4x4 for 3k?

Woofstuff

Would be interested in a 4x4 vehicle for around €3k in total... so maybe €2k purchase price and €1k for whatever work needs to be done?

Im interested because of the extra space a 4x4 has, and to go off road now and again.. and they might help in snowy/ice roads? And also just to drive something different for a while....

Any recommendations?

Want something reliable that wont give too much trouble or need a large amount of money spent on it. I realize that tax will be high and running costs high so....

Any comments welcome...

Pajero? Landcruiser? Outback (4x4 estate, interested in this too)

_Conrad_

I tried about 10 times last night to reply to this but for some reason my broadband was gone funny and the page wouldn't load right.


It depends on what you really want it for, but firstly, good driving and either a 4x4 or 4wd car will be a lot better than an ordinary 2wd car on snowy or icy roads.

If it's mainly road driving you wanted to do then a 4wd estate like a legacy or forester is probably just the job as they still have good internal space and are great in snow and ice but handle like a good car rather than a big tall 4x4 with a high centre of gravity and loads of weight.

If you want to do a fair bit of stuff of froad or on rough tracks etc and intend to be towing or anything like that then something like the landcruiser you showed in your post in the motors section would be what you need.
On the subject of those i can see one outside the window here which has been in the family with various members since my father originally bought it in 01. It's a 99 3.0 TD with approximately 240k miles on it but engine-wise it's going like the proverbial clock. Not a bother on it. Has been 100% spot on reliable and has done a lot fo work and over the last 2 winters it did me gret service and i pulled out/rescued a silly amount of other less capable vehicles from various roadsides and ditches.
It's the 7 seat one but the rear fold out seats can be removed easily and the middle row of seats folds up meaning there's some damn good load space if you need it. Of course being the 7 seater it means the tax is huge on it but the seats are often needed so that's that.
It's BIG compared to a car and while it's easy to drive it does require more care when parking and in tight spaces. Has great power and that has been tested many times and it's never failed to deliver.
Now it is fairly thirsty but not bad once you consider it's weight and the type of heavy duty (compared to ordinary cars) transmission it has. It'll get early 30s mpg if you're trying to do that but it's not going to do very well as a runaround n town for example. But i look at it this way, it's a tool for work of various kinds and quite versatile, it certainly has doen anything we needed over the years and i reckon the tax and the relative thirst are worth that.
If you buy a good example for 3k it shouldn't really need anything done at all.


Another option, which is a more comfy but still extremely capable offroader is to find a good spec (probably UK import) landrover discovery as the high spec ones with the nicer seats or even leather etc offer a bit of posh inside but all the offroad ability still there. They do need more looking after though. They're fantastic and i think they have a great sort of "character" about them but you do have to give them more tlc than the toyota, which you can get away with leaving to it's own devices for much longer.


Now the last subaru i had was a 02 legacy estate, that was AWD and had the low range box too which is quite handy. It was also extremely reliable as it was a well looked after car and was practical too with good space inside. The car was fantastic on the road with such great grip/road holding. Thirsty too though, about the same as the landcruiser but i was doing a lot of miles in it and wasn't holding back from pushing it on. Good power in that regard too, and they sound lovely, if you like that sort of thing. The standard legacy of course sits at regular car height so would not be great for driving over very rough tracks and doing actual off road stuff, but it could handle snow and ice very well and the odd muddy field and farm track too, but the higher legacy outback or another subaru, the forester would be a better bet if you wanted something that behaved like a car on the road and around town etc but could handle some more regualr light deviations from paved roads. They do nee dto be looked after but once you do that they'll treat you well.



The reason i'm so opposed to things like rav4s is that while they retain a small bit of the andvantages of high ground clearance etc that a proper 4x4 has, they have nothing at all to offer over a 4wd car on the road in fact they're a lot worse for not much off road gain so i see them as very much a half arsed solution. They may look like 4x4s but they're nowhere near up to par in terms of toughness or genuine ability and they're still thirsty and unwieldy to drive on road so as far as i'm concerned, other than as a style statement they're pointless.



Re-sale isn't going to be instant with a private taxed 4x4 but i would advise not getting too hung up on that because you'll probably find that if you get a good one you may well want to keep it longer than the year you'd envisaged holding onto it.


The subarus would be less of a problem as they always have a sort of a following, and they don't have such outrageous tax costs and are a bit more civilised so people aren't scared of driving them. But in reality even the big 4x4s are a piece of cake for most normal driving, but people who've never driven them still seem to have some hard-wired mental image of the driving experience being like driving a WWII jeep or the series I to III landrovers, which really are more like covered up, slightly posh tractors (but that's kind of what they were designed to be)

Woofstuff

Thanks conrad, good response, very useful and informative..over 1000words too... you should be writing for a magazine:)

All things considered i Think id be edging towards the suburu type vehicle.

_Conrad_

Woofstuff wrote: »

Thanks conrad, good response, very useful and informative..over 1000words too... you should be writing for a magazine:)

All things considered i Think id be edging towards the suburu type vehicle.

Thanks, but no, I'm far too cranky and opinionated really :pac:, i'd offend too many people, there's already Jeremy Clarkson there for that.
I'm glad it was helpful anyway. Just gave a little outline/review based on some examples of what I've experienced myself.



As for your conclusion, that may be the way for you to go if your main concern is good road holding in all conditions, estate car practicality and the ability to accoasionally venture into the odd field or unpaved road.

You should at least try to find an example of each vehicle, preferably with a dealer rather than a private individual (as the dealer will be expecting a few test drives with no certainty of a sale) and take a spin in them to see, in a superficial way at least how each one feels for you.