Interactive what car - 4x4, 30mpg, £3k

[veevee]

You might or might not have seen my previous threads, I originally wanted a 4x4 car, and had narrowed it down to an A4/Octavia/Passat, but then it turned out I couldn't find one. Then I tried soft-roaders, but they seem expensive for what they are, right at the top of my budget.

So now I'm trying 'proper' 4x4s.. only problem is, I'm back at square one, know nothing about them, and suddenly have a huge variety instead of the quite narrow range I was faced with before.

I'm heading to the French Alps for the winter, I want a car I can drive (~10k over 6 months), and hopefully sell for not much loss when I get back.

A Nissan Terrano looks like the number one pick at the moment, Cherokees also look interesting, but I really don't know where to start.

Interactive part: I will give £20 to the person who finds me a car to buy! I need to buy something by Friday evening.

Requirements:

Pref nearby to East London, but can travel within reason for the right car.
£3k
Not in the highest tax band!
Minimal short term depreciation, long MOT
Not going to leave me stuck in the middle of the Alps (no Land Rovers!)
4x4
Pref. diesel
Winter-resistant
30mpg
Pref. with a roof rack already on it!
Bonus points if you can find a car with mud&snow tyres already on, or a set of used wheels with tyres on, or even just the tyres.

[fjord]

Panda 4x4

[Zad]

How about having a look around local auction sale lists?

[BFG TERRANO]

My terrano! Full mot, 5 months tax, new bf goodrich all round, new battery, 7 seats and yours for £2950. Slightly short on mpg at 27 but will do the job!

[CraigyMc]

Diesel is a bad idea for really low temperatures, so I'm going to ignore that.

I don't want your £20 so your budget is actually £3020.

How about this:
http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

ETA there are 3x Suzuki Ignis 4grips (4grip is the 4wd version) within 50 miles of Romford train station (I've no idea what you mean by "East London" so I took a wild stab in the dark).

All are up for under £3K, all have reasonably long MOTs and none has a huge number of miles. Autotrader has those - PH doesn't seem to.

C

Edited by CraigyMc on Wednesday 21st November 07:21

[Viperz888]

veevee said:

Not going to leave me stuck in the middle of the Alps (no Land Rovers!)

Explain

[CraigyMc]

Viperz888 said:

veevee said:

Not going to leave me stuck in the middle of the Alps (no Land Rovers!)

Explain

I took that to mean "I'm going to be a ski instructor or something similar for winter and am not actually insane enough to trust a land rover to start in extreme cold all winter".

C

[sawman]

CraigyMc said:

Diesel is a bad idea for really low temperatures, so I'm going to ignore that.

Edited by CraigyMc on Wednesday 21st November 07:21

modern diesel works fine, one of my canadian pals runs a diesel, works fine at -30c, so I cant see a problem in the Alps

What the OP needs is a subaru, should be able to pick up a forester in budget and in NA guise should see 30mpg. Also he should be able to get a decent jeep cherokee in budget, if it's pre 2006 will be cheaper to tax than the later ones

[GreatGranny]

X-Trail http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

High mileage but shouldn't be a problem.

Another one on Ebay

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nissan-X-Trail-2-2Di-Spo...

A6 All road

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Audi-allroad-2-5TDI-Quat...

Rav 4

http://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/rav4...

I would rather drive 1 of the above to the Alps at 35+ MPG and in comfort than a Turrano at 25ish MPG.

[veevee]

Zad said:

How about having a look around local auction sale lists?

I've got three days to do it in, that doesn't seem like an efficient way of doing it.

CraigyMc said:

Diesel is a bad idea for really low temperatures, so I'm going to ignore that.

I don't want your £20 so your budget is actually £3020.

How about this:
http://classifieds.pistonheads.com/classifieds/use...

ETA there are 3x Suzuki Ignis 4grips (4grip is the 4wd version) within 50 miles of Romford train station (I've no idea what you mean by "East London" so I took a wild stab in the dark).

All are up for under £3K, all have reasonably long MOTs and none has a huge number of miles. Autotrader has those - PH doesn't seem to.

C

Edited by CraigyMc on Wednesday 21st November 07:21

Not heard of those, seems like very little car for the money though, vs. say a Grand Cherokee, or pretty much anything to be honest? Kind of glad all of the ones near me are over budget.

How does LPG perform in cold weather?

[Bluebarge]

You don't need 4x4 for Alpine roads, just winter tyres. FWD is preferable, diesel will be much cheaper to buy in France (assuming that's where you're going) and will work fine unless it is v.v.v.cold, in which case you will be happy to stay put or take the bus. Most people who work in resort or travel around day-to-day in the Alps don't bother with 4x4 and drive around in little fwd renaults or fiats.

[Roman]

Two X-Trails 2.2 DIs within 35miles of E.London. Good cars:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...