No-one makes a proper basic rough and ready 4x4

[alfie2244]

I had a Lada Niva as a site runaround for years.....often the butt of jokes initially but it never got stuck and you could hose out the inside unlike the posh Rangerovers etc that the brickies etc seemed to favour....crap on roads though.

[cptsideways]

kbf1981 said:

Jeep Wrangler! Very good cars and great off road.

You have to special order one with HD axles to be able to tow anything decent. Otherwise tow limit is pants as standard.

[cptsideways]

I think a Shogun is last new old tech 4x4 you can buy thats reasonable on price, Landcruiser & anything JLR is expensive.

[DonkeyApple]

Bentayga?

[caelite]

cptsideways said:

I think a Shogun is last new old tech 4x4 you can buy thats reasonable on price, Landcruiser & anything JLR is expensive.

I've had an early mk3, which, as you point out, is essentially the same as the new ones. Honestly, it is great off road, but from a heavy duty perspective it really isn't as tough as the L200 or older Shogun Sport with its independent suspension and monocoque, I wouldn't want to load a lot of weight into one compared to a L200.

[twosocks]

Is the LandCruiser gxl 4 X 4 available in the UK? Here in Oz they are popular with tradies, good off road, good towing capacity, accessible tray and ultra reliable. Ok on faster roads although not luxury comfort and can be noisy depending on choice of tyres.

[caelite]

twosocks said:

Is the LandCruiser gxl 4 X 4 available in the UK? Here in Oz they are popular with tradies, good off road, good towing capacity, accessible tray and ultra reliable. Ok on faster roads although not luxury comfort and can be noisy depending on choice of tyres.

Nope, we only get the luxury one, Land Cruiser 70 never met EU safety standards I believe, so no troopies or crew cabs.

[h0b0]

OP says "No-One makes a proper basic rough and ready 4x4" and then excludes the vehicles specifically made for his requirement. I'm in the US. And the definition of rough and tough is the pick up truck. OK you can't feasibly drive an F150 in the U.K. But, the OP said about samples. Are they going in the boot? Oh, a pickup has a space for that.


My next thread will be "I want a vehicle that is exciting, seat of the pants, approximately 750cc and made by Yamaha but absolutely no motor bikes"

[nickfrog]

Margaret ! Margaret ?

[Tubes63]

I faced this issue recently, too. Always had either a Defender or a knackered old Discovery to lug things with, but I wanted a new car and could not find anything worth buying that I'd be comfortable loading with filth and not worrying about the carpets, leather, etc.

I used to be in the anti-pickup camp as well but unfortunately that's your lot now. I bought an L200 about a month ago. I still feel like a bit of a dick driving around in a pickup truck with all its silly chrome st but she has proven her load-lugging and off-road abilities to me already, and having the open, separated load bay has its advantages as well as disadvantages. Only yesterday I had to load and unload a 1t pallet of paving blocks individually by hand (forklift broken) and being able to get around the side, stand up in the bed made the job easier.

Edit to address my fellow American chap two posts up - pickups have two major drawbacks that make them less useful than a conventional hard top 4x4: you can pinch things out of the bed while parked up so cant leave anything there, and the length of your load bay is much shorter than it is in, say, a Discovery with the seats down. Obviously you can get around both these things with a locking top, roof rack, or just leaning long bits of wood over the roof or out the back etc. But I do genuinely understand why someone would want to exclude pickups from their shortlist. Not to mention that there is a bit of a stigma around them in this country (though it's declining due to the problems mentioned by the OP)

Edited by Tubes63 on Friday 23 June 06:33

[croyde]

The Disco used to be a useful tool with some comfort but they have just gone too up market. Not much difference between the latest models and a Range Rover these days.

Don't really see the point of bringing up a workhorse and making it a worry to load it up and get it filthy.

[Bill]

DSGbangs said:

Volkswagen Amarok is exactly what you're talking about!

The luxury, blinged up version of a vehicle he's specifically (if, strangely) excluded?!?

[TheGuru]

In Asia and Australia you can generally get wagon versions of the trucks

L200 = Pajero Sport
Hilux = Fortuner
Ranger = Everest
D-Max = MU-X
etc

Guess there isn't a market for them in the UK as I can't see them available at all. But they are all pretty tough and reasonably priced (base models), with excellent 4wd capabilities.

[Dog Star]

nickfrog said:

Margaret ! Margaret ?

Ssang Yong Rexton - 4WD, ladder frame chassis, 35. tonne towing, look well made.
However even one of those is a bit too blingy and un-basic.

[MOBB]

nickfrog said:

Margaret ! Margaret ?

[brrapp]

I'm seriously considering getting a Polaris Ranger for my next local runabout. They are essentially what the original Landrovers were designed to be 70 years ago. An very capable off road farm vehicle which you can take on the road.
Like the Landrover, they have basic levels of comfort, removable roofs and doors, seating for 2 plus a load space. Capable of around 60mph on the road, more than enough on local roads. Around £10k for a basic one.

[h0b0]

Tubes63 said:

pickups have two major drawbacks that make them less useful than a conventional hard top 4x4: you can pinch things out of the bed.

This is a genuine problem and a real shame about England. One of the reasons pickups are so popular in the US is that we can leave stuff in the back and it will be there when we return. The US has a perception of being a crime infested hell hole. But, the crime occurs in very small areas. Outside of that we do not experience it. For example, all deliveries are left on the door step in my neighbourhood. There was one package stolen a couple of years ago. The entire neighbourhood was in horror. The local police department sent out 4 police that day and patrolled the roads for weeks until they caught the guy. Even now they still do drive throughs to check everything is OK.

You may be thinking I live in Alabama in a town with a population of 3, but you would be wrong. I am 10 miles from NYC.

Tubes63 said:

to address my fellow American chap two posts up -

Good news, we balanced out immigration. I am from a small village in the North of England. Where, I experienced the same total lack of crime. Today things have changed and even in my home village they have locked their houses down as crime has targeted them.

Edited by h0b0 on Friday 23 June 14:24

[TooMany2cvs]

h0b0 said:

Tubes63 said:

pickups have two major drawbacks that make them less useful than a conventional hard top 4x4: you can pinch things out of the bed.

This is a genuine problem and a real shame about England.

Things get nicked out of vans, too.

It's not hard to make a pick'em-up as secure as a van.


Anyway, many Defenders are pickups with tops - because you couldn't get a van with division between load and passengers.

Your only Defender option for four seats plus secure, separate rear storage would have been...

Big load bed, huh?

Edited by TooMany2cvs on Friday 23 June 12:57

[underphil]

Jeep Renegade Trailhawk

[caelite]

brrapp said:

I'm seriously considering getting a Polaris Ranger for my next local runabout. They are essentially what the original Landrovers were designed to be 70 years ago. An very capable off road farm vehicle which you can take on the road.
Like the Landrover, they have basic levels of comfort, removable roofs and doors, seating for 2 plus a load space. Capable of around 60mph on the road, more than enough on local roads. Around £10k for a basic one.

Ooo I've never thought of these before, that's a pretty good idea, my only worry would be if/when they become more popular they are likely to get legislated off the roads like they have in the US.