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 4x4 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 4x4 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...
[img] 
[/img]
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 4x4. Why buy a Warrior etc etc unless you work in a forest. Lifestyle 4x4 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 4x4, about as compact a 4x as its possible to find, and its a proper 4x4 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.
I do work in a forest, of sorts. Panda 4x4 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 4x4, 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.
Not planning on doing many road miles then?unless I find a good cheap (moon on a stick) Defender.
51 plate Forester S here - goes like stink and handles like a 'normal' car. Likes petrol though...
we love our panda 4x4...
Panda 4x4 FTW.
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
[img] 
[/img]
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 4x4 car. Most commercial 4x4s are designed to be driven with weight in them. Wednesday was the first time in ages I drove my works 4x4 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 4x4? 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.....
Xc70
[img] 
[/img]
If you want old and reliable, a Mk1 Honda CRV. Proper off roadable. Fuel tank has a protective guard - don't ask me how I know 😳 . Still see plenty around, and cheap enough that you worry about being muddy!
You said no fuss - discount anything from the rover family - defender , discovery , range rover - they are more of a hobby than a car unless you can sink lots of money into nearly new ....... And even then thats no guarantee as the guysnwith rangey sports at work are finding out
My money would buy a jimny or vitara for a no fuss 4x4 ( note these are not cars and are horrific to live with but great road, jimny is cramped and you feel like your on the passengers lap
Matt_outandabout, I SO want one of those Pandas now, seeing those pics! Awesome fun, and just perfect for most of the driving I do.
[img] 
[/img]
All depends what you want it for. Anything will get round with proper tyres. Bigger decision if you want to go proper off road.
Is it a toy or do you have to live with it.
Was surprised that the load space in the forrester was worse than the octavia in terms of useable space.
Best off roaders I have had have been hire cars.
my mil has an x trail, its good to drive and does 40ish to the gallon.
but not long after she got it there was a problem with the fuel pump, almost 2k to fix it, (warranty, thank goodness) and not long after that the turbo went.
until that happened i had been thinking about one for my wife.
subaru forrester looks good like.
Surprised no one has mentioned the Ford Ranger relatively cheap and capable,also tyre choice will make a big difference to any vehicles off road driving.
bedwasboy - Member
Surprised no one has mentioned the Ford Ranger relatively cheap and capable,also tyre choice will make a big difference to any vehicles off road driving.
POSTED 37 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST
The op wants something compact. I love my ranger, but it's a ball ache to parallel park into a regular sized space.
T25 Syncro
[img] 
[/img]
+1 for the X-Trail, I've been mighty pleased with mine, make sure you get a 2006 onwards model with the improved 2.2l diesel engine. 100k on mine and it runs very nicely.
One thing to point out on the Forester if you go for the X- the seats aren't the most grippy. I had to hook my left arm under the captains armrest to stop me from ending up in the front passengers window 😆
Thanks all. Yeah I had originally considered a Ranger and similar ilk as we use them at work and would be great if I didn't live in the village centre that I do.
For those who wanted to know what I wanted a 4x4 for, I shall elaborate. Firstly, I dont want to do competitave off-roading. I live in rural northumberland and work in rural northumberland. My commute would require at least a 4x4 car in winter as I cross some high rural areas of the NP etc. I work on a large estate and often have to drive up tracks through muddy fields. Nothing serious.
A T25 syncro - if only I could afford a good one! Awesome
Look at the owners reviews on auto trader. What car and Parker's reviews are woeful.
if you don't need space the Jimny is great. very reliable, cheap to buy and run. fine on the roads below 55mph. would probably be terrible in a crash though... My 80 yr old mother has one and loves it - gets them in and out their singletrack dead end road which is a couple of miles long and in winter can be a nono for normal cars fro days at a time
I live in rural northumberland and work in rural northumberland. My commute would require at least a 4x4 car in winter as I cross some high rural areas of the NP etc.
I do similar in the Highlands, including an un-gritted singletrack lane with a 1000' climb up the drive to work. Toyota Yaris with winter tyres on has been perfect, and even been better than the 110's that all the locals drive (try stopping or starting 3 tonnes compared with stopping 1 tonne on ice, physics innit?)
I work on a large estate and often have to drive up tracks through muddy fields. Nothing serious.
Back to the Fiat Panda for the win...
Just got myself a Suzuki Grand Vitara for much the same reasons as you want one. Live in the Brecon Beacons, do a bit of commuting, farming, towing firewood and stock trailers. Picked one up for £1450, 51 plate, 2.0 petrol, 104k on the clock. Engine is perfect, pretty good performance off road (obviously not serious off-road that everyone likes to think they do on their way to work in their hilux). Very impressed so far, would have gone for diesel if I did more miles in it.
Neil
I currently drive a 10yr old Golf estate which is the perfect on-road car for me (except its mushy suspension bottoms out on any lump and bump in the road). It really struggles in the winter though. I guess that's why the Scooby Forester seems like the obvious choice. My budget it £4k which rules out the more modern stuff or the fashion cars. Load space is important in a compact package.
Love the T25 Syncro, but, honestly, a Panda 4x4 would be my weapon of choice; lots of narrow, steep lanes, relatively short distances driven, and getting into small on-street parking spaces = Panda FTW.
I love my Octy, but it gets ever more difficult to justify having a big saloon/hatch. If I can afford a Panda 4x4, that's what I'll go for.
But then, I'm not the OP, so my opinion is of no consequence. 😀
Honda CRV Mk2, cheap to buy and run (switches to 4wd only when it starts to lose traction) nice and reliable Jap tech.
If you want something X trail sized but a lot cheaper, look at a Renault Koleos, they are the same car underneath but the Renault is a whole lot cheaper!
That does depend on whether you can put up with the looks though?
OP buy quick or be prepared to pay more.....4x4s are now seasonal and decent ones sell quick in winter
agree with hora on that
ive had interest in the rot box disco on my back drive recently .....
chassis rotten through !
MX5's - Buy on a wet cold day in Autumn, sell for the same price end of May.
If you own a Jimny, put it up for sale as soon as BBC News says 'bad winter on the way'- it'll FLY out! Then said-buyers will drive it and think 'jesus this is shit on the motorway and the indicator REALLY is annoying' 
I test drove one in a Summer. Characterful but I could see it being annoying.
whats wrong with the indicator hora ?
only jimny ive ever driven had no indicators ....but it did have an ARB diff lock 😀
could have probably indicated by sticking my hand out the passengers window mind - that thing was narrow - no wonder they like to fall over at speed.
MX5's - Buy on a wet cold day in Autumn, sell for the same price end of May.
Sounds no different to buying in May, then selling for the same price in Autumn.. 🙂
Early CR-V, dirt cheap, reliable, fair economy for age and fuel, fine on snow/bit of mud/tracks
Its on the right as opposed to the left. you'd probably get used to it but if you also drove another car it'd be a PITA.
it really isnt ......
i had a hyundai for 2 years with the indicator there.
really shit car but the indicator never bothered me.
but then going stateside and driving on the RHS of road doesnt bother me either
Well yeah- I found driving on the right really easy. Easier.
My sis gave me her '96 2 door Vitara this summer (can't get new baby's pram in it*), I drove it back from Cumbria to northern Spain on the m'ways, interesting handling in crosswinds and a little uncomfortable but not horrible. Was going to scrap it when I got here but will keep it as it's been handy for getting me and the bike up to new trails.
*unfortunately neither will it accommodate more than one bike
Sell it?
Re crosswinds- you can buy long slabs of preformed concrete at B&Q (or used to be able to). One or two right at the back of the boot really helps. They only weigh circa 20kg's- size of a small fence post.
Lovin' our Mitsubishi Delica. Huge space in the back, good off-road, and easy to park in our little city street. Bikes just wheel into the back, doubles as a mini camper.
[url= http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7270/7516154114_5f63293c87.jp g" target="_blank">
[url= http://www.flickr.com/photos/29543606@N00/7516154114/ ]P1070836 (Medium)[/url] by [url= http://www.flickr.com/people/29543606@N00/ ]nickjb[/url], on Flickr
+1for the Delica. Make sure you get proper winter tyres though, not just M+S type treads. The rubber on M+S tyres is too hard to give decent grip when the weather turns cold.
[img]
://[/img]
I've been in one of those Panda 4x4's on a beach before, in loose sand it was mega, just blasted along with no trouble.
A normal 2wd would have got stuck within 50m, but the Panda was amazing.
Mitsubishi Delica - the issue is they dont sell them new/newish (for me). A real pity.
Its on the right as opposed to the left. you'd probably get used to it but if you also drove another car it'd be a PITA.
3 weeks in a HiLux in South Africa last December. 3 months confusion in the VW once back in the UK.
Bet you had clean windows though 😆
Thanks for all the advice STW!
After looking finacially at the issue, Ive decided just to stick some winters on the Golf to get me through the winter and then re-assess in the spring. Chances are I will NEED a new vehicle after the winter!!