Best 4x4 on a budget???

muffinino said:
Im insured with Sureterm who are specialist 4x4 insurers. It costs me under £400/year on an S reg Monterey and they include trailer liability insurance in their standard rate.
http://www.sureterm.com/
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Me too.....costs me £200 fully comp.for my M-reg Disco.

I love my Disco....I don't do a huge amount of mileage so its pretty econimcal for me. And apart from the usual welding that seems to need doing every MOT- its fine mechanically inbetween. *touches wood*.

PLus its ace for towing and general bombing about....it too laughs in the face of snow:)
 
Am currenlty looking for aa decent trooper but cant find one. want one with under 100,000 miles and less than 3k. like a blue one but not sure if i want leather seats or not.
 
CuriousYellow said:
Me too.....costs me £200 fully comp.for my M-reg Disco.

I love my Disco....I don't do a huge amount of mileage so its pretty econimcal for me. And apart from the usual welding that seems to need doing every MOT- its fine mechanically inbetween. *touches wood*.

PLus its ace for towing and general bombing about....it too laughs in the face of snow:)
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Sorry, meant under £300/year, even better lol! The Monterey also laughs in the face of snow and ice, I just adore my Ruby Tuesday :D
 
CarmaandFlin said:
Just got a quote on insurance for an izuzu trooper and its £780 for the year!! I thougt I would get a 4x4 and keep my car too but I can't use my NCD. This snow is not good for a mending broken leg! Thought I'd just get a cheap good 4x4 to tide me over the winter then sell on and keep my lovely sports car but at that cost for insurance be cheaper to pay the full livery costs daily as and when I can't get to the yard!!!

Sorry for highjacking post but are there any other 4x4's that will be cheaper to insure or are there insurance companies that are cheaper and insure both the cars under the one policy?:confused:


:D
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We've got an Admiral multi car policy. You get a decent discount for adding a second car to an existing policy to make it multi car. The quote they gave us to fully comp a 4x4 was very pleasing. Worth looking at :)
 
MrsMozart said:
Don't buy a Discovery :)

Excellent towing vehicles :), but not economical... I drive about 700 miles a week (including what I do at the weekends) and I fill up about four times, so it's not on the thrifty side :eek:. The parts aren't cheap either :(
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Agree with the fuel cost but actually the parts are very cheap if you don't use a main dealer! But I love my Landrover :-)
 
I love the Nissan Terrano - cheap to run, and has been voted the best towing vehicle several times.

Whatever you buy though:

- Wouldn't recommend an import - the parts, insurance and servicing can be quite a bit higher.

- Get a diesel, petrol 4x4's are very very thirsty

- Check the kerb weight as well as what they say is their "towing-capacity". You should NEVER tow more than 85% of the car's kerb-weight - something that is often overlooked in the horse-world, and makes me cringe when I see toy-4x4's towing horses.

Good Luck - and if you want to buy a very nice HB510 to go with it, send me a PM!
 
Muffinino, I had a vauxhall monteray for 10 years, she was called Ruby Vox and it was the most reliable 4 x 4 ever. She was a red 3.1TD and never gave me a day's problem in all the years I had her and it didn't owe me a penny. ( had usual replacement parts through wear and tear ) It was well maintained and serviced. My husband decided it was getting too old and sold her in march this year and I was so upset, especially as he replaced it with an estate car . ( He pays upkeep on vehicles so he thinks he can decide what car I have!!!)

Any way a few months of moaning and he got rid of the estate and I have a Landrover Discovery which I love. I personally don't like driving anything else now but I do have age on my side as far as cheap insurance goes. Soooooo glad I've got a 4 x 4 again especially with this awful weather.
 
TicTac said:
Muffinino, I had a vauxhall monteray for 10 years, she was called Ruby Vox and it was the most reliable 4 x 4 ever. She was a red 3.1TD and never gave me a day's problem in all the years I had her and it didn't owe me a penny. ( had usual replacement parts through wear and tear ) It was well maintained and serviced. My husband decided it was getting too old and sold her in march this year and I was so upset, especially as he replaced it with an estate car . ( He pays upkeep on vehicles so he thinks he can decide what car I have!!!)

Any way a few months of moaning and he got rid of the estate and I have a Landrover Discovery which I love. I personally don't like driving anything else now but I do have age on my side as far as cheap insurance goes. Soooooo glad I've got a 4 x 4 again especially with this awful weather.
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Hmmm, what reg was it? I bought mine in March and it's a red 3.1...:o
 
Thanks guys this is really useful! I have my heart set on the Monterey now so might speak to the insurance company mentioned about prices.

I start a new job next month so will commence the saving process…

Those of you that are getting quotes of about £300 a year, how old are you and how many years no claims do you have? If I can get to February without incident I should have three years, I’m over 25 but under 30… :D
 
scribble said:
Am currenlty looking for aa decent trooper but cant find one. want one with under 100,000 miles and less than 3k. like a blue one but not sure if i want leather seats or not.
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I know this wont help now but I sold my Trooper last july for £2500. 96,000 miles in blue metalic. Immaculate condition W reg. They are out there, you just have to look.
 
I have a Diahatsu fourtrak - brilliant - coped with 2 foot of snow in two wheel drive this morning! (I try to only use 4wd setting for towing). I do a similar number of miles as you and get about 30mpg out of it (24 when towing). cost us £2k in June - 120k miles on the clock, P reg. insurance was about £180 for the year, with me & OH as named driver.

only downside? Ours doesn't have a radio (but some do), and you have to watch out for one that hasn't just been used as a farm vehicle and ragged about.
 
Luci07 said:
Crikey yours costs more than mine does and my jeep is petrol!

Just a thought - a friend was looking at buying a Jeep and was looking at a LPG conversion. Now it would have been a 3.7 petrol, fully specced and with a towing MMTB of 3.3 tonnes. Same car as mine which has been brilliant and coped with the awful snow last year with no problems. While I am not exactly in the scottish highlands or deepest somerset, I still have my horse up on the downs so normal cars will not get up there!

We looked at an LPG conversion and it has gone down a LOT now, as in she was quoted £900. I am deeply tempted as it is a massive difference in petrol, no congestion charge if you need to drive into London (well I do sometimes for family) and of course, tax is reduced..

A word of warning about reduced tax for LPG comversions - make sure that the log book has it listed as an LPG conversion and not just petrol.My OH bought a Subaru with a factory fitted LPG conversion but the logbook just shows petrol so no reduced tax - you have to make sure that it is changed or have a letter from the DVLA confirming reduced tax levels.
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mitsubishi L200 I got, but they are very gutsy, but used to have a pajero they are good work horses, pull a house down and snow...whats snow???
 
Katt said:
Not sure what your sports car is, or how bad the roads are, but it might be worth saving the money on the 4x4, and buying a spare set of wheels (narrow ones are better in the snow - you probably have wide ones as standard) with winter tyres (and maybe even a set of snow chains). That would probably be enough to get you to the yard most of the time, and it would still be cheaper to pay for full livery if you really can't make it.

I'd buy a large container of grit for personal use too, and if you have rear wheel drive and a front engine (like my old sports car) put the grit in the boot to put extra weight over your drive wheels. Keep a shovel in the car too as your other enemy will be low clearance in deep snow.

You'll probably find it will perform better than most normal cars set up like this!

Swot up on driving in the snow techniques too.

We find that DH's polo (on standard economy tyres) out performs some 4x4s in both muddy fields and on snowy roads. A lot of it is down to careful driving, and knowing your vehicle. Last winter we took it up the snake pass in heavy snow, and the only other vehicle that made it as far as us was an ancient Toyota people carrier, all the 4x4s were abandoned much further down.
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Thanks Katt some great advice there! I never thought of the snow tyres and chains etc. What a great idea as I don't want to get rid of my car. Its a hyundai coupe and its front wheel drive and was fab when we had the 4 weeks of snow and I never got stuck anywhere. We always got back home and into the garage.

The change this year in the snow is that I am moving yards next weekend which is at a higher level so more snow but road is grtted at the top of the yard gates. I also have just got driving again after breaking my leg so if I do get stuck I won't be able to walk far.

It will certainly be cheaper to get the snow tyres and chains sorted so think will go down that route.

You did very well to get up snake pass in the snow!!! :eek: Well done!
 
In Feb I bought myself a 1997 Discovery 3.9l v8 which has an lpg conversion on it makes it much more economical, not had alot of pratice in snow with it but it tows my HB510 with my big hunter and my other horse and we have seriously big hills round here. I paid £1750 fot it just had it through its mot first time too.

I insure mine with NFU they let me use my no claims from my fiat which I still have as a runaround on the policy.

Just got a quote from this sureterm website for over £6000 a year!! I pay approx £500 a year to nfu fully comp and includes the trailer insurance and recovery if either the tow car or trailer break down.
 
Dizzle said:
Thanks guys this is really useful! I have my heart set on the Monterey now so might speak to the insurance company mentioned about prices.

I start a new job next month so will commence the saving process…

Those of you that are getting quotes of about £300 a year, how old are you and how many years no claims do you have? If I can get to February without incident I should have three years, I’m over 25 but under 30… :D
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I'm in the same age bracket :) I have 8 years no claims but Sureterm don't take no claims into account anyway...
 
CarmaandFlin said:
Thanks Katt some great advice there! I never thought of the snow tyres and chains etc. What a great idea as I don't want to get rid of my car. Its a hyundai coupe and its front wheel drive and was fab when we had the 4 weeks of snow and I never got stuck anywhere. We always got back home and into the garage.

The change this year in the snow is that I am moving yards next weekend which is at a higher level so more snow but road is grtted at the top of the yard gates. I also have just got driving again after breaking my leg so if I do get stuck I won't be able to walk far.

It will certainly be cheaper to get the snow tyres and chains sorted so think will go down that route.

You did very well to get up snake pass in the snow!!! :eek: Well done!
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We didn't manage to get to the high point, but it was closed from the dam and we got just past doctor's gate!

But pretty good for a standard VW polo with well over 100,000 miles on the clock!
 
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