First offroader question

[Imissmybmw]

Good evening good people, I'm looking to buy a dual purpose vehicle as a non-daily driver. I was hoping to tap into the groups expertise and experience for a street in what to research and short list.

I'm looking for:

• 7 seats
• Low maintenance costs (Japanese level ideally)
• Reliability (Toyota level ideally)
• Off road capable (I'd like to start greenlaning as a fun weekend activity this year)
• ULEZ compliant if possible

Our main/daily car is an EV, and we don't need to commute to work. This vehicle will be used for long trips when family visit, and to start offroading as an activity I could share with my kids.

I've got a fair amount of mechanical sympathy z and can keep on top of maintenance. Most cars I've owned are either over or very near the 100k mile mark in mileage.

I'm a child of the 80s, and was pretty impressionable back when the Series 80 LCs and Y60 Patrols were new. I'd really love one for the nostalgia factor, but I've driven enough old cars to know what they can be a chore to live with.

A Discovery would be nice, but nothing I read on the internet is inspiring confidence.

I've a rough budget of £10kish and my heart says Series 80 Land Cruiser. My brain says Series 120 Land Cruiser.

What should I be looking at and researching? I'm hoping to buy by the end of February.

[camel_landy]

There's a long running argument about Toyota vs LR but in reality it usually comes down to whatever you're familiar with when spannering. Either way, a £10k 4x4 will probably mean there will be plenty of opportunity for spannering.

My main advice would be:

• When looking at a car, ignore anything with a lot of 'bling'. Go for something as 'stock' as possible.
• These cars are very capable out of the box, so avoid falling into the trap of needing to "Off-road" or "Expedition" prep the thing...
• Get a little bit of training under your belt, so you can understand the different types of terrain and how to approach. Also learn what those different buttons & levers do.
• Once you've learnt how to use the car, you will be in a much better position to understand what 'modifications' will be more appropriate for you.

HTH

M

[eth2190]

Having done a lot of green laning with a Y61 Patrol my experience was they are incredibly capable but far too big and wide. It would always get scratches and body damage on lanes where most would fit through easily, and was a nightmare to reverse if the path was blocked by a fallen tree etc.
The 80/ 100 LC isn't quite as big but size is something worth considering if you like your vehicles to stay looking tidy.

That said, a v8 100 series should fit the bill and be ulez compliant post-2004. With a set of all terrain tyres it'll be capable of just about any UK green lane. The difficult part is finding one without rust.

[ScoobyChris]

Can't help with the question, but an opportunity to reminisce about the 300 TDI Disco I bought about 20 years ago for the purpose of "play days" and green-laning. Reliability wise it wasn't too bad and off road with a set of MTR's, diff guards and a snorkel it was hugely capable. Lots of fun for not a lot of money!



Good luck!

Chris

[Silvanus]

Nissan Pathfinder, Mitsubishi Shogun and Ssangyong Rexton might be worth a look too.

[Tom4398cc]

OP, I’d be a touch nervous about combining: “green laning”, “long family trips”, “reliable” and “£10k budget”. I think it would be quite ambitious to achieve all 4 elements of the brief in one vehicle. But happy to be told I worry too much and that I’m being pessimistic.

If you’ve got the space and the time, I’d suggest spreading that budget across two cars - one for off roading, and one for the long family trip reliability.

[eth2190]

Tom4398cc said:

OP, I’d be a touch nervous about combining: “green laning”, “long family trips”, “reliable” and “£10k budget”. I think it would be quite ambitious to achieve all 4 elements of the brief in one vehicle. But happy to be told I worry too much and that I’m being pessimistic.

If you’ve got the space and the time, I’d suggest spreading that budget across two cars - one for off roading, and one for the long family trip reliability.

I see where you are coming from, but folks do this sort of thing in <£3k TD5 Discoverys without hesitation all the time, so £10k should be more than enough. Yes they'll need to bring some tools/ spares and have decent breakdown cover but even the most remote of green lanes are only ever a few miles from civilisation.

I like the idea of getting a cheaper vehicle and spending the leftover cash on preventative maintenance. DIY if possible, this way you get to know the mechanicals pretty well should issues arise. This D3 seems a good example of that: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Imissmybmw]

camel_landy said:

• When looking at a car, ignore anything with a lot of 'bling'. Go for something as 'stock' as possible.
• These cars are very capable out of the box, so avoid falling into the trap of needing to "Off-road" or "Expedition" prep the thing...
• Get a little bit of training under your belt, so you can understand the different types of terrain and how to approach. Also learn what those different buttons & levers do.
• Once you've learnt how to use the car, you will be in a much better position to understand what 'modifications' will be more appropriate for you.

Thank you for this - all good points.

[Imissmybmw]

Silvanus said:

Nissan Pathfinder, Mitsubishi Shogun and Ssangyong Rexton might be worth a look too.

I did look at these as options, but the allure of an old-school Land Cruiser is a bit hard to shake.

[Imissmybmw]

Tom4398cc said:

OP, I’d be a touch nervous about combining: “green laning”, “long family trips”, “reliable” and “£10k budget”. I think it would be quite ambitious to achieve all 4 elements of the brief in one vehicle. But happy to be told I worry too much and that I’m being pessimistic.

I completely understand what you're saying. This is going to be primarily family work first, so I want to work through the common reliability problems (ensure preventative maintenance is done) before pressing the LC into multi-duty.

Tom4398cc said:

If you’ve got the space and the time, I’d suggest spreading that budget across two cars - one for off roading, and one for the long family trip reliability.

We already have two cars , one being an EV for the daily grind, and a fun car for when the weather is nice / long distance planned drives. This is going to be our massive car for when we need to do shortish hops with more than 4 people and the very rare school run / after school activity.