4x4 rather than a quad

[Jammez]

Hi Folks

I've recently bought a new house and have a bit of land (4.5 acres of field, woods, stream etc) I've been pricing up some second hand quads for general shifting stuff around the land, not for road use, and you don't get much for your money. I started looking at small 4x4's and a few Suzukis & Rav4's come in under £1k. Some need a bit of work, some seem in decent condition. I'm not looking at using it on the road so an MOT failure for some minor stuff isn't really an issue.

What's people's thoughts? Am I being silly or is there some sense in this? If I'm looking at Jimny's or Rav4's anything I should be aware of mechanically?

Cheers

James

[caelite]

With a Jimny, for your purposed imo will be hands down the best option as they are far more robustly built for offroad use than anything else their size.

Things to look out for:
1. Rust, around the front and rear body mounts (boot floor where the jack sits and under the headlights). Not worse than anything else small and Japanese of that age, but a potential killer.

2. Vacuum hubs, like all vacuum actuated 4wd systems, the Suzukis is less than reliable when you need. They are cheaply and easily swapped out for reliable manual systems though if you don't mind hopping out the car to engage.

3. Gearbox on '06-'08 models, most of them will have died or been fixed by now, these early VVTs have a habit of leaking and munching their bearings.

4. You'll end up spending more than you intend. Particularly for an offroad slag, the modifying community around these is large a few visits to the owners forum may find you accidentally spending several digit sums on big tyres, lifts and work lights

Edited by caelite on Tuesday 27th November 13:34

[RTB]

Having grown up on a farm the only advice I can give you is buy something that you can throw things on rather than in. Flat bed pick ups or flat trailers are a lot more use for moving stuff. You can get anything on the back of a pick up if you have enough rope especially if you're not going on the road.

An old Ford Ranger would be my choice for dodging about on a bit of ground like that. We had a series of 4x4 Honda Actys that were brilliant little things but they appear to be "classics" now and aren't cheap.

[warch]

Quads are amazingly expensive these days, used ones are invariably clapped out at the bottom end of the market.

I'd go for something small and light. My Series landrover is that, but overpriced and again usually buggered when cheap. A Jimny would be a good modern equivalent, especially in woodland.

[Jammez]

Thanks for the thoughts so far guys.

The Jimny is currently at the top of my list - there's one on ebay at the moment that looks ideal but it's on the south coast which is about as far from me in Scotland that I could get! There's a couple more around the £1k mark a bit closer to home so I think I'll go look at a few.


I'll try my best not to get suckered in to spending a fortune on shiny bits, maybe just some knobbly tires!

[Jammez]

Thanks for the thoughts so far guys.

The Jimny is currently at the top of my list - there's one on ebay at the moment that looks ideal but it's on the south coast which is about as far from me in Scotland that I could get! There's a couple more around the £1k mark a bit closer to home so I think I'll go look at a few.


I'll try my best not to get suckered in to spending a fortune on shiny bits, maybe just some knobbly tires!

[Bill]

You might find a mini tractor is more useful. Loads of threads in the Homes and garden section on here.

[warch]

It's a nice problem to have, some land is my next ambition.

[300bhp/ton]

Do you know what your actual use will be and how much of it simply for fun?

Jimny is cool, the older Vitara is quite capable too. Old Disco's are also worth a look as are some of the Jeeps such as an XJ, ZJ or WJ. But really depends on your end goals, a tractor might make more sense for something, but they only have 1 seat.

An Argocat might be an alternative bit of fun, you occasionally get them 2nd hand on ebay.

[Phunk]

Agrocat

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Argocat-red-new-tyres/2...

[caelite]

Jammez said:

Thanks for the thoughts so far guys.

The Jimny is currently at the top of my list - there's one on ebay at the moment that looks ideal but it's on the south coast which is about as far from me in Scotland that I could get! There's a couple more around the £1k mark a bit closer to home so I think I'll go look at a few.


I'll try my best not to get suckered in to spending a fortune on shiny bits, maybe just some knobbly tires!

I ended up driving down to Newcastle for mine. Looked at a couple in the Glasgow area that where both knackered. Happy I held off, the one I ended up with is great with a clean body. That being said, got it back from it's MOT today with advisories for a couple of oil leaks, sump plug, which the lad says looks like a little bit of corrosion on the sump, and my gearbox rear oil seal, which is slightly more disconcerting.

[Jammez]

So this progressed a fair bit quicker than I thought!

I'm now the proud owner of a 2000 Mitsubishi Pinin with 80k on clock & an MOT for the princely sum of £800!

I've not seen the car myself, FIL went to view it and picked it up for me today. Apparently all drives nicely, good nick inside with only a bashed front bumper to let it down.

I'll update when I get it up to Scotland!

[PaoloMey]

Jammez said:

So this progressed a fair bit quicker than I thought!

I'm now the proud owner of a 2000 Mitsubishi Pinin with 80k on clock & an MOT for the princely sum of £800!

I've not seen the car myself, FIL went to view it and picked it up for me today. Apparently all drives nicely, good nick inside with only a bashed front bumper to let it down.

I'll update when I get it up to Scotland!

Nice one
I prefer 2 strokes bikes, like the RM250
Jeeps are not really for me.

[RTB]

Jammez said:

So this progressed a fair bit quicker than I thought!

I'm now the proud owner of a 2000 Mitsubishi Pinin with 80k on clock & an MOT for the princely sum of £800!

I've not seen the car myself, FIL went to view it and picked it up for me today. Apparently all drives nicely, good nick inside with only a bashed front bumper to let it down.

I'll update when I get it up to Scotland!

I had one of those for a while on a similar budget. I drove it for a couple of years.

It was very good in the snow and kicking about off road. Not such an issue if you're only using it off road but they do rot, and I mean really rot.

Mine looked ok from the outside, maybe a couple of little bubbles on the arches, but underneath it was rusty to the point of no return. I welded up the sills to get it through one MOT but come the second MOT I started chasing the rust under the inner wings and along the sills and there wasn't anything left to weld to

[NDA]

Bill said:

You might find a mini tractor is more useful. Loads of threads in the Homes and garden section on here.

Too late as the OP has now bought.... but yes, a mini tractor would be good. I had a quad bike for my land, but would have preferred a little tractor, very useful things.

[Jammez]

So finally got the Mitsubishi up to Scotland. It seems a great wee car. Mechanically all good, busted front bumper and couple of rusty bits underneath but nothing major.

Shopping list includes some knobbly tires, tow bar, a winch for the front (any advice on how to mount one would be great) and some better lighting

I can see this getting out of hand!

[Jammez]

Pic of the Pinin after a good clean

[cbmotorsport]

Can I recommend Event ML698's for your tyres. They're a copy of Goodrich AT's - I've got a Rav4 that does 30/70 road off road, and they're great. It's been through thick mud and snow as a shooting vehicle, and not got stuck. Not at all bad on the road either.

https://www.tyreleader.co.uk/car-tyres/event/ml698...

[Jammez]

Thanks for the recommendation they seem decent value for what I need. I've spotted a set of General Grabbers on Gumtree for £200 near me which could be an option too. Depends on what the owners idea of lightly used is!

Managed to get it stuck at the weekend (being silly rather than the fault of the car if I'm being honest) but after a quick play in woods & through the stream it seems to hold it's own.


Is it worth looking at a tyre with a slightly higher side wall to get a bit extra ground clearance? I don't have to worry about going on the round or speedo calibration. There's not a huge amount of clearance but if I'm looking at tyres is it worth going from 65 to 70/75?

Edited by Jammez on Tuesday 15th January 12:15

[RTB]

Jammez said:

Thanks for the recommendation they seem decent value for what I need. I've spotted a set of General Grabbers on Gumtree for £200 near me which could be an option too. Depends on what the owners idea of lightly used is!

Managed to get it stuck at the weekend (being silly rather than the fault of the car if I'm being honest) but after a quick play in woods & through the stream it seems to hold it's own.


Is it worth looking at a tyre with a slightly higher side wall to get a bit extra ground clearance? I don't have to worry about going on the round or speedo calibration. There's not a huge amount of clearance but if I'm looking at tyres is it worth going from 65 to 70/75?

Edited by Jammez on Tuesday 15th January 12:15

You're a bit limited in tyre choice for the Pinin as the lower spring mount sits right over the wheel.