best jeep

valtra2

need to upgrade to a jeep has to have 5 seats, not much towing maybe 10 miles with weanlings 5 to ten times a year, light on juice, cheap tax, below 5 grand,

yellow50HX

valtra2 wrote: »

need to upgrade to a jeep has to have 5 seats, not much towing maybe 10 miles with weanlings 5 to ten times a year, light on juice, cheap tax, below 5 grand,

You won't get a passenger jeep with the commercial tax, but you can get a crew cab pick up. If the towing isn't that much would you better off getting a big saloon or estate car like an aventis.

Do you need the 4x4 for anything else?

niallers1

Are you specifically asking about Jeep or 4 x 4's in general.

sheesh

yellow50HX wrote: »

You won't get a passenger jeep with the commercial tax, but you can get a crew cab pick up. If the towing isn't that much would you better off getting a big saloon or estate car like an aventis.

Do you need the 4x4 for anything else?

I have heard that if you want to get a crewcab with commercial tax you have to have the appropriate employees.

yellow50HX

sheesh wrote: »

I have heard that if you want to get a crewcab with commercial tax you have to have the appropriate employees.

Looks like your right, don't have one but plenty of farmers round here have them. There must be another way. I suppose people include the parents and partner as farm employees.

http://www.louthcoco.ie/en/Services/Motor-Tax/Forms/Crew_Cab_Declaration_Form.doc

Juniorhurler

I include herself and my auld lad on the jeep as we are on the one herd number. Have an Isuzu D-max crew cab. 06 and absolutely trouble free touch wood. Rated to tow 3 tonnes as far as I can remember. There are more comfy jeeps on the market but I can't fault her as she is a great workhorse for me.along with doubling as a second var for the family.

kevthegaff

love me landcruiser!

grazeaway

valtra2 wrote: »

need to upgrade to a jeep has to have 5 seats, not much towing maybe 10 miles with weanlings 5 to ten times a year, light on juice, cheap tax, below 5 grand,

Your going to struggle to get everything you want for under 5k.

how big is your trailer?

there are a few of the smaller 4x4's around, x-trail, santa fe, rav 4, vitara etc, all around 2-2.2 l

I have used a friends santa fe a few times for towing (2l) engine but not the greatest with a trailer behind. Yes its more stable and dosent get pushed around but you wouldnt want to be going up too many hills with a load behind.

other thing too is that the passeger versions of these will have the car tax rates. I reckon the vitara and rav4 a better yokes. rav4 is more of a 4x4 car while the vitara is a small off roader though.

i assue you need the back seats for brining the young lads. The bigger landcrusiers and pajero's are beasts so unless your going to be doigna lot of towing or putting a decent weight in the boot and will be off road a fair bit i go with a decent sized car.

leg wax

d-max

reilig

It's crazy to think about buying a jeep for that little towing every year. Have you no tractor?

I know several people who have traded in their jeeps this year and either bought smaller engine vans for their farm work or bought cars for family transport and used the tracter for pulling teh 12x6. If you're not going to have a trailer behing a jeep or aren't going off road for at least 3/4 of the miles that you will be doing each year, then a jeep is just an expensive show pony!! Cost you a fortune to keep and never give you anything in return!!

Juniorhurler

That all depends on your system and your day to day lifestyle though Reilig. I live 4 miles from work and do in total about 10,000kms per annum in the jeep. She would have a trailer on for about 3-4000 of these kilometres. With flushing of cows we do 350 km round trips to the technician we use so need to have the jeep for these. We also have an out farm 8 miles from home so are regularly enough shuttling stock over and back. On the outfarm she is often as good as a small tractor and saves us having to bring the tractor over.
The wife has a good diesel car that does about 53 mpg and o the odd occasion that I need to do a long journey she is happy to drive the jeep to work and collect kids etc in it. She also works within 5 miles of home. If you find yourself driving long journeys in a jeep you may need to look at it alright.

yellow50HX

reilig wrote: »

It's crazy to think about buying a jeep for that little towing every year. Have you no tractor?

I know several people who have traded in their jeeps this year and either bought smaller engine vans for their farm work or bought cars for family transport and used the tracter for pulling teh 12x6. If you're not going to have a trailer behing a jeep or aren't going off road for at least 3/4 of the miles that you will be doing each year, then a jeep is just an expensive show pony!! Cost you a fortune to keep and never give you anything in return!!

i'd be with ya on using a tractor (once the lights and things are working) to pull a trailer of cattle as long as it didnt mean going into a town or village and as long as its not too far.. i'm always wary driving a tractor through towns even a small one.

the other thing is if the roads in the area are very bad then a car will get trashed very quickly.

if you need soemthing to tow a trailer on a regular basis get a jeep, if not and you need to carry children get a car.

lad next door has an out farm about 3 miles away, would have cattle going between the two and also to the mart a few times a year, so would be doing a least 1 or 2 trips every week, also if he has finishing cattle on the out farm he needs to bring buckets or ration to them so would put them in the boot oof the car. works shift work aswell and does the school run a few afternoons a week too. started off with a craina but had a few hairy moments pulling the trailer as he needs to travel a few hills. went for a crew cab but it was a killer on the juice. sold the crew cab two years ago to upgrade the wifes car and got him self a 15 year old swb land cruiser, and a 00 yaris. the jeep doesnt do huge milege but he finds it a lot safer plus its in good condition and it'll last him for years, usually has the cow box on the back. the yaris is used for going to and from work and for picking up the kids, picked them both up for about 3k, 3 party insurance and both taxed for about 500 a year. They can use the wife's car for long journeys or family trips.

the jeep may be looked on as a luxary item but he only does about 5k miles a year in it but there is no loan on it, the tyre wear is low and for the extra few hundred a year it costs to run it he reckosn its worth it to have soemthing safe and reilable to move cattle.

kevthegaff

all i have is a tractor no tax as i dont travel the roads with it, a landcruiser for pulling the box and getting in the cows. its a serious yolk 05 had it 2.5 yrs. never caused any hassle cost 10k. worst tho is my weekend trips to dublin 50 euros of diesel tho:(

bogman_bass

with that much towing getting your local haulier to do it would probably be better value

grazeaway

bogman_bass wrote: »

with that much towing getting your local haulier to do it would probably be better value

well that would depend on the type of hauling and to where and when. We have paid a neighbour who has his own jeep and trailer to move cattle for us a few times. If there is a large amount we get a houler with a lorry and if its only one, or two small animals we use the car with the uncles small cow box.

NewBeefFarmer

Im jumping in here.

We need a second vehicle now in the family. .

My plan was. As i currently have nothing to tow with get a 05 or 06 mondeo. . 2ltr diesel. .

Bad points. .
Towing, will it be legal to tow a cattle trailer with 2 or 3 bullocks. .
Its very much on the limit i think. .

Tax on this car is currently 710 per y

a 2.5ltr sorrento . . While not a sucker on fuel. . Will be taxed at 310 or so.

Ill use the car to get to work and leave the jeep for emergency transport for the wife. .

And if she needs the car ill just take the jeep.

thenashlegend

"light on juice" and jeeps don't go together. No point telling you otherwise, but all of them are thirsty. I had a 04 Landcruiser for a few weeks and 50 was nothing to put into it. You're talking 130 to fill it. Luckily I only had it on loan, but even doing 3 mile trips to and from the co-op, the odd trip down the land and then three or four 80 mile trips in the week, I was glad to see the back of it.

Funny thing is, I'd consider buying one again if the longer journeys were cut out. Very comfortable and good workhorse, you were never afraid to fill the back of it.

I'd say Landcruiser all the way, but really weigh up your situation as to whether you need it or not.

iverjohnston

When you start buying jeeps at 10% of their new cost, luck starts to play a big part. One or two repairs and you Will have half as much again spent. You should get a good 3.1 trooper for about 2 grand, and with a bit of luck and a new timing belt, you I
should get 5 years out of it. Bring someone familiar with the model with you to advise. You could pick up a diesel Mazda 323 or such-like from about 2001 for under a thousand. Cars have never been cheaper, nor more reliable. All depends on what you are happy to be seen in!

hop2it

Isuzu TFS crewcab 2..5td 36mpg :-)

JohnBoy

valtra2 wrote: »

need to upgrade to a jeep has to have 5 seats, not much towing maybe 10 miles with weanlings 5 to ten times a year, light on juice, cheap tax, below 5 grand,

you're asking a lot. I've been looking at similar recently and to be honest 5 grand wont buy you much, I went through all this recently looking to downsize from a 2002 discovery that does 28mpg.

How big is your box?

To get something someway light on juice you're looking at the soft roader type machines. these werent rated to tow much until most of em got updated around 2005-2007.

The first gen santa fe and the older vitara are only 1850kg
the first gen xtrail is 2000kg, but they're a lottery reliability wise
first gen freelander is 2000kg also and similar reliabilty lottery.

The second gen santa fe or third gen rav4 are the best cheapest options, but you're looking at 6-8 grand for them, rav4 is slightly cheaper, but obviously smaller.

Rav4 will pull 2000kg, santa fe will pull 2200kg. I think the second gen X trail and freelander are supposed to be much improved reliability wise, but they were too far beyond my budget to consider.

I decided I was going to be spending too much to change into a much smaller vehicle with too long a payback period. So I'll keep saving my pennies for another year when I'll have more cash and they'll be a year older. The disco has probably been the most reliable car I've ever owned so it's staying for now.


If you need to tow more than 2000kg then you're into "proper jeep" territory and unless you can come way up the years they're all as thirsty as each other.

The only wildcard I'd suggest considering is the opel frontera. I had two, the first one was great. 2800kg towing capacity, decent boot, good comfort/refinement and 36mpg average over 2 years. Sadly the second one was a disaster and despite spending lots of money on it never managed more than 28 average.

You'd bring in a very low mileage, late model one from the UK for 5 grand, but it is a risk as to whether it'll be a good one or not.

NewBeefFarmer wrote: »

Im jumping in here.

We need a second vehicle now in the family. .

My plan was. As i currently have nothing to tow with get a 05 or 06 mondeo. . 2ltr diesel. .

Bad points. .
Towing, will it be legal to tow a cattle trailer with 2 or 3 bullocks. .
Its very much on the limit i think. .

Tax on this car is currently 710 per y

a 2.5ltr sorrento . . While not a sucker on fuel. . Will be taxed at 310 or so.

Ill use the car to get to work and leave the jeep for emergency transport for the wife. .

And if she needs the car ill just take the jeep.

Mondeo is rated to a max of 1800kg

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/facts-and-figures/ford/mondeo/estate-2000/26234/

Parkers.co.uk is a great site for looking up car specs...