Soft-Roader for elderly relatives
Discussion
I'm probably doomed.
I have no idea at all about this area because it's something that's never really interested me, but because I "know about cars" my father in law wants me to help find him a "do it all" replacement for his 2000 Suzuki Vitara V6 and a Lexus GS450h.
He needs the higher driving position and ease of getting in and out that a soft-roader offers. Cars are off the list, so even though a 4WD car might do everything he needs it's not going to happen.
Must be totally reliable, automatic, have comfortable and supportive seats and good ride quality - anything crashy absolutely will not do due to back problems.
It won't do many miles and fuel economy isn't a big issue. I'm ruling out diesels because of DPF clogging on short trips - it will often be used to potter across some farm fields for five minutes and then back again a couple of hours later.
Performance is neither here nor there, the thing will never see 70mph so as long as it's not dangerously slow pulling out of junctions and getting up to urban road speeds that's fine. Must be able to deal with muddy fields, but won't be asked to tow or anything like that.
They've been very impressed with the Suzuki and would consider replacing it with the same brand again but I know literally nothing about the range.
Budget is going to be somewhere between seven and ten grand. I cannot emphasise enough how important turnkey reliability and comfort/ride quality is.
Help.... Any suggestions or feedback gratefully received. I need to get some sort of shortlist together because the choice is vast in this sector.
I have no idea at all about this area because it's something that's never really interested me, but because I "know about cars" my father in law wants me to help find him a "do it all" replacement for his 2000 Suzuki Vitara V6 and a Lexus GS450h.
He needs the higher driving position and ease of getting in and out that a soft-roader offers. Cars are off the list, so even though a 4WD car might do everything he needs it's not going to happen.
Must be totally reliable, automatic, have comfortable and supportive seats and good ride quality - anything crashy absolutely will not do due to back problems.
It won't do many miles and fuel economy isn't a big issue. I'm ruling out diesels because of DPF clogging on short trips - it will often be used to potter across some farm fields for five minutes and then back again a couple of hours later.
Performance is neither here nor there, the thing will never see 70mph so as long as it's not dangerously slow pulling out of junctions and getting up to urban road speeds that's fine. Must be able to deal with muddy fields, but won't be asked to tow or anything like that.
They've been very impressed with the Suzuki and would consider replacing it with the same brand again but I know literally nothing about the range.
Budget is going to be somewhere between seven and ten grand. I cannot emphasise enough how important turnkey reliability and comfort/ride quality is.
Help.... Any suggestions or feedback gratefully received. I need to get some sort of shortlist together because the choice is vast in this sector.
and it's much smaller than the Vitara so probably not going to work.Foliage said:
I think these are known for choppy ride quality. See the lease thread, there have been some good deals on the Skoda Yeti recently, someone posted a good deal on the L&K version not so long ago.PositronicRay said:
How muddy is the field? Are we taking about ploughed, waterlogged, grass gradients or gentle meadow/farm track kind of thing?
Not ploughed, not usually waterlogged, but there is a reasonable gradient on one of them, the sort of thing that leaves you out of breath when you've got up it. Mostly we're talking farm tracks and grazing land apart from that. The Vitara copes with it all fine on road tyres, so nothing challenging really.charltjr said:
Good suggestions coming through, much appreciated 
Age doesn't really matter, they want something more modern than the Vitara but up to about ten years old would be fine if it was very clean and low mileage.
Hi there,Age doesn't really matter, they want something more modern than the Vitara but up to about ten years old would be fine if it was very clean and low mileage.
Each of the 2 below are all 4x4 and under £10k. All slightly different and the Nissan would probably represent the cost effective option. All are quite a lot of car for the money!
Nissan Qashqai
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...
Ford Kuga
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...
Edited by LM95 on Tuesday 29th November 13:53
Gassing Station | Car Buying | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff