squiffy said:
Estates are much larger loading area than 4x4's, 4x4's look big but it's really just height, not depth. Unless you get a Humvee.
Something like a Volvo Estate.
See, I must be thinking of a different 4X4 than you folks are. When I think of a 4X4, I think of a Ford F250 Super Duty long bed (8ft) pickup truck. Even if it is just an SUV type, not too many estate wagons will be able to handle having a chop saw and table, a radial arm saw, a tile cutter and its associated pump and tank, a 750 pound tool box, a circular saw, sawz-all, corded drill and sander, water evacuation pump, and several other heavy items thrown in the back.
Most estates are only good for about 350 pounds in the back before you start seeing wheels disappearing into the arches as the body is compressed onto the strut towers. You start putting 1,000 pounds of construction materials and four 200 pound guys in it, and you're going to see the ultimate in low-riders, but only for a short time until the wheel bearings grenade.
But most 4X4's (trucks and SUV's) are built to withstand the punishments of off roading, which means loading them up with 1,000 pounds of crap and 800 pounds of people isn't going to affect them all that much.
Take a look at the GVAW and the curb weight for an estate, then go and do the same for a comparably sized and powered SUV. I'm pretty sure you're going to find there'll be a VAST difference in cargo handling capacity of the SUV over the estate. Like in the neighborhood of a thousand pounds or so.
I'm not going to give any links to back my statements up as I have both. I have a Toyota estate and a Chevrolet 4X4. I know which one I'm going to use if I need to haul my 850 pound riding lawn mower. Or 3,500 pounds of firewood. Or drag a 20 ton house down the road. And it sure ain't gonna be the little Toyota.....
To use a comparison you folks will understand : JRS has a 5.0L Oldsmobile Estate. I have a 5.0L Chevy 4X4. Which one is going to haul more weight do you think? I'll give you a hint : Chevy > Oldsmobile in this case.
There's a reason you don't see many estates on construction sites. These guys don't drive trucks and SUV's because it's manly to do so, they value thier fuel mileage and tax costs like the rest of us. They drive these things because they're the only things that'll get the job done. Repeatedly and continuously. Yes, you may be able to find estates that'll haul as much in volume as a comparable SUV, but they'll never do it for as long and as many times as the SUV while crawling out of a 4 story deep hole in the ground that's forming the basement of the new apartment block. And if they don't, that means more money spent on a new vehicle and money lost not on the job......
Im after a 5door and a decent one comes for 5k or there about. Also the 99 JDM have same bumper as the UK facelifts (2000 onwards). On top of that, i love imports.