V Cheap 4x4 recommendations..

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kombikids

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Hi - we are having to downsize our shiny gas guzzling discovery to something cheap to help out a family member with some pennies and i have been looking at a diesel freelanders, but iare there any other 4x4s that are good? budget v sad at less than 4k! ideas welcome! just needs to be reasonably sized boot as have toddler and OH uses it for business and able to pull a trailer with a 16hh in in the future.... just needs to last for a short period of time when we can busy something again.
 
we have a vauxhall frontera sport, it was quite cheap to buy, fairly cheap to run and pulls a old style richardson trailer with my 16.2 no problem and we will be towing another 14.2 welsh d with no doubt it being able to cope, theyre very nice little 4x4's and being a sport version not to big and hefty, the boot space isn't huge back the space in the backseats is huge and with the seats folded down theres tons of room!
xx
 
oh sorry, just relaised you already have a disco. Why not just get the same thing but older, our 3 door disco suprisingly uses less diesel than the 5 door! think its a bit shoter in length-talking crap now!!!!...............

Freelanders are not good for towing much, even diesels. It wears the clutch on them if you are towing alot, if you only tow now and then it doesnt matter (i was told this by a chap who works for landrover)

ps-very nice of you to do this for your family!
 
yeah you really shouldnt tow with free landers. i looked into getting a Dihatsu fourtrak, can pick a decent one up cheaply and they tow well apparently!
 
we have a nissian terrano se 2.7 its fantastic it doesnt cost us anymore to run than our old estate car, drives like a car. we have taken the 7 seats out an boot is huge, we took our daughter away when she was 4 months an could have fit the same again in the boot that we took, and it would have filled the estate
 
I have an ancient Shogun, old style, but still goes well, nice to drive. You should get one of those for hundreds now. Ours is about 17 years old.

Ours is petrol so definitely NOT economical, but you can still buy a lot of petrol for what it would cost to replace. Still will cost the £400 tax though.

You can get these in diesel as well. I see quite a lot driving round, so they keep going. Better than the newer ones I heard.
 
I have an Isuzu Trooper 3.0lr Turbo - R reg - 5 door and it's fab. Ace for towing with - massive inside, lots of room in back for kids and huge boot. I love it don't think I would ever get any other type of 4 X 4 again. I got mine about 6 months ago for about £2.5k. Fab car.

Oh yeah forgot to say £99.00 for 6 months tax which I don't think is bad considering I had a Ford Focus before which was £120.00 for 6 months.
 
One to consider would be a 3ltr Hilux Surf, plenty of space, will tow what you need and generally tough reliable cars
 
I have a Daihatsu Fourtrak diesel which isn't bad at all, had it for 6 years, it's never let me down & I love it to bits however...

I'm ready for a new car so I'm updating to a Nissan Terrano. The reviews on the newer 3.0 litre diesel all say they are a lot more economical than the 2.7 diesel so I'm going 3.0 litre
 
If your Disco is gas guzzling, I assume it is petrol. Get a diesel one; they should do between 25 - 30mpg, depending on use, and will tow anything you want. Anything more economical than that will probably not be up to the job.
 
Another for hilux surf (toyota) my OH used to tow his giant boat with ont and they are roomy and don't look too dated. Also can get them pretty cheap
 
thanks guys - all really useful.
the disco is diesel, but automatic and a vr6 or someit (sorry girlie when it comes to cars) so does about 12 to the gallon on the runs i do. have heard bad about freelanders too - but as am having to put horsey on loan also (sob sob) i wont be towing until later in teh year.
 
Another vote for Nissan Terrano bought a2.7 diesel last year was ex police so higher than average milage (no problems with it though )52 plate for 2.5k bargain been the best buy and so easy to drive
 
I've got a TD5 disco and my husband has got the TD4 freelander. There isn't a massive differnce in the fuel consumption. We occasionally tow the horse with freelander but wouldn't want to do it too often.
 
We have a Hyundai Santa Fe. It's brilliant. It replaced a Frontera which we had loads of trouble with. The Santa Fe is solid enough to be absolutely safe for towing (we tow a 15.2 chunky cob and a 16.1 TB in an IW 505) and is really reliable. You can often get 2nd hand ones quite cheaply as people don't like the badge but honestly I would choose one over a Range Rover type 4 x 4 any day. Jo x
 
I bought a cheap 4X4 to tow a horsebox for B+E training and towing boats up and down slipways into saltwater so didnt want to spend too much, found a good Vauxhall Frontera TD Sport R reg with the 2.5 turbo sport Isuzu engine in. Paid less than £2000, its been brilliant 30 mpg solo 24 mph towing empty horsebox local horsey girls get cheapest driving lessons in Devon from grade 6 instructor everyone is a winner.
 
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