Car choice, talk me out of buying a Navara

I need a new car as my trusty W reg Saab is converting most of it’s fuels energy into making noise.

I Really want a Landrover, however it seems that don’t really make a one that ticks all my boxes.

1. Building/DIY work.
2. Hauling logs for Stove and Fire.
3. Family days out/camping holidays.
4. and of course carrying the bikes around.
4. I am canny old and a bit of comfort goes a long way.

Price around 10K and as much as It would sort things out I have nowhere to leave trailer.

Suggest away…….

Is a 110 defender county no good? Or a late td5 disco ?

Pickups are crap.

Do Navaras still go through engines quicker than tyres?

Pickups are crap.

What jump started your car at mayhem? 😆

Navara = Chavara

End of thread

I’ve had one for 10 months now. Facelift 2010 Tekna 190ps.Excellent towing vehicle.
Everything is good except spares are bloody expensive, some are silly expensive, like somebody just made them up.

Buying new or used ?

New go look at a new ranger i am in love with the 3.2v6 diesel with allison box drives stottingly

Used- which end of the market<4000 conditions more important than the badge

If < 4000 i sugest lookig at isuzu tf pick ups.

Think carefully about what your doing with it though leaf springs are bollocks and crashy and only trucks i know of with coils and new are the landies and the walkinshaw l200s

Id avoid the souped up ( 160 and 180bhp) in both navara an l200 they lunch diffs and half shalfs like mad- they upped power and left drive train the same.

I had a Pathfinder which is essentially the same – never again, thirsty, expensive on parts, rolled and crashed around , needed a mortgage for road tax, low thirties at best mpg down to 25mpg normal driving
Plasticky interior

Spend the same money on a Disco (or other large 4×4), you’ll get a new shape.

Far better at everything.

There is a pathfinder round the corner from me that is my zombi apocalypse getaway car.
Bloke who owns it doesn’t know this mind but he’s fat and slow so will be one of the first to go.

Why would a large cavernous estate not be suitable? Comfier, more economical, cheaper to run, nicer to drive? Why does it have to be a large 4×4?

Mate did his first clutch at 17k

Spend the same money on a disco – then you can spend the same on more repairs as repairs are cheaper but it needs more. Usually for things that you think were half assed from factory.

And im a landy fan whos default car would be a disco.

Says more about our mates driving style than navaras dun it bland ?

Wobbliscott. Estates are a bit shit at snow. If rig hog lives where rig people usually do he probably wants 4×4

Probably but it was a drain till it went

For 10k you could get a noce defender 300 tdi for offroading logging etc AND a secondhand estate car of your choosing, for bike lugging and stuff best of both worlds, and what ive done for the last 3 years

No doubt they are soft motors , always were

How about a Mitsi
I’ve used all sorts of 4×4 both work and home best if you have the money is Toyota then Mitsi & Suzuki………… landrover last always something going **** wrong 😕

Hilux used to be bullet proof not sure about the new ones used them for years. 1 went 6 months without a starter and required screw driver starting and it still ran like a clock work. 😀

For anything but load carrying id take a zook

Wuldnt touch a toyota or a mitsu – my go to workhorse would be an isuzu.

My heart and all round car would be with a land rover though

Had a Pathfinder when we lived in Australia. Did over 130k km in it from new, never had a bit of a problem with it, very reliable. Changed the crappy tyres to some Cooper’s though.

All the above non pickup ideas are good suggestions but where will the OP put his work stuff. He says he has no room for a trailer.
You won’t go far wrong with a Hilux and for that budget you’ll get a decent one.

If only Ford F350’s were available over here and @ £10k *drool*

Does the 350 come in 4wd as well as 2

Last time i saw one on a gravel track in california it was stuck – trying to reverse up a slight incline with the rear wheels spinning – it was jacked up with fox shocks and everything looked shit.

Our ram 3500 super duty (twin rear axel) had to pull it out. –

Thanks for the comments I am going through the same discussions in my head. I do need a 4×4 I live in a town but I have a house that I need to get to in the country and the last three years we have had 3 months of snow.

This was my last Landy and I loved it with a passion it just spent a lot more time getting fixed than on the road.

Lovely righog. Is it gone now i guess ? 2.25 diesel or petrol ?

2,25 Petrol, Yes now gone 🙁 , I prefer the petrol at this vintage.

My ideal car would be a Disco pickup, bit of luxury with practicality.

For 10k you could get a noce defender 300 tdi for offroading logging etc AND a secondhand estate car of your choosing, for bike lugging and stuff best of both worlds, and what ive done for the last 3 years

You won’t get a decent Landy for £10k based upon the price of stuff I’ve seen.

All the above non pickup ideas are good suggestions but where will the OP put his work stuff.

In the back? A load-liner if needed.

I love my Ranger. It’s 12 years old done over 167k miles. Never let me down, been light on parts considering it’s a work vehicle. Is good in the snow and ice (with good tyres and a bit of extra weight in the back)
Not bad to drive, you can have a bit of fun on wet roads. Most of our miles were done on the road but have also used it off when needed for work…Looking at getting a new one soon.

How about a commercial td5 disco without the rear seats?
I’m after another disco cause I can do any tinkering my self and parts are fairly cheap and plentiful.

I work in an hydro engineering company with a Mitsubushi L200 4work, a Nissan Navara and a Range Rover. All get lots of off road use. I typically get lumbered with the Navara….the least capable off road but it has far more toys than the L200. The boss takes the RR.

Think it is a 2.5TD, fast in a straight line between 40 and 80 in the right gear. Lack of weight in the rear means spinning up the rears is easy, so a bit of accelerator sensitivity is sometimes needed. If you get it fishtailing high no. of turns lock to lock mean lots of comedy arm twirling. Does 34 to the gallon. ‘My’ Navara in the Cairngorms:

In any 4×4 you are automatically an arse if you don’t actually need one. Even worse if you have road tyres. Sounds like you want an estate.

07 plate ranger here – love it.
It gets used mainly for hauling family crap, bikes and firewood + towing the caravan a couple of times a year.
It’s not the best at anything, but is ok/good at lots of them.
I’ve had landrovers and vans in the past and I rate this better (for me) than all of them. As the saying goes YMMV.

Aye this is what my heart is saying

But it wont fit the whole family

wobbliscott – Member
Why would a large cavernous estate not be suitable? Comfier, more economical, cheaper to run, nicer to drive? Why does it have to be a large 4×4?

In my case your estate interior would have been 6 inches under water every time I launched the boat, but the rest of the time it’s a chav mobile.

needed a mortgage for road tax,

Navara is classed as a commercial vehicle, so £220 pa

low thirties at best mpg down to 25mpg normal driving

This is true

Why didn’t I buy a Navara then Nana? Could have saved me 250 quid a year taxing it- oh yeah my fishing rod hold all wouldn’t fit in the load area

The place I work bought 6 Navaras a few years ago, 2 new the other 4 used.
They’ve all been unreliable and 2 self-destructed. Avoid at all costs.

mattzzzzzz – Member
Why didn’t I buy a Navara then Nana? Could have saved me 250 quid a year taxing it- oh yeah my fishing rod hold all wouldn’t fit in the load area

Eh? Not sure of your point there?. I agree with everything you said and quoting you was not criticising anything you said, just pointing out to the OP that the Navara (which they specifically are asking about) Tax is in a different tax group to the Pathfinder.

Presumably one of your Hydro schemes has sucked the water out that river Waderider? 😉

Don’t recognise it – furryboots?

As for all the 4×4 guff that Big Ford thing is gross – probably couldn’t pull the skin off a rice pudding.

i have nothing to add except one time at uni a mate blagged a defender from the landrover garage in Aberystywth for a weekend
we ragged the shit out of for 48hrs even got to tow a siera off the beach at innas llas, after 2 days it was in poor shape

also my friend just posted thins on FB

I know the road tax is killer but if you want comfort and 4wd then surely you want a disco, rr, trooper type thing etc not a commercial vehicle. my limited experience of long trips in pick up s is not one of comfort.

bland – Member
Mate did his first clutch at 17k

Must’ve been driving like a ****. I’m just coming up 107k miles on the original clutch.

37 mpg.