Small 4wd or tough 2wd advice please

[coppice]

I help run a club which employs somebody to look after our little estate(nothing grand - we lease some river ). We provide a vehicle - last one was a Suzuki Vitara. It has been ok but not perfect - bit thirsty and because we can't afford new it already had a reasonable mileage when we got it . Use is road and farm tracks .

Looking around at market and with budget less than 10k I am quite drawn to Jimny - small but tough as old boots (I've read) and go anywhere. Or is there a 2wd with decent ride height that would be tough enough for a few years? Nothing springs to my mind . Or should we look at a softer SUV like Honda CRV- would be older but they don't tend to break.

Not a passion for driving question but just advice on fit for purpose, reliable transport . Any practical experiences that can be shared would be very helpful .

[coppice]

But everything I hear about Defenders tells me they drink fuel and are not especially reliable. And what sort of L:R would we get for less than 10k?

Or is your tongue welded inside your cheek - if the PH answer isn't an MX5 it's a Defender...? :-)

[coppice]

Excellent - thanks to all for their thoughts . Three queries re Jimny - I assume servicing costs are low? MPG - got to be mid 30s plus - and all petrol I think ? If we bought a 20k mile one it should be ok for 8-10k a year until 100k ish with tlc ?

[coppice]

It is used for limited blacktop driving - 20 odd miles a day - and farm tracks . Most of the tracks are fine in my 2wd car with right tyres but some are much tougher. It is a working vehicle used to transport chainsaws etc and occasionally pulls a small trailer. We are not interested in driver appeal - we want something affordable , fit for purpose and reliable- and not £££lots to fix. We want to keep for as long as possible too.

The Dacia (which I had not considered before but which somebody suggested )looks to tick most boxes

[coppice]

Reliability is key; we cannot afford any excess downtime for repair. Nissan sounds good but I really would struggle to justify buying a near 90k miles vehicle for next 5 or 6 years use and a 3 litre is going to be thirsty .