Buying a small 4x4

Our friends are moving to Dorset and want a small 4x4 for country lanes and have asked me to research. Requirements are diesel, leather upholstery, decent load area and able to drive safely through a ford. Budget is £30k. They like German cars but wonder whether others should be considered. They want diesel so that they have an alternative fuel even though they won't do many miles per annum. Should they be concerned about the Volkswagen Group diesel engines? I have mentioned choices from Nissan, Kia and Hyundai, but this has been met with derision!

Asked on 15 October 2012 by SM Berkshire

Answered by Honest John
Links are to road tests, most with accompanying videos.

In my view the best is the BMW F25 X3 2.0 diesel. But extras like leather
bump up the price:

www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/bmw/bmw-x3-f25-201.../

Some recent alternatives are the new KIA Sorento:

www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/kia/kia-sorento-20.../

New Hyundai Santa Fe:

www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/hyundai/hyundai-sa.../

New Honda CR-V:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/honda/honda-cr-v-2.../


New Mazda CX-7:
www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/mazda/mazda-cx-5-2.../


The Audi Q5 isn't bad either and is the obvious choice for status (has to
be white):

www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/audi/audi-q5-2008-.../
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