Xc70

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 4×4 ( 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.

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

+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 4×4 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 4×4 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 4×4 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 4×4 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 4×4, 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.

P1070836 (Medium) by nickjb, 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.

I’ve been in one of those Panda 4×4’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!!