what 4 x 4 to buy

[gucciman]

we need to buy a 4 x 4 to tow our horsebox. can anyone recommend a good one? we have about 6 or 7 thousand to spend and it needs to double as a family car too. is diesel or petrol best?

[stanleyman]

You can't beat a Landrover Discovery 300 TDI. Cheap to buy, service and spares from many independant dealers. Comfortable, many extras available, easy to drive, up to seven seats, economical 32 - 40 mpg, 95 mph, will pull more than any other 4 x 4, tougher for towing than some Japanese 4 x 4 that burn out clutches.

Had one for years and wouldn't change it. Don't buy a petrol at 15 mpg! Ebay is a good place to look and get a feel for what you want but always check it over before buying, there is some rubbish and high mileage about. You should get a very good low mileage model for 6/7k.

[jake-the-peg]

We actually use a Defender as a familly car as long as you don't have an urgent need to go over 80 it's fabulous - 11 seats and you'd probably get 2 bales of hay in the back !

But you'd be hard pressed to get a decent station wagon version for that money.

I've got the 300TDi engine on the Defender the same engine that is on the Disco Stanleyman's talking about. They are very smooth and long lived providing they get regular oil changes and new cam belts - don't ignore a cambelt interval on a 300tdi if you don't know when it was last changed get it done.

There was also a bit of trouble on early gearboxes wearing on the 300tdi if you hear the infamous knock run away!

anyway this might be of interest :

http://www.difflock.com

and if you're thinking of a disco check out the classifieds in LRO magazine

[gucciman]

what sort of year would you get for that sort of money stanleyman?

and arent landrovers meant to be notoriously unrelaible?

[stanleyman]

Year is less important than condition and low mileage. It depends on where you buy from, in Difflock there is a private sale disco 1997 40,000 miles for �7500. It would probably go for �6500. You have to look for and get the best deal you can. I recently bought a 1996 two door disco with 82,000 miles for �2800. Mechanically near perfect, clean, body a few marks, not many extras but ideal for me, towing and work/pleasure and drives like new. Now has 99,000 miles and apart from regular servicing I have only changed the water pump. I expect to be able get another 100,000 miles out of it. That's cheap motoring!

Landrovers aren't "meant" to be unreliable at all, I don't know where you got this from but I certainly haven't found it. No vehicle is entirely reliable especially if you do high mileage like me but I've never in the odd time I have had a problem with a disco not been able to get home or sort it out. If you go for low mileage you buy more reliability.

[kwikfit]

A friend just bought a Honda CRV, superb. And it's not as fat and prominent as the Land Rover etc offerings.

A good estate / 4WD hybrid.

Failing that, Subaru Foresters come recommended too!

[gucciman]

every car customer satisfaction survey you read always places landrover near to the bottom for reliability.

[stanleyman]

You have to put this in perspective, don't forget they work very hard and usually last a lot longer than most cars so unreasonably could be considered less reliable overall when in fact they've done more and are in a wider age group. The British and many other armies still use them, are they wrong? I wouldn't trust these surveys to give a fair representation, I've never been asked to take part! However, this is actually a secret ploy by Landrover lovers to prevent the general public from getting too interested in them, everyone would have a Landrover if they knew how good they really were. Don't buy one they're rubbish!