OK, handbags away and back to the thread?
My wife drives a current model Navarra with a truck top to make it a full height load area. We live in highland Scotland and have 5 working dogs, so the Navarra gets driven seriously off road 30-40 days a year.
Bought it new in Sept 06. Test drove against Isuzu (noisy, slow, uncomfortable), Mitsubishi L200 (slower and very wallowing ride). The L200 and Navarra account for about 80% of this market in the UK, so we did not look further. Got the king cab which gives decent seating for 5 people although the rear seats are a bit low so not great for the long legged
Some facts:
* for something that heavy it is reasonably quick
* handling/ride are acceptable for something that big and cheap
* we average about 30mpg, although my wife is not a fast driver
* it is livable with as an everyday car – she has done 30K miles in 2.5 years.
* it is as capable off road as anybody except farmers etc would need
* the current model has a much better turning circle than the old one – no worse than the Discovery it replaced. Having said that, it is a pig to park because it is so long and you can’t see out of the back
* there have been a few things go wrong like UV joint failing (fixed under warranty), but nothing that stopped it being used
* brilliant bike carrier. Only ever needed to get 2 bikes and gear in the back – front wheels off. I reckon 4 bikes plus gear would be fine