Car suitable for rocky dirt track?

[Ilikebeaver]

Currently we have a Z4m and Corrado.
The cars are for the weekend as we work very close to home.

However, I will shortly be starting a job where I will be commuting and part of the journey is down a very narrow, rocky dirt track.

The z4m will not cope with this and so I had planned to use the corrado.

But, the lights are rubbish and in the winter it takes ages to de-steam so isn't the most practical.

We will definitely keep the z4, so if I was to change the corrado I wouldn't want to spend a lot.

Ideally I want:
Modern decent headlights
Aircon & decent heater
Smallish with decent ground clearance
Economical but not boring
Can cope well in ice and snow
Costing less than £5k

I can't think of anything that would fit the bill, but I think it's more to do with not wanting a corsa/Clio although that would fit the bill and tick the above boxes, and is likely to be what I end up with.

Is there anything I should consider that might be a left field choice?

MrBeaver is thinking about a nissan duke as it's very cheap on his company scheme.

[anonymous-user]

Panda 4x4?

[irish boy]

I bought a panda 4x4 for similar reasons, and also for the snow. Not fast but loads of character and ended up keeping it as a daily driver, 16k to 52k so far and no problems at all. Great little thing. You'll get an 08 low mile one for 5k and they start about 3k.

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/fiat/panda/16058/fiat...

[Quhet]

Suzuki Jimny. Small, cheap, decent off road

[Codswallop]

Left field you say?

How about a Fiat Sedici (or the identical in all but name Suzuki SX4) - it's 4x4, mid way between a Corsa and Astra in size, and they tend to be really cheap.

[mph1977]

panda 4=*4 , sedici /SX4 etc have all been mentioned

the jimny is baby off roader

or if you want to go a little larger - Octavia Scout ( if you can get one as a hell of a lot of them seem to be routed to the NHS ambulance service as RRVs)

[Geekman]

Got to be a Subaru Forester surely? OK, they're not small, but they're nowhere near as big as you'd think and they fit your other requirements very well.

[Ilikebeaver]

Loving the Jimny's!

Especially at the price. Looks like I could pick one up for teeny money

Haven't found pandas too comfortable

Forester could be a good contender

[Meltham Terrier]

Subaru Legacy Outback

[Fubar1977]

Meltham Terrier said:

Subaru Legacy Outback

Good shout, downsides are they are very thirsty and expensive to fix.