Panda 4x4 or Jimny as a first car/offroader

[Zdos123]

Hello,
I've been interested in 4x4's since a couple years back when I went on a family holiday to Iceland. On said holiday we had a Suzuki Jimny, it was in utterly terrible condition, handbrake was non-functional and all the trim was falling to pieces but it was still the best car i've ever been in. It started a love for 4x4's and off-roading and i'm coming up on getting my first car soon (within next 2 months). I've been looking at jimmys but in my budget (around £4500) they are all pretty ropey or high mileage, so i was looking for an alternative 4x4 to the jimny and found the panda 4x4's which are cheap to buy and insure. I know the Jimny will handily outperform the panda 4x4 offroad but is it a better idea to get a slightly ropey high mileage jimny or a relatively low mileage panda 4x4 (ignoring insurance, as they are both within about £700 of each other).
Thanks,
Zdos123

p.s. any other suggestions for relatively cheap to insure/competent 4x4's are welcome

[C350Akra]

What do you want to do with the car? Serious off-roading the Jimny will be better, the Panda is more civilized on-road. We have had both and I would have either again.

[Zdos123]

C350Akra said:

What do you want to do with the car? Serious off-roading the Jimny will be better, the Panda is more civilized on-road. We have had both and I would have either again.

Some more gentle green lanes plus commuting to uni, commuting no doubt the Panda will be better but unsure if the Panda is able to cope with green laning or if it will just be scraping all over the place wrecking the underside.

Edited by Zdos123 on Monday 29th March 12:28

[normalbloke]

I’d suggest your biggest problem with a Jimny in that budget range( with the utmost respect) is finding one that doesn’t have serious rust issues. I’m not saying it can’t be done, but you will have your work cut out.They do like to corrode, and in some horrible hidden places too. If you’re serious on that route, get yourself onto a decent owners specific forum,and have a good read.

[mudnomad]

Definitely Panda for your use. Get some Yokohama Geolandars GO15, maybe fabricate some sump protection and you'll be laughing.
It will be more than capable for learning and green lanes

[C350Akra]

mudnomad said:

Definitely Panda for your use. Get some Yokohama Geolandars GO15, maybe fabricate some sump protection and you'll be laughing.
It will be more than capable for learning and green lanes

Fully agree.

[A500leroy]

Can a Panda greenlane?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvjSp8wk3wA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgn2AG3WY-8

Edited by A500leroy on Monday 29th March 19:07

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

Does a Panda 4x4 feel like an off-roader? I haven’t been in one but you might be disappointed if it just feels like a normal small car.

[snowandrocks]

Not sure if they're in budget but an early Duster could be worth a look. I was pretty impressed by the one I hired to explore the Atlas mountains in Morocco.

[cdrick4]

If you're just planning to do some moderate off-roading, get a Panda.

[Johnnybee]

Youtube is full of Pandas doing the off road thing very well indeed. I've got a mk3 Panda 4x4 which I bought as a bit of an impulse buy, it's not been off road yet but it was fantastic in the snow we had earlier in the year.

[woodypup59]

Years ago I went to a 4X4 day at Brocket Hall, where most of the 4WD manufacturers sent along a vehicle or two for the motoring press to try out..

Though I was only "marshalling" (to keep the journos from being too silly), chatting to the more competent of them, the Panda 4x4 was well regarded. Being so small and light, with a wheel in each corner, it could scoot over the stuff others got stuck in.

The old school Range Rover was best overall, but the Land Cruiser was quite good.

We were given a lift in a VW transporter 4WD that was pretty handy too.

The lunch BBQ was ace

[Walter Sobchak]

What about an old Discovery?, could have one much cheaper, the older ones would be eligible for classic insurance and you could use the spare cash for welding and repairs.