Common 4x4s, Vitara, Frontera, CRV, etc. What's The Score?

My friend has one and in the 6 years he has owned it had never had any mecanical faults its only needed revular stuff to stay mot'd
Fuel wise its around mid 20's and parts are cheap and easy to get
As for off road capabilities i'm not sure on that as his is a hairdresser special so wide wheels and fat boy kit

I had one fitted with a Perkins Prima for a while.
The engine probably did a lot toward making it a better car, and it quite happily munched the miles on road with an average of 45mpg or so.

I didn't feel a huge amount of love for it, but it ticked the boxes of being watertight, having a working heater, and starting every time I went to it.

It was eventually parked up when chassis rot became apparent, specifically with a rear radius arm bracket coming 'loose' and some further investigation revealing more rot in the boot floor, rear arches and front inner wings.
I sold it on to a lad who wanted the engine for an MGB.

I used to go trialing etc with a club who had a few lads who ran Vitaras as their vehicle of choice, for.starters because they were cheap, also because they wanted to be different to the Land Rover boys.

They weren't bad in terms of ability, but they were all lifted with big tyres, new suspension arms etc up front with other odds and sods added.
I priced up the kit out of idle interest a few years back and found that by the time you'd bought one and spent the money building it to the spec most lads were running you'd have spent similar or more money -plus time- than a cheap 90, which was equally capable as an off road vehicle with only the need to add a set of knobbly tyres for the really muddy stuff.

Probably a different situation now -ten years down the line- but there's my experience of em.

The SJ was a neat and nimble little thing - as is the Jimny which followed- but too small for me to get properly comfortable in them.

Their main advantage as an off roaded was being small and light so it just floated over everything.
I always found great amusement in seeing one that had been jacked up, had bigger engines and different gearboxes fitted, even going as far as fitting Land Rover axles to 'improve' them, or looking at it another way, basically removing every advantage they had that made them neat and nimble.

Back to the Vitaras, if you can find one that isn't rotten then why not.

I had one around ten years ago. Pretty good little things to be honest and I went all over the place in it and put a fair few miles on it. The only fault I encountered during ownership was a dodgy battery terminal which was professionally solved with a Philips screwdriver and a bigger screw. It was quite a nice thing to drive and in 2wd you could get the back end to step out in 90 degree corners if you booted it mid-corner (the SJ/413 I'd had before it was even livelier but that was lighter). A tad more luxurious and smoother than the SJ and felt that bit more stable and sure-footed. There's a bit of road noise but I guess that's all down to what boots it's wearing but you get used to it after a while or just turn the radio up. Great fun in the summer with the roof off too. :-)







The SJ413

I know literally nothing about them other than I can explicitly remember the exact moment I decided I wanted one. My family when I was muuuuuch younger went to Disneyland Paris, admittedly it was for my younger siblings and I was just a touch too old for it to still be magical, we went via coach which meant a short while on foreign roads staring out the windows at all the cool fiats and renaults.

On the return trip just as we pulled into the filing lanes I saw a Ferrari lorry, being a car fan and a child you can imagine that drew my attention, right up until the moment I'd say 6 or 7 "Raging rhinos" appeared just in front of it. All modded to the max, massive lifts, massive tyres, massive aerials, massive cool. I, at that point wanted one as my first car. I must have forgotten about them because a decade and more later that never happened and I ended up owning a V8 discovery mk2 for offroad fun and have a subaru forester now, they're firmly on the maybe one day list. Thinking about it now, they must have been quite new at that point. I don't recall any SJ's.

Talking about keeping your nice car nice, one of my neighbours decorators has a nice work vehicle to store his paint in... a 2015 audi A7. Wierd eh, I wouldn't dream of it myself.

Thanks very much for the responses!

It seems as though the grand consensus is that they're not all that bad which is good.

It's a shame to see that they don't fall into the cheape tax bracket. With that in mind I can not help but think I would perhaps be better off looking for a V6 of some sort perhaps in the 5 door version. Probably offer a better load space with the rear seats ripped out and probably a bit more fun, even if it is juicy.

Thanks for the offer of the shogun jaykay but I've just sold my L200 and am looking for something ridiculously cheap (the Vitara k was looking at was a mere £200. At that money you'd leave it if it got stuck in the mud!)

Thanks again guys and I'll keep this updated with whatever happens.

heathrobinson I am certain there is a chap in the readers ride section who has one of the wide/fat model vitaras that is installing a MX5 engine, it may be turbo, I can't quite remember but either way it's very cool!

I've never been too concerned by the imagery of vehicles. I drive a TT and a R53 both of which are very widely deemed a "woman's" car. I love them both!

I did thousands of miles in this thing! (on Gran Turismo 2!) Shove supersoft tarmac tyres on it and it'd win any race!

Seriously though, I have a couple of them on my books one a 1.6 and the other a V6 5 door. Both go fairly well and are moderately reliable. But parts prices are HORRENDOUS and a lot of stuff is not available aftermarket. The V6 needed (amongst other stuff) 2 new lower balljoints for the last MOT, but the balljoints are part of the lower arms which are main dealer only and £600 a pair! Plus another £130 for the inner bushes which are supplied separately! The owner nearly had a heart attack!

Steve

Rust is the main issue. The 1600 ones are great. Gearbox and diffs can be a bit noisy but they don't seem to break. Parts are really cheap. I put a MX5 engine in mine but that was mainly for a proper RWD gearbox.

dog, tip runs, fishing. they all require cargo space.

the shorties look like they ahve less room than a hatchback car