4x4 or estate

Gibbs

Gibbs

Gibbs

Associate
Joined
22 Jun 2006
Posts
1,124
Location
Belfast
Hello all, time for a change of car. I have been driving a 406 TDI for about a year now, and with a child due in 10days, a dog and hobbies such as shooting/fishing, I need something bigger. That will cover all bases plus the capability to possibly sleep in while away fishing/shooting.

Jeep would be dead handy for driving up the hills etc while shooting/fishing but the A4 brings style and comfort, something that looks to be sacrificed in 4x4s

I have been looking at the following:
Land Cruiser SWB
Shogun SWB
Audi A4 Avant 2.5TDI Quattro
RAV4
Any other thoughts on something suitable, am not into cars that much, just need something that wont cause headaches too often and drives smooth over any ground

All 2005/2006 upwards. Budget of £7-8k.

Cheers
 
My requirements were pretty similar to yours when I started looking at cars, and I ended up with a 2005 subaru forester. They're faster, cheaper to run and better handling than the most 4x4s, and easily good enough off-road for your needs. However, it must be said they're not the most stylish of vehicles, but you do get huge heated leather seats, climate control, built in nav and a decent stereo, so it's a pretty nice place to be.
You can get a top of the range 05/06/07 one well within your budget as well :)
 
Do you need a 4wd when you shoot, when I go we just all meet then jump in the 4wd's available, if so then the estates should do and be less of a headache and impact on the wallet.
 
Mondeo MK4 Titanium X Estate 57-08 (maybe even a 58 now as I have had my 08 for a couple of months).

It's what I bought with the same spec. and budget. When you say sleep I have had a couple of 1 hour motorway services power-naps in mine. I do fish but don't shoot. The boot space easily ate up all of my tackle (oo err).
 
maccapacca said:
Do you need a 4wd when you shoot, when I go we just all meet then jump in the 4wd's available, if so then the estates should do and be less of a headache and impact on the wallet.
Click to expand...

the estates I shoot do have there own transport however I have close to 100 acres of private ground within the family that will be shot on to so something with decent ground clearance seems sensible.

Thanks Liampope for thinking of the Subaru Legacy Outback, never crossed my mind and looks nice on this review:http://www.green-car-guide.com/subaru-legacy-outback-diesel.html

For some reason I haven't been a fan of Skoda one bit. :confused:

As for Fords, no thanks, my dad wont buy anything else, in the last 3 cars he has, drop links has been her downfall.

As I shoot, I would like a lockable gun cab placed in the boot that can be removed plus room for the dog

Cheers all, off to look more at the legacy-outback
 
And I think you'd be foolish to ignore the forester :p Having driven the legacy outback and the forester, I was far more impressed by the forester - the legacy outback felt no different to any other estate car I've ever driven, whereas the forester was much more fun to drive.
 
woodpigeon4 said:
the legacy outback felt no different to any other estate car I've ever driven
Click to expand...

That would be the advantage to me - he he. It all really depends on where the OP wants to sit on the line between normal car and truck, given he seems to want characteristics of both. My friend's dad bought a Legacy Outback (albeit a petrol one) for similar sounding usage as the OP and is very happy with it. Reasonably nice inside too with cow to sit on etc etc. Dont really know owt about the forester - whether it's actually anymore capable off road or does it just look more like a truck?
 
Liampope said:
That would be the advantage to me - he he. It all really depends on where the OP wants to sit on the line between normal car and truck, given he seems to want characteristics of both. My friend's dad bought a Legacy Outback (albeit a petrol one) for similar sounding usage as the OP and is very happy with it. Reasonably nice inside too with cow to sit on etc etc. Dont really know owt about the forester - whether it's actually anymore capable off road or does it just look more like a truck?
Click to expand...
I see what you mean :) Don't get me wrong - the legacy outback is a good car, and probably fine for the OP's usage. I'm just saying that the forester is better off road and a lot more fun to drive - depending on what model you get, you can see 60 in under 6 seconds, and the handling is far more precise than the legacy outback (or at least it felt like that when I test drove them).
I would imagine the legacy may be a bit cheaper to run, although as my forester is remapped I can easily get 35MPG on the motorway.
 
the other option I have been toying with is picking up a sub 2k SWB 4x4 for dog/fishing etc and then spending the rest on a nice clean A4 at 5k.

downside to that is a 4x4 in that price bracket would need another 1k to get up to MOT
 
Gibbs said:
the other option I have been toying with is picking up a sub 2k SWB 4x4 for dog/fishing etc and then spending the rest on a nice clean A4 at 5k.

downside to that is a 4x4 in that price bracket would need another 1k to get up to MOT
Click to expand...
No it wouldn't. I put 100k miles on my old 4x4 (ford explorer) and all I ever had to replace on it were consumables - it was by far the most reliable car I've ever owned and never failed an mot. You can pick up a decent one nowadays for around £700, and they're actually not bad at all - they're comfortable and quick in a straight line, the only disadvantages really are poor handling and fuel economy. It would also be more capable off road than a forester/legacy/a4
 
Have you considered an XC70?

When I was looking into a Mondeo I also considered the V70 but would have had to get a much older one to fall into budget, many of the XC70's that I stumbled across when looking for V70s appeared well spec'd too.
 
Tesla said:
Have you considered an XC70?
Click to expand...
Yep, XC70 or Audi Allroad. Oddly most 4x4s actually seem to have pretty poor load space. Unless you're going to need to be able to lock the diff or low ratio gearing for "proper" off road capability either of these is a great middle ground.
 
just been driving a Jaguar x-type Diesel estate over the weekend, lovely motor, high on the list at the moment.

Is there a 4wd version is diesel?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom