Small 4x4 winter car

[anonymous-user]

My OH would happily sell you her little 3-door RAV4 for 4.5K (or even a bit less!)

With some decent winter tyres it'll go pretty much anywhere....

[RS Grant]

Don’t know why people think heated seats will be so difficult to find in a smaller 4x4. £4500 isn’t a small budget and if you don’t look at anything too basic/agricultural then it shouldn’t be hard to find something with reasonable spec.

The Skoda Yeti that my folks have comes with lots of spec, I think it’s an Elegance trim level but may be wrong.

It came with heated seats, leather, bi-xenon headlights, sat nav, parking sensors front and back, self-parking function, bluetooth, hill descent control, dual zone climate, cruise.. it’s genuinely a pretty nice place to be and not a bad steer either; it’s a 2.0TDI 140 so it goes well enough and it seems to average around 40-45mpg too.

The seating options are flexible too, can remove the rear seats completely and turn it into a wee van if needs be.

[anonymous-user]

DKL said:

Cliffe60 said:

Get an Impreza WRX with some winter tyres or a Forester turbo. Then you can enjoy the 944 performance all year round.

Don't. We loved the 2 scoobys we had and we never had any issues in any sort of weather. A trip back from Glasgow to Otterburn one winter springs to mind. We were one of the last cars through before they closed the A68 and it was getting a little snowy but I don't really recall any issues, we just arrived at the hotel and thought nothing of it. When we saw the car in the morning it looked like something from a Siberian adventure.
But I gather they are all getting a bit rusty now and there remains the concerns about the 2.5 engine. Still want a gb270 wagon but good ones are only going one way.

Yes TBF you’d probably be best getting an import from Japan. They won’t be rusty and don’t have the 2.5 engine, but you couldn’t do it for £4.5k.

Edited by Cliffe60 on Monday 9th August 00:59

[HocusPocus]

Or save yourself the hassle of running an extra old car, and simply buy a set of wheels shod with winter rubber for one of your cars. After all, 2wd cars can drive up/down to ski resorts where the only winter weather limitation is unswept deep snow which needs a big 4x4 for extra ground clearance.

[Lefty]

Subaru’s are awesome in snowy weather - we live in a really rural part of north Scotland and have never had a problem with a Subaru on winter tyres. Nearest road that gets cleared is 3 miles away and we regularly get snow for 3 months at a time. This winter it was 4-5 feet which obviously no car can get through…but a Subaru will get through 6-8 inches of fallen snow no bother.

4K will get you a good Impreza wagon or forester. I’d go for the 2.0 turbo over a 2.5. If you want something bigger you could try the Outback.

[LargeRed]

Take a look at Land Rover Freelander 2

although badge'd Land Rover, it was conceived when LR was owed by FORD.
Total new design team, built in Halewood, total quality and reliable vehicle.
Used lots of FoMoCo and Volvo parts.

Freelander 2 = Best FORD x FORD x FAR ....

Edited by LargeRed on Sunday 8th August 13:08

[georgeyboy12345]

RS Grant said:

Don’t know why people think heated seats will be so difficult to find in a smaller 4x4. £4500 isn’t a small budget and if you don’t look at anything too basic/agricultural then it shouldn’t be hard to find something with reasonable spec.

The Skoda Yeti that my folks have comes with lots of spec, I think it’s an Elegance trim level but may be wrong.

It came with heated seats, leather, bi-xenon headlights, sat nav, parking sensors front and back, self-parking function, bluetooth, hill descent control, dual zone climate, cruise.. it’s genuinely a pretty nice place to be and not a bad steer either; it’s a 2.0TDI 140 so it goes well enough and it seems to average around 40-45mpg too.

The seating options are flexible too, can remove the rear seats completely and turn it into a wee van if needs be.

£4500 most definitely is a small budget in the current market. The cheapest 4x4 Yeti with heated seats on AT is a grand over budget.

And a Freelander isn’t a small car and won’t be a good buy at this price. Masses of bork potential

[RS Grant]

georgeyboy12345 said:

£4500 most definitely is a small budget in the current market. The cheapest 4x4 Yeti with heated seats on AT is a grand over budget.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403046899103?hash=item5...

This is the first one I saw on eBay… granted there probably aren’t loads but I’m sure there will be others on there, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace etc.

AT wouldn’t be my first stop at this budget level.

[LargeRed]

georgeyboy12345 said:

.

And a Freelander isn’t a small car and won’t be a good buy at this price. Masses of bork potential

Freelander 2 ...... I swear by them ......... not at them.......

Look at 2008 -2010 HSE models. They are out there.

[troika]

LargeRed said:

Freelander 2 ...... I swear by them ......... not at them.......

Look at 2008 -2010 HSE models. They are out there.

Just allow for a new rear diff, for starters.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Audi allroad? Absolutely loved mine.

[ConnectionError]

troika said:

Just allow for a new rear diff, for starters.

Isn't that a Freelander 1 problem as opposed to a Freelander 2?

[Pistonheader101]

Yeti for sure

[Roger Irrelevant]

Plenty of Rav4s available within budget with heated seats, if you do actually need (or just want) a small(ish) 4x4 then I think that's where my money would go. They're popular with hill farmers in my native North Yorkshire so I guess they must do the job. However if you're not going to be braving proper winter conditions and really just need a cheap car to get through six months of dreich then 2wd + winter tyres will do you just fine and opens up vastly more choice.