Whats the best 4x4

DivX

Considering all the pot holes on the country roads i'm thinking of buying a second-hand 4x4 commercial LWB, diesel.

Have about €10k to spend.

Any opinions on the following regarding durability, comfort on long journeys, mpg, parts costs etc..

1.Mitsubishi - Pajero
2.Isuzu - Trooper
3.Toyota - Hi-Lux Surf
4.Ford - Maverick
5.Nissan - Terrano
6.Toyota - Landcruiser
7.Chevrolet - Suburban TD (rare, drove the petrol version in US was a big tank but felt safe and huge even by US standards)
8.Daewoo - Musso
9.Daihatsu - Sporttrack, Fourtrack
10.Jeep - Grand Cherokee

Chimaera

Being honest, I don't think buying a 4x4 is a solution to the problem of bad roads. They are certainly not going to be more comfortable (in fact they may well be less so) considering most of htem are designed with off-roading in mind, which requires very different suspension settings to those required for comfortable on-road ride.

Also, they are not cars - on average they will weigh about 2 tonnes, and they have a habit of being underbraked. The centre of gravity is higher than in a car, they have far poorer aerodynamics, which dulls performance and leads to very poor fuel economy.

Parts are going to be expensive, beacuse of the extra strength built in to these vehicles to enable them to withstand off-road use.

At the end of the day, these vehicles are essentially light trucks with a passenger car body on them.

If you really want to go and buy one, I've heard good things about the Isuzu Trooper and the Pajero. Stay away from the Maverick/Terrano twins. Landcruisers are good as well by all accounts. Suburban is just too damn big for Irish roads, and you won't get it in rhd either, so the insurers will probably have a field day if you try talking to them.

The only valid reasons I would see for buying an off-roader are if you regularly tow heavy loads, or if you need to spend a lot of time driving off-road (farmers, forestry workers, builders, etc).

If you could stretch your budget, the Subaru Forester would probably suit your needs better, but it only comes with a petrol engine. The other 'soft'-roaders might be worth a look too - Honda CRV, Toyota RAV4, Volvo V70XC, etc.

My advice to you is think very carefully about buying one of these machines - they cost a lot more to run than a car, and they're nowhere near as enjoyable to drive. They are only worth it for towing and off-roading at the end of the day.

JohnBoy

1.Mitsubishi - Pajero

good, expensive, thirsty

2.Isuzu - Trooper

v good, not as bad on price as the pajero, thirsty
3.1 good, 3.0 better, but beyond your budget.

3.Toyota - Hi-Lux Surf

truck, cheap, not as thirsty

4.Ford - Maverick
5.Nissan - Terrano

bad rep, but the newer ones are ok enough imho

6.Toyota - Landcruiser

good enough too

7.Chevrolet - Suburban TD (rare, drove the petrol version in US was a big tank but felt safe and huge even by US standards)

forget it, for all the reasons listed above, oh, incredibly thirsty

8.Daewoo - Musso

not a great engine (just cos it's got a three pointed star on it doesn't guarantee greatness)

9.Daihatsu - Sporttrack, Fourtrack

affordable but very coarse and rough

10.Jeep - Grand Cherokee

lovely machine, rare, overpriced, either very thirsty or thirsty and underpowered, depending on engine


now, jeeps are not safer than cars. they have higher centres of gravity, which means a higher roll centre, which means easier to flip, and a leass pleasant drive. the have large capacity diesel engines tuned for torque, and hauling 2 tonnes of steel with all the aerodynamics of a brick-****house around. they drink diesel, lots of it. drive them anyway hard at all and they drink it even more.

they look cool, I'd love one, but they just plain don't make sense.

if you insist on buying one, go long wheelbase, they are nearly always nicer to travel in than their swb cousins.

My choice of that list would be a three litre trooper, looks good, gives reasonable economy (for a jeep) handles ok (for a jeep) and actually has good performance too (not just by jeep standards)

my reccomendation....... for that money buy a peugeot 406, probably be able to pick up a HDI version for that (maybe) great economy, refinement, power and that special frenchness to the handling.

(french cars take potholes well, and most peugeots still amintain reasonable handling too)

oh and the best four by four?
land rover defender
by far


(please no-one bring up this rant when I'll hopefully buy an eighties landie next year, that'll be a plaything, not a daily driver)

John

DivX

Thanks for the advice, probably go for a Isuzu Trooper alright, saw a few '93 lwb model for around €7k, have abit of trailer work and want to save the car as much as i can...

Test drove one of those toyota surf lwb, air cond all electric, liked it and said i'd think about it, but t'was sold two day's later when i decided to buy good price too...
But was worried about parts though, as those things are probably grey imports...

When a friend crashed his japanese imported celica, had to get a wing and bonnet, took ages to get them... think they had to be imported from jap..

JohnBoy

Fairy muff,

if you do actually do trailer work it is often better to get a jeep, for that, cos they're nothin worse than a squatted down car.

what you mentioned is one major problem with jap imports, they look identical but an awful lot of the parts are unique and can be problematic for parts

John

enjoy the trooper