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[tunnie]

At my grandparents today, and my grandfather really wants to replace his car with something that has a better driving position, ie higher! much higher.

He did have a Pug 806 which he loved the height aspect, but that was dogged by leccy problems, so he now has a 406 (booooooring)
Having a quick nose under the bonnet (Y Reg 110 HDi) I was suprised to find the throttle was not fly-by-wire.

Anywho, any ideas on cheap ish cars that have a nice high up driving position? - Budget about 8k max.

Pref an Auto
High Spec
Air-Con or Climate

His millage is nothing, their little run around VW Polo did 6k miles in 3 years!  

Soo on that basis, I thought maybe an second hand Range Rover?

He likes his driving, and i thought he should get something that makes the long journey to vist us a doddle.

For about 5/6k I have seen '95 ish examples with less than 100k miles for about 6grand. fully loaded to, leather, climate auto's ect...


Any thoughts, suggestions? - Are Range Rovers of that age as poor reliablity as people say?

[Davey]

Fiat Multipla.

Ugly as sin but a great car to drive, very high and clear driving position and cheap-as-chips as no bugger wants one.. Unless he's got loads of disposable income do not go any where near a rangey.. If you want a cheap decent 4x4 go for a Kia/Hyaundai or a Frontera.

[TheBoy]

Range Rover problems tend to be very expensive. Much more reliable than they used to be though.  For that sort of thing, Discovery 3 is a nice motor, though not sure if you would get a 3 in that price range...

[Davey]

Range Rover problems tend to be very expensive. Much more reliable than they used to be though.  

Only on the newer BMW Rangeys, but they come with a MASSIVE price tag.

[hotel21]

Until recently, had regular use of a Ford Galaxy diesel.  Not my car of choice, but there are a few badge engineered variants with various trim levels.  

Driving position is reasonably high with wide doors easy to step straight into, rather than down into, the car.

Would recon prices are less than a RR.....

[tunnie]

Range Rover problems tend to be very expensive. Much more reliable than they used to be though.  For that sort of thing, Discovery 3 is a nice motor, though not sure if you would get a 3 in that price range...

Checked Disco's for that budget its very old ones, can't even get a Disco2.

Problem is his millage is nothing, so not a lot is going to go wrong with it, i would have thought.


Did't think about the fiat... i'll go browse AT

[Davey]

The Multipla is great, I drove one for a while when they first came out, once I got over the initial embarrassment it was a damn great car!

As for Discos, just as rubbish as the Rangerovers, I cant enthasise enough how much you should avoid and old Range Rover/Disco unless you have bags of cash to throw at it or have £30k+ for a newish one.

[Elite Pete]

If your going for a Range Rover of that age your best off with the last of the classic which is a 94/95. The first of the newer shape have poor electrics also the classics are cheap to convert to LPG I did mine for less than £300  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

[TheBoy]

I drove a Multipla a few years ago when they were new. Horrible piece of junk.

I guess any MPV will do almost as well I would have thought. Fronteras seem to suffer reliability.

I did St Tropez to Verona (and back again a couple of days later) in a Citroen Picasso thingie.  Wasn't too bad, but wouldn't want to own one myself. Though being a hire car, it was probably base spec.

One of my brothers has owned Espace and Galaxies (and now Merc A2) and all been not bad.

HTH a little...

[TheBoy]

If your going for a Range Rover of that age your best off with the last of the classic which is a 94/95. The first of the newer shape have poor electrics also the classics are cheap to convert to LPG I did mine for less than £300  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

Sounds like the mileage is so low that lpg not worth it...

I agree, as soon as BMW started fiddling with Rover/Landrover, silly reliability issues crept in - but thats the result when smaller family owned car companies try to become a mass producer without the know-how.

[TheBoy]

Sticking with landrover at the moment, what about Freelander, or do they need the extra size?

[Davey]

I agree, as soon as BMW started fiddling with Rover/Landrover, silly reliability issues crept in - but thats the result when smaller family owned car companies try to become a mass producer without the know-how.

Its the complete opposite really, the BMW Range Rover is basically a jacked up BMW 7 Series, hence the monocoque.  The old Rangey with its bizarre dog leg transfer system used to eat gearboxes and suffered from various electrical and engine related catastrophes.

[tunnie]

If your going for a Range Rover of that age your best off with the last of the classic which is a 94/95. The first of the newer shape have poor electrics also the classics are cheap to convert to LPG I did mine for less than £300  [smiley=thumbsup.gif]

£300!! tell me more!

Are the late classic shape really much more reliable than the first of the newer shapes??

This is what i was looking at:



6grand and fully loaded

He should enjoy his motoring when he can.


Looked at Galaxys, but he did't like the shape  

Citreon Picasso type things were on the cars, but their driving position is not that much heigher...

[tunnie]

I agree, as soon as BMW started fiddling with Rover/Landrover, silly reliability issues crept in - but thats the result when smaller family owned car companies try to become a mass producer without the know-how.

Its the complete opposite really, the BMW Range Rover is basically a jacked up BMW 7 Series, hence the monocoque.  The old Rangey with its bizarre dog leg transfer system used to eat gearboxes and suffered from various electrical and engine related catastrophes.

Oh ok, maybe not the above then.

Go for classic? - AT's freelanders

[Hillper]