Most economical 4x4

c6h4m1

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers! wrote: »

My friend's GF drives a Kia Sorento, which she uses to pull horseboxes, through fields as well as roads. It has never failed them.

They're cheap, use (IIRC) a Mercedes diesel engine, and are quite refined. I know people through work who have done 20-30,000 a year in them, without problems.

I was going to suggest a Sorento too. They have the towing ability to tow a horse trailer easily enough, and are fairly economical for a 4x4, I think about 35mpg compared to the trooper, Disco etc that might only do 25 - 27mpg.

Failing that, I'd go for a Landcruiser, followed by a 3.1TD Trooper (hard to find), a Nissan Patrol or Terrano personally.

Thanks for the prices, Hintza - I don't suppose you fancy looking up Glass's price for a 4 year old Sorento for me?!

Hintza

You can do it yourself:- http://www.vauxhall.com/vaux/pages/global/valueMyCar/valueMyCarPopup.jsp



Kia Sorento XE
2.5TD Diesel 5-door Station Wagon
2x5 Speed Manual Four Wheel Drive
Year: 2005 54
Mileage: 48,000




Part-exchange Price:
Excellent condition:
£5010
Average condition:
£4410
Below average condition:
£3870

overlander

I think if towing is an issue and a real proper 4x4 is required you really do not have much a choice for newish 4x4's.

LandRover Defender
Nissan Patrol
Discovery
Landcruiser Amazon.

Can only speak about the Patrol and Defender, i sold my Defender and bought a patrol in 2005 and have not looked back since. The patrol is so much more comfy with little loss in offroad ability and it tows 3.5 Ton. My Defender was always giving me small problems but they were getting more frequent. In the 3 years of Patrol ownership nothing has gone wrong.

The landcruiser do NOT mix up the amazon with the landcruiser. The Amazon is the real Landcruiser the LC3 etc are only for the badge snobs in the UK. Until recently this is know as the Prado worldwide nothing to do with the Landcruiser and although not a bad 4x4 it aint no landcruiser.

Almost forgot the patrol can do nearly 30 mpg if you are very easy on the throttle (3.0 version)

PS after reading i sound down on the Defender, no i liked my defender but my road miles went up and it was hard to knock back the deal on the patrol. A lot of people compare them for offroad ability and to be honest the only thing seperating them is you are more likely to push the Defender more as dents are character but the patol it just looks so grubby with dents :-)

overlander

But if you are looking for older cars then as already said the Trooper, Terrano would make a good choice.

Hintza

We need the OP to come back with a budget. And a plan for how long they plan on keeping the beast.

overlander

Hintza wrote: »

We need the OP to come back with a budget. And a plan for how long they plan on keeping the beast.

Your right its far to open a question, more details please.

overlander

Pssst wrote: »

RAV 4 Diesel 2.0

They said a real 4x4 :rotfl:

anewman

Any mention of LPG yet? If you can get an already converted land rover that might be worth looking into.

hex2

The price on second hand Defenders has taken a real bashing in the last year or so and they have got a lot more affordable. The 110 I paid £13k for last year is now about £8.5-9k. Really need to shop round though. Some absolute bargains out there - have a look at www.landroverman.com

Whatever you buy I would look at one that is pre 2001 so you don't get hit for the £480 a year tax.

MPG - without a roof rack and driving economically mine does about 25mpg. At 75 mph this halves .

and on the positive side - all the other defender drivers wave at you :T .

Herr_Schmitt

anewman wrote: »

Any mention of LPG yet? If you can get an already converted land rover that might be worth looking into.

Reading through this was going to be my suggestion. A friend has a 4.0V8 Discovery that has been converted, it normally does 18-20 mpg but because the LPG costs 1/2 the price of petrol (ish) his arguement is that he gets double the mpg for his money.