Which SUV / 4x4 is the worst to drive?

peasant

on road, I mean.

My nomination would go to the previous model Mitsubishi L200.

The rear axle has no grip (unless you load it with a ton of sand) and bounces and skips with slipping tyres, positively dangerous in the wet.

The turning circle is bigger than that of a bus, brakes are weak (not helped by the hopping rear end) and the cabin is cramped.

Can't understand for the life of me how so many were sold.

Ferris

peasant wrote: »

Can't understand for the life of me how so many were sold.

Because they have 4 seats and can be taxed/vrt'd as a commercial.

Not that they are used as family cars of course:rolleyes:

farva

I've heard that Defenders are pretty bad on road, but of the 4x4s I've driven;

97' Pajero 2.8 TD Commercial SWB manual - mine
91' Pajero 2.5 TD SWB Passanger manual
93' Pajero 2.5 TD SWB Passanger manual
93' Pajero 2.5 TD SWB Passanger automatic
02' Landcruiser 3.0 TD SWB Commercial manual
93' Trooper 3.1 TD SWB Commercial manual
01' Lincoln Navigator 5.4 V8 Automatic
05' Chevy Trailblazer 4.2 V6 Automatic

The 93' Pajero 2.5 Auto has to be the worst - dangerously slow, I couldn't believe how much it pitched and rolled in the corners and that was when the suspesnion was on hard, it made my 140bhp 2.8 manual Pajero feel like an M5:D

niceirishfella

Nissan Terrano - awful yoke.

Slig

Terrano isnt too bad, at least its got a bit of go, the steering wheel isnt just a decoration and you dont end up wishing there were window wipers on the side windows every time you took a corner. Compared to the pajero sport its a dream, damn thing is nearly as bad as the L200 its based on!!

foxhunter

peasant wrote: »

on road, I mean.

My nomination would go to the previous model Mitsubishi L200.

The rear axle has no grip (unless you load it with a ton of sand) and bounces and skips with slipping tyres, positively dangerous in the wet.

The turning circle is bigger than that of a bus, brakes are weak (not helped by the hopping rear end) and the cabin is cramped.

Can't understand for the life of me how so many were sold.

Id have to disagree with you i bought a 02 model 2 years ago and find it excellent to drive .Ive been to every corner of the country with it and would rather drive it than the mazda 6 sittin in the yard.
I did change the tyres because the original bridgestones were a bit slippery but the 60/40 BFG'S seem to have fixed that problem.
I would however agree with the op about the terrano now that's a piece of dung.

niceirishfella

I'm not the OP - and I had a terrano for a time so I'm well placed to comment.
Awful cornering, Dreadful interior, Bad seats, choppy ride, lots of shudder, - all in all a crap 4x4.

Slig

Have a terrano, had a pajero sport, Sport was definately a better machine, but its cramped, had no turning circle, it was slow as hell and it drank diesel, the ride was uncomfortable and everybody banged their heads getting in. NEVER take a corner in the wet as youll reverse around it or it will under steer.
On the plus side the ground clearance was great, I only ever got stuck once and it never let me down mechanically.
Terrano is loud and rattley and the interior, dials and radio are sh1te, its smaller but much more comfortable, much better acceleration and it handles a hell of a lot better and actually takes corners, also exactly half as expensive to run (with a bigger engine). The ground clearance is a joke and theres clunks and bangs everytime it even looks at a rough piece of road, the fan belt squeaks but it starts every time and the engine is running fine (you can hear it reverberating everywhere below 1500rpm. Havent had to use 4x4 yet (even in places that the pajero needed it) but I would not hold out much hope if I had to. Its more of a soft roader than the pajero and a lot cheaper feeling but its not that bad.

Heres some contenders though.

Daewoo Musso
Landrover Frelander 98-04
Rexton thingey!!

Caoimhín

Hyundai Santa Fe.
It was like driving a wonky shopping trolly. The steering wheel seemed to be totally independant from the wheels. Awful yoke.

Slig

I test drove one before I bought the terrano and I thought the same thing but everybody seems to love them.

Caoimhín

Santa fe was utterly pointless off the road too. The only reason I bought it was the price. Wow I was wrong.

triskell

peasant wrote: »

on road, I mean.

For me it has to be '90 defender (pure torture) I've driven tractors with better road manners).
Followed by a '03 LWB Terrano,thirsty awkard to steer and sh*t radio that wouldn't except the 6 disc cd changer that was built for it, still have the cd changer in the box never used it,

niceirishfella

Ford Maverick - well, it would'nt be anything to its Sister (terrano)if it was'nt CRAP!

pullandbang

Before I bought my first 4 x 4 I took a Nissan Navara crew cab for a weekend testdrive.
Now to be fair it was the first step up from a normal car but it was awful! It bounced and rolled and you dare not drive it at any speed on the roads around my way. The back seats were cramped and uncomfortable even on a relatively short journey - 50 miles. I suppose that had to do with the bouncing around across the bog roads! Turning circle was huge and my dogs had trouble hopping into the back.

Couldn't wait to hand it back to the garage on the Monday.

At the end of the day you can't expect them to be the most comfortable with their leaf springs. You'd have to use them like they are supposed to be used - loaded up with blocks or sand.

I ended up with an automatic Sorento and it's the bogs dollox. Even off road with the auto box it still behaves.

Timmaay

triskell wrote: »

For me it has to be '90 defender (pure torture) I've driven tractors with better road manners).

+1 to that, it was scary anytime I use to drive our (now gone thank god) '88 110, the extra length didnt mean it was any more stable than a 90. Anything above 60mph and you were taking your life in your hands, it would weave side to side when you were trying to drive straight! The BFG mudterrain tires and tractor alike engine meant that you'd be deaf after 30mins on the road in her. I can say also I've been in tractors that handle better!

Max_Damage

Ssangyong Rexton. I used to drive alot of these when I was a valeter in a garage about 2 years ago. They were rubbish, especially the models with the manual transmission. Now I'm not a fan of automatics at all, but the auto models were somewhat better than their manual counterparts. They used out-of-date uneffiecient Mercedes diesel engines along with crap Mercedes gearboxes.

The had terrible handling, you just couldn't go into a corner at any speed without the thing veering from side to side.

That said, it's smaller counterpart, the Kyron, had better engines and slightly better handling, but the same rubbish gearboxes.

niceirishfella

pullandbang wrote: »

Before I bought my first 4 x 4 I took a Nissan Navara crew cab for a weekend testdrive.
Now to be fair it was the first step up from a normal car but it was awful! It bounced and rolled and you dare not drive it at any speed on the roads around my way. The back seats were cramped and uncomfortable even on a relatively short journey - 50 miles. I suppose that had to do with the bouncing around across the bog roads! Turning circle was huge and my dogs had trouble hopping into the back.

Couldn't wait to hand it back to the garage on the Monday.

At the end of the day you can't expect them to be the most comfortable with their leaf springs. You'd have to use them like they are supposed to be used - loaded up with blocks or sand.

I ended up with an automatic Sorento and it's the bogs dollox. Even off road with the auto box it still behaves.

I have a manual Sorento - reliable as a wood burning stove (touch wood)
Comfy too.......but could be better if it had'nt the solid trans axle at the back.....pity about that, but i does tow well - but overall, one of the better 4x4's out there.

Rovi

Timmaay wrote: »

+1 to that, it was scary anytime I use to drive our (now gone thank god) '88 110, the extra length didnt mean it was any more stable than a 90. Anything above 60mph and you were taking your life in your hands, it would weave side to side when you were trying to drive straight! The BFG mudterrain tires and tractor alike engine meant that you'd be deaf after 30mins on the road in her. I can say also I've been in tractors that handle better!

In defence of the Defender (:rolleyes:), that sounds like the classic symptoms of fecked panhard rod bushes.
A Defender with its suspension and steering in good order drives just fine; no vehicle will have good road manners if the 'out of sight underneath' stuff is neglected.

TheDriver

1990 Land Rover Defender, 3.5 V8 Petrol, god awful yoke, terrible turning circle (10 point turn!), brakes are poor and clutch is rock heavy. Turn the steering wheel and your elbow hits the window, gear box heats the cabin like crazy and it has a choke!
Mind you, it does get up a muddy slope like nothing else.

Tonka

The Mahindra

I knew the guy who tried seling them in the north . everyone of them that came assembled from india had to be rebuilt before they got to the showroom. This was back in the early nineties?? the fella that had the franchise even drove a diahatsu while he was supposed to be floggin these horrible cars.

Mahindra are i think relaunching in the UK. id advise to keep walking past that cheap price tag.

colm_mcm

Kia Sorento for its awful steering and bouncy suspension, or maybe the SsangYong Rexton. or maybe the Tata Safari.... something along those lines anyway!

Oilrig

Drive a series III Landrover, puts all else into the luxury category...

CtrlSource

farva wrote: »

97' Pajero 2.8 TD Commercial SWB manual - mine
91' Pajero 2.5 TD SWB Passanger manual
93' Pajero 2.5 TD SWB Passanger manual
93' Pajero 2.5 TD SWB Passanger automatic
02' Landcruiser 3.0 TD SWB Commercial manual
93' Trooper 3.1 TD SWB Commercial manual
01' Lincoln Navigator 5.4 V8 Automatic
05' Chevy Trailblazer 4.2 V6 Automatic

Did you import the last two or are you living abroad?

The Navigator is a savage looking machine! Have always liked them.

i used to have a big soft spot for Chevy Suburbans too (as seen in early Sopranos series), but last time i was in the US & saw them again, i thought they looked kinda dated. Still cool though.

Was doing a bit of shopping at a hardware store in Stillorgan the other day and parked outside (with the V8 chugging away) was a Ford F250 pickup! How anyone can afford to keep a beast like that topped up with juice is beyond me. Very cool truck though :cool:

Mahatma coat

a few of my mates have the 7.3L (I think) Turbo Diesel V8 F250's, they're not THAT bad on fuel.