What car should I buy to get me to work in winter?

zozo_zo

I live in a very rural area and drive an hour to work through very rough single track lanes. I've broken the wheel on my current car as if you have to suddenly move over there are big drops into potholes. I'd like a 4x4 but also do about 20k mileage a year and can't afford the huge running costs.  I have a budget of 1.5 - 4k. The cheaper the better really! Any advice for me? Thank you!

TimSynths

Honda CR-V. £2k should get you a good one.

AdrianC

The simple answer is not to go looking for something specific - but to buy what's available and looks good. Especially in rural areas, because there's not that much actually available without plenty of long trawls to look at a lot of junk.

It's not about the drivetrain - it's about the height of the tyre sidewalls. You want something with big, soft, rubbery sidewalls... Not low profile alloys. 65, 70 profile, ideally on steels. What have you got currently? Can you switch to smaller diameter rims with higher profile tyres? Look at the tyre pressure sticker, and look at what sizes are suggested for winter tyres.

Buying something conventionally desirable - either a marque with a reputation for reliability, or a particularly fashionable type of car - is a great way to get a lot less for your money.

I also live in a rural area with a lot of single-track lanes (the busy ones are the ones without grass up the middle), and a lot of the time you can predict who's going to be getting through tyres and rims simply by watching their driving... Simply slow down a bit and take your time... Somebody coming the other way? Stop. Ease onto the verge gently, instead of taking to it as a last second dive. Perhaps be readier to reverse to a passing bay or gateway...

facade

Mk1 RAV-4. The one I had went over speedbumps like they weren't there and would bowl along the rutted potholed tracks that pass as lanes round here far faster than I am prepared to risk.

The MK2 might be ok it was more of a facelift and penny pinching on the transmission, but the MK3 onwards was lower, more sporty road suspension and a poorer drivetrain.

as Adrian says, there were some 2wd cars well suited, something like the Renault 4 would have been ideal.

I was gifted a LandRover driving experience years back (waste of money, but it was a gift) and we were making hard work of chugging up one of the hills on the baby tracks (all you get to go on on the experience) when someone whizzed past in a Renault 4 Van....

knightstyle

Friends down in rural Devon have had Fiat Pandas 4wd for years and swear by them.

bengalknights

Suzuki Swift would be my suggestion or the Toyota RAV/Honda CRV

Goudy

I'd be wary of some older and cheaper 4x4's as they tend to be pricey on parts and like more than their fair share of fuel, even some diesel ones.

The Panda 4x4 isn't a bad shout, cheap and pretty simple.
The earlier boxy ones from the 80's and 90's are either rust or expensive collectors stuff.
2003 to 2012 "Climbing" model is ok, the 1.2 petrol with 4x4 is pretty slow and they can suffer centre bear trouble, though it's pretty easy to sort.
2012 onwards it's either 1.3 diesel or the 2 cylinder Twinair, I had a TA 4x4 for 4 years, it was great but a little niggly on road, 1st gear is really really low and you have to push the engine a bit.
The sweet spot for your money would be the Panda Cross from around 2006 to 2012, it comes with the 1.3 diesel engine, should be ok with plenty of service history and most were somebody's stylish toy.
It's a bit on an ugly duckling these days, but has a better 4x4 system than the Climbing and it's more suited to the rough and tumble with better approach angles and body cladding.

A bit of a nicer drive on the road are the Fiat Sedici/Suzuki SX4, though you need to make sure it's a 4x4, they sold some as FWD as well. Both are the same really and made in the same factory in Hungary.
I'd stick to the 1.6 petrol, it's Suzuki's and pretty bombproof rather than the Fiat diesel version.

I checked out a couple of Ignis Allgrips and a few Terios's from the mid to late 00's recently and they all seemed to be well past there best, rust seems to have taken hold underneath quit badly.

I also had an Mk1 Rav4 with 4x4 and it was horrid, it bounced all over the place, popped out of 5th gear (very common fault) and when the clutch went, it's an engine out job due to the transfer case being inaccessible, hateful car.

AdrianC

We've had a Panda 4x4, 2005 1.2, for about six months.
Slow? Let's just say that they picked the correct animal to name it after...
Give it some welly, and it'll bimble along happily enough at 70-75 max, and it's averaging out at high 30s mpg on a diet of mostly short-trip, local lanes - pretty much worst case.

Alloys and fairly 165/65 14 tyres, though - it's not going to cope fantastically with being bounced out of big potholes... More recent ones, especially Crosses, tend to come with 175/65 or 185/60 15, so no real difference there - perhaps even worse on the 60s.

Four driven wheels doesn't appear to be the OP's big demand. Ground clearance and tall sidewalls seem to be the priority.

daveyjp

Panda, Suzukis 4x4s etc good for the rough stuff with the right tyres, but 20,000 a year from one costing a few thousand may be a stretch.

I'd look at something like a Ford Fusion and fit winter tyres.  Winter tyres are cheaper than maintaining a 4wd system.

Goudy

"I'd like a 4x4" seems almost like a demand.

I threw my Panda at some pretty rotten stuff towing an off road motorbike to some places well off the beaten track all around the UK.
It was so light and nimble it embarrassed a lot of larger and more expensive 4x4's that bogged down and sank in wet fields or ground out due to silly 45 tyres.
Sure the wheel tyre size is fairly small, but they jacked up the ride height enough for most conditions and they came with grippy winter tyres from the off.
Apart from it's on road manners with the low 1st gear, my biggest gripe with the later, standard Panda 4x4 Twinair is it has a bit of a low chin that was easily caught when approaching some tight angles, which is why I suggested the Cross.

I've done the same over the years with Discoveries, a Freelander (never want to see one of them again), Rav4's, Hilux and an Izuzu knockoff, a CR-V and an early Vitara with a chassis that dissolved and having looked for a replacement recently with the likes of the Ignis and Terios, a Panda Cross with it's better ELD 4x4 system is a proper bit of off road kit.

facade

Goudy said:

I also had an Mk1 Rav4 with 4x4 and it was horrid, it bounced all over the place, popped out of 5th gear (very common fault) and when the clutch went, it's an engine out job due to the transfer case being inaccessible, hateful car.

Mine didn't bounce about, but I suppose you could call it a bit wallowy- you either have spine snappingly hard like most cars today, or squashy & wallowy- I like squishy & wallowy .

Mine was an auto, so none of the messing about with a gearlever, clutch or difflock, ( the difflock was automatically applied and hydraulic,) although I do believe that the 5th gear problem on a manual was easy to sort through the wheelarch with the gearbox still in.

Why don't I still have it?

Kind of wish I did, but the insurance was dear, and it only did low 20s