[Psyxologos]

I once again ask for your help, good people of hunting life. I have decided to change my mini cooper s (which I only bought two and a half months ago) as my wife and I are having our first child and need something more accommodating for a young family. I was ready to buy a Toyota Prado or a Mitsubishi Pajero (as you can see I wanted an import as oposed to a land cruiser or a shogun) for my shooting but the situation has changed.

So I need a car that will be

a. safe for a pregnant mother and her baby (when, God willing it comes)

b. offer plenty of space

c. Be reasonable off roading.


Now, I am not going to be challenging the car too much off roading, after all, I only am engaging in shooting 5-10 times a year maximum. The car will be therefore used 70% on the road (this is why I want a slightly more 'sensible' car) and 30% (if that) off roading. By off roading I mean getting to and back from a pheasant shoot and the marsh (will not be taking the car in the marsh itself, just close to it). Shooting pigeons is out of the picture at the moment as I have no permission despite trying for over a year, and nobody around where I live seems to be willing to invite me.


Anyone has any advice and/or knowledge of these two cars? My budget is up to £20k in total.

Any ideas?

Thanks in anticipation

[hagar]

Nissan terrano, good economy, great off road and handles like a car i do 90 mile a day in mine 5 days a week, totally reliable very nippy too, hope that helps

[WILF]

The ML are a nice car, could not fault it.........just watch out for the gearbox missing gears or slightly over revving between changes.
I had this happen when I had mine and Mercs wanted £5000 :icon_eek: for a new gearbox......needless to say, I dont have it any more

I have not driven the BMW, but I have driven the Volvo XC90 and that is a very nice car to drive, mucth better than the Range Rover

[IanB]

What about a Disco 3, very comfortable motor, very spacious and will blow the bmw and mercedes away offroad.. Although the bmw/mercs are more road based 4x4's..

[GarryN]

Ford's new Kuga AWD great on the road handles like a sports hatch, make sure you have the correct tyres on it for the job, get the 140BHP diesel. You will get the Titanium X for £20,000.

Drives like a dream and plenty room for you the Mrs and the Baby, and if your good Lady has Twins it will accommodate, them also.

[Brummy]

Go for the X5 for sure it's much better than the Merc in every department. Failing that look at Toyota Landcruiser's. :thumbs:

[chickenstu]

Brummy, on Sep 20 2009, 08:36 PM, said:

Go for the X5 for sure it's much better than the Merc in every department. Failing that look at Toyota Landcruiser's. :thumbs:

x5 is pants off road, you would be better off buying a 5 series estate than an X5, they are footballers cars- flashy, the merc has terrible reliability issues.

If it was my money I would buy a Land Cruiser

[harrishawk01]

I like the X5 as they make my Terrano look good when I over take them in the snow. :clapper:

[Psyxologos]

After all this, I bought myself an approved used Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2 TD4 HSE
I loved the car on first sight. Drives very similar to the X5 and comes with loads of luxuries (leather, sat nav, bluetooth, cd changer, climate control etc).

Anyone had any experience of them at all? I enclose a picture of car with specs. I deliberately left the price on there, so you can tell me if I got a good offer, to your opinion. I part exchanged my mini cooper s and got £10,750 off the price of the Freelander.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/15/enao.jpg

[outbacklamper]

i have owned both and cant really fault either but the x5 is far more superior and absolutely adored mine infact will be going for the x5 again when purchase next 4x4 as i do miss it. hope this helps...

[hue jeers]

WILF, on Sep 20 2009, 02:06 AM, said:

The ML are a nice car, could not fault it.........just watch out for the gearbox missing gears or slightly over revving between changes.
I had this happen when I had mine and Mercs wanted £5000 :icon_eek: for a new gearbox......needless to say, I dont have it any more

I have not driven the BMW, but I have driven the Volvo XC90 and that is a very nice car to drive, mucth better than the Range Rover

There's a difference between owning one, running one, cleaning one, insuring one, filling it with fuel and having a chuffing joy ride in one :whistling: :whistling: :whistling:

[WILF]

hue jeers, on Sep 22 2009, 08:58 PM, said:

WILF, on Sep 20 2009, 02:06 AM, said:

The ML are a nice car, could not fault it.........just watch out for the gearbox missing gears or slightly over revving between changes.
I had this happen when I had mine and Mercs wanted £5000 :icon_eek: for a new gearbox......needless to say, I dont have it any more

I have not driven the BMW, but I have driven the Volvo XC90 and that is a very nice car to drive, mucth better than the Range Rover

There's a difference between owning one, running one, cleaning one, insuring one, filling it with fuel and having a chuffing joy ride in one :whistling: :whistling: :whistling:

Is there? :D .............

[IanB]

Psyxologos, on Sep 22 2009, 02:04 AM, said:

After all this, I bought myself an approved used Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2 TD4 HSE
I loved the car on first sight. Drives very similar to the X5 and comes with loads of luxuries (leather, sat nav, bluetooth, cd changer, climate control etc).

Anyone had any experience of them at all? I enclose a picture of car with specs. I deliberately left the price on there, so you can tell me if I got a good offer, to your opinion. I part exchanged my mini cooper s and got £10,750 off the price of the Freelander.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/15/enao.jpg

I've drove a few, nice motors, smooth and good on fuel, ground clearance isn't brilliant, but thats to be expected...miles apart compared to the older model... Not sure if there in the same league as an X5 though for allround build quality,etc... probs better offroad.

[DDD]

I drove a Touareg, Rangie sport, ML's & X5's

Ultimately the X5 won, does what you expect it to do, even caning it across a stubble field!!

Touareg wasn't really in the running, Rangie sport, everytime you turns the key it lights up with faults - similar to a gaming machine, also showed signs of rust!! ML's - too much like a German taxi for my liking & too soft.

So opted for the X5, fairly cheap to run & maintain.

[Psyxologos]

I get delivery on Monday! I cannot wait...