Affordable 'softroad' cars?

[Konan555]

I find myself bumping up and down more and more tracks and spinning wheels in the mud these days. I'm thinking about something in the £1000-£2000 region that would deal with the abuse a bit better.

However, I don't really want anything so impractical as a full on 4x4. I'd like whatever it is to retain good road mannors and reasonable MPG, but just be a little bit tougher for trails.

Only thing that springs to mind so far is the Legacy outback. The audi allroad and volve XC offerings are miles out of the price range.

Any ideas.

Nobody mention pandas.

[Neo_VR]

Suzuki Jimny or vitara..

[Konan555]

Too little passenger and boot space. A bit more offroader than road car than I'm looking at.

[Moby-Dick]

Legacy Turbo

that one I linked you to on ebay went for £800 in the end

[Konan555]

Not really offroaders are they Gotta be the Outback variant.

[hitman67]

Land Rover Discovery? Very offroad and very affordable. Or maybe an Audi Allroad.

[Konan555]

[QUOTE=hitman67]Land Rover Discovery?[quote]

Too much of a Chelsea Tractor. The point is to keep it as an 'offroad car' rather than an 'on road offroader'

Or maybe an Audi Allroad.

That's exactly the sort of thing I want.

£2K?

[madmaca]

Toyota RAV4? Great performance and handling for a 4x4 and still rugged enough for some "softroading"

[herulach]

Early Defender/SIII, a grand would buy you one in decent nick, get a nice tall 5th gear installed to sort out the mpg and youd be golden.

[hitman67]

You couldn't get a Defender for £1000, well, not one in one piece.

Early Series can be around £1500 for a clean one, but there not exactly what I would call refined.

[Konan555]

Ohhh no - never driving or working a ruddy defender ever again. Unreliable, uncomfortable buggers that people see through rose tints.

Hi-Lux surf was tempting, pushing the budget. But the affordable 2.4 TDs have head problems.

[5lab]

get a clapped out sierra 4x4 for £100 and just rag it up the hills till it breaks?

[Konan555]

get a clapped out sierra 4x4 for £100 and just rag it up the hills till it breaks?

If I got a clapped out 4x4 sierra for that price I'd be selling it in bits in ebay within a week. Rear LSD alone's gonna make £75 back.

The point of the excersise here is to have a daily use car, so nowt too clapped out. I wanna put 2 bikes on the roof, luggage in the back, drive nicely up the motorway not feeling like I'm in an offroader then, when I get there, not get stuck in the mud or clunk the sump on things.

It's jsut so far the Legacy Outback is the only really thing that fits (Audi allroad and Volvo XC series being fantastic looking options, but more money than I'll ever afford). I thought it was odd I couldn't think of at least one other option.

[Shad]

I've been looking into the Legacy estate as a towing vehicle. The Outbacks are pretty hard to find for £2k or less but the 2.5 4 cams' are quite common (although far too many autos) and seem to be basically the same. Did they change something with the suspension for the Outback?

Only been looking on the trader so far, but even so, it's a pretty good car for the price and the job in hand. I don't honestly think you'll get a more comfortable daily driver 4x4 for the money, but it's offroad abilities may well be limited.

[dkmech]

You can get Foresters for 3k. Maybe get 2-300 quid off the price.
http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/WWW...00549216950671

[Konan555]

The outback jacked up a bit and has the tougher mouldings round the outside. I believe it's also got a strengthened undertray as well. They only just fitted air-con to them, despite the name

I'm sure the off road abilities are limited, but I'm talking about farm tracks and muddy fields (not the challenge of a school run, otherwise I'd be looking at defenders). With most 2WD cars, all you've got to do is loose traction under one drive wheel and you're stuck. With the road going 4be (same on my sierra, but that's about 2 inches off the ground so not the best off road choice ) you need to loose grip under both rear wheels and one of the fronts to be immobilised.