New 4x4's

[Boggert]

Right I'm bored so I thought I would do some research....

What New 4x4's are there?

No matter how we look at it our 4x4's are going to hit the scrap yard one day with the exception of soem suzukis and landies which will be rebuilt and rebuilt. I have seen a few friends recently scrapping their discos when the rot out. so in the future wht is there to replace them with?

Citroen C Crosser 2WD with front wheel drive, flick a switch and it a 4x4


Nissan XTrail



Nissan Qashqai comes in 2WD and 4WD



Nissan Pathfinder



Pergeot 4007 Which looks about the same as the citroen thing.



Audi Q7.... wow its a beast! cannot see it on the lanes thoe!



VW Tourage



BMW x5 a farmer friend of mine has one and uses it off road and loves it! is it all that bad?


Landrover Discovery. I just love this model!



I know there are loads out there, but can you imagine taking half of them off road???

[karlo]

The Pug & Citreon are the same there both based on the Mitsubishi Outlander.

[V8MoneyPit]

I like this...



The Toyota FJ Cruiser.

[JimP]

I do like that Outlander - be tempted with one of those when I replace the Freelander  :-k

[DoubleTop]

liking the Toyota FJ cruiser a lot, that looks smart.

DT.

[V8MoneyPit]

liking the Toyota FJ cruiser a lot, that looks smart.

DT.

Unfortunately, I think it's not available in the UK  :( But there are always personal imports  :D

[Boggert]

I do like that Outlander - be tempted with one of those when I replace the Freelander  :-k

You can pick up a 57 plate Citroen one for about 14K not bad.

 You can pick up a Dodge Nitro real cheap!

[MudRat]

I do like that Outlander - be tempted with one of those when I replace the Freelander  :-k

You can pick up a 57 plate Citroen one for about 14K not bad.

 You can pick up a Dodge Nitro real cheap!

  Thats nasty!

I may be going for an Mitsi Outlander, anyone got experience of em?

[zippy656]

I like this...



The Toyota FJ Cruiser.

so how do i get the wife to say i can have one??

[DoubleTop]

urrgh, that plastic has to come off the Dodge thing, that's just grim :(  I like the shape and the big grill though.

DT.

[Drift]

Other than that Fj Cruiser and I dont know how much it cost I would say the Jiminy is the way forward in new car terms for off roading, taking into consideration the vehicle cost and parts for modification.

Lets face it not many of us can afford to modify or buy a £30k car  :-k  

[Mark Y]

I haven't tried the Outlander, I had the Peugeot 4007 for a few days to test, they are both the same cars, the Mitzi looks better though, looks more like an off road vehicle, it had 7 seats, very small seats in the boot.
I wasn't allowed to off road it to begin with as they were frightened I would break it, I asked them if it was up to it and they then allowed me to off road, it didn't come up to much off road and slipped and slided around and refused to clime a muddy hill, not bad as a soft roader though.
I've also off roaded the new BMW X5, it was the dogs danglies on road and was ok in mild off road conditions anything more and it struggled, awsome drive though.
Obviously I have hammered the D3 off road and rate it as the best of all of the ones mentioned, (slightly biased)!.

[Disco-Ron]

Lets be honest though, while they may well be 4x4's, they're not a Defender are they..... ie, built for what it is, and does, ,ost new 4x4's are too complicated for their own good..... mind you, i dare say a new defender is going that way aswelll...LOL!!

[Mark Y]

I've off roaded the new defender against the D3 and RR, I prefered the D3 and it was the one that kept going with air suspention an auto electric diff lock on rear axle, great fun !.

[Boggert]

I've off roaded the new defender against the D3 and RR, I prefered the D3 and it was the one that kept going with air suspention an auto electric diff lock on rear axle, great fun !.

Whats the new Defender look like? is it based on the old shape?

[LandRoger]

Their all downright awfull except the Toyota ,and do any of the others have a low box?i think not so they are softroaders not proper 4x4s ,i hope i never have to drive any of them, : :roll: :roll:

[Mark Y]

Sorry Boggert by new defender I mean the current 2009 version.

[Boggert]

I was getting all excited, I know its due for replacement soon, itching to see whats going to try to take its place.

[Mark Y]

Landroger, I think you will find the D3 has a low box.

[Range Rover Blues]

Somehow I suspect that most of those will not be around in 15 years time either, sadly nothing is made to last but morew worryingly is the "end of life" legislation that has been threatened.

[muddyjames]

and what will the road tax be like? More than £400 I'm sure! Also gone will be the days of the workshop section on here. In there if it is still around is how to change a wheel or best ways to clean your windows or maybe the best pc software to plug in!.  :roll: :lol:

[Boggert]

Somehow I suspect that most of those will not be around in 15 years time either, sadly nothing is made to last but morew worryingly is the "end of life" legislation that has been threatened.

Agreed, But the facts are that most of our old designs are being rebuilt into modern models... VW Beetle, Mini, Fiat500. the days of home maintenance are going as anyone can see whan they walk into Halfords and it all Bling bling alloys and stick on crap.

The origional discos are rotting and starting to be scraped so where does that leave us the 4x4 family? I guess we have to turn to the new 4x4's if we like it or not.

I know that some 4x4 clubs gave the drivers of the Freelander or Gaylander as I heard it called some stick. Where as in reality it is a capable car on and off the road. I remember following Schuee in his Freelander while laning, it had road tyres that were... lets say a tad worn driving through thick mud, it never even looked like it was going to get stuck!

Now I hang my head in shame as I don'town a 4x4 at the moment, but when I do replace my trusty Zafira, it is most likely to be a Nissan Qashqai 7 seat or something simular...

I figure we have to look to the future for our 4x4's rather than being stuck in the past.

[carbore]

I had a long look at that sector recently and the issue is this, as the 4x4 fad and subsequent backlash has been played out the "Softraoders" are changing, many of the CR|V / RAV5 things are becoming more "crossovers" ditching the "chunky off roader" looks so beloved of motring journos. The problem is that very few people who bought these cars really needed them, they werent really any bigger inside than the esate car or even hatch they would have traditionally gone of and the excuse of a "Lifestyle 4x4" diddnt wash becuase all the other cars in the slighyl gravelly car park wernt 4x4 and they got home from the days kite surfing etc. Therefore this class is looking a bit of a lame duck to me.

Unfortunatley when you look at the MPG and C02 figures most of the cross overs have only slightly improved over thier chunkier forfathers and by thetime you get a half decent engine in any of them they often fall foul of the recent tax changes.

Its better news in the traditional off roader class however. The increace in those sales have allowed investment in thigs like teh Disco 3, Pathfinder, Land Cruser, Shogun etc./ Some may think they have lost some of the hardcore functions, but they are all very capable off road. You will still pay a lot at the pump and tax, but due to the decline in desirability thre are some very nice Disco3 etc that are under 10k.

Basically you can have a capable off road vehicle thats great value to buy but expensive to run. Or a compromise thats average in terms of cost but limited off road.

Alterneativley have a practical economical car and run a tax exempt landy.

[schuee]

Hi Patrick,

Just for the record, I have a new set of boots on the Hippo now  ;)  :lol:

See you soon, hopefully will book a space at Rockingham LRE for Jan/Feb, will be in touch.

Cheers

Keith

[crazymac]

I plan on running my Discovery for as long as I can!! (for that read "until they prise the keys from my dying hands")

There are some of the newer ones I like, the D3 I would have in a heartbeat but can never see me affording one!

I quite like the Pathfinder and Xtrail for looks, not sure about ability? I would guess the Pathfiner is capable and the Xtrail heading towards the Freelander? But again costs come into it.

My Discovery costs me minimal amounts really, £180 a year Tax, £180 Insurance, £1360 in fuel (based on 9000 miles a year at an average 30MPG and £1. a litre and ongoing maintenance of around £200 a year (some years less some more so an average estimated) so approaching £2000 a year.

But if I bought something newer I would have most of these costs PLUS finance!! No brainer really!

[littlepow]

There will always be some form or pickup 4x4 with reasonable offroad ability. But this maybe the future level of offroad ability provided by companies, there is very little market for out and out offroaders in business these days.

[discowoman]

well I went Jap, and got a Pajero..I have 2 now a 1991 SWB and a 1989 LWB - both have NO rot, have more toys than most currrent offroaders, and the 1989 has the build quality of German 'luxury' vehicles - the last couple of LR's I have owned have disintegrated before my eyes and had les toys than a 2cv!
Dont think I'll ever go back to LR - unles I get 6 numbers - then it would be a RR sport, or 2!!!

[Boddle]

  As it stands at the moment rebuilding the defender would be the best option, It says a lot when the best looking to me seems to be the D3 and that looks like an American bread van. Most of these need to shed a few kilograms to.
 Most those old Disco's have life in them maybe not with a Disco body on them though.

[cardiff_gareth]

I like the look of that X-Trail - looks nice

The D3 would always be on my xmas list, closely followed by the FJ Cruiser and then the Pathfinder

The rest I can't see being used for offroading, look at the size of the rims / tyres on the Tourage and Q7, don't think they do BFG in that tyre size LOL !!
The departure and entrance angles are poor, they look like they could cross a field and thats about it  :lol:

[Bush Tucker Man]

liking the Toyota FJ cruiser a lot, that looks smart.

Unfortunately, I think it's not available in the UK  :( But there are always personal imports  :D

Europa SVT are/were bringing it in (@ about £23,000)
They bring over the Challenger & (awesome) Bullitt Mustang