CHEAP 4x4- ready for a laugh

plyconsult

plyconsult

plyconsult

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Cheshire
We are now looking for a large 4x4 suitable for 5 adults and 3 dogs just for probably 10 trips or 3k miles max a year

All it needs to do.... ready for it ?.. is be good in bad conditions ( snow, rain, maybe even flooding ) , reliable and large enough for us. For reasons I wont go into we probably will be visiting the peak district, wales and maybe scotland at possibly the worse times of the year

I totally understand if I buy something for less than £3k I might aswell write the money off and if it lasts 2 or 3 years before it enters scrap territory thats fine. I will of course be putting all weather tyres on it.

Some that came to mind were old discovery, landcruiser, shogun but I'll that to your imagination

Discussion open , hopefully with some interesting suggestions lol

Thanks
 
I'll throw a Subaru Forester into the mix.

Stick with the 2 litre turbo rather than the 2.5NA, excellent AWD system on a tried and tested platform. I was looking at them earlier this year and there were some decent cars around for just a few grand. The XT or S Turbo is what you want. I've done many many many miles in Imprezas based on the same platform and will happily do many more!

The only real downside is that the MPG won't be particularly great in a Foz, probably around 30 on a long steady drive.
 
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I mean, if reliability is your thing, the Landcruiser would probably be near the top of the list. But probably gonna cost more than a few grand. Same with the Lexus equivalent.

Disco's probably not all that reliable, but I'd love one myself, and if you are considering them, then maybe consider a Cayenne for lolz. Certainly would be interesting, and they are becoming rather cheap too. I wouldn't like to guess which one would be more ruinous to run though.
 
Land cruiser, mitsubishi shogun would be the top options. Anything with a land rover badge is just too much money.

Isuzu trooper is comfortable, but do not get the later 3.0tdi they had terrible fuelling issues I'm not sure if they ever solved it completely. The 3.1td should be the one to go for.

Vauxhall frontera if you can find one should be cheap, and it's basically an Isuzu trooper, but with vauxhall engines. The engines by all accounts are under powered but they get you there.

Nissan terrano 2 or ford maverick but these might be a bit on the small side.

A very left field option ford explorer only comes in petrol but its reliable and parts are plentiful in the USA.

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A note I will add here though the Pathfinder R51s are excellent for this kind of thing sadly 90% likely have rotted out chassis or shortly will without treatment so only worth buying if you know the owner has looked after that weakness.

Sadly we didn't get the better engine choices on them either in the UK.

Similar for the Isuzu Trooper if a bit more rudimentary they are pretty good for this kind of thing but in this case do need the engine to be well maintained (not sure about the 3.1).

In my experience unless you are pretty handy mechanics wise yourself older, big engine, 4x4s with high mileage tend to be money pits.
 
This to me is too much money, but on the fa e of it seems to be a nice well kept example

Very comfy

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Nice vauxhall frontera

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sx_turbo said:
This to me is too much money, but on the fa e of it seems to be a nice well kept example

Very comfy

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Been standing around so probably needs a fair bit of maintenance and new tyres likely.
 
Rroff said:
Been standing around so probably needs a fair bit of maintenance and new tyres likely.
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Yeah as say too much money, also imo if it was as easy as slapping an MOT on it the car sales would have done so.... So why hasn't he..

Having a quick scan op's budget doesn't get into land cruiser/ patrol / land rover territory.
 
If your brave....

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Probably want to put a bag over your head so people don't recognise you with this one

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sx_turbo said:
Yeah as say too much money, also imo if it was as easy as slapping an MOT on it the car sales would have done so.... So why hasn't he..

Having a quick scan op's budget doesn't get into land cruiser/ patrol / land rover territory.
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They seem like quite capable vehicles if you can get one looked after - one of my colleagues had two and both needed maintenance she wasn't prepared to spend out for given what she'd bought the vehicles for - one would only do 50 MPH tops due to head gasket related issues :s so she ended up scrapping it instead.
 
Cutting and pasting an old response from elsewhere: take a good look at WK-gen Jeep Grand Cherokees (~'05-'10), preferably in Overland specification, with the 3.0 Mercedes-Benz OM642 diesel V6. Spacious, comfortable, stacked with kit, reliable, affordable, etc.

You can go for non-Overland variants as well, of course, or perhaps try the older Grand Cherokee; the 2.7-litre (also Mercedes) diesels in those do have some problems, though, and the cars are likely to be more tired just through age alone.

Worth checking out a few buying guides for both, in any case.

If you can stomach the fuel costs, consider older 4.0-litre petrol Grand Cherokees as well. Corrosion and age-related stuff can be a problem, but if you can find a tidy one then it'll do a good job.

Any of these options are a lot more appealing than some of the similarly priced alternatives, IMO, for myriad reasons.
 
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agw_01 said:
I'll throw a Subaru Forester into the mix.

Stick with the 2 litre turbo rather than the 2.5NA, excellent AWD system on a tried and tested platform. I was looking at them earlier this year and there were some decent cars around for just a few grand. The XT or S Turbo is what you want. I've done many many many miles in Imprezas based on the same platform and will happily do many more!

The only real downside is that the MPG won't be particularly great in a Foz, probably around 30 on a long steady drive.
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I wouldn't, these days, on a budget. While they can be mechanically great, they just rot away (like the Impreza). Any cheap example, a few rare exceptions aside, will be a sea of corrosion underneath. Even expensive dealer-offered cars tend to be riddled with holes.

You do need to be a bit careful on the economy front, too. My old well-fettled 2.0 XT once (!) returned an average north of 30, after a long motorway cruise at 68mph. Otherwise, it was usually 22-27mpg (the latter being less common). And that was a good example: quite a few other owners I've spoken to have struggled to better 20mpg, on average. Small tank, so a short range, too.

And all of that was usually with just me in it...

Alas, its inefficiency was one of the driving reasons that led me to get rid of it after some three years. Still wish I hadn't sold it, mind, as it was otherwise a fab piece of machinery.
 
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If you can do your own maintenance, and get elbow deep in some lengthy repairs when needed, a disco or range rover would be perfect and the most comfortable.

Very unlikely you'll find a land cruiser for cheap, but that are absolute tanks, and there is a reason 15+ year old ones are not far off brand new price still with 150k miles on them!
 
Not sure you'd find anything in that budget which was worth buying but VW Touareg is another consideration though might be a bit tight with 5 adults and 3 dogs. There are a few of the older ones around the 4K mark which look alright and the old model is pretty handy off-road.
 
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At that price point you are better looking for a pickup with crew cab and a rear cover for the dogs.

You might get a Toyota Hilux Surf in your budget but it will be rough.

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Lashout_UK said:
Cutting and pasting an old response from elsewhere: take a good look at WK-gen Jeep Grand Cherokees (~'05-'10), preferably in Overland specification, with the 3.0 Mercedes-Benz OM642 diesel V6. Spacious, comfortable, stacked with kit, reliable, affordable, etc.

You can go for non-Overland variants as well, of course, or perhaps try the older Grand Cherokee; the 2.7-litre (also Mercedes) diesels in those do have some problems, though, and the cars are likely to be more tired just through age alone.

Worth checking out a few buying guides for both, in any case.

If you can stomach the fuel costs, consider older 4.0-litre petrol Grand Cherokees as well. Corrosion and age-related stuff can be a problem, but if you can find a tidy one then it'll do a good job.

Any of these options are a lot more appealing than some of the similarly priced alternatives, IMO, for myriad reasons.
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I was just about to suggest those. My dad had a 5.7 hemi one on LPG, he ran it for years and only had to change the front shock absorbers. We've had an identical 5.7 one without LPG for the last few years, my wife uses it for her daily commute and I take it off roading every couple of weeks, with the lift and decent tyres it's pretty unstoppable, I've done all sorts of stupid **** with it and have never managed to get it stuck. Had plenty of minor stuff go wrong like ball joints, radiator, AC hoses etc but nothing catastrophic or expensive to fix.
 
Old, simple and Japanese.

Everything else is just going to break and be expensive when shown difficult conditions, especially a discovery/RR. There is a reason old ones are worth peanuts but Land Cruisers aren't..
 
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