stupid question...are any 4x4s fairly economical?

[impresario08]

my car is starting to die and my mileage is going to increase between work and home/stables etc. I have always liked the idea of a 4x4 due to increased road stability/storage space etc (and of course being able to tow). However I currently have a ford focus so quite a difference in maintaining price! i have a modest budget as am saving for my wedding. Are there any 4x4s that are fairly ok price wise to run?

 

[Midlifecrisis]

In my humble opinion and experience...no...but I wouldn't be without one. My last one did 32mpg and new one 28mpg...high priced road tax too...

 

[Goldenstar]

As much as I am huge lover of 4x4 's ,we have four ,the most economical does 34 and the least does 14 I don't think I can say they are cheap on fuel .

 

[vmac66]

Definitely not. Mine is very thirsty x

 

[conniegirl]

Our skoda yeti seems quite good. Not got a massive towing capacity (about 2 ton depending on the model) but my oh uses it on his commute and it's quite good for fuel, only a bit more than his skipoda fabia was

 

[ROG]

4x4 Skoda Octavia is supposed to be good

 

[angrybird1]

4x4 Skoda Octavia is supposed to be good[/QUOTE
Yes . I have one and find it fairly good.

 

[AdorableAlice]

I don't need to tow and my 4 x 4 wouldn't tow much more than a small caravan, but I do need it for ensuring I can get around for my job in bad weather and to the yard.

Love my Dacia Duster, it is the top end of the spec but still very basic. Urban it does around 48 mpg and on the motorway 62 mpg. £130 to tax and dirt cheap to insure (I am quite old though). Dusty Bin is fondly known as my Romanian shed.

 

[case895]

They use more fuel as they have bigger engines and weigh more. They cost more to maintain and to insure and tax.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I can't tow with mine - and have no need to - but I have recently bought a Suzuki Ignis hybrid which has selectable 4x4. I wanted a 4x4 because of where we live but also wanted to be able to park in towns, school car parks etc, so needed something small but big enough to fit a Rottweiler in, in case of emergency. I looked at Fiat Pandas and Suzuki Jimnys. The Panda was constant 4x4 and not really big enough luggage space and the Jimny not big enough, with no room for the dog. I really like the Ignis, it costs £30 to fill up and does about 50mph in town.

 

[Equi]

Dad has a 2.2 honda crv (2013) i use now and then and its pretty decent on fuel even towing, but it does cost to tax and insure etc as you would expect. I love it but i personally couldn't afford it, cost me about £60+ a week when i had to use it for a while as my car broke and i was just going to the yard (8 miles each way) and work (1 mile). Might not seem devastating to some, but im used to my car needing about £60 a month! On longer motorway type journeys though its great, i went to a show 105miles away, and i got there and back and i didn't go into the red.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

and the least does 14

wow, what do you have that does 14mpg? A 6litre Mustang does more MPG than that! Crazy.

 

[chaps89]

My dad had a 3l v6 petrol shogun elegance at one point. He loved it but it went into single digits for mpg when towing! And not much better when not they did look at an lpg conversion for it but of course it wasn't possible on that model at the time.
That as an aside, I'm glad you posted this OP as I've been wondering the same- I get about 40mpg out of my astra and fill up about £60 a week in fuel so was wondering how much extra I'd feel it as and when the car needs upgrading if I went to a 4x4.
Out of interest, when people say tax is higher, how much are you paying please?

 

[Goldenstar]

wow, what do you have that does 14mpg? A 6litre Mustang does more MPG than that! Crazy.

I have an overfinch classic shaped Range Rover with the 5.7 v8 Chevy engine .its the car that raced the 16v golf on Top Gear and won while towing a golf on a trailer .
I also have a Range Rover V8 supercharged the jaguar engine one of 35 made for Land Rovers 35th anniversary.
Both are magic cars .

 

[buddylove]

Out of interest, when people say tax is higher, how much are you paying please?

I swapped my land rover discovery for a vw passat. The disco was £500 a year to tax, the passat is £30!!

 

[claret09]

I have had my kia sorento for nearly six years it tows my 17,2 really well and I don't think the fuel consumption is bad - roughly 32 to the gallon - I don't think towing makes much difference - mine is 2006

 

[Caol Ila]

Lots of modern 4x4s are efficient, at least relative to old ones. My 2014 4x4 Yeti gets about mid-40s on a yard run, down the motorway with a little bit of city driving, and I've got it to mid-50s stuck behind cars doing a steady 50 on the A82 in the Highlands.

One of my fellow liveries has a 2011 diesel Subaru Forester which she says gets mid to high 40s.

The figures for the Ford Kuga and Dacia Duster are even better, although I don't know how they fair in real world driving. CRV, Toyota Rav4, Hyundai ix35, and a few other things were kind of high 30s low 40s, which is still better than the old 4x4s.

 

[Kat]

Try a pick up, commercial vehicle tax is different so you pay £110 - £150 depending upon year. Insurance is also cheaper than for a standard 4x4.

Most are part time 4x4 so better on fuel economy, you should be able to achieve 40mpg in a newish one. (Not the VW or Toyota they are thirsty)

They are more expensive to maintain than a small 2wd car though as the 4x4 adds extra stuff to go wrong! I wouldn't swap for a normal 4x4 now.

 

[turnbuckle]

I have an overfinch classic shaped Range Rover with the 5.7 v8 Chevy engine .its the car that raced the 16v golf on Top Gear and won while towing a golf on a trailer .
I also have a Range Rover V8 supercharged the jaguar engine one of 35 made for Land Rovers 35th anniversary.
Both are magic cars .

I think you need to change yr username to MaxPower

 

[impresario08]

thanks all!

 

[GoldenWillow]

We have a Honda CRV diesel, it does mainly short journeys and we get around 43 mpg. It has a towing limit of 2000kg which is enough for us.

 

[Batgirl]

It hugely depends on how much you want to tow!

If under 2 tonnes then you may get 35-45 (X-Trail, Tiguan, Honda CRV etc)
If over you'll be lucky to get 30 (Landy, Navara etc)

Quite a good way to check is to go to autotrader, put in your definite parameters (i.e. 4x4, manul or auto/budget) then you can look at what comes up and chekc waht mpg is advertised AND check owner reviews that are usually more realistic with mpgs

 

[ihatework]

I've got a Mitsubishi Outlander 4x4, 2.2 diesel. Just under 180bhp. 2T tow capacity.
It gets about 37/38 mph on day to day short trips. 40-42 on motorway with careful driving and about 32 when towing 1 horse. I've found it a very useful small 4x4 for daily commuting and ad hoc towing.

 

[1rocky1]

got 2004 3.5 swb shogun petrol never had it over 18mpg, towing around 10/12 but still like it a lot.

 

[Undecided]

I have a CRV (2011, diesel) and am averaging 36mpg doing 16 miles a day as standard (4 miles each way to the yard, uphill) empty. I tow once or twice a week max anything between 15 mins and an hour and a half (hour and a half trip will take me just over half a tank there and back with a 505 and 470kg Cob). On motorway (usually 3 hour trip one way to the city, again empty), this will go up to about 43-45mpg on average. My insurance this year was just under 1k (young driver with a 1 year old speeding fine), and tax is £220 I think.

 

[ameeyal]

I have a 4.7 petrol jeep that's we bought that was already converted to lpg, loads of power and very good on lpg I use my trailer as least twice a week, the only draw back is it only holds £30 in gas, and not many petrol stations sell gas.