XC90 Vs Touareg 5k ish

[RussH91]

First off thanks for the help regarding Nissan X-Trail afew months back for the girlfriend, she took everything she that was said on board and ended up buying........... A Vauxhall Adam on pcp. woman the mind boggles!

Now moving very swiftly on, I would like to purchase a 4x4 which in my opinion looks smart, capable tower, reasonable off road capabilities on right tyres. Not talking pay and play sites or full on trials more like something that could tow a trailer off a wet field without diggng ditches, no matter how the field needs drainage tending to.

Why not an estate? living on a farm a mile down rough track, they don't hack going up day in day out yes passable but not ideal situation. So why not a XC70 or allroad or outback? towing capabilites, extra ground clearance, not seriously off roading etc. Unfortunatly the main trailer that I have use off is sat on landrover wheels so wouldn't feel comfortable towing with an estate, and with a vehicle on the trailer would most likely be over loaded.

So I've hypotheticly given you all 5k ish to buy somethng suitable what would you buy what would you look out for in regards to, cost of runnng, relabilty, likely cost at 10 years old, choosing the right vehicle when it comes to the crunch. Or any other vehicles hadn't considered.

At the end of the day it will spend most of its time on road apart from occasional use on farm and the 1st mile in the morning last mile at night, the higher spec the better cruise control leather etc

I'm thinkng something like these

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Volkswagen-Touareg-2-5-T...

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/v...

[scrwright]

Would take a towrag over a t6 xc90 any day. A couple of mates with each, xc has been a money pit, VW much less so (although that was the facelift version)

[jep]

What about an E53 X5? Surprisingly capable with the right tyres, and they have all the toys you need (my 04 had nav/tv/bluetooth etc.) Downside is that it looks like you'll have to spend a touch more than £5k for a good facelifted version.

[Bill]

Neither of your two options are particularly reliable AIUI, with the Volvo being spectacularly poor.

Personally I'd be looking at a Range Rover Classic, but then I'll admit I'm a bit odd

Edited by Bill on Thursday 5th June 11:47

[egor110]

Save a couple of grand and get a grand cherokee.

[agent006]

RussH91 said:

So I've hypotheticly given you all 5k ish to buy somethng suitable what would you buy

I would buy a Shogun (and did). I had exactly the criteria you did.
XC90 and Touareg both come with various expensive horror stories (XC90 less so). I don't remember in detail as it was a few years back but I remember the Touareg being gearbox related amongst other things.
Shogun may not be quite there in terms of refinement but it'll keep going till the sun explodes.

A 3.2d Equippe or Elegance, auto

edit: something like this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-Mitsubishi-Shogun-3...

Edited by agent006 on Thursday 5th June 17:42

[MatrixXXx]

egor110 said:

Save a couple of grand and get a grand cherokee.

Totally agree, the others are not really designed for off road, and the jeeps are amazing value for money.

[egor110]

MatrixXXx said:

egor110 said:

Save a couple of grand and get a grand cherokee.

Totally agree, the others are not really designed for off road, and the jeeps are amazing value for money.

mine was bought for a grand sounds like screws in cement mixer yet it still won't die, it's gone from lancashire to somerset, somerset to brands, oulton park and back and it still continues to run, i'll be sad when the engine finally does let go.

[RussH91]

Good call on Grand Cherokee, just checked all the toys can get facelift 3.0CRD and the insurance is a couple £100 cheaper then both xc90 and Touareg. Thought about X5 not partically keen of the impression that comes with the no offence plus that was the most expensive to insure.

Anything to look out for on 3.0 CRD around 100k mark?

[pcn1]

RussH91 said:

Good call on Grand Cherokee, just checked all the toys can get facelift 3.0CRD and the insurance is a couple £100 cheaper then both xc90 and Touareg. Thought about X5 not partically keen of the impression that comes with the no offence plus that was the most expensive to insure.

Anything to look out for on 3.0 CRD around 100k mark?

Didn't realise they had hit that price already. 4k seems to get you a nice 2.7 WJ. If I'm right , the 3.0 WK's (2005 onwards) are IFS ?. The older WJ's are live axle. There were complaints that the fit and finish on the early WK's we're not as good as the WJ's. But better road manners.i think the WK MK 2 was an improvement.
I'm biased but would by the best WJ I could, keep the savings for future maintenance and pay less road tax each year !!!
What ever you choose there's loads of forum help and parts of the ole inter web to help.

[Hereward]

MatrixXXx said:

egor110 said:

Save a couple of grand and get a grand cherokee.

Totally agree, the others are not really designed for off road, and the jeeps are amazing value for money.

That's a common misconception with regard to the Touareg/Cayenne chassis and I'm happy to correct it.

Ferdinand Piech was a perfectionist and the result was an impressive machine, albeit somewhat over-engineered. Permanent 4 wheel drive, low ratio and centre diff lock all come as standard and air suspension, rear diff lock and detachable anti-roll bars were optional extras. Coupled with advanced electronics it was very much designed to perform off-road.

[MatrixXXx]

Hereward said:

MatrixXXx said:

egor110 said:

Save a couple of grand and get a grand cherokee.

Totally agree, the others are not really designed for off road, and the jeeps are amazing value for money.

That's a common misconception with regard to the Touareg/Cayenne chassis and I'm happy to correct it.

Ferdinand Piech was a perfectionist and the result was an impressive machine, albeit somewhat over-engineered. Permanent 4 wheel drive, low ratio and centre diff lock all come as standard and air suspension, rear diff lock and detachable anti-roll bars were optional extras. Coupled with advanced electronics it was very much designed to perform off-road.

The jeep is one of the most accomplished off roader's there is. never seen volvo or VW as good offroaders, there at the bottom of the list behind land rover, Toyota, Mitsubishi etc etc ( in my opinion)

[MatrixXXx]

RussH91 said:

Good call on Grand Cherokee, just checked all the toys can get facelift 3.0CRD and the insurance is a couple £100 cheaper then both xc90 and Touareg. Thought about X5 not partically keen of the impression that comes with the no offence plus that was the most expensive to insure.

Anything to look out for on 3.0 CRD around 100k mark?

i think the diesels are the most problematic, i guess the Americans don't use diesels, as the fuel over there is so cheap, they seem the get problems with the injectors and gearbox's.

I went for the 4.7L with all the toys, cheap to run, low road tax, low insurance, easy to fix, bullet proof 4.7 V8 , its like driving an off road rolls Royce, very well made, and they can easily do 200k, just compare them with a range rover or Toyota, a fraction of the price.

[bakerstreet]

See if you can stretch to £6k and you could get a post 2005 Jeep Jerokee. High and low range, but I don't think they have centre diff lock. They do have intelligent 4WD though (Quadra Track 2 I think). I think they are good looking cars.

Nice inside and the Merc V6 TD engine is meant to be pretty good. Its certainly a faster vehicle than the equivalent Disco 3 which is very very slow.

Try and stick to 05 vehicles as they have the cheaper Road Tax

[RussH91]

Thanks for all the advice looking like my choice would be 3.0CRD, fingers crossed lets see what the next few months bring. like I said wouldn't be doing major offroad so locking diffs is a massive ssue but looks fairly capable tower and decent daily drive.