Very Cheap small 4x4

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Sun 14 Oct 2012 21:46
Very Cheap small 4x4 - Smallzoo

I am looking at three possibles for a cheap 4x4

Landrover Freelander XEDi 5 door

Subaru Legacy 2.0 or 2.5 estate

Jeep Cherokee 4.0 or 2.5TD

I know I can find a good one of any of these for under £1500. I will only be doing around 5k miles a year so fuel not a problem.

What I know so far..

Freelander- The old diesel engine seems to have a good reputation of maintained and they dont seem to suffer from rust but dont drive like a car

Legacy-Owners seem to have great things to say about these cars but some also say that fixing problems can be expensive

Cherokee-far more agricultural than the other two but highly regarded by owners if not car reviewers !

I have 2.2dci xtrail at the moment which I dont need so I am scaling down to a much cheaper one ( my wife lucky for us has got a company car )..

One final thing.. over the last 20 years I have had a 1.8Xei petrol freelander, Subaru impreza turbo and 4.0 Cherokee and like them all for different reasons

Thanks

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Sun 14 Oct 2012 21:51
Very Cheap small 4x4 - unthrottled

Has to be the Scooby. Better to look at and to drive than the other two. They're fairly well built-if you're lucky you might get a well looked after example.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 02:42
Very Cheap small 4x4 - SteveLee

Cheap Suburus have often been thrashed about by boy racers looking for cheap thrills. Good cheap Legacys are easier to find than Imprezas.

£1,500 will buy you a 1st generation Honda CRV, these are often one private/family owner cars, finding one of these is your best bet for long term longevity and they are very comfortable. But then you're buying a £1,500 car so whatever you get could be polished up scrap, Suzuki Grand Vitaras are very reliable but they are also uncomfortable, many are bought as cheap weekend playthings as they are very good offroad, so you have to be careful, that's the good thing about the CRV - no-one in their right mind would use it as a mud-plugger.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 02:44
Very Cheap small 4x4 - SteveLee

PS Plenty of early Toyota RAV4s knocking about at this price too. Fairly comfortable and a good one will last forever.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 08:57
Very Cheap small 4x4 - TeeCee

>> Suzuki Grand Vitaras are very reliable but they are also uncomfortable

They also have "street cred", which means artificially inflated S/H prices. If you get one of those for 1500 quid, it'll be knackered.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 10:29
Very Cheap small 4x4 - Happy Blue!

The Legacy is too big. Look for a Forester instead. Less likely to be driven by the boy racers and extremely comfortable. The best model is likely to be the 2004 -2006 period which was the Mk2. Completely reliable.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 14:58
Very Cheap small 4x4 - SteveLee

>> Suzuki Grand Vitaras are very reliable but they are also uncomfortable

They also have "street cred", which means artificially inflated S/H prices. If you get one of those for 1500 quid, it'll be knackered.

Take a peak at autotrader plaenty available, the 5 door ones are not generally bought as "lifestyle" vehicles but as family cars.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 15:21
Very Cheap small 4x4 - logger

Thanks so far

a couple of points..

nobody seems to have recommended the cherokee ..any reason ?

I had thought about the forester but I just thought the legacy looked nicer

Cheers

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 16:54
Very Cheap small 4x4 - Happy Blue!

Jeep = unreliable rubbish likely to be expensive to repair.

Subaru = reliable quality although if repairs are needed, however unlikely, they will also be expensive.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 17:01
Very Cheap small 4x4 - jamie745

Jeep = unreliable rubbish likely to be expensive to repair.

Nonsense. The 4.0litre petrol engine is probably one of the greatest engines ever made. It is well regarded as nuclear-weapon-proof.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 17:32
Very Cheap small 4x4 - gordonbennet

Nonsense. The 4.0litre petrol engine is probably one of the greatest engines ever made. It is well regarded as nuclear-weapon-proof.

Yes its just the rest of the car that doesn't quite match up.:-)

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 18:20
Very Cheap small 4x4 - jamie745

Those cars are well documented to run to mileages befitting the Millennium Falcon. 4x4's are generally expensive if they go wrong and there's far less reliable things than an old Grand Cherokee. At least it doesn't have the bonkers suspension setup of a similar vintage Range Rover.

Seek out one which hasn't been used off road and has something approaching a service history and you should be reasonably fine.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 19:40
Very Cheap small 4x4 - sandy56

We ran a 2.5L petrol Cherokee for some years and it was without fault. We found it to be a smooth A - B road cruiser.

Only problem was my wife found it a bit too big and so we sold it for peanuts. I would buy another one.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 19:50
Very Cheap small 4x4 - Collos25

Small I would hardly call a Cherokee small.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 19:47
Very Cheap small 4x4 - Collos25

The engine maybe but the euro made auto box on older models along with Austrian wiring make for a disaster.

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Mon 15 Oct 2012 19:59
Very Cheap small 4x4 - SteveLee

Jeeps use scratchy plastics and suffer niggly faults - but they are usually reliable these days. I thought the original post was about downsizing? A Cherokee is hardly a small 4x4,

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Tue 16 Oct 2012 01:32
Very Cheap small 4x4 - Avant

If it were me I'd go for either a RAV-4 or a Forester. Older 4x4s may well have been abused by a previous owner, and Toyotas and Subarus can stand up to it better than most.

Friends of ours spend a few months of each year in New Zealand and bought 2 cheap 4x4s, a Cherokee (endless trouble) and some form of Toyota - I forget which (no trouble at all).

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If you cover no more than 100 miles per day and have easy access to a charging point at home or work, then an EV is ideal for you.

Is an electric car right for me?