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[Varche]

I am thinking next year of the absolutely unthinkable. After over 11 years of running my Omega Imay change it for a 4x4. Heresy I know. Here is the scenario.

 90% of our motoring here in Spain is short journeys to the local town or a bit further afield the local Interntional airport.. The rest is very local or off road or towing a small loaded max load 1600lb trailer (unbraked). The latter we do maybe 30 times a year. Currently we use the Omega which is fine on country roads and tarmac roads but is total rubbish in the olive groves (fat tyres , too lowand mud).. One other point is that we live in the middle of nowhere and have miles  and miles of stone surface tracks we cannot exlore or use because of the Omegas low slung nature and poor traction.

So next year I  am considering a manual one of the following with a budget of say up to £3000 Uk or 4000 euros The difference being the cost of changing onto Spanish plates. Economy, cost of running, reliability are key factors.

Suzuki Vitara diesel manual

Land Rover Discovery Diesel  (300 engine 94 onwards)

Vauxhal  Frontera  diesel

Which and model  (or alternative ) would you recomend and why please?  Diesel In Spain is still cheaper than unleaded. This really woud be a leap into the total unknown!!

[Martin_1962]

Discovery you can repair with a bent spoon by all accounts

[Debs.]

Come `join the Disco. club

.....cheap parts, easy to fix and in a dry climate the Disco`s MAJOR issue (rust) would be mostly negated.
They tow well, go excellently off-road and have the comfort for those longer journeys.

[millwall]

my mrs had a grand vitara 2.5 v6 auto for 7 years we only recently sold it and they are a brilliant 4x4  the v6 was a bit thirsty  but it never let us down and only had the normal servicing and wear and tear bits 

[vauxfan2k]

disco stuff is expensive over there. My old man is over there and it was costing him an arm and a leg for parts. I ended up posting him over alot of things, and even with the postage it was still cheaper.

however as mentioned theres nothing on them that cant be fixed.

[Omegatoy]

 frontera diesel 98 on diesel is ok before that dont bother

suzy diesel seems quite popular here but they are a very bumpy ride, and pumps can sometimes give trouble,

disco? apart from very soft ride (almost sickeningly soft)
and rust ssues the 300tdi is almost unburstable, can suffer with diff whine and heavy on brake pad and discs
but the best of what you have picked here


Got a hyundai galloper exceed 2.5td on spanish plates here for sale !!!
probably hav another nearer your time 

[bigegg]

I had a shogun for about three months and absolutely loved it.
Comfortable on the roads, and a proper off-road beast.
But they're horrendously expensive on juice (3.0 petrol) - I'm informed the diesel isn't any better. 3.2 24V is cheaper to run supposedly.
Dunno about parts availability, but considering it's rebadged as either the Pajero or Canyonero (?) in pretty much every country in the world, I wouldn't have thought you'd have too  much difficulty sourcing parts.
The pajero owner's forum seemed friendly enough (can't find the URL at the moment), and the odd bit of work I did
on it seemed reasonably easy.

If I could get a reliable source of veg oil, or an LPG conversion, I'd buy another tomorrow, but
again - they are HORRIBLY thirsty - like 8mpg towing a horse trailer full of books, or about 15-20 mpg on the motorway, unladen.

[Debs.]

8mpg towing a horse trailer full of books, or about 15-20 mpg on the motorway, unladen

  Dear Lord!.....and I thought the Disco`s MPG was bad!:o

[Darth Loo-knee]

Range Rover everytime 

[Debs.]

Range Rover everytime 

  No-longer, Wyatt Twerp....

...you`re now the Lone Rangie!

Just wait `till Tonto finds out what Kimosabe actually means!

[sassanach]

my experience of range rovers and discoverys is simple, i cannot weld fast enough to keep up with there rate of decompostion.

[Varche]

my experience of range rovers and discoverys is simple, i cannot weld fast enough to keep up with there rate of decompostion.

  Looks like its a Mitsibishi then!

[hotel21]

300 TDi Disco.  No real electronics to make it go wrong, unlike the TD5 which has a fair amount of ECU probs.

As said, rust is an issue but relatively easily contained, lots of panels/parts available and an almost unburstable engine.

Been told that if the timing breaks/slips, all that is required, other than a retime, is to remove the rockers/pushrods/whatever and straighten them with a hammer.....   

[henri]

  I,ve had 3 Pajeros 1 swb 2lwb fantastic tow vehicles lwb certainly the best sold my 97 2.8 turbo diesel 12 mths ago, too much hassle to get it matriculated because of the french requirements,still miss that truck. Economy certainly not as bad as quoted although I never really counted the miles,felt that the driving experience and confidence it gave were worth the little extra in fuel costs. A go anywhere with anything on the back vehicle ***** Cracking.    

[ffcgary1]

Have a look at the 2.5 diesel jeep cherokee xj,s built to take everything you can chuck at it and do it in leather comfort. only thing to look for are overheating issues and head gaskets issues. Buy one with head issues and repair it yourself. do not fit heads that have been skimmed on the diesels. Or you can go with the 99 m/y 4.0l engined cars but the fuel economy is not good but, will pull a train. Again head gaskets can be an issue but only if the coolant levels and systems have been neglected. 2000 m/y have head cracking problems on 0331 heads but earlier heads go straight on with a matching exh manifold. Jeeps are good value and plenty of info on them on line from numerous owners forums.