I live in a small village in Cumbria and am thinking of trading up to a 4×4 as we suffer from very poor roads and lots and lots of floods (upto 3 foot deep). Been looking at Honda CRV 2.2 Diesls and Kia Sportages 2.0D.

Over to the singletrack forum members for some clevery consoidered advice.

Currently driving a mitsubishi Lancer estate.

Plastic

Legnum VR4 buddy. You've already got a Lancer estate. It's a Galant estate, with a twin-turbo V6 and AWD, active yaw control, all the fancy stuff that comes on the Evos, and a version of the tiptronic gearbox used in Porsches.

Skoda Yeti

Skoda Octavia 4×4, Scout or Yeti.

Failing that defender 90/110.

Dare I say it, don't take any of them through 3 foot of flood water! It may void your warranty 😯 😀

In all the 4X4 threads I see, I don't think I've ever seen one of these mentioned. Is there any reason?

I have often thought about getting one, 4X4, lots of seats and room for bikes and quite important it's narrow.
Superceded by the Pathfinder.

Pic Link fail

Currently have an X-Trail, 02 model. Test drove a few recently looking for a replacement, only thing that comes close is the new one. It's classed as a soft roader but in reality it's very good with decent tyres. Got grabbers on mine and it will do 90% of what a defender will but in far greater comfort

For three foot floods, UniMog, BV206 or a tractor. And only if lives depended on going through them.

If you actually want to be able to get about in floods, your choice of vehicle is going to be dictated by the height of the air intake. You'll need a full snorkel setup for that kind of depth of water. And you'll get dirty water inside the car.

So on that grounds, you need a Land Rover Defender, with everything vinyl so you can wash it out.

For the other 364 days of the year, it would be the worst car in the world.

I doubt any of the "soft roaders" are rated by the manufacturer for any depth of water, so you're talking your own chances.

Personally, the best cars I've had for comfy rides on crappy roads are Citroens – softly sprung but still reasonably nice to drive. And that's the route I'd go down – a car that can handle poor roads, and is nice for the majority of the year. I'd either get shares in an old Landy with all the snorkelling gear with my neighbours, or a John Deere, or just do what lots of country folk do and have a full size freezer full of food. If there's a medical emergency, someone will get you out, and no boss is going to begrudge you for not coming in if you've had to fit a keel to your sofa.

A plastic 4×4 won't get you through 3 feet of flood water, not that you should be trying to drive through that depth of moving water – it exerts a huge force on the side of a vehicle and can easily wash any vehicle that is practical/in the average person's price range away.

If the water isn't fast flowing – a Defender with a snorkel. Just don't expect it to accelerate/stop/corner/exist like a normal car. If you do get one, get professional instruction on how to drive one/when not to drive one.

Toyota Landcruiser. The favourite of the militia. 😛

Yes, they are good.

Agree with Chewkw, get one thats a few years old. Check the air intake height and if need be enquire about a mod.

If I lived somewhere remote etc I wouldn't buy a Defender or Disco.

Im looking for a new softroader too.

Just moved out to a spot where the roads arent cleared and there's regular snowing in. Thinking more of a large family car (there's now 4 of us) with 4WD. Im getting rid of a little front wheel drive citroe pisspot and retiring the vw camper which Ive been using for moving stuff. I just want to use the one car and keep the VW under tarp except for trips.

Ive been thinking KIA Sorento, Hynudai Santa Fe, Honda CRV or scoobie. ANyone got any recommendation for c.£10k <40,000miler diesel manual?

Stoner, careful on softroaders. Forester is an amazing car in the snow etc but its nowhere near good enough to tackle tricky damaged lanes.

Winter or snow tyres are the answer!

Neither the Honda or Kia will get through 3 foot of water unscathed. It isn't SUV territory that you are in, it is proper 4×4 territory, along the lines of 90/110 Defender, old Nissan Terrano, Patrol etc. Something with ground clearance & a high/low range gearbox.

For a softroader the Kia Sportage is OK, we've got a Hyundai Tucson which is basically the same car and it is OK, crap all boot space though and for towing a lousy noseweight allowance of 70kg, but more car like than some of the others. Quite economical on fuel though.

A softie – CRV or RAV. Otherwise a proper thing, i.e. LandCruiser.

New Kia Sportage looks very nice to me – decent engine but isn't a proper 4wd as it is pretty much part-time until it is needed. Looks suggests it is well tough but it's Korean so perhaps built for looks rather than true toughness. Reports online suggest it is a good car with plenty of extras as standard but the drive isn't as good as others.

Legnum VR4 – had one and would love another (if the running costs were much lower!) – very good car in all aspects apart from fuel consumption and service intervals – if you can cover those off then it is a superb vehicle.

3 foot of water though – what kind of job do you do where it requires you to get through 3 foot of water? Unless you are getting paid a 6-figure sum I'd suggest you call in and report you can't make it in…

I'm coming round to the idea of a small 4wd. The reason is that councils seem not to be able to fix the roads these days.

The problem I have is the lack of economical options. 4WD's aren't aerodynamic, have big fuel sapping tyres and lots of additional heavy running gear. The smallest 4WD's have almost no carrying capacity.

There is definitely a growing need for a normal car that can handle potholes and other defects, but also take speedhumps in their stride.

If I lived in the Lakes or similar terrain, I'd definitely have a set of winter tyres stored in the garage for when the season changes.

3 foot of flood water good luck. My advise there would be stay indoors in the dry.

Mate, we have pot holes in London and thats not an excuse to buy a 4×4!! Such vehiclles use more resources to be made, more resources to be operated, take up more road and parking space and if you collide with something or someone (someone's child, a cyclist maybe?) you will do more damage than if you were in a lower, lighter, more soft nosed vehicle. Being fortunate enough to live somewhere rural doen't give you the excuse to be so selfish – examine yuor conscience!! They buy something smaller.

I'm patiently waiting for these to be launched in the UK. Not brilliant clearance but very very basic and cheap

http://www.lincah.com/2010-dacia-duster

Don't need a 4wd for 3 feet of floodwater.

My Transporter T5 managed water up to the bonnet once. ….

Although the intake is very high, I was lucky. Never again!!!!!

Mate, we have pot holes in London and thats not an excuse to buy a 4×4!! Such vehiclles use more resources to be made, more resources to be operated, take up more road and parking space and if you collide with something or someone (someone's child, a cyclist maybe?) you will do more damage than if you were in a lower, lighter, more soft nosed vehicle. Being fortunate enough to live somewhere rural doen't give you the excuse to be so selfish – examine yuor conscience!! They buy something smaller.

I COULD NOT AGREE MORE!

That's why i've been driving a normal car for the past 10 years. One that easily does 65mpg on the run and 40 odd round town. There are lots of weigh saving aluminium components in the running gear and engine (a 1.9Tdi). The car is useless on speed humps due to being so low sprung, unless you proceed with great care. My car has more room than it's 4WD counterpart (by a margin), but most people covet a 4WD over the now "run of the mill" exec, estates.

What we need is a similar vehicle to what I currently have, but can handle the shocking local roads. It's not just urban roads, but rural ones too.

Most modern cars have big wheels and low profile tyres. Maybe we should go back to 14" wheels with deeper walled tyres that will soak up the bumps. Soft suspension is good for comfort, but useless for road handling, so the ideal would be if the **** councils got their fingers out and kept the roads up to standard!

hora – Member

I'm patiently waiting for these to be launched in the UK. Not brilliant clearance but very very basic and cheap

http://www.lincah.com/2010-dacia-duster

You have been watching Top Gear! 😆

But seriously, we need more utility type vehicles at sensible prices.

I'm coming round to the idea of a small 4wd. The reason is that councils seem not to be able to fix the roads these days.

The problem I have is the lack of economical options. 4WD's aren't aerodynamic, have big fuel sapping tyres and lots of additional heavy running gear. The smallest 4WD's have almost no carrying capacity.

There is definitely a growing need for a normal car that can handle potholes and other defects, but also take speedhumps in their stride.

That's exactly why the Qashqai has been a huge success. Cosseting ride, decent boot space, 2WD or 4WD depending on preference, very similar footprint and price to the typical Golf/Focus/Astra hatches.

hora,

The duster looks an excellent car and much needed return to simplicity and ruggedness

Saw a few of those Dusters when I was driving in France a couple of weeks back, and thought they looked pretty good in the flesh

s/h late model Freelander diesel?

£10k will get you a pre-new-model high spec.

My wife has one; handles pretty much anything you'd normally want to.

SG – agree about wheels and tyres.Wheels have got to silly sizes, tyres are so low profile they half kill the passengers. All design led faddy silliness.

To the OP – Skoda Trying getting cracking reviews and cheap to run too. Considering one myself to eventually replace our current 4×4.

Mitzi Paj pinin for similar reasons here, its the only "baby" 4wd with low ratio and diff lock.

as with all 4wd, its the tyres that really matter – Grabber AT2's 8)

given the choice again, and the time of year you're buying… I'd be going for an 8 or 10 year old suz Jimny for off road fun and a normal car for everyday use.

Being fortunate enough to live somewhere rural doen't give you the excuse to be so selfish – examine yuor conscience!!

FFS – where do you get off being such a self-righteous **** git? Really gets on my wick when people take lazy potshots at other people's life choices without absolute transparency about their own.

I found myself in a similar situation earlier this year, and ended up going for a 5 door Rav 4. Did look seriously at the X-Trail, but couldn't find one with a reasonable mileage in my price range. Considered the old type CR-V, as it's considerably more roomy inside, but the 4 wheel drive only kicks in when it thinks it's needed, and it's a bit wallowy for my liking.

I use the Rav for a combination of road driving and driving up the rough access track to the bunkhouse where a fair bit of my work takes place. It deals okay with the loose potholed surface of the access track, and it's got reasonable boot space, especially if you slide the back seats forward a bit when they're not in use. Got it fitted with a towbar, and it pulls itself and a luggage trailer or 6 bike carrier up and down the hill quite happily.

X5 or Range Rover are the best on the road

That's exactly why the Qashqai has been a huge success. Cosseting ride, decent boot space, 2WD or 4WD depending on preference, very similar footprint and price to the typical Golf/Focus/Astra hatches.

I know, my wife has had one for 3 years.

It's a rather gutless 1.5Tdi 2WD variant which is rather mediocre on fuel.

It rattles like a bag of bolts and clunks over bumps like it's about to come apart, even after we got the rear shocks replaced under warranty (a widespread Qashqai fault). Took ages to get them to sort this out too.

The servicing cost make a Mercedes look cheap to run and the dealership experience has been truly painful! Wifey booked it in for it's first service at 12 months and didn't ask the price. We got a bill for £330!? Daylight robbery, but this was the official Nissan service cost for that interval.

It also eats front tyres, probably due to the high centre of gravity/body roll.

Buying this vehicle was a BIG mistake!

I'd chance a Toyota, Honda (these are great), Mitsubishi, or Suzuki, but never another Nissan!

My brother has a Sportage. Doesnt do many miles but has been 100% reliable lugging his caravan around. Pretty sure its the same 138hp engine thats in the X-Trail. Brother in law has a Sorrento, big lumbering wallowy thing thats god-awful to drive. Again, used as a caravan tow-car & does a good job but struggles to see 25mpg, 15-18 with a caravan on the thing.
If you like garages a Freelander should keep you happy, but parts are cheap so dont write one off.
My choice would be a Rav-4 or a CRV.
And driving through 3ft of water is best done in someone elses car. 😉

we manage fine with a Skoda Octavia and Transit van on Cumbrais poor roads and floods, when the water is up or the snow is too heavy we have a large freezer and a well stocked cellar

On the Dacia, it was a Sondero featured on TG.

I'm patiently waiting as I'd definitely pay for a nearly new Duster if they really do sell for 10.8k new. Imagine buying an ex-demonstrator etc for 7k 🙂

A fantastic bike carrier 🙂

Slaps face with hand. Why didn't I think of the Jimny? Amazingly bad on a motorway and amazingly good for what you need it for. It may need a slight amendment but there are plenty of companies that offer these for self-fit.

Back to the Dacia Duster. Watch this space, it will be the STW'ers 'what car to do it all' Drug.Of.Choice soon…

If the roads where live are ropey, or there are big speed humps, you don't need a 4×4. You might want one, but a softly sprung car will do the job.

Due to the laws of physics, you choose between a very firmly sprung 4×4 with decent body control or a softly sprung 4×4 that wallows around. Or a 4×4 that doesn't really do off road properly.

tron you are still describing the Jimny there. Hence why its soo bad on motorways- really light body and very soft suspension.

What about a Jeep Grand Cherokee? Not sure how much you want to spend but they are very capable off road (even as standard) and you get alot for your money. Maybe find one converted to LPG, or run a diesel on Veggie oil to keep fuel costs down.