Which jeep?

katy67

Hubby looking to buy a jeep suitable for farming, on/off road etc, 2.0L diesel, not heavy on the fuel and between 1998 - 2003. Ave been looking at santa fe but want to know other suitable jeeps. Any Advice?:)

kenneths

get a discovery they are the job!!!

101sean

Fairly frequently asked question. Discovery while very good is over 2.0l.

I assume as you want to keep it to below 2.0l it will be privately taxed. If commercial, engine size doesn't matter and you'll have a much wider choice.

Ones I can think of are-
Freelander 1 (late TD4 only)
Nissan Xtrail
Suzuki Vitara
Kia Sportage
Toyota RAV4
Honda CRV

wildefalcon

kenneths wrote: »

get a discovery they are the job!!!

True, but the last 2 litre discovery was a petrol.

The Korean and Jap stuff is very good, Toyota is still the best, but Kia and Hyundai are also sound.

Be sure it has a service history, otherwise there is a real risk that it has never been serviced, ever! Happens more than you might think.

There is a lot of stuff on the market, shop around and be fussy.

No history, no deal.

Avoid the freelander - they are better offroad, but the Asian stuff is more reliable.

wildefalcon

Hi Sean!

A further point, if you are towing, make sure the vehicle has a rating plate that is in excess of your trailers gross weight.

It's usually something like the GDTW, Gross Design Train Weight, and must be the same or higher weight than the rating of the trailer.

I suspect the Gardai are going to get hot on this in the next few years, so be warned.

101sean

Very good point, some of those won't be rated to tow a large horse box or cattle trailer if that's something you'll do.

2.0l mpi Discovery, bit of a 90s tax dodging aberration that wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding!

_Conrad_

out of 101sean's list there the vitara would probably be the better one for a farmer. It's (around here anyway) the most common "small" 4x4 that farmers use, that used to be the good old daihatsu fourtrak but they're getting on now and typical irish mentality dictates that we must fear anything old.

But anyway, the vitara, in my opinion would be by far the better suited one for farm work (a more rugged, old school style 4x4) particularly compared to the CRV, rav4 and sportage, and to some extent the xtrail, those are all pretty soft and they're more of a car playing at being a 4x4 than a real one. While i like landrover discoveries and defenders, the freelander is something that sends chills down my spine, havn't had many positive encounters with those

aravmithun

Go for xtrail...nice reliable jeep,best suv in its class,also check out the fifth gear video report on youtube which compares all these...rav,crv,vitara,santafe,kia,mits,freelander & jeep.

gavin77

Hi all im currently looking at getting either a rav 4 2008 or a Honda crv 2008.
pros and cons would be a great help dont know weather to get petrol or diesel.
also question about an automatic most crvs ive seen are auto wot would they be like in the bad weather like we had in December and January just gone.
as my father has an 2009 bmw 520 auto which was a joke in the bad weather .how would an auto jeep be different.
thanks in advance
Gavin. .

101sean

I'd check first that the RAV4 and CRVs you are looking at are 4x4, some are only 2wd. Hopefully else someone will confirm whether 2wd versions were sold here or not.

An auto 4x4 should be just as capable in the snow as a manual, a lot of it is down to driver technique and knowing how your particular gearbox and 4x4 set up works best.

_Conrad_

101sean wrote: »

I'd check first that the RAV4 and CRVs you are looking at are 4x4, some are only 2wd. Hopefully else someone will confirm whether 2wd versions were sold here or not.

An auto 4x4 should be just as capable in the snow as a manual, a lot of it is down to driver technique and knowing how your particular gearbox and 4x4 set up works best.

driver technique as in knowing how to bleedin drive! And some reasonable level of familiarity with how your vehicle works and how it will react in various situations. Which most people havn't a clue about.
While talking to some swedes and norwegians over the winter they got a great laugh out of hearing about everyone freaking out here. Part of their driver training, and testing in most if not all the scandinavian countries involves being able to control a skidding car and deal with lack of grip.

They also are smart enough to use winter tyres when needed.

The mentality of what seems like most irish drivers worries me, though youat least 101sean, being into landrovers, and given your advice above are almost certainly one of the few people who i won't have to worry about meeting while coming at me backwards around a bend just because of some ice

wildefalcon

It's not the ice and snow that's dangerous, it's the thaw!

Amazing how little grip there is when there has been a thaw, but there is ice under the thaw.

_Conrad_

wildefalcon wrote: »

It's not the ice and snow that's dangerous, it's the thaw!

Amazing how little grip there is when there has been a thaw, but there is ice under the thaw.

it's not even that which is dangerous, it's people who are dangerous, and our rush to get everywhere