looking at getting a 4x4 & looking for your opinions..

[Matt404]

Hi everyone!
I hope it's ok to post this here, sorry if not.....
I'm thinking off getting rid of my focus estate, which im worried is going to get wrecked my my labs, in favour of a 4x4 as I like the extra space & go anywhere ability, much better for chucking my labs in the back too aswell as keeping tools in, aswell as light towing & some greenlaning. I've driven & owned a lot of different cars, but the only 4x4's were a saph cosworth & a 4.6ltr p38 on lpg which was the worst car I've ever bought, was great for a couple of months but it quickly fell apart, I was impressed with the ride quality however but I lost a fortune on it.

I have a £2000 budget & would like something modernish though I know this won't be easy! Maintance isn't an issue, though I don't want to be constantly working on it.

I'm open to suggestions but so far I have come up with these:

2004/2005 mitsu Shogun sport warrior 2.5 td (my favourite as they look great imho, but the seem to have mixed opinions on reliability & ride quality)

2001 Land Rover td5 discovery

Non turbo Subaru forester (unsure about lower ride height & fuel consumption)

Nissan terrano (these seem quite narrow & compact inside)

Frontera 2.8td or 2.0 petrol (bit dated now but still up to the job I think)

Toyota surf (seem over priced for the condition most are in now)

Mitsu Pajero (same as above)

Toyota Land Cruiser, great but even the old ones are still fetching a fortune

Would be great to hear your thoughts & experiences

thanks

Matt

[poppypiesdad]

£2k deposit for a Dacia Duster , for the money they are fantastic.
Other than that stay as simple as possible
Electric this, power that , all lead to problems
Could do worse than a week suzuki jiminy ( spell)

Other than that personal choice.

J

[Matt404]

While I believe the duster to be a good car for the money I'm just not a believer in buying new cars, it's just throwing money away in my opinion, but I'm not getting into that lol.
I was hoping to hear from people that may have owned the cars I've listed or some similar

Thanks
Matt

[Matt404]

The Jimny is a great shout, I've spent a lot of time in a couple & they are superb capable little 4x4's however really not pleasant to sit on the motorway in. If I had the money to run 2 cars I'd go for it

Thanks
Matt

[Jamesey1981]

Jimny is great but too small if you have dogs and the newer vitaras aren't all that off road.
The shogun sport is good, it is a little agricultural as it's based on the l200 pick up, (I have a Jimny and an L200) you want one that's based on the newer l200 though, (2006 l200, and it was renamed the challenger I think in 2008) the older ones have alloy heads that can crack, and make sure it's had the cam belt changed, but then that'll be well out of your budget.
A discovery that age will fall to bits to be honest, most of it is mendable but you'll be working on it a lot.
Good thing about the Mitsubishis is that if you get one with the super select 4x4 system you can use it in 4x4 on road as well as they have a viscous coupling, most of the 4x4s with selectable 4x4 don't and if you put in in four wheel drive on Tarmac you'll wind up the centre diff and knacker it.
Out of the options you specified I would go for a shogun, (not a pajero, some parts are different and harder to get, not a major issue though as there's thousands of them on the roads here.) or a Nissan terrano or older ford maverick, (same as the terrano).
Have a look out for Isuzu troopers or Vauxhall montereys as well, same car and different badge, nice solid cars, very thirsty though, fronteras are also a rebadged Isuzu so I think they're pretty under rated, they do have their problems though.
Dacia duster is nice, not a proper 4x4 really, but much better off road than most and you'll get a warranty.

[preparedsurrey]

Don't bother with a diesel surf, you'll always be driving with one eye on the temperature gauge waiting for the head to crack.

Vauxhall Monteray good allround we run a 3.1 petrol on lpg as a daily and tow vehicle

Range rover classic, discovery good but will all require welding at some point

Pajero/ Shogun same vehicle really but the imports are usually higher spec. I used to import a lot of these never had a problem with spares BUT they needed to be undersealed the moment they touched British soil or they rot merrily. We were good at doing it properly, many people don't bother.

P38 buy a nanocom or similar and you can fix most problems, not inherently a bad vehicle but can't be run on a zero budget with minimal maintenance. LPG makes a V8 sensible.

Ford Maverick/ Mazda later models the 3.0 is lovely only let down by a low gross train weight for towing it will easily tow well in excess of the maximum and stop it easily as well but obviously this isn't legal.

Nissan Patrol crude basic, you'll either love it or hate it - budget version of a land cruiser - they hold their value for a reason even the worst ones will still get shipped overseas, LPG is a sensible option, petrol versions are slightly cheaper than diesels but not much worse on fuel.

Lexus RX300 original model to 2003/04 very nice not as bad on fuel as you would think, good forums for fault finding mechanically easy to maintain, pattern parts difficult to find, genuine lexus parts not cheap. Can rot underneath whilst looking mint above, tow bars tricky to get hold of but make a good tow car GTW is high enough to tow almost anything. Surprisingly good on sloppy stuff.

Merc ML just horrible to drive on standard wheels and tyres.


Think security on all 4x4s especially a landrover. Have seen them chained down to ground anchors at night to stop them bring stolen....

[tanstaafl]

Pajero/ Shogun same vehicle really but the imports are usually higher spec....

Yep loved my Pajero, they are higher spec but if you can find one with the "Winter Pack" go for it (12ft of snow in northern Japan apparently ) , the winter pack is variable but generally they include twin batterys, uprated/higher suspension and uprated heaters + other bits and bobs.... great car on and off road.....

Only downside is 20 mpg around town..... I had the 2.5 which was a bit underpowered, could pull a train but forget overtaking anything but tractors , go for the 2.8 (has cam chain not belt) ....

[poppypiesdad]

Nissan Patrol crude basic, you'll either love it or hate it - budget version of a land cruiser - they hold their value for a reason even the worst ones will still get shipped overseas, LPG is a sensible option, petrol versions are slightly cheaper than diesels but not much worse

Never been in a Nissan Patrol have you .
Our Y61 SVE is a 2004 , 125,000 on the clock
Apart from a few minor niggles .
Tows the horse trailer like you would never belive it's there
3.5 ton towing
Full leather
Sat navigation blah , blah , blah
Pulls like a train and I get 32mpg out of its 3.0 turbo .
Funny that most Arab states use nissan, as does the UN

But what do I know........

J

[preparedsurrey]

Ran a swb petrol patrol for about 3 months one winter didn't think it was anything special to be honest would have been about an '86ish
I rode in a neighbours modern (late 90's) one and it didn't feel a tremendous improvement...

Admittedly the newer ones like you say might be marvellous but I would have thought they were well out of a 2k budget?

Edit for Poppiesdad that's not meant to be a put down / come over dismissive/ sarcastic, I'm realising I am having problems expressing myself clearly/ correctly so sorry if it does read that way.

[Stasher]

I would second everyone who's mentioned the cost of running a 4x4. It can be a truly shocking experience when you get back in the car after topping up the tank and suddenly working out just how much each mile has cost you. Tanks on the cars can vary enormously too and will affect the range of the vehicle. Make sure when you purchase the 4x4 it really IS a 4x4 (and that someone hasn't de-4by4ed it for fuel economy purposes). The ability to change between 2wd and 4wd helps drive (!) down running costs too.