Help Choosing New Car (with snow ability)

[ianphampton]

Just another potential vehicle . .

 

Bought a Jimny for the wife (when she was the wife - now she's the ex!) but since 2004 she's put 100k through her with next to no trouble - quite nice to drive - don't knock them, they're real 4x4s and cheap - and cheap to run, too

[JAMIE MOY]

What about the Volvo XC90 as they are suppossed to be good in the snow...... aren'they....??? At the moment you can get a brand new R Desgn for £33,000 so a secondhand one will be cheap I would of thought..... ;0)

[EH 370z]

this looked interesting...

 

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201203442871614/sort/priceasc/usedcars/price-from/6000/price-to/7000/model/grand_cherokee/make/jeep/page/4/postcode/ts36as/radius/1501?logcode=p

 

Not sure the 5.7L engine could make my 30+ mpg!!! From the stats it looks worse than the Zed! Interior looks quite plush though...

 

Chris

 

I just didnt want you getting board

[Leeroy]

How rural are you going to be Rubber?

I'm in the '4x4's are ghey' club, unless the clearance is REALLY needed - ie for more than a handful of days a year. Otherwise they just obscure the view ahead for people in proper cars.

There are some nice 4WD estate options

[Rubber]

How rural are you going to be Rubber?

I'm in the '4x4's are ghey' club, unless the clearance is REALLY needed - ie for more than a handful of days a year. Otherwise they just obscure the view ahead for people in proper cars.

There are some nice 4WD estate options

 

Ground clearance is necessary for climbing over mounds of snow! Admittedly this may be only one or two days a year but it is possible to have to put up with it for 2 - 3 weeks I think that rules out the estates.

 

I think the ghey 4x4 is the way forward. To make it even more ghey I'll probably get a CR-V rather than a Land Rover Defender

[ioneabee]

good choice ---- not ghey tho .......but you can get them in grey, silver, black etc

[Stew]

Well I drove from Westhill to Inverurie (via Dunecht) - for the locals, then onto the A96 - the main road between Aberdeen and Inverness and for three days running my old freelander was ploughing snow. In fairness it only ploughed the A96 for two of the days.

 

An estate won't cut it here if you want to get about 365 days a year unfortuantely.

 

I actually noticed that Jim Reid Car Sales at Kintore have one of each of the ghey 4x4s on their lot if you want to compare.

[Leeroy]

for three days running my old freelander was ploughing snow......An estate won't cut it here if you want to get about 365 days a year unfortuantely.

A perfect example of proper, non-ghey 4X4 use

[Stew]

for three days running my old freelander was ploughing snow......An estate won't cut it here if you want to get about 365 days a year unfortuantely.

A perfect example of proper, non-ghey 4X4 use

 

My Navara was offroad in friends fields two days after I got it!

 

A few of my friends regularly go out to 'get stuck' with their jeeps. Just go around their land with a tractor on stand by to pull them out when they get stuck!

It makes for a fun afternoon!

[rmgthatsme]

How about a non-Jap? My wife has a 2010 Kia Sorento and it certainly is very well equipped with normal 2WD but auto switches power variably to 4WD as necessary and can be locked into permanent 4WD at the push of a button. Has very female friendly light controls and adjustable electric seat for vertically challenged ladies to give good all round visibility. Has hill descent control, TCS, 4 wheel disc brakes, reversing sonar and camera (in the review mirror), 6 speed auto box with manual sequential shift, front and rear a/c, heated seats and steering mounted controls for audio/cruise control etc. All very necessary of course with the huge amount of off roading my wife does on her way to the mall or to pick up my son from school... the hill descent is excellent in our urban conditions for those particularly challenging mutlistorey carparks

 

Seriously though, I did a lot of research on this car before I bought it as my wife loved the Discovery she previously owned (but sold as it couldn't fit into many multistorey carparks here in Hong Kong as the height was too high) and it seems to get excellent reviews in the States, Canada, Australia & South Africa (some of which places encounter deep snow) for reliability. The diesel is also available in the UK and seems well regarded. Hope this helps with some food for thought.

[Stew]

How about a non-Jap? My wife has a 2010 Kia Sorento and it certainly is very well equipped with normal 2WD but auto switches power variably to 4WD as necessary and can be locked into permanent 4WD at the push of a button. Has very female friendly light controls and adjustable electric seat for vertically challenged ladies to give good all round visibility. Has hill descent control, TCS, 4 wheel disc brakes, reversing sonar and camera (in the review mirror), 6 speed auto box with manual sequential shift, front and rear a/c, heated seats and steering mounted controls for audio/cruise control etc. All very necessary of course with the huge amount of off roading my wife does on her way to the mall or to pick up my son from school... the hill descent is excellent in our urban conditions for those particularly challenging mutlistorey carparks

 

Seriously though, I did a lot of research on this car before I bought it as my wife loved the Discovery she previously owned (but sold as it couldn't fit into many multistorey carparks here in Hong Kong as the height was too high) and it seems to get excellent reviews in the States, Canada, Australia & South Africa (some of which places encounter deep snow) for reliability. The diesel is also available in the UK and seems well regarded. Hope this helps with some food for thought.

 

 

The 2010 model is great but currently more than twice the OPs budget.

 

I really like the Sorento and the Sportage though.