merryck
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 477
Club RR Member Number: 9
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What 4x4 to buy?merryck
@merryck
Club Retro Rides Member 9
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A friend has recently taken up a job as a tree surgeon. For his work he needs a 4x4. He’s been making do with a Ford Fusion, but that was mercifully put out of its misery by a good old rear-end collision this morning.
He’s after something reliable and cheap, that he can use to carry all his equipment and that will allow him to get to where he needs to go.
Needs to be taxed and insured for less than £2k ideally.
All I can suggest is a Disco 1, maybe an early 2, but I thought if anyone is going to have an idea of weird old vehicles it’s you lot, so what do you guys suggest!
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Shogun
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 Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern |
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Ritchie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 765 
Club RR Member Number: 12
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What 4x4 to buy?Ritchie
@ritchie
Club Retro Rides Member 12
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+1 Just watch for chassis rot.
I bloody love them.
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Ford ranger/Mazda?
Twin cab with pickup rear
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jpr1977
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 656
Club RR Member Number: 18
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What 4x4 to buy?jpr1977
@jpr1977
Club Retro Rides Member 18
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Old Ford Ranger - Mate of mine uses one for his gardening buisness, he's tried every which way to kill it and its still more reliable than his new mitsubushi double cab...
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lightyearman
Part of things
GYJDM - Grimsby based Japanese car club - Find us on Facebook
Posts: 639
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I'm an advocate of the early 00s Mitsubishi L200s. They are plentiful around the £1200 mark and surprisingly capable off road with a rear diff lock. I did a lot of mixed miles in mine and its a nice place to be for the money and capability.
There were cylinder head casting issues but anything still going is either unaffected or will have had replacement.
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'89 Honda CRX siR Glassroof Flint black fully restored track beasty
'90 Nissan S13 Pignose - pass the mig wire
'86 Mini - matt orange, 13" Wellers, Project 2018
'97 LDV Convoy home built camper/tramper van
'04 Saab 9-5 Aero HOT. Anyone want it?
'91 Honda VFR400 NC30 17,000 km from new
'87 Honda XR80 4 stroke baby crosser
'03 Mini Cooper S - honestly, they are fun...
'15 VW T5.1 LWB daily brick
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Jez
Part of things
Posts: 517
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Reliable and Discovery in the same sentence?!
Does it have to be a serious off roader or would a soft roader be good enough? I'm thinking a £1500 RAV4 or CRV. Plenty of room in the back with the seats down.
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1990 VW Golf GTI G60
2014 Skoda Octavia RS
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Rob M
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,915
Club RR Member Number: 41
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What 4x4 to buy?Rob M
@zeb
Club Retro Rides Member 41
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I spoke to a 4x4 dealer years back about what he thought was the best 4x4 out there.
Without hesitation he said Daihatsu Fourtrak.
A serious mega tough 4x4 that did the job better than anything else out there.
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I spoke to a 4x4 dealer years back about what he thought was the best 4x4 out there. Without hesitation he said Daihatsu Fourtrak. A serious mega tough 4x4 that did the job better than anything else out there. This is true, but they also rot like a pear, so cheap ones tend to be quite rotten. Good ones can change hands for very strong money. |
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Specialist Bodyshop & Fabrication Classic, Retro, Prestige & Custom Small Repairs to Concours Restorations Mechanical Work Vintage to Modern |
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I think he will need to rethink his budget, commercial insurance will take a big chunk of his 2k budget.
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eternaloptimist
Posted a lot
Too many projects, not enough time or space...
Posts: 2,578
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Suzuki Jimny.
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XC70, VW split screen crew cab, Standard Ten
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There's a tree surgeon round my way, he uses a Unimog.  |
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does he reeealy need a 4x4? most i see run flatbed transits. ive been in some quite extreme places with many transits (rwd twin wheel) and never got stuck.
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating
'80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip
'97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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merryck
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 477
Club RR Member Number: 9
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What 4x4 to buy?merryck
@merryck
Club Retro Rides Member 9
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The type of work he's doing at the moment is coppicing, so he's working in some woods moving around. Like I say, he's been making do with his Ford Fusion, but it involved a lot of walking to where he'll be working, which eats into the amount of work he can manage and therefore his take home I think.
I'll pass on all these suggestions, it's hard to know what's decent and what's not without a good bit of first hand experience. He's found a few L200's in his price range, so I'll be sure to check out the casting issue and pass on the info.
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There's a tree surgeon round my way, he uses a Unimog. 2 grand will get him the tyres then Jimnys and similar have no load space for a working vehicle. Get an L200, best youll get for the money |
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wodge
Part of things
Posts: 455
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Frontera B. 30+ MPG. Just works, good enough off road and will sit at 85 on motorway and still get 30mpg. Less than a grand with a years ticket. Paid £700 18 months ago for mine. I've put 50k on it for the net sum of pads all round. Not even needed new tyres yet although it wont be long.
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,645
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Subaru Forrester - that is all...........unless you use a Subaru Legacy like the one I just bought from a Swiss Forestry Worker.
I cannot recommend the durability of 95-05 Subaru's highly enough. I'm on my 5th.
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bazzateer
Posted a lot
Imping along sans Vogue
Posts: 3,653
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May 10, 2019 11:03:29 GMT
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Subaru Forrester - that is all...........unless you use a Subaru Legacy like the one I just bought from a Swiss Forestry Worker. I cannot recommend the durability of 95-05 Subaru's highly enough. I'm on my 5th. If you've had 5 are they really that durable? |
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1968 Singer Chamois Sport
1972 Sunbeam Imp Sport
1976 Datsun 260Z 2+2
1998 Peugeot Boxer Pilote motorhome
2003 Rover 75 1.8 Club SE (daily)
2006 MG ZT 190+ (another daily)
2007 BMW 530d Touring M Sport (tow car)
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thebaron
Europe
Over the river, heading out of town
Posts: 1,645
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May 10, 2019 12:39:28 GMT
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Subaru Forrester - that is all...........unless you use a Subaru Legacy like the one I just bought from a Swiss Forestry Worker. I cannot recommend the durability of 95-05 Subaru's highly enough. I'm on my 5th. If you've had 5 are they really that durable? Ha, well you could look at it that way but I like to change cars a lot. For example 12 in and out in 2018 alone. Let me put it another way. The first 4: SVX - 50,000 kms in 1 year Impreza Turbo - 50,000 kms in 1 year Legacy 2.5 - 10,000 kms in 4 months Forrester 2.0 Turbo - 5,000 kms in 2 months (my wife did not like it as it made her drive "like a lunatic" - her own words!) I spent absolutely Zero in maintenance or fixes on those 4 and nothing broke on any one of them. All used through hard Swiss winters. The reason I bought another 2.5 Legacy Wagon is to drive it back to Ireland and use it when I'm there on holidays. I wanted something I could trust to work and sit for long stretches without complaining. It was a no brainer for me. Just make sure there is not rust on the rear arches and the belts are not overdue and you are golden. edit- other than 1 oil change each on the SVX and Impreza |
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Last Edit: May 10, 2019 12:44:52 GMT by thebaron
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May 10, 2019 13:36:55 GMT
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lwb/grand vitara...more capable than you may be led to believe...and cheap!
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'80 s1 924 turbo..hibernating
'80 golf gli cabriolet...doing impression of a skip
'97 pug 106 commuter...continuing cheapness making me smile!
firm believer in the k.i.s.s and f.i.s.h principles.
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