4x4 Needed - £15k (ish) for care company

[Ursicles]

Wonder if you fine folks can help...

Im in the process of setting up a domiciliary care company and need a 4x4 to allow us to cover any calls etc should the weather change and snow etc occurs making it hard for a carer to get to their call. Might seem over kill buying a car for a once in 3 yrs event, but if your an old person whose only contact is a carer seeing you once a day - its pretty damn important!

Budget is about £15k, am tempted to lease it, but as its a new venture although we hope to succeed, if we dont, rather not be stuck with a lease for another 18 months.

Requirements:
- Good on fuel (relatively)
- 7 seats (if it does snow ill be chauffering carers about so more seats the better)
- 2012 onwards (5 yrs old should ensure reliability to a point)

[kieranblenk]

I would look at a Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento or possibly Nissan X Trail. My partners brother has a 15 plate X Trail which is a great family bus and decent on fuel with the 1.6 dCi engine.

Might be worth checking out the Volvo XC90, but not sure if a 12 plate would be in budget.

[Tuvra]

The best Discovery 3 you can buy or possibly a Discovery 4

[Ursicles]

Had a disco 3 a few years back, was 18 months old from a main stealer - and spent a lot of time going back there having things fixed.

Has put me off them a little.

[MorganP104]

Ursicles said:

Had a disco 3 a few years back, was 18 months old from a main stealer - and spent a lot of time going back there having things fixed.

Has put me off them a little.

Disco 3/4 is always the answer to the question "what 7 seat 4x4?", though if you've been put off them based on previous experience, go Japanese or Korean.

For ultimate "bang for your buck", Korean all the way.

[akirk]

not much that does 4x4 and 7 seater for adults - plenty where the extra seats are really child sized...
what you really want is a mercedes benz sprinter 4x4 minibus - not sure if they do them in the UK, but here is one in Canada: http://www.mercedes-benz-vans.ca/en/sprinter-4x4/p... awesome 4x4s - fire service use the van versions for off road and they are highly rated...

[Ursicles]

Hmm... you guys are pretty much confirming what i thought, the disco 3/4 is the best of class when looking for them.

I loved the disco 3 - was just so awesome when it worked as it should.

Maybe we just got a 'friday afternoon' car.

[Emeye]

Ursicles said:

Hmm... you guys are pretty much confirming what i thought, the disco 3/4 is the best of class when looking for them.

I loved the disco 3 - was just so awesome when it worked as it should.

Maybe we just got a 'friday afternoon' car.

No - I know lots of people with Land/Range Rovers that spend lots of time at the dealers.

Do Toyota do a Landcruiser that has 7 seats?

[ilikejam]

I know you've mentioned 4x4/snow etc, but thought I'd mention the 8 seat Peugeot Traveller is currently on some incredible lease deals from various sources - under £100/month below (with £2000 initial)

https://centralukvehicleleasing.co.uk/lease-peugeo...

[SantaBarbara]

You could get a "commercial " vehicle and not a car, there may be tax and business advantages in that perhaps

[ZX10R NIN]

If you don't mind an older vehicle that will still be reliable but maybe drink a bit of fuel but also has 7/8 seats & is 4wd then here are a few options.

Nissan Elgrand 4x4 (you could always convert it to LPG with the change)

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NISSAN-ELGRAND-NE51-3-5-...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2004-Fresh-Import-Nissan...

Toyota Estima 4x4

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-Toyota-Estima-3-5-V...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-estima-hybrid-fre...

Not 4x4 but already has Disability access.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2005-TOYOTA-ALPHARD-3-0-...

Or go for the Kia Sorento:

[steve-5snwi]

I used to run the fleet at a charity we found caddy maxis practical, VW tiguans and ford cmaxes worked well. The seat height meant the residents didn't have jump up onto the seat. Ford fusions were popular too.

Try something like a Tiguan or Suzuki SX4

[Bill]

Isn't this what winter tyres are for?

[blueg33]

Hatchback and winter tyres is better than any 4x4 on summer tyres.

If you must have a 4x4 the I had a Daihatsu Terrios on holiday (desert area) and it was surprisingly good off road.

[akirk]

blueg33 said:

Hatchback and winter tyres is better than any 4x4 on summer tyres.

If you must have a 4x4 the I had a Daihatsu Terrios on holiday (desert area) and it was surprisingly good off road.

mmm I have had a range rover on virtually slick summer tyres clearing roads and towing cars on winter tyres up hills...

the reality is:
- car and its capability
- tyres and their capability
- driver and their capability
all combine to make the unit effective or not!

winter tyres are good - but their strength simply lies in rubber performance and not going so stiff at lower temperatures - it is also worth considering tread pattern if on snow (ability to clear the snow can be more important than the rubber composition), but also beyond anything else, worth learning how to drive in winter conditions...

some all season tyres can now be a far better choice than winters - especially if you have costs to consider and running two sets of tyres might be a problem - choice of car - FWD v RWD v 4x4 makes a difference - but learning to drive is still the biggest factor...

the reason so many people trot out the line about winter tyres being better than 4x4s is because of the idiots in 4x4s who assume it gives them magic properties in snow / on ice - the reality is that in those situations a better rubber compound will help more than drive to 4 wheels all of which have no traction - but that is dealing with one element of winter driving and is usually shown by someone incompetent trying to stop 2 tonnes of 4x4 on snow and forgetting their basic physics v. someone in a car of 1.2 tonnes, on winter tyres driving cautiously - the driving and the physics makes the difference far more than the rubber compound... I have taken RRs over 2-3 foot of snow across scottish grouse moors in the dark and not on tracks, with no issue at all - you drive sensibly and cautiously, and that was on normal road tyres, equally I have driven across roads of sheet ice / cleared towns in the snow towing all sorts of things up steep hills - yes, winter tyres with everything else identical will in some situations be better than a normal rubber compound, but for the majority of circumstances they are not the only factor to be considered - proper vehicle / decent driving and you will be fine.

[Andehh]

A Kia Sorento would ticks your boxes, as well as being under warranty for a couple more years....

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2017...

[blueg33]

akirk said:

blueg33 said:

Hatchback and winter tyres is better than any 4x4 on summer tyres.

If you must have a 4x4 the I had a Daihatsu Terrios on holiday (desert area) and it was surprisingly good off road.

mmm I have had a range rover on virtually slick summer tyres clearing roads and towing cars on winter tyres up hills...

the reality is:
- car and its capability
- tyres and their capability
- driver and their capability
all combine to make the unit effective or not!

winter tyres are good - but their strength simply lies in rubber performance and not going so stiff at lower temperatures - it is also worth considering tread pattern if on snow (ability to clear the snow can be more important than the rubber composition), but also beyond anything else, worth learning how to drive in winter conditions...

some all season tyres can now be a far better choice than winters - especially if you have costs to consider and running two sets of tyres might be a problem - choice of car - FWD v RWD v 4x4 makes a difference - but learning to drive is still the biggest factor...

the reason so many people trot out the line about winter tyres being better than 4x4s is because of the idiots in 4x4s who assume it gives them magic properties in snow / on ice - the reality is that in those situations a better rubber compound will help more than drive to 4 wheels all of which have no traction - but that is dealing with one element of winter driving and is usually shown by someone incompetent trying to stop 2 tonnes of 4x4 on snow and forgetting their basic physics v. someone in a car of 1.2 tonnes, on winter tyres driving cautiously - the driving and the physics makes the difference far more than the rubber compound... I have taken RRs over 2-3 foot of snow across scottish grouse moors in the dark and not on tracks, with no issue at all - you drive sensibly and cautiously, and that was on normal road tyres, equally I have driven across roads of sheet ice / cleared towns in the snow towing all sorts of things up steep hills - yes, winter tyres with everything else identical will in some situations be better than a normal rubber compound, but for the majority of circumstances they are not the only factor to be considered - proper vehicle / decent driving and you will be fine.

I agree with all that. How many care workers will be competent off road or snow drivers? Not many. A light weight car on winters will be better for the ops purposes than a heavy 4x4 on summers.

We have a ford ranger in our company fleet and a couple of smaller hatchbacks all used by various members of the construction team to visit sites across the UK and in Scotland. In the snow we have fewer problems with access to the Scottish sites with drivers in the hatchbacks with winters. Those in the Ranger over estimate both its capability and their own.

As a business the smaller cars are much cheaper to run, are accessible by any one etc.

[Veccy208]

All those well known 7 seater Daihatsu Terrios's

For your purpose I would recommend a 4x4 van such as maybe VW Transporter or similar. As said rear seats in Sorrento or that tend to be for children really and to be honest, the type of snow in the UK will stop larger 4x4 and 4x4 car in equal measures as if its deep enough to beach a car its probably too mushy to get any tyre traction at all in any vehicle bar something seriously modified and with a skilled driver.

Edit - I hang my head in shame they do exist!

[Bill]

The OP seems to be in Kent too.

[akirk]

blueg33 said:

Those in the Ranger over estimate both its capability and their own.

so true!

still worth giving drivers some professional training - if a company / charity is making decisions based on likelihood of driving in adverse conditions I suspect it is virtually mandatory in today's world to also demonstrate that they have had condition-specific training...

Alasdair