Which 4x4 (that isn’t a truck)?!

We've been pleasantly surprised by our Dacia duster. It was brilliant in the snow and ice recently with the tyres that it came with. Think they class them as mud and sand. It doesn't have a low and high gear box but first and second gear are short so although you change gear quickly on road off road or on snow put it in first and it just pulls its self along no fuss. We've not tried anything to adventurous off road but I'm sure with more aggressive tyres it would do really well. There are several clips on YouTube of dusters doing off road courses that would get my Land Rover sweating a bit

Isn’t the Dacia Duster a Nissan XTrail underneath?
Ken.
 
Well pleased with my Kia sportage ,lockable diff,active 2/4wd loads of room and with BFG urban terrains on, no off road or snow issues ,£6k for a low milage ten plate ,fsh and does all i need .38mpg and drags Pug .308,s out of ditches with ease :D,23 ft caravan on the back wot caravan doesnt bother it at all ,mines the 150 h.p you can get 3x different but the same 2ltr turbo engine atb and good luck
 
Have covered many many miles in Dusters in their native Romania. They are simple, mostly reliable and go some surprising places with suitable tyres. The other one that's worth a look is the 1.9 Skoda estate with 4WD - same comments - simple, cheap to run and with Haldex system 4WD it's only real limitation is ground clearance.
 
We bought a new 2WD Suzuzuki Vitara to replace the wife's Honda CRV. However after all the snow we've had recently have decided to get another 4x4. Honda are dropping the diesel CRV from the range this year so have opted for a second hand VW Tiguan 4 motion instead. Nice SUV but not the biggest of boots, particularly if you have large dogs.
Have got a courtesy Skoda Yeti while repairs are done to the wife's Vitara (somebody skidded into it during the snow) and am really impressed with the Yeti. Expecting some more snow tonight so might get a chance to test its capability.
 
I'm averaging 43-44 mpg from a 2.0l 148hp 4x4 Yeti on road tyres.
There are other versions : 2wd, petrol, 120hp......
 
Hi all :)

Just after a little advice. I have been desperate for a 4x4 for a long long time, but have never been able to justify the cost. Now I am doing a bit more shooting I am starting to seriously consider getting one, and wondered what people’s thoughts are on which. My dream is to one day get a brand new pickup truck - something along the lines of a Hilux or Ranger... however I would never be able to afford to buy and run a truck at the moment (also need a petrol for reasons I’ll give below) so need to look at something a little less exciting.

I am only a recreational stalker/pigeon shooter so only need the 4x4 element occasionally for rough farm tracks, hauling decoy equipment across fields etc. I also have a dog and having a more spacious 4x4 appeals to me over my current tiny hatchback, especially when she’s caked in mud and I have shot a deer too! My work (which is totally unrelated to shooting) is a 4 mile commute, so I’m thinking engine will have to be petrol as short journeys ruin diesels?

Apart from that, want as good fuel economy as possible, although realise I’ll have to make the classic decision of ‘newer, more efficient car but lots of miles’ or ‘older, thirstier car with less miles’!

Oh and as good as they are, not a Jimny.... probably a tad small!

Budget likely to be around £6k -ish.

Any advice or suggestions much appreciated.

Many thanks

Ben.
Disco all the way.....don't worry about it being diesel
 
Don't think that the truck type vehicles are so great. Very hard to load and unload. A Landcruiser type of vehicle with no rear seats is much more practical.
As said by some Subaru Forester our Outback, Skoda Octavia or Yeti 4x4 , Dacia Duster , Suzuki Grand Vitara.
 
Horses for courses, had a great many 4x4s over the years Land Rovers 9 of reliability issues, Four track 1 of OK Sj 410 3 of
good off road but to small for my needs ,Vitara good but still a bit restricted for room, Isuzu Trooper good on and off road but parts very expensive a set of injectors £1800 , Mitsubishi Pajero 2.8 could not fault it for reliability not great on fuel but you can't have it all.
Mitsubishi L200 K74 plenty carrying capacity and no smell or bodily fluids in the cab but difficult to load large red carcasses, fuel consumption bad best I could achieve was 25mph and 23mph was the average.

I'm now retired but still working part time, still need a 4x4 that will take my dog box or a few carcasses in the back acquired a Honda CRV not the first vehicle one would think of as a 4x4 normally 2 wheel drive engaging 4 wheel automatically when wheel slip is encountered , I am well impressed despite my initial reservations , had several ral large reds in the back easy to load as low entry point and plenty room in the back with the rear seats folded , tackles hill roads, fields etc with relative ease , in fact the only limiting factors seem to be the lack of a low box and ground clearance.
The low box I can do nothing about but realistically how often do you need it , body will be lifted shortly nothing drastic
35 mm at the back less at the front , which will go some way to help with ground clearance add a decent set of AT tyres and it should do all I require of it.
Should add its petrol , still managing to average 31/32 mpg when you consider that petrol is around 3p per litre cheaper than diesel is a considerable saving on my 25,000 a year milage
Like Diesel's but modern ones with DPF filters are not conducive with the low revs of 4x4s when off road
 
Nissan Terrano II for me. Picked mine up low miles in the 2.7 tdi. Yes it needs some tlc every now and then but nothing unreasonable for the age and it sat around for a long time doing chuff all before I bought it. Main work being some welding and new exhaust.

I use use it regularly for work and some mild off road on my permissions and camping trips as well as loaded up for trips to the dump.

Big, comfortable, cheap enough to run and service. Good on and off road.
 
Nissan Terrano II for me. Picked mine up low miles in the 2.7 tdi. Yes it needs some tlc every now and then but nothing unreasonable for the age and it sat around for a long time doing chuff all before I bought it. Main work being some welding and new exhaust.

I use use it regularly for work and some mild off road on my permissions and camping trips as well as loaded up for trips to the dump.

Big, comfortable, cheap enough to run and service. Good on and off road.
I have a Terrano II 2.7tdi and it’s great. Done 200,000 miles. Good reliable workhorse. With decent tyres it’s capable off road. A bit thirsty but it wasn’t built to save the planet. I don’t know what I’ll get to replace it when it eventually gives up.
I wonder how the newer Nissans compare?
 
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Elswhere on the forum, someone mentioned the Merc ML270 in 4x4.
got me thinking as I had one on loan years ago and said they had the most comfortable seats I ever tried.
Cost and reliability seem good, many covering decent mileage.
Good for the Scotland run.
 
Elswhere on the forum, someone mentioned the Merc ML270 in 4x4.
got me thinking as I had one on loan years ago and said they had the most comfortable seats I ever tried.
Cost and reliability seem good, many covering decent mileage.
Good for the Scotland run.

Like all cars though you get conflicting reports. We had a few mercs a few years back and the 270 wasn't particularly reliable or cheap to run. The 220 cdi was both of those things and we clocked up star-ship mileage in ours.

The only cars we've owned that have been genuinely bomb-proof mechanical-wise have been Toyotas or Lexus vehicles. They just never went wrong.
I had one with the same engine that Dodgy Knees mentioned a little earlier, the 3.5V6, a development of the earlier 3 litre V6 which replaced the (itself) totally indestructable 2JZ0GE (which was used in the Supra as well as other Toyota and Lexus vehicles). That V6 is to my mind one of the finest petrol engines ever made...and essentially a development of the 4.0/4.3 V8 with a few cylinders chopped off. The best (most reliable) engine ever made? Don't know but it's a peach.

I was tempted to a CRV but the new ones are more about town then about country, so looked at the Land Cruiser, but only diesel engined versions available in the UK when I was looking, so we went with a 3.5 V6 Lexus and with a change of tyres, it's proven surprisingly capable off road and brilliant on it. Not a great choice though for a more dedicated off road wagon that might have to take a lot of bumps and thumps!

An older CRV or Rav4 still appeals to us though. Good all round vehicles. A few mates have used Scooby Forresters and swear by them, but they are pretty thirsty in petrol trim.
 
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