Top 10: Winter 4x4s for £2000
With snow falling across the UK, motorists of the classic persuasion are facing tough driving conditions. So now is the time when many of us think about investing in a winter workhorse with which to stay mobile – but what are the best choices if your budget is £2000 and you fancy a 4x4 that’s a bit of a classic?
Happily there are plenty of options, some of them costing not much more than a set of winter tyres for your modern machine. So why not welcome winter this year at the wheel of your very own classic 4x4? You know it makes sense…
Three years after the 1980 launch of the original Fiat Panda came the most intriguing – and most capable – version of all: the Panda 4x4. Under the bonnet sat a bigger-capacity (965cc) engine to handle the extra weight, while beneath the skin was a part-time all-wheel drive system supplied by Steyr-Puch of Austria. First gear was ultra-low, enabling you to make steady progress over surprisingly harsh terrain.
The entire Panda range was updated in 1986, and the 4x4 was treated to the new 999cc FIRE overhead-cam engine. Most sought after version now is the well-equipped limited-edition 4x4 Sisley.
A Daley on 30 November 2016
I would really love a P38 Rangie. But a good one for £2,000?!?!?! Not in my experience. But it would be magnificent. Driving high, looking down imperiously at all the modern day crossovers, enjoying the comfy leather seating, admiring the walnut veneer whilst driving across your neighbours paddock. It would be absolutely lovely. And then it would break down. Then you will have a £X,000 figure garage bill. You would be slightly less in love with it. But you soldier on and start to love it again. Then a fortnight later, there would be an electrics meltdown. Back to the garage, and another £X,000 bill. The rose tinted spectacles are beginning to fall away. You get nervous when you drive it. It no longer feels quite so special despite the badge and luxury appointments. You hear a noise. What was that? You start to worry. Better take it back to the garage, just to check it. They confirm the worst. And then there's another bill. The used Honda Jazz at the dealership down the road begins to look increasingly attractive. But your heart says, 'yes, but what looks better on the driveway...' And it is a Rangie after all.Andy Martin on 12 December 2016
what looks better than a Range on the driveway is not having to sell a kidney to pay the repair costs.I couldn't agree more!
Actually, even finding any series 3 land rover that wasn't an utter rusting abused total money pit for under £2000 is completely impossible. If anyone has a tidy good nick series 3 for that money please let me know. I'll have it!!
Justincase on 12 December 2016
What about the Suzuki Jimny?Helen Drinkwater on 12 December 2016
I love my P38 T reg Range Rover - and Honest John has just advised me to put another engine in it for £1,500 from my trusted Land Rover engineer rather than spend more money on a newer, high mileage lesser 4x4. The Land Rover/Range Rover badge is hard to replace - aluminium body and made in the UK.Polar590 on 14 December 2017
How on Earth did you ruin the engine? Forget the lofty driving position, the inevitable decay and unreliability. My 1996 W140 Mercedes S class 5 litre does 28mpg on the motorway, never breaks down, and I have seen exactly the same models in my Merc dealer with 650,000 miles on the clock, the heads having never been off.
I may not have as much ground clearance as you, but with AMG Monobloc 18" wheels and all terrain tyres I won't be far behind, but I will be enjoying a ride, silence and reliability you, sadly, can only dream of!!
Al Green on 13 December 2017
Toyota Landcruiser 90.firemac on 1 January 2018
As the Aussies say, "If you want to go into the Outback, take a Land Rover. If you want to come back though, take a Land Cruiser". Agree wholeheartedly.LR = complete piece of junk.
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