Small 4wd suggestions please

Herzlos

Iceweasel wrote: »

I understand completely the cost and storage problems with an extra set of wheels and tyres that could well put some folks off.

You don't even need a set of wheels - most tyre places will swap them round for you for about £20, and most will have somewhere they can store them for you as well for a few quid extra. Unless you're keeping the car a long time, it's probably more cost effective to do it that way

tortoiseshellcat

Thanks all for your helpful and sensible replies. Ok I fully understand the winter tyre thing it makes perfect sense.

However we still need to get a new car as one of our is irrepairable. So still on the hunt for a car but not going for 4x4 as clearly we don't really need it, also I hadn't thought about the expense of using more petrol etc

I've done lots of research and reading people's answers on here and reviews will have a scout around for something a bit more sensible (but sporty looking if possible) :T

AdrianC

Herzlos wrote: »

You don't even need a set of wheels - most tyre places will swap them round for you for about £20, and most will have somewhere they can store them for you as well for a few quid extra. Unless you're keeping the car a long time, it's probably more cost effective to do it that way

Not really. Unless it's something unusual or very high performance, a set of used steel wheels can be bought cheaply, probably for not much more than the cost of swapping the tyres over a couple of times, and without the increased risk of damage to either tyre beads or wheel rims from constant tyre changing. On a modern vehicle with tyre pressure monitoring systems, there's also a greatly increased risk of damaging the expensive sensors from constant tyre-changing, whereas most TPMS will easily cope with the concept of a second set of wheels, which is common practice in many European countries.

Given that the OP's living in the boonies, there's a high chance there's a shed or out-building they can chuck a set of wheels in.

Gloomendoom

My wife's car has a set of winter tyres on standard alloys. They usually get swapped over in November and back in March. I run all seasons on mine and I'm thinking of doing the same with my wife's car. They are a lot less bother.

loskie

exactly what he said. decent all season tyres are better than some designated winter tyres. i am talking from experience here in rural sw scotland doing 20000m per year. i drive round farms for a living. i have run winter or all season tyres for 14 years or more now.

Whoever called Surrey the boonies!!!! !!!!!!

Herzlos

AdrianC wrote: »

Not really. Unless it's something unusual or very high performance, a set of used steel wheels can be bought cheaply, probably for not much more than the cost of swapping the tyres over a couple of times, and without the increased risk of damage to either tyre beads or wheel rims from constant tyre changing.

A 2nd set of wheels is definitely preferable, but I've had arguments with my insurer over it and the premium for using different wheels is horrible. That leaves me with OEMs and in my case that's going to be about £200 for the set but I'll concede to having a relatively fancy car.

When it gets replaced I'll be getting a full set of wheels for the winters, but as I'm only planning on keeping the car 3 years it's only going to run me to £120 for tyre changes.