The time has come to get rid of my Astra VXR. I'm thinking I want something totally different.

Since getting my Astra I've taken up Mountain biking. I want something I can put the bike and the dog in. I'm thinking maybe a 4×4.

It needs to be reliable, resonable mpg, and I would like to spend about 10k.

Any Ideas??

I quite like the Landrover Defender anyone got one? What they like?

As good as they are,not really suited for road use.If you fancy a Land Rover,a Freelander,or Disco will make more sense.Japanese rivals make even more sense.

x-trail?

Kia Sportage 138bhp diesel-some nice examples about too for your budget.

Since getting my Astra I've taken up Mountain biking. I want something I can put the bike and the dog in. I'm thinking maybe a 4×4.

It needs to be reliable, resonable mpg, and I would like to spend about 10k.

Economical and 4×4 don't really belong in the same sentence really…

Personally for your money, I'd look at maybe spending £2-3k on a van or an old estate for bike duties, and spend the rest of the budget on another "fun" car (I'm guessing by the Astra VXR you like your quick motors anyway)… Or if it must just be the one car, look at something like a Skoda Octavia vRS Estate, in either diesel or petrol version, both fairly cheap to run, decently quick, pretty economical, based on a Mk5 Golf so very reliable etc…

Surly Big Dummy with bike attachment?

My dad has just got a Kia Sportage – he's also just got a caravan so it's all bought to tow this mobile house around every couple of weeks/weekends – I'd be ranting at him if he had bought it without needing to pull the 1600Kg of caravan around.

4×4 in terms of Land Rover/Shogun/etc. isn't going to be economical unless you accept 28mpg is a good result. Saying that, the Astra VXR won't be far off that anyway so it might sound fine.

Unless you got for an older version, you will get hit for road tax for the 4×4 in that flavour, but something like the Skoda Octavia 4×4 isn't as bad – very practical as the carrying space is very good, has a bit of oomph about it but doesn't have the weight of the proper 4×4's so economy is better.

What do you need the car to do most? How do you want to carry your bike (on roof/boot/towball/inside)? How many people/bikes do you want to carry? Is the biking and dog duties your primary use of the car or are these infrequent? Are you look for performance as well as 'economy'?

4×4 is great fun but for most driving situations, it isn't needed – unless you are working on a farm or towing some real heavy stuff, it is unlikely to be a real benefit – the extra grip can be felt when you really do push it (but I've never found it to be much better than a 2wd car – apart from my VR4, but you had to do stupid things to make that go funny but the EVO Active Yaw Control stuff did seriously funny things so probably not the best thing to compare 'normal' 4×4's with)…

Just my thoughts, plenty of vehicles out there that will fit your requirements, just got to find them!

Thanks for replys guys. I really dont know what I want and I'm toying witht the 4×4 idea.

Current comsumptions with VXR is around 26-30mpg. If I did buy a 4×4 it would need to be diesel.

I really just sick to death cleaning my VXR(white with white alloys) and fancy a car I dont really need to worry about where I leave it.

Volvo V70 D5

a right sleeper of a motor, massive, great for the dog, bike, wardrobe and so much power and economical.

Would be my choice, I had a S60 D5SE as a company car and was magic

nice combi transporter for that much?

mind you i am in a huff with mine at the moment.

Do you need a 4×4? Most that I've been in don't have any more interior space than your average estate car (except Landrover Discovery), and many people carrier type vehicles would perhaps be more suited to bike lugging duties. I have a Honda FRV and have carried 7 bikes on it – 4 on the roof and three on a towball mounted rack. it only seats 6 people!

I had an x-trail on hire, thought it was quite a good all round vehicle

A topical post. What about a Saab 9-3X? It's not an SUV but the petrol one has state of art 4WD system, and it's an estate so bike friendly. But Saab are being closed down, I hear the STW massive cry in unison. Except this evening they were sold to a mad bloke from Holland, so that's all right then…

Superb – I was wondering what was doing with Saab… trying to find info 🙂 (I have fond memories of my 9-3 HOT… always wanted the Viggen but it was just a bit too mental on torque steer, even by my lax standards!)

Back to the question – as a 4×4 owner don't do it! The Skoda Octavia 4×4 is probably a better solution (I am toying with that idea for next time slightly, amongst many others, and I drive across fields quite a lot… was offroading today indeed). They are just too much of a compromise, even more so if you go for a pickup (I had one of them too).

I used to have a beaten up old Suburau Forester which was 4×4 but still good on the road. As it was 10 years old, didn't matter at what angle you through the bike in or if it was clean. I have a focus now which is very practical but miss my old suburau.