Cheap workhorse Rav4 vs X-trail
Discussion
Due to my wife having a knee injury I might need to change my Berlingo for something with an automatic gearbox.
She has a manual A4 convertable that she would rather keep and I have a BMW 645 that I would prefer her not to drive (it's not coming out of the garage in snow anyway).
The Berlingo get's used for tip runs, taking the dog out and mountain biking. It's been really handy as it's just a van with extra seats.
I think I've got it down to the Toyota Rav4 or Nissan X-trail as they both seem big enough inside while being available for around £3k. I don't want anything too big as it'll take up too much space on the drive.
The 4wd would be an advantage as I live in the NE of Scotland and we do get proper winters. However the Berlingo has been fine with winter tyres fitted.
It might get used for the occasional long journey but it's more for carting crap about that I can't or won't fit in the other cars.
Any others that I should consider at the cheaper end of the spectrum?
She has a manual A4 convertable that she would rather keep and I have a BMW 645 that I would prefer her not to drive (it's not coming out of the garage in snow anyway).
The Berlingo get's used for tip runs, taking the dog out and mountain biking. It's been really handy as it's just a van with extra seats.
I think I've got it down to the Toyota Rav4 or Nissan X-trail as they both seem big enough inside while being available for around £3k. I don't want anything too big as it'll take up too much space on the drive.
The 4wd would be an advantage as I live in the NE of Scotland and we do get proper winters. However the Berlingo has been fine with winter tyres fitted.
It might get used for the occasional long journey but it's more for carting crap about that I can't or won't fit in the other cars.
Any others that I should consider at the cheaper end of the spectrum?
Edited by Speed addicted on Tuesday 1st December 10:58
My son has a 2006 X Trail with about 100K miles. We've had it a couple of years now and to be honest its not very good. It drives poorly in my opinion with overlight steering, poor handleing and is quite noisy. More worryingly the engineering seems very poor so frequent repairs like wheel bearings and seized calipers are a real challenge. I have an awd Volvo V70 and they are like chalk and cheese. Would recommend a car based 4 wheel drive (Subaru / Volvo etc) rather than an SUV.
The 2.5 petrol auto X Trail is your best bet of these two in this price range - as the cheap older RAV4 auto's have gearbox problems and the 2.5 auto Xtrail is fairly robust mechanically- neither are much good to drive but that's what you'd expect.
Xtrail is cavernous inside with seats down. Avoid 2:0 petrol auto Xtrail the 2:5 is much better to drive, try to find an SVE spec model you get heated leather sat nav Sunroof cruise etc, X trail generally a lot cheaper / lower mileage than same age RAV4.
Xtrail is cavernous inside with seats down. Avoid 2:0 petrol auto Xtrail the 2:5 is much better to drive, try to find an SVE spec model you get heated leather sat nav Sunroof cruise etc, X trail generally a lot cheaper / lower mileage than same age RAV4.
This will be replacing a 116K mile diesel Berlingo, whatever I get will be better to drive!
I know the 4x4s tend to be more expensive and worse to drive than the four wheel drive cars but the interior space has the height I need to get a full suspension mountain bike or a washing machine in without hassle.
So reliability is key, as well as a big enough space to cart stuff about. I even considered getting something like a ford galaxy but don't really want to go that far.
Thanks for the help so far, it's all good info when it comes to buying older cars.
I know the 4x4s tend to be more expensive and worse to drive than the four wheel drive cars but the interior space has the height I need to get a full suspension mountain bike or a washing machine in without hassle.
So reliability is key, as well as a big enough space to cart stuff about. I even considered getting something like a ford galaxy but don't really want to go that far.
Thanks for the help so far, it's all good info when it comes to buying older cars.
I don't know the exact issue but the X Trail of a certain vintage can have expensive diesel pump problems,
Possibly a bit small but Subaru Forester?
I've had 3 Subaru's, all have been bulletproof. Brake calipers can need a rebuild as they get on a bit - £80 a pair rebuilt at Biggred plus fitting at your local garage. Best combo I've had was a legacy estate 53 reg 2.5 auto and due to high gearing it's the most economical in the range!
Possibly a bit small but Subaru Forester?
I've had 3 Subaru's, all have been bulletproof. Brake calipers can need a rebuild as they get on a bit - £80 a pair rebuilt at Biggred plus fitting at your local garage. Best combo I've had was a legacy estate 53 reg 2.5 auto and due to high gearing it's the most economical in the range!
I hadn't thought of the CRV, are they pretty roomy?
Whatever I get will be petrol as it's not going to do a lot of miles and there is generally less to go wrong without turbos. They also warm up faster which is nice in the freezing north.
I do keep looking at Foresters, even though they don't have as much room as I'd like. There's something about them that appeals to me.
Whatever I get will be petrol as it's not going to do a lot of miles and there is generally less to go wrong without turbos. They also warm up faster which is nice in the freezing north.
I do keep looking at Foresters, even though they don't have as much room as I'd like. There's something about them that appeals to me.
cwis said:
How about a CRV? I've got an auto petrol one, 2002, just coming up to 200000 miles. It replaced a RAV4, as it happens - and it's a much quieter, more civilised pace to be. It cost me 1500 quid!
I was going to suggest much the same, ours is an '02 auto too with a sprightly 130000 miles, my wife had a basic LWB RAV before it and I prefer the CRV. Load space shouldn't be an issue, I presume you take the front wheel off the bike rather than just ride it in? It's not going to set the world alight in any way at all but they seem very robust and come with a picnic table in the boot (and optional shower which might be handy for cleaning the bike if you can find one where someone was crazy enough to spec it).
Speed addicted said:
With the Berlingo I usually run it without one of the back seats so you can just put the bike in without taking anything off. It really is huge in there.
Plenty of room in a CRV. One advantage of the auto is there is nothing between the front seats - it's got a flat floor. The back seats move forwards and backwards a bit too if you've got tall mates or need a larger boot and 5 seats.One thing that might get you a cheaper one - the satnav's are rubbish and break often. So go for one with a broken one (and a discount, natch!) and replace it with a 2DIN android unit or something - get Bluetooth phone calling, mp3 playing, digital radio AND satnav on one box.
X trail diesel pump problem is £120 to fix so hardly the end of the world.
I've had both and the x-trail was a real pleasure to drive and much roomier. The only downside to our x-trail was rust, but it was a very cheap cat d that had seen a lot of paintwork. We only intended to keep it a couple of months and ended up driving it for 2 and a half years with only an scv to replace and growing rusty patches, i would have another in a second, the x5 was a disappointment after it.
I've had both and the x-trail was a real pleasure to drive and much roomier. The only downside to our x-trail was rust, but it was a very cheap cat d that had seen a lot of paintwork. We only intended to keep it a couple of months and ended up driving it for 2 and a half years with only an scv to replace and growing rusty patches, i would have another in a second, the x5 was a disappointment after it.
Our 2005 Xtrail is on just over 130k miles and has been a reliable and admirable workhorse and has hardly had the easiest life. Driving dynamics not fantastic, but it's a jacked up estate car...it's comfortable and pulls well enough (2.2dci). Good for light duty off road use, huge inside with the seats down and flat boot floor makes twice it easy for lugging stuff or getting the dog in.
Only concerns about it so far are that the DMF is showing signs of needing replacement. I did have the symptoms of the Suction Control Valve crop up twice last year, bought a replacement, but never got around to fitting it as the problem hasn't reappeared. Both times it happened using premium fuel.
Only concerns about it so far are that the DMF is showing signs of needing replacement. I did have the symptoms of the Suction Control Valve crop up twice last year, bought a replacement, but never got around to fitting it as the problem hasn't reappeared. Both times it happened using premium fuel.
cwis said:
One thing that might get you a cheaper one - the satnav's are rubbish and break often. So go for one with a broken one (and a discount, natch!) and replace it with a 2DIN android unit or something - get Bluetooth phone calling, mp3 playing, digital radio AND satnav on one box.
Where were you with this advice 4 years ago? 
Ours was broken on the test drive but they fixed it for us prior to collection.Absolutely spot on though, the unit runs from a DVD which will stop working at random, then sometimes work again but normally just not work. When it does work it's pretty awful anyway. Replacing the DVD doesn't help and cleaning inside the unit doesn't seem to have any effect either, presumably the laser has some kind of problem.
The main issue isn't so much the rubbish sat nav not working but for some reason they decided that if you couldn't use navigation they would also disable the ability to change any of the settings on the head unit. So you have to put up with the clock being wrong for half of the year and not being able to adjust any of the sound settings etc.
Aside from this I have relatively few gripes and they seem plentiful, probably wise to get something before snow panic kicks in though
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