but! you had an sj! in my opinion, the superior offroader!!!!!!!!! hahahahaha, he needs sumat for the kids though where an sj isnt good enough, unless you change the rear seat like i did and i changed the front ones for honda crx which took about 20 mins on the drivers side and 1/2 hour on the passanger,

[Kermit power]

True, that was the SJ, but I've not busted any half shafts on the Shogun either!

[OllieWinchester]

You need a Pajero or Shogun, and like Kermit Power says don't discount the auto until you have tried it. I have a passionate loathing for automatic gearboxes in general but I'd almost always opt for one on a wafty 4x4. I had a SWB Pajero which was excellent, and a Range Rover which was a nightmare. I'd avoid the Disco's unless you like getting your hands dirty, I'm sure plenty of people have had faultless ones but IMO all the ones my friends have owned have been unreliable and coarse compared to what the japs offer.

[Hooli]

Kermit power said:

I've met Landy owners at P&P days who carry spare half shafts with them on the basis that if they break one, they've got it with them to replace. When I needed one for my SJ, the specialist breaker I spoke to said I was the first person to ask him for one in nearly 15 years of breaking them.

Your breaker was a tt then!

Yes landys break more, about twice as many in my experience but I've known lots of SJs snap half shafts. Put 31" tyres on as a lot of people do & they snap shafts just like landies do, with the added bonus that the wheel bearing doesnt retain the hub with a snapped shaft so you have to fix it NOW before the wheel falls out. Unlike landies were i've driven back from wales to sussex in front wheel drive lots of times after removing bits of shaft.

[Kermit power]

Hooli said:

Kermit power said:

I've met Landy owners at P&P days who carry spare half shafts with them on the basis that if they break one, they've got it with them to replace. When I needed one for my SJ, the specialist breaker I spoke to said I was the first person to ask him for one in nearly 15 years of breaking them.

Your breaker was a tt then!

Yes landys break more, about twice as many in my experience but I've known lots of SJs snap half shafts. Put 31" tyres on as a lot of people do & they snap shafts just like landies do, with the added bonus that the wheel bearing doesnt retain the hub with a snapped shaft so you have to fix it NOW before the wheel falls out. Unlike landies were i've driven back from wales to sussex in front wheel drive lots of times after removing bits of shaft.

I suppose to be exact, he did specifically say he'd never known one to be bent in 15 years he'd been breaking SJs, since that was what the tosspot mechanic was wrongly claiming had happened to mine. With hindsight, I suppose there's a certain degree of difference between bending and snapping.