"best" 4x4 off and on road

[ojiu0u4]

Hi,

I am seeking recommendations of the good and the ugly for what to get, or avoid, when getting a 4x4 which will be used as a day to day road car, but also needs to be good enough off road for green laning at the weekend and off roading.

I will look at both new and second hand. I have been considering a defender 110 utility (four seater with boot for dog and BO kit). My primary consideration is reliability. I do not want to have to fix it every two seconds. Running costs for fuel economy and insurance. Day to day practicality such as motorway / turning circle / heater / air con, it does not need to be all swanky and a new defender with the optional extras is not too basic. Ability to carry BO equipment plus muddy dog, four seats, boot, bike rack, tow small trailer. Off road ability for green laning and fording water, get up/down hill off road and make it through mud and snow,get up fire trails, but we are not taking part in Paris Dakar rally or trying to win off roader extreme medal, but going to need hi / low / diff stuff.

So suggestions I have had are,110 utility, Toyota hilux, Nissan nivaru, Ford ranger. I am open to any suggestions. So let me know what you think, good and bad, what would suit my needs for a capable off roader that is practical day to day road car....?

[Devonian]

110 or if you want a better road bias, a Discovery.

[unsure]

in short as this has been covered a few times .
slice me in half and it`ll say land rover trough and through , parts are readily available and at a reasonable price .dicovery 1 will run on veg oil any thing after that have to many electrics for me , be it in a td5 injector loom right up to the discovery 3 / 4 elec hand brake box . just about all have their own qwerks and faults . its all down to personal choice , jap stuff is more reliable but generally cost more to maintain and repair .

[preparedsurrey]

I would try to have a test drive in a few vehicles first from main dealers, a lot will depend on your budget and level of ability when it comes to maintenance to maintain reliability, modern 4x4s have an awful lot of electronics and sensors that will eventually cause you problems especially if you regularly go wading with it. An alternative to the defender of you could find one would be a Land cruiser troop carrier but they are few and far between in the UK, whatever you buy will be bad on fuel, it's just the nature of what they are

[poppypiesdad]

Best 4x4 ever Nissan patrol y61, comfort massive off road ability and well the UN and red cross use them
Ford ranger just for the 3.5ton towing but a pick up .... Crap
Avoid all modern land rover and discoveries like the plague

Go for series 2 l/rovers easy simple uncomplicated fixes
j

[Cernunnos]

This is mine,a J reg Disco and as per, some folks love em, some hate em, but its as basic and fixable as they come, although not as cheap in fuel as your usual family car, (none of them are) it will take a bashing,taken every green lane and more,I have thrown at it, and keeps on truckin.

[Fozzie]

Do you have any sort of limit money-wise, as this would be the guiding factor.

Do you wish to modify the vehicle into being capable or want to buy one out the box already sorted?

Firstly, I would personally discount anything diesel from 2006 onwards which is when DPF's started to be fitted.
I would also discount the majority of 2007 onwards vehicles as that's when CANBUS became the norm. Day to day, it's not a big issue but if you try to do tings like fit a towbar with the electronics required, you have to take it somewhere to reprogram so it's "ready to tow" in the computer's mind - The only exception to this would be vehicles that already come out the dealer setup exactly how you wish

How deep a water are we talking about fording and how far off road are we thinking? Snow is a different kettle of fish altogether and can embarass a lot of 4x4 if shod with the wrong tyres and the wrong settings on the car.

My suggestions would be:
Toyota LandCruiser Troop Carrier, which I believe is the 105 Series - although very rare in the UK and would be grey import only
Toyota LandCruiser 200 Series - called the "Landcruiser V8"
Toyota Landcruiser 100 Series - sometimes called the V8, sometimes called the Amazon.

The above vehicles have been so reliable on the world stage the UN has been using them for ages and still do where they go places where the AA doesn't cover. It's also the first choice for people in the Outback in Oz. I've yet to see one stuck in snow or broken down. The 4.7 Petrol V8 engine that was used in the above vehicles was amazingly reliable and would be my first choice - it drinks a bit but the reassurance of reliability, to me, would be worth it - just my 2pence

The smaller 80, 120, 150 series Landcruise Colorados, "New Landcruiser" and Prados would also be worth a look, as would the Lexus GX and LX equivalents.

I'd also be looking at the Mercedes G-Wagon, these are used by a lot of militaries, still to this day. I believe some of 80's ones had a few hiccups in reliability though.

If you were looking to spend 80% of your time on the road, I would also be looking at the Subaru Forester 2.0N/A engine'd version with dual range gearbox. There's also a 2.0 turbo model if you need some speed in your life. The Foresters drink a lot less fuel vs the "trucks" above, however they're based on car style chassis, not truck ladder frame chassis. These cars use a lot of the same parts as the Impreza car, which is known for being tough in the World Rally Charmpionships of the 90's and 00's. Subaru is the only AWD system I know of that is capable in the snow - I know, I drive one! and I've passed many a "proper" 4x4 stuck in snow. The down side to the Forester is ground clearance which can be solved with lift kits. The Ozzy's love their Foresters and do all sorts of off-roading bolt on kits, including snorkels etc. Since so many people crash Imprezas, there's always a good supply of used parts in breaker's yard for the Forester.

I you wanted more space than a Subaru Forester but still wanted to a road bias'ed but capable vehicle, you could do worse than look at the 3.0H6 Legacy Outback, these have more space inside and the same symmetrical AWD system as the Forester. Again you can get lift kits etc for these too.

I'll keep my opinions of Land Rover reliability to myself
No matter the vehicle, if shod with summer oriented tyres, will perform poorly in winter, snow and offroad conditions, as that's your only contact with the surface

Just my 2pence

[unsure]

i repair land rovers every working day .
the reliability issues are caused by lazy people who can`t be bothered to keep to the maintenance schedule the cry because it has broken down . that and the other side is those that by what can only be termed end of life vehicles the complain about them .
if you can do basic stuff like oil changes and such like ,then your half way there . as for fuel economy , i run mine of mix of diesel and used filtered veg oil . this is the cheapest way to run them , in summer months i run it 90% veg oil .
even new veg oil is cheaper than diesel at the minute .12.99 for 20 ltr . if you can afford to buy it in bulk then all the better . i asked my wife why one container had less in then the others ,, the answer was simple . ` ive been frying your bacon in it for weeks ` so its a win win for me .

[Curious George]

Best I have owned, and I have had more than a few, is the Discovery 4. Loads of space in the back & is the ideal every event car.

[Devonian]

As Unsure say's, don't believe what people tell you about Land Rovers and poor reliability it seems to be an ever growing urban myth, after all just look at the numbers of Old Land Rovers including Disco's, Defenders, 90's, 110's, Series III/II/I etc that are still on the road - that alone has to be testament to something and there is a very good reason for it, in that they just keep going and going and going, and even when they do break, they are easy and cheap to repair - unlike the Japanese motors!

I've been driving a Defender TD5 (yes with an ECU) and it is regularly abused off road, but it's never let me down, and neither have any of the LR's in the group that I go out with, but we have rescue/recovered plenty of Japanese motors