T66
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 12:50 PM |
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Daily 4x4 ? Which One ?
I live in Northumberland, and about 3 weeks of the year the roads are a bit of a pain with the white stuff.
I currently have a Lada Niva and a Saab Coupe.
Niva unstoppable, Saab is comfy and fast, but only worth around £2000. The Niva about £600.
My thoughts are to offload both, and buy one vehicle I can use all year, maybe has a tow hitch. And something I can throw all my crap in...
What I dont want is a motor drinking its weight in diesel/petrol.
Im thinking of...
Grand Vitara 2.0td - 2002 plate
Vitara GV 1600/2000 swb
Or maybe a RAV...
Anyone got one,had one ?? whats the verdict.
Dont really want one of the "big" 4x4s, pain to park etc.
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PSpirine
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 12:59 PM |
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Depends what you want the 4x4 for!
RAV4 is a very good every day car, and reliable as anything, but completely rubbish off road (copes fine with snow and the like, jsut doesn't
like mud/heavy undulations).
I haven't dealt with any diesel Vitara's but they seem pretty sound too!
Avoid anything Shogun/Land Cruiser size, they're absolutely awful on fuel.
I'll go ahead and suggest a Freelander 2 as well as a really good all rounder but I imagine they're not the cheapest as there aren't
old ones around.
Pavs
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trextr7monkey
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 01:19 PM |
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For the money tied up and reliability of existing fleet it prob isn't worth rationalising- Saab comfort on long journeys and reliability is
worth more than price of the car, same for Niva - what else could you buy for £600 that does such a job? 
I've a Nissan X trail petrolwhich is a bit thirsty when flogged but very comfortable; second hand values are moving down so could be worth a
look, at the other extreme my daughter runs a little Jimny which gives her confidence in the snow and ice and is ideal for one person and runs for
next to nothing but would be useless for several people moving around together.
In the past we have had a variety of esatate cars - Subarus and also a Toyota Tercel
( even I had forgotten about it until now!), which mechanically was brilliant so a vote for Toyota I guess.
hth
Mike
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14016102@N00/ (cut and paste this dodgey link)
Our most recent pics are here:
http://s129.photobucket.com/albums/p211/trextr7monkey/
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owelly
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 02:03 PM |
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Set of wheels with proper rally tyres for the Saab. Job done.
http://www.ppcmag.co.uk
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speedyxjs
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 05:52 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by trextr7monkey
In the past we have had a variety of esatate cars - Subarus and also a Toyota Tercel
( even I had forgotten about it until now!)
Iv just had to wiki that as i didnt know what it was
How long can i resist the temptation to drop a V8 in?
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JoelP
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 06:45 PM |
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we have a cherokee for the everyday car. Its quite short, so the wife parks it easy. Being the limited version it has leather and electric stuff,
heated seats etc, it is fairly unstoppable in snow, having an LSD at the back and essentially a locked middle diff as its a part time 4x4 - which is
also the downside, because normally its rear wheel drive so not ideal on roads where there *might* be ice but grip is too good to put it in 4wd.
However, you can have fun all year doing powerslides out of junctions. MPG is bad to be honest, the computer read 22.5mpg over a good distance, and
thats only the 2.5td. I shudder to think how bad the 5.7l petrol one is...
towing limit is 2.6t
54 plate was 4.5k, i dont think you can beat that for a comfortable 4x4 of a similar age.
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coozer
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 06:53 PM |
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I have an 02 Shogun Sport for sale here.
Its a 2.5TDi that returns about 28ish. Its not as bad as I feared when I bought it
Normal drive mode is 2wd to the rear but it has super select where 4wd can be selected up to 60mph on the move with a swift clutch down and nudge of
the lever.
Recent Insa Turbo Mountain tyres, very good down the beach when is very wet and muddy... can also handle wading up the top of the door handles, Just
as well really cause I didnt think it was that deep when I went in!
Tow bar included.
£3K
Any good?
Steve
1972 V8 Jago
1980 Z750
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wilkingj
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 07:38 PM |
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Stick with the Niva, BUT.... Put in a the 2.2 litre Isuzu Diesel. It transforms it.
Mate had one and did it. It really made a difference.
Cheers
1. The point of a journey is not to arrive.
2. Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.
Best Regards
Geoff
http://www.v8viento.co.uk
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NigeEss
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 10:12 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by speedyxjs
quote:
Originally posted by trextr7monkey
In the past we have had a variety of esatate cars - Subarus and also a Toyota Tercel
( even I had forgotten about it until now!)
Iv just had to wiki that as i didnt know what it was
Been a lonnnng time since I saw Toyota Turtle on the road. Mate had one for years, it was a stonking car.
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PSpirine
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| posted on 4/11/10 at 10:42 PM |
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What you want is a Toyota Sera! Proper futuristic, and I'm fairly certain pretty much any Celica engine is a direct fit.
(Not much help with 4x4 requirements unless one of the ones on your list is glass upper body and gullwing doors).
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