I'm stuck on what 4x4 to buy... HELP

[Pig benis]

Hi chaps

I have finally decided to take the plunge and buy a 4x4 with a budget of 2k. It will be my every day car (20 miles a day) and I will be using it for some green laning.

My heart is set on either a 300tdi or a TD5 Discovery, but I keep reading terrible things about the TD5. I am open to suggestions about what would make a good, reliable 4x4.

So far I've looked at (on ebay)

200/300/TD5 Discovery's
Mitsubishi Shogun SWB
Toyota land Cruiser

There is something about the Land Rover which I just love, but would I be asking for a whole heap of trouble for buying one?

Realistically how much maintenance would a 300TDI or TD5 require? How long is a piece of string, I guess....

I live very close to Salisbury Plane and I'd like to buy a 4x4 by the end of the month.

Thanks P.H

[TooMany2cvs]

Pig benis said:

So far I've looked at (on ebay)

200/300/TD5 Discovery's
Mitsubishi Shogun SWB
Toyota land Cruiser

That's going to be a fairly shagged 90/Disco, tbh. But not as shagged as a 'cruiser would be for £2k... OTOH, £2k is going to get you a decent Shogun.

To give you a guide, we bought a '96/P LWB Shog last summer, £700ish with full ticket. It's dead now. Body rot, but a major mechanical tipped it. To replace it, we've just bought a tidy '80 s3 88" Landy for £1500, but off the road for three years, no MOT and a fairly big list of things needing doing, not least a full brake rebuild. 90s are pricier, because they're more "usable"...

At that money, though, I think I'd still be looking on condition rather than badge, unless you're happy to travel and/or spanner. For a car that's both your daily plus an occasional off-roader? I hope you like spannering, because you WILL break things.

[scrwright]

For that budget I would say go for a WJ Grand Cherokee (99-05) Get a 4litre on LPG and they are cheap to run & very reliable.

[GravelBen]

Down this side of the world the only 4wds with a good reputation for reliability are Toyota and Nissan (even then there are exceptions), Landcruiser and Patrol/Safari are really head and shoulders above the rest though.

ETA: actually I think the 3.1 Isuzu Bighorn/Trooper is ok too, but worth adding an oil cooler if towing heavy loads with it. Suzukis are reliable but not built as solidly as the bigger trucks, so it depends how rough the use is.

Edited by GravelBen on Wednesday 13th August 13:14

[MatrixXXx]

scrwright said:

For that budget I would say go for a WJ Grand Cherokee (99-05) Get a 4litre on LPG and they are cheap to run & very reliable.

for under 2k jeep is the way to go. no competition, I got a cheap 4.7L cheap to run and easy to fix, but very reliable.

[jay140285]

Got to agree,

Jeeps are the way forward at that price.

I have had a WJ and now a WK as daily drivers both, at your budget I had a XJ Cherokee 4.0 that cost me £550 with a lift and muds, abused it and still sold at same price 12months later.

Now for off roading I have a 4litre 1999 ZJ Grand Cherokee modified with winches, lifts etc etc. still cost less that 2k

[Pig benis]

Thanks for your advice guys.

So would you say a 2k Land Rover would be a bad move?

I've been looking at the Jeep Cherokee and they do look cool. A lot of the 4.0l engines have an LPG conversion, are they any known problems from doing this? Hot valves, or something.

Cheers

[scrwright]

only go for a multipoint LPG setup, avoid spi. The 4l runs on LPG fine, no valve issues at all. v8s have to have flashlube or they get valve issues. Been running LPG on my 4l for around 160k miles with no issues (engine nearly at 250k miles) Did 100k miles on my old cherokee 4l on LPG with zero issues also

[TooMany2cvs]

Pig benis said:

So would you say a 2k Land Rover would be a bad move?

Not necessarily, but it's got serious potential to be. I think it's one of those "If you need to ask" questions. If you can't spot a wrong 'un when you view, then you're going to need to be lucky.

[Walter Sobchak]

I think you could get a pretty tidy Disco 300 TDI for that money, I'd avoid the TD5.
You would have to spend a bit more to get a decent Landcruiser though, my pick would be a Landcruiser 80 4.2 TD.

[richs2891]

Nissan Terrano would be my call,

[NashGT]

I would go for an XJ or a SWB Pajero/shogun