£8k to buy a large family mudwagon

[Scubdup]

We had a 2005 X-Trail which did an admiral job until someone drove into it while it was parked up.

It's for transporting 3 kids (and spare seats for their friends would be handy), mainly around the village, and up to the (muddy) allotment and for (muddy) walks etc. Something bigger than the X-trail would be useful.

I've been looking at 10-year-old Nissan Pathfinders and Volvo XC90s. Any reason to avoid these? Any better options?

Thanks a lot for any suggestions.

[Terzo123]

Jeep Grande Cherokee?

I had one a few years back and loved it.

Fairly low rent interior compared to it's euro rivals, but that meant it very easy to keep clean on both the inside and out.

Plenty of room inside and decent performance.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110299...

Edited by Terzo123 on Tuesday 2nd November 12:05

[eleveneleven]

Volkswagen Touareg - [would be my pick]
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109217...

Mitsubishi Outlander
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110228...

Toyota Landcruiser
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110309...

XC90 (with the D5 engine)
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110058...

The pathfinder is also a good choice

[anonymous-user]

Aren't Pathfinders essentially a Navara underneath, with the same chassis/frame that was notorious for rusting through and snapping?

[ChattingWham]

A mate of mine had a Pathfinder for a while.

It was a characterful thing but somewhat agricultural; I would put it closer conceptually to a Shogun or Land Cruiser Colorado than more on-road focused SUVs like the XC90.

Plenty of room and easy to rinse out when it got muddy. (They have dogs as well as kids.) It was terrific for Peak District/Yorkshire Dales adventures and towing.

But it was also quite thirsty and some bits were expensive to fix. But then you don't buy an XC90 for low bills either so it's likely much of a muchness there.

No Pathfinder will be ULEZ/CAZ compliant if that matters/is relevant to you. Some of the old XC90s will be if they're petrol and post-2005.

Another option might be a Hyundai Santa Fe or Kia Sorento.

[ZX10R NIN]

If you want 7 seats then the Santa Fe:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110078...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110248...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109147...

Or Sorento are the picks:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109016...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110218...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110118...

If you can live with 5 seats then the Jeep Grand Cherokee is hard to look past:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103250...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110278...

If you don't mind something with big miles:

GL 420

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202110238...

FX 30d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202109127...

[Scubdup]

Thanks to everyone who replied - it was massively helpful.

I had a look at all of the suggestions and ended up going for a Volvo XC90 (with the D5 engine - thanks @eleveneleven)

Some of the suggestions were clearly better cars, and we were slightly governed by what was close to us, and available - for better or for worse, there were a few Volvos around but not so many of the other options. We were able to find one with what seems like a decent history, and which exhibited no obvious problems (to us non-car-people anyway).

[ZX10R NIN]

Glad you got sorted OP, there's not a wrong answer as long as you get a car that suits your needs