Well, as title really. I now live in South Australia, which, whilst having more sealed roads than you’d think, it still has plenty that aren’t. Sadly unless the grader’s been near them within the past month or so, they make our poor little Hyundai sound like all 4 wheels will fall off at any moment. Also, as well as gravel roads, there are quite a few rougher tracks that a normal car simply can’t do.

Sooo…. I’m looking for a 4wd that does have some clearance and real off-road ability without:

a) costing as much as a house
b) driving like one
c) accelerating like one

So far, I’ve got the Subaru Forrester Turbo in my sights, but that seems to have gone very SUV of late. Also, it looks like getting proper off-road tyres for it is an almost-impossibility. I can’t really see much else that fits the bill – any ideas?

what do other people locally drive – probably going to be a better indication of what works than opinions from IT bods in Surrey?

Audi Allroad, Volvo XC70, Skoda Yeti/Scout

Honda CRV

Given the absolutely atrocious driving over here, I’m not sure I’d want to base my opinions on their choices 😉

But it seems that anything looking like it’s ever been remotely off tarmac is either a 30 year old Holden held together by gaffa tape; or a Land Cruiser which fails on all three points, or a Nissan Patrol, which fails on the last two. Can’t fault it off road though (drive one at work), but it’s hardly an everyday car…

Interceptor?

🙂

Skoda Yeti. There’s a great write up in this month’s Evo about their offroad ability – they drive like a proper car, too by all accounts. I kind of want one.

http://www.evo.co.uk/carreviews/evocarreviews/249400/skoda_yeti_road_test_review.html

freelander 2
-loads of torque
-comfortable ride
-35 mpg

against
-price might be high, don’t know about second hand cost of them
-reliability in Oz (reasonable in uk)

if it was my money i would have a land cruiser out there (or a LR defender) but judging you by your post you really won’t put up with one of those 🙂

Hilux 4 Cab?

[edit] its worth test driving in a Subaru Forrester, they handle a lot better than you think they will 😉

if it was my money i would have a land cruiser out there (or a LR defender) but judging you by your post you really won’t put up with one of those

Well, I could tone down my boy-racer tendencies I suppose, but I very much doubt whether my wife could park it! Plus, at $100k over here, I certainly can’t afford it. I know a lot of these cars can go on forever, but that very much depends on previous maintenance, and out here, i’d rather have (nearly) new. Also depreciation very low, so a new car in most cases makes more sense if you can afford it with warranties and servicing deals etc, whereas you’d pay almost as much for a 2-3 year old model. Sadly LRs are hideously expensive over here.

Skoda Yeti sounds interesting, and I liked the look of it on Top Gear the other night (amazing what falls down your phone line 😉 ), but isn’t there quite a wait on them?

Hilux is just as big as an LC, if admittedly somewhat cheaper…

EDIT:

[edit] its worth test driving in a Subaru Forrester, they handle a lot better than you think they will

I suspect it will, and it is the current favourite idea, but I’m a little concerned that the latest versions seem to be pretty low and plasticy – it seems to have gone from poor-man’s (fast) LR to poor-man’s BMW X3 from the outside at any rate. Also, I don’t think it has locking diffs or low-ratio any more, which with a lower compression ratio of a petrol doesn’t thrill me for descending steep loose surfaces.

Fiat panda 4×4

Vitara or similar? I’d imagine Jap cars are pretty well priced in Oz?

You know you really want a Holden V8 ute with the country pack….

2.5XT Forester. You’ll never stop laughing.

How about a humble Ford Focus?
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I would have thought one of these would fit the bill.

Clearly more offroad than road, I’d rather have a bit of a pig on the road and arrive, than a compronmise offroad and not. 😉

Real experience on road with the Landcruiser is one of a happy user and not too bad on road.

I would suggest that the two requirments are mutually exclusive. Good off road capability needs high ground clearance which won’t help handling. It needs big knobbly tyres which don’t grip. It needs long soft suspension which isn’t good for the road. The only stuff that come close is LR Disco or RR both which have whopping clearance yet do a million miles an hour with comfort. Things like the Subarus have good performance off road—–for a car. Thats it. Everything is a compromise.

May seem an odd suggestion, but the current Suzuki Vitara is pretty decent on road and actually suprisingly good off it. Low ratio box, locking diffs… Mine has done 80k miles or there abouts in the last 3 years.

My mate lives over in the Adelaide Hills – for much the same reason as you he wound up with a Nissan Patrol – lovely vehicle… not so great on the tarmac if you like going fast I grant you, but tough as old boots 🙂

Subaru or Skoda Octavia Scout. The YouTube videos of the Scout are quite impressive

I remember there being some reality TV show when I was young where they had a similar challenge with roads. This was the family car:

You can probably get a comparable Holden more cheaply in your neck of the woods.

Nissan X Trail. Better off road than the CRV and Rav4 still handles well and is comfy on road. If you need more off road capability than this then really your looking for a Landcruiser. Not being funny but something diesel with a modified air intake to avoid water ingress may be an idea if the rain keeps falling. Are you anywhere near the flooded area’s?

Subaru outback. End of discussion

Subaru Outback. surely the name gives it away…

When I was in NZ a few years ago, there were a few “Gravel Express” Imprezzas kicking about, hunt one of those down for something smaller?
o

Thanks for your suggestions so far everyone. A night trawling dire youtube comparisons and dealers’ websites has now got me a shortlonglist. Bearing in mind depreciation here is very low – my only question to myself finances-wise is whether I want finance over 2 years and then really have to eat the horrible interest rates, or try to live like a pauper for 1 year…. (When the interest rate for an unsecured loan is 14%, you kind of think about these things….)

So, it appears bang on budget are:

Suzuki Vitara
Nissan X-Trail
Subaru Forester (or outback)
Bizarrely – a Landy 90

Just over:

Freelander2
Defender 110

Just over that:
Landcruiser Prado (baby landcruiser)
Nissan Patrol

I guess my next question that will only be answered with a few test drives to see if I can live with (or would truly need) proper off road ability and its downsides for a road car. (Or, whether I really need it to pretend to be a fast car, and can be quite happy bouncing around in a Defender / Patrol). The ideal car it seems would be a Disco, but they are well out of my grasp!

Disco’s are just about the most unreliable 4×4 ever made, dont know what the later ones are like. Try this site for some info on models. Common probs often come up and their are plenty of owners from Oz and NZ on here.

http://www.carsurvey.org/

Current car is a Freelander. Previous was a Grand Vitara. Both for the same sort of reasons as OP – crap roads, stupid steep hills and tropical rainstorms resulting in regular need of proper off road capacity.

The Suzuki was great and the Freelander is poor ….and unreliable ….and stupid expensive to run…. and a nightmare for spares…. and rubbish on tarmac, but OK in the dirt. As soon as all the ducks get into a row I’m either going back to Suzuki or on to Subaru Forester. Pity the latter didn’t go through a design process. The Suzuki is the standard answer here.

Seeing as you’ve had plenty of answers totally out of line with your requirements, I’ll chuck my personal vehicle in the hat.

2007 Ford Ranger Thunder.

Leather, 5 seats, air-con, 6-disc CD/MP3 player, all electrics, drives not far off like a car (doesn’t wallow), masses of ground clearance, selectable 4wd, plenty of room for (dirty) bikes – I hose mine out when it gets muddy. 2.5l TDCi 140bhp, upgraded to 170bhp for £300, 30mpg.

It is big though at 5mtrs long

Skoda Yeti?

Has anyone mentioned a Skoda Yeti yet?

Nissan X-Trail would be my choice. I had one of the previous generation models and it was pretty reliable and capable.

Have you thought about one of these?

Not sure what they’re called, but they look quite handy…

This will more than likely be my next 4×4 – released here Autumn, but already on the road in Oz I believe…

Or maybe this, due 2012…

Ford Kuga? Never driven one, or even been near one but its based on the focus chassis and is supposed to drive almost like one on the road. Comes in 2 and 4 wheel drive. Don’t know if its available down aus…

Someone mentioned the x trail – I had one as a hire car and was impressed with it.

Forester, as soon as money permits I’m buying one again- hilarious fun, sideways – mine wasn’t the fastest straight-line but through peaks/yorkshire/saddleworth backroads utterly butterly fun.

Better than sex with Sienna Miller

The legacy I had afterwards was grownup and dull utterly dull by comparison.

There are a lot of good suggestions on here unless you are a farmer and you need a Defender and have a garage full of spares like I do, stay well clear of anything with a Landrover badge on it or you will have a world of pain keeping it on the road. They are fantastic for 4×4 offroad trials but utterly hopeless on the road for everyday use. You have been warned. Ignore all those who have them as company cars etc because they don’t have to pay for the repairs and they usually get shot after three years. They hate admitting they’ve bought a pile of junk. Anything Japanese should be fine.

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/manufacturer

Look at the last placed manufacturer YEP its Landrover!

Nothing comes close to this :- http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/78

Well, after test-driving both a Forester Turbo, and a Freelander 2, I have to say the freelander was a much more impressive vehicle. Maybe a leap of faith, but it looks like the FL2 seems to have lost LRs reputation for unreliability from some scouring of the web – most informed reviews (with the exception of the “all LRs fall apart” comments) seemed resoundingly positive.

We just bought one of these

Suzuki Grand Vitara DDS. 1.9 Turbo Diesel, full time 4 wheel drive with all the fancy locking diff nonsense. Got to say I’m impressed with it and it takes a lot for me to say that.

Just a shame it’s the wifes car 🙁

Lada Niva

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL2umX0WuMg[/video]