4X4 recommendations

[Paul Edden]

 Suzuki Grand Vitara.

It is a proper 4x4 with two gearsticks and the ability to lock all wheels into low ratio drive.

In the bad snow we had in Staffordshire a few months back - a few of our local farmers were quite suprised to see this little 4x4 going places nobody else had gone.

but you can't run it in four wheel drive for any length on tarmac - or can you?  

thought these suzukis ran two wheel drive, or then four wheel drive without centre diff.

good for in the woods yes, but not sure how helpful it is to swop in and out of four wheel drive if you're on a road section where its clear/ice/clear/snow etc...

so then most the time the all weather tyres will have been the best help while in two wheel drive mode :-D

however this might be good for the pulling off fields.. then back to two wheel drive for the rest of the year !

I was using it for work during the worst week or so of the snow to ferry my care staff around to the more remote parts of the Staffordshire Moorlands.

YES - I drove at speeds of up to 50mph in permanant 4WD - High Ration - non diff lock on a mix of gritted tarmac and slushy snow (safest mode in these conditions IMHO).   You can swap between 2 and 4WD at speeds of up to 50mph with no problem - we often use this mode in very heavy rain.

When the going got really bad (you need to be stationary to do this) pull the second gearstick all the way back and you have low ratio 4WD with the centre diff locked so all 4 wheels drive at the same rate regardless.  The longest distance I drove in this mode (on tarmac - covered in ice and snow) was about 50 miles.  No problem at all - expect the top speed in this ratio is around 40mph.  Then again - would not have wanted to go any faster given the conditions.

We have a muddy field too - it drags all sorts of stuff around in there - and pulls tree stumps out.  All of this on standard road tyres.

Like I said - great little car in my opinon - but, you pays yur money...............

[gibbon]

Ran a freelander for 3 years from new,nice truck but god they are unreliable spent more time with the dealer than i had it,did work it a bit though,have had 3x suzuki grand vitaras and have never changed so much as a bulb,as the saying go,s buy a land rover and by xmas you will be inviting the service manager round for tea,lol,Gibbon.

[Dommo]

Get another disco... run it on chip fat and you can put the money saved towards welding it up every 20 minutes!

[Terry Everall]

The Suzuki and Terrano seem most interesting at the moment

I cant find any private sales near york?

any ideas

[John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison]

Terry - I am so impressed with you. you get all the expensive toys for yourself yet SWMBO gets second hand! Buy her a nice new one on HP    

[Bananaman]

The Suzuki and Terrano seem most interesting at the moment

I cant find any private sales near york?

any ideas

Look a bit further away?

[kev91]

I recommend an Isuzu trooper, we have got a 2000plate with 179,000 on the clock and still going strong, we regularly dunk it in the sea when launching boats and jet skis and still chassis is solid just past mot last week and we have had it over 5 years now

[Bananaman]

How about an Audi Allroad?

[Arm]

Just gone through the same search and the best softroader we found was the Kia Sorrento from 2006 on. The Hyundai Santa Fe was also good.

Terry you do need to look at the plated towing weight.

[Matt Seabrook]

Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV, Nissan X-Trail etc  

Wasn't the mk1 LR Freelander voted the most unreliable car in the UK a year or two after it came out    

And one of the worst performers in ncap crash ratings, used to work at coachworks years ago and remember every freelander we had come in with a front end shunt the pedals were always right up with you knees... IMHO I would never have one....

If ncap is important and you want a 4x4 the a 2006- L200 is four star which isn't too bad.

[RobC]

I could spend hours here...! MODSALES

basically they have everything..!

[Arm]

As mentioned check the max plated weight on your trailer then check this against the vehicle max permissable trailer weights .

I would not recommend towing a trailer (even if it is empty) with a higher trailer plated weight than the car has capacity.

Grey area I know but one that could cause you major implications in the event of an accident.

My experience of using Jap 4X4's even the softroaders is that the right tyres are critical for dragging trailers across fields. Land Rovers and range rovers are no better on the wrong tyres.

Of all the Jap 4X4's we have had over the last 15 years we have never had a single problem. Getting up the motorway without breaking down is as important as getting across a muddy field in the ultimate landrover.

Look for vehicles with adequate tow capacity first.

[Jenko]

The later versions of the crv can tow 2000, interestingly the older ones are only rated at 1600kgs......