Im looking for ideas on my next vehicle. I needs to have 4 wheel drive, be tough and not made of plastic, something you wouldn’t mind getting into after a muddy ride without changing. It also needs to be fairly compact as I need to parallel park on occasion! A Land Rover 90 fits the bill but the price tag doesn’t. Any other similarly agricultural vehicles that aren’t a quad bike or chelsea tractor?

Toyota hi lux

Everyone I have ever known who has a proper 4×4 that goes off road regulary sinks huge amounts of time and money into it.

bit too big ideally, but one to consider

I’m not buying one to to off-roading for pleasure. I would keep it stock (except tyres) and fix things that break.

something cheap and s/h, a short-w/b Far East 4×4 or a Freelander?

Mine – although maybe a bit out of budget.

It’s huge (over 5mtrs long), but a breeze to park though, as it has parking sensors front & back and a reversing camera…

A SWB Pajero/Shogun?

Toyota Landcruiser … that suits your budget.

I prefer the 4.7 litre VX limited tank …

Same answer every time, an X-Trail.

Dont **** about

Panda 4×4. Why buy a Warrior etc etc unless you work in a forest. Lifestyle 4×4 pickups in suburbia are for men under 5ft9.

I can only think of one but you’ll struggle to find a good one. Nissan Terrano. Quite narrow and high, properly good off road, tough as old boots if you go for the 2.7 TD. This is the engine that London taxis use, good for 200k easy. Simple diesel pump not common rail stuff. Do not go for the 3.0 DCI, it’s a Reno lump, unreliable and very pricy to fix.

Diesel X trails can be a world of financial pain if you don’t have a warranty covering the Turbo, they use naff compression fittings for the oil feed for the turbo, some only last 30k. Warranty extended from the main dealer to try and placate customers. Petrol ones are more reliable. Very good to drive and great offroad.

Or a old Subaru Forester

Panda 4×4, about as compact a 4x as its possible to find, and its a proper 4×4 as well. Stick a set of mud’n’snow tyres on and it’ll go anywhere. Perfect for narrow country lanes.
And town driving as well, where parking spaces aren’t designed for big vehicles.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=23&t=1201461&mid=70159&i=0&nmt=RE%3A+Paris+2012%3A+Fiat+Panda+4×4&mid=70159

I do work in a forest, of sorts. Panda 4×4 and Forester are good ideas. Ill look into them, cheers.

My 04 Forester was brilliant. Bar the gear action it was the best car that Ive ever driven/experienced. Classless and unplaceable in any segment (mummy 4×4, etc). Everyone ALWAYS let you out of sideroads and boy did it love sliding 8)

Skoda Yeti.

Forester is winning, unless I find a good cheap (moon on a stick) Defender.

Original Jeep Cherokee XJ in 4.0 petrol Limited guise. Twin live axles so proper axle articulation for serious offroading (if you do ever want to). Build from cast iron so go on forever. Parts cheap on eBay, not that you’ll need many. Leather wipes clean after muddy rides. Spare wheel internal so towbar-mounted bike racks not a problem. Wheels camber over for a really small turning circle, body is no bigger than a small estate. Only downsides are fuel consumption and watch out for potential cracked head on the 2001 models.

Never should have sold ours… 🙁

Never buy a ‘cheap’ Disco!

Daihatsu Sportrak or Fourtrak – tough as old nails which is why you see so many farmers with old ones still working hard…

Airborne

for agricultural look for a santana – fitted with 2.8 iveco engines, pretty spartan, but cheap for what you get

I knew an expedition company that ran them

suzuki jiminy. Yes its a hair dressers car but its also surprisingly capable off road. Cheap to run as well.

Our Forester is ace. Will do anything a big off-roader does, and drives like a car on tarmac. Parked next to a Discovery on a sloping carpark once and could see that it had nearly the same ground clearance, bar 1/2″.

2.0X, non turbo, 05 plate. Fast enough, and not too bad on fuel.

unless I find a good cheap (moon on a stick) Defender.

Not planning on doing many road miles then?

51 plate Forester S here – goes like stink and handles like a ‘normal’ car. Likes petrol though…

we love our panda 4×4…

Panda 4×4 FTW.

If my impreza is anything to go by the forester with more ground clearance sounds good. Both have h/l ratio box, and mine with winter tyres could pull small trucks up snowed up inclines.

Suzuki Vitara? Small, cheap, good off road (YouTube some videos)

Lada Riva

Imo get a 4×4 car. Most commercial 4x4s are designed to be driven with weight in them. Wednesday was the first time in ages I drove my works 4×4 without anything in it and imo it drove terrible and was glad when it was loaded back up.

My mate wants to sell his very nice (but quite old) Subaru Forester.

my folks have just got a suzuki grand vitara, which i wanted to hate, but after driving it over a rocky beach, I was quite impressed, and cheap as chips, X-trail before it though, which was better until a £1600 fuel pump issue…

On the Jimny can you relocate the indicator stalk? Bar that it’d be a good choice.

We were close to buying a Forester, very good car and great for biking/load carrying. In the end we went for an A6 Quattro which was only slightly more money but had a superior interior, downside was less ground clearance and load carrying. The A6 has outstanding grip in snow even with stock tyres

don’t discount the X trail you’ll get lots of comments about the turbo issue, this related to the early ones.

my experiance has been 162,000 with no turbo issues… in tis mileage its had one set of discs, 2 X anti rollbar bushes and a sump(it went rusty)….

Mate of mine used to work in Grizedale Forrest. Any old van would do, he just used to stick rally tyres on it…. He’s also quite handy in a rally car round there too

1 big thing you forgot to post
Why a 4×4? What do you need it for?
I’ve driven and owned quite a few……..
My Freelander was much better on certain off road trails than my Defender and the Defender was trounced on certain off road events by a Jimny so it all depends what you need it for…..