Help and advice with buying a 4 wheel drive please

DKLS

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Forester is a good car, but not economical...you'll be lucky to get 30mpg general running round and more like 25...this is true of most petrol engined 4x4's in reality, no doubt someone will be along in a minute who gets nearly 40 from theirs.

30pmg :eek: I can only dream of that.

Driving MSE stylee I can get 28MPG
Driving my style I get 22MPG
If the conditions allow and I want to have fun I get 10MPG, Moot point really as MPG isnt a consideration for me.

gilbert_and_sullivan

DKLS wrote: »

30pmg :eek: I can only dream of that.

Driving MSE stylee I can get 28MPG
Driving my style I get 22MPG
If the conditions allow and I want to have fun I get 10MPG, Moot point really as MPG isnt a consideration for me.

Thanks for the honest answer, everyone's recommending the Forester and i agree it's a very fine car and a possibility for me personally in the future.
The OP mentioned economy in her list of requirements and she currently has a 206...i humbly suggest the Forester may be a bit too heavy on the fuel for her.

DKLS

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Thanks for the honest answer, everyone's recommending the Forester and i agree it's a very fine car and a possibility for me personally in the future.
The OP mentioned economy in her list of requirements and she currently has a 206...i humbly suggest the Forester may be a bit too heavy on the fuel for her.

Might be worth checking what the non turbo engined foresters get to a gallon. Should be better than mine which has the twin turbos .

I keep thinking of trading up now I am earning significantly more money than what I was when I bought the car, but the forester puts a smile on my face everytime I drive it so its staying til it dies.

Rallydriver

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

If it's only the snow/ice causing the problem i'd be more inclined to get a decent normal 2WD car and invest some money in a good set of all weather tyres...eg Vredestein Quatrac 3 (tread is part winter part summer), unless you are prepared to fork out for a spare set of wheels and a full set of pukka winter tyres...eg Nokian WR or similar.

A 4WD on summer tyres will only be as good as a 2WD on winter tyres in ice or snow.

Good advice. I always say the only advantage of a 4x4 is ground clearance, in all road situations a standard type car is always better.

I've got full time 4wd on my car, plus limited slip diffs front, back and centre, and its useless in the snow on the high speed summer tyres. the chassis means nothing when the tyres deliver no grip. On full winter tyres (Toyo Snowproxes) its a completely different story.

Even buying a spare set of wheels for a car and 4 new winter tyres is going to cost less than changing to a 4x4 and alot less in continuing running costs.

As this is a money saving forum, that is the money saving advice. Anyone who wants a 4x4 is always welcome to get one, as is their choice.

The best compromise vehicles I can think of are the Subaru Legacy diesel (still expensive though) or Volvo XC70 D5 (V70 awd 2.4t is a beast and very cheap to buy if you don't mind low 20s mpg), the Volvo is part time 4wd so for most of the time it is 2wd to save fuel a bit - same system as the X-type Jaguar I believe.

gilbert_and_sullivan

Rallydriver wrote: »

. On full winter tyres (Toyo Snowproxes) its a completely different story.

Oddly enough i was tempted by a set of those for my MB, but could only get them in H rating, so i plumped for Nokian WRG2 instead in the correct V rating, we'll wait and see how good they turn out to be, if they are as good as the Vredestein Wintrac Extreme's i'll be a happy bunny.
(i know i could have used a lower speed rating tyre for winter use, but as the Nokians were available at the right price...late summer...it was another plus for them)

Out of interest are the Snowproxes good?
I run TR1's on the (elderly but not slow) Benz for summer and rate them highly, not had a single slip or squeal despite spirited use, and am considering Proxes ST's for the pick up for summer use (wet grip is the number one requirement as usual), so would welcome your observations on your particular Toyo's to further establish across thewhole range competence.

OP, sorry for the thread drift, but as you can probably see those of us that use winter tyres would be reluctant to change with good reason.

MrsE_2

DKLS wrote: »

30pmg :eek: I can only dream of that.

Driving MSE stylee I can get 28MPG
Driving my style I get 22MPG
If the conditions allow and I want to have fun I get 10MPG, Moot point really as MPG isnt a consideration for me.

Fuel economy gets better up to about 30k miles (when the engine loosens up I read somewhere).
Well I'm on 10k & I had got it up to 30.1, but now the weathers turning colder its dropping again, I'm on 30.0:mad:

webmasterpolo

Suzuki do several small cheap 4x4.
Sub are excellent, a legacey estate would have lot's of room for your family and a huge boot for the buggy and the shopping. My dad had 5 in a row, they have now released a diesel version, although it's quiet new and therefore over budget at the moment.

Your best bet for a cheap reliable one would be the suzuki.

Or you could try your luck with an older used audi quattro, (A3/A4/A6) another excellent car but not as reliable as the suzuki, but they do come in diesel to reduce your running costs a bit, although insurance will be more. Depends on your annual milage as to what's best for you.

And yes they do do a Skoda version of the Audi but the 4x4 is only in petrol.

-Web

ohreally

How about one of the smaller engined shoguns?

Rallydriver

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

Out of interest are the Snowproxes good?

So far, yes. Though I only did a limited mileage on them. I'll hopefully get some more time on them this winter to get to know them better.

I PM'd you a fuller response so as not to go off-topic.

Inactive

A good off road driving course would be far more use than any 4X4 on snow/ice.

How many drivers do you see that clearly havn't got a clue on how to drive in these conditions?