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Car Forum / UK Car Forums / 4x4 Cars (UK group) / June 2007£3,000 budget to buy 4 x 4
Hello I'm moving to a pretty remote part of the countryside and need a 4 x 4 to get around. Here's what I'll need: 1. Able to pull a trailer with a 1000kg load (1,000 litre water container) 2. Able to pull a small caravan (the old wooden 70s ones - pretty light) 3. Climbing / descending dirt tracks, snow, plenty of potholes/mud but nothing very steep or truly off-road. 4. 5 doors 5. Fairly economical (25mpg asking too much?) diesel - perhaps even GPL - but I have little experience of the latter 6. Either manual or auto - I don't have a preference, although please advise if one is preferable This group seems very knowledgeable so I'd be grateful for some guidance. Thanks, James > Hello > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > 6. Either manual or auto - I don't have a preference, although please > advise if one is preferable I'd go for a manual, much better for hill descent in this price range. Autos are much better with the expensive hill descent systems fitted to recent models. > This group seems very knowledgeable so I'd be grateful for some > guidance. A local dealer (to me) was selling some nice looking Vitaras in that price range. They should tick most of the boxes on the list above except they are petrol and not diesel, and the ones I saw were three rather than five doors. Several very large 4x4s of the likes of Chevvy Blazers and Ford Explorers available in good nick for that sort of money, but again petrol and given they have 4.0 engines unlikely to get 25mpg. You'll get lots of people advising the purchase of a clapped out Landie for that money. IME that means you'll be spending £££££s on maintenance unless you are a spanner monkey. Personally I'd also consider a Daihatsu Fourtrak. For your money you should be able to get a 1998/9 vehicle with reasonable 60-80k mileage. A decent 2.8 turbodiesel engine in the Fourtrak, the ride is agricultural but then that's true for any decent 4x4 in this price bracket. > Hello > [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > > Thanks, James Shogun or Pajero maybe - well spec'd and will just scrape 25mpg - not towing though. > Shogun or Pajero maybe - well spec'd and will just scrape 25mpg - not > towing though. Oh, I don't know about that. My 2.8 returns about 22mpg with 1200kg on the back and some of the 2.5s can scrape 30mpg solo and 25mpg towing under a tonne. You can get a good late 2.5 or early 2.8 Mk2 for three grand. Nearly all are autos - but the Super Select / Auto combination is pretty good and you can switch between 2 and 4 wheel drive on the move (up to 30 mph), and "change gear" without disengaging drive. The auto-creep and hand-throttle are also very useful when it gets a little slippy. If you're tempted, there's a lot of info on the owner's club site (http://www.pocuk.com/) HTH,  SignatureGeoff >> Shogun or Pajero maybe - well spec'd and will just scrape 25mpg - not >> towing though. > > Oh, I don't know about that. My 2.8 returns about 22mpg with 1200kg on the > back and some of the 2.5s can scrape 30mpg solo and 25mpg towing under a > tonne. guess I've got a leaden right foot then.......... ;-) > You can get a good late 2.5 or early 2.8 Mk2 for three grand. Nearly all > are autos - but the Super Select / Auto combination is pretty good and you [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > > HTH, Thanks folks - I appreciate the input. I'll have a look at some Pajeros. > Thanks folks - I appreciate the input. I'll have a look at some > Pajeros. Haven't they got a locking rear axle diff? If so, even more ideal for your towing needs. If only some have it, then try to get one that has. I think it was an option at the factory. SignatureBlast off and strike the evil Bydo empire! Ian Rawlings <news06@tarcus.org.uk> wrote in news:slrnf6dlh0.dbn.news06 @desktop.tarcus.org.uk: > Haven't they got a locking rear axle diff? If so, even more ideal for > your towing needs. If only some have it, then try to get one that > has. I think it was an option at the factory. All have locking centre diffs. Few have locking rear diffs, but many have limited slip rear diffs, which might be better for towing because you don't need to worry about "winding up" the rear diff. There's allegedly an easy way to tell (apart from jacking the rear axle and watching which way one wheel turns when you turn the other by hand) that a particular car has LSD from a sticker on the driver's side B-pillar. If it has this label, the car has LSD if not the car might still have LSD but the label's fallen off. BTW, it's important to know whether your car has LSD because they need different lubricants and "normal" diff oil can wreck a LSD. Here's one of many threads on the owners club forum about this subject: http://www.pocuk.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=63451 HTH, SignatureGeoff > There's allegedly an easy way to tell (apart from jacking the rear axle > and watching which way one wheel turns when you turn the other by hand) > that a particular car has LSD from a sticker on the driver's side > B-pillar. If it has this label, the car has LSD if not the car might > still have LSD but the label's fallen off. And if the car's got a sticker but the rear axle's been changed for a non- LSD one...? |
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