"best" 4x4 off and on road

[BigF]

I have owned a series Land Rover and a 110. Both would be considered end of life I guess.

It's these that folks pick up as toys, the problems are rarely mechanical. Rust kills Land Rovers. Once you start patching you are into an annual cycle for every MOT.
First the rear cross member and the out riggers go. Then the bottom of the bulkhead in the foot wells. Finally the top of the bulkhead around the windscreen hinges.
If there was no MOT you are still good for 100,000 miles and over that time all the annoying rattles would quieten down as the offending bits fell off.


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[Devonian]

I have owned a series Land Rover and a 110. Both would be considered end of life I guess.

It's these that folks pick up as toys, the problems are rarely mechanical. Rust kills Land Rovers. Once you start patching you are into an annual cycle for every MOT.
First the rear cross member and the out riggers go. Then the bottom of the bulkhead in the foot wells. Finally the top of the bulkhead around the windscreen hinges.
If there was no MOT you are still good for 100,000 miles and over that time all the annoying rattles would quieten down as the offending bits fell off.


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But if you are talking about a Series, it was probably 25+ years old, how many 25+ year old Nissan's/Toyota's/Suzuki etc do you see on the road?


Answer: None!

[tanstaafl]

I drive a 25 year old Pajero and cant really fault it, I got all the "Why do you want a thirsty 4x4" , from all my friends and family, but so far every one of them has borrowed it , does it all for me, even moved house with it , loads of room (7 seats), I don't do much off roading but by all accounts it pretty good.....

Also a vote for the Toyota LandCruiser

Has been mentioned that parts are dear for the Far East stuff, local dealer wanted £300 for full exhaust , but got new one off eBay for just over £100, the mechanic who fitted it said the quality was top notch.........

Some dealers seem to be living in the past, the days of problems getting stuff from the other side of the world are long gone..............

[omega man]

Another vote for the mitsubishi Pajero!
22yrs old and strong as an ox! such a simple machine to work on, kept correctly maintained will last forever.. just changed cam belt and done full service on mine and expect another 100k +
Plus loads more on the comfort scale than the landy!
OM

[Fozzie]

how many 25+ year old Nissan's/Toyota's/Suzuki etc do you see on the road?


Answer: None!

Got a legitimate source to prove that statement by chance?

[preparedsurrey]

Not wanting to get involved in an arguement but I quite regularly see older Jap 4x4's in regular use. Probably the reason you don't see that many seriously old ones is they just weren't sold in any quantity here at that point + Exporters have had most of the Jap stuff that comes up for sale and was still half decent or could be used for spares. They don't bother buying Landrovers to export they just steal them......

Another reason for the lack of older Japanese 4x4's was imports, these were never underseal or sprayed with any kind of underbody protection when they were supplied for the Japanese Domestic Market. The first thing we did when we were selling them was to plaster them with wax oil or underseal as they came off the docks, a lot of dealers never bothered as doing it costs time and money - this had predictable results after a few years of driving on Britains salted roads.

And the last Series Landrovers I can remember were around 1983/4 ish so that makes them 30+ years old at the youngest...

[Devonian]

how many 25+ year old Nissan's/Toyota's/Suzuki etc do you see on the road?


Answer: None!

Got a legitimate source to prove that statement by chance?

Nope, cos there are so few in existence as they've all been scrapped

But it's a well establish fact that around 70-80% of all Land Rovers ever produced since 1948 are still on the road (and yes we all know the joke that the other 20% made it to their destination LOL!)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/cla ... Rover.html

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/clima ... y-you-know

http://www.superbrands.com/lkc1/pdf/26_consumerSB.pdf

[grenfell]

I don't have a great experience with 4x4's , a friend had a pajero and loved it despite as he said it being somewhat uneconomical to run and being surprisingly small on the inside for the size of the vehical. He eventually swopped it for a transit but did miss his pajero. I've also had friends with a discovery who had nothing bad to say about it although after they rolled it it ended up in the scrapyard.
My own experience has been with a ford ranger which I wouldn't say was my favourite vehical. I found the handling and visability poor. It wasn't my own although I drove it quite often. The regular driver ( it being a company vehicle) did say that with a heavy foot he could easily get the fuel consumption down to 10 mpg or less.

[unsure]

it really makes no difference to what you end up with , british , german , jap or even korean . so long as your happy with it thats all that matters .
i have a landrover , a friend has a musso and a late friend who died very recently had a lada .
so it really is each to there own .

[omega man]

here here, whatever suits you, regardless of make it really is a matter of correct maintenance, I did forget to add my mitzy was a jap import (2005) as somebody mentioned.. and that is a good way of getting a low mileage winner!

All 4x4's are a heap of fun not to mention the each preppers personal BOV

OM