Help me chose a new motor
Help me chose a new motor
as you;ve probably seen elsewhere on here - Sara's disco2 is no more. it is squished with very little chance of being an economical repair.
so we now have the issue of finding another motor.
I love the disco 2, however many (and there are many) foibles it has and i would gladly have another.
but maybe, just maybe, its time to think about something else. With the money we should be getting - depending on insurance shenanigans - we are considering the following possible vehicles as a replacement.
Freelander td4. I think the later 2001-> freebies had the bmw td4, is that right? If so, what are they like in terms of reliability and general day to day use with a bit of caravan towing? Are they as badly built as the solihul rubbish, or do they build them right at Halewood?
Nissan X-Trail. Nice looking car like 4wd, but maybe a bit 'chelsea tractor'. On paper it seems to be right between the disco and freeby in size (which is good) and quite powerful.
Audi A6 allroad quattro. Me likey alot! Splendid looking powerful diesel auto with plenty of toys and supposedly brilliant german build quality. We dont really need or use the discos offroad prowess - just the odd field to trial sites and towing the pikey wagon on grass, so that should be adequate. But i am completely unaware of their reliability and that could be an issue with audi prices for parts!
Volvo X60/80 - fine motor on paper and gets good reviews, but their looks are a bit of an aquired taste i think, plus the social aspect of driving one of the ultimate hated chelsea tractors and the fact its a volvo are a bit off putting. I am willing to be pursuaded though.
Toyota - not on the list. Amazon which i love is too big and the prado/LC with ifs is not to her taste (plastic shiny chrome and ugly), so having a reliable 4x4 built by toyota is not to be...
Have i missed anything off that list that we should consider and does anyone have any real world experience with them - any advice would be massively appreciated.
Nick
ps. whatever it is, it will have to be a diesel. I am not considering a petrol with lpg as per other peoples posts on here about availability and real world running costs and range.
so we now have the issue of finding another motor.
I love the disco 2, however many (and there are many) foibles it has and i would gladly have another.
but maybe, just maybe, its time to think about something else. With the money we should be getting - depending on insurance shenanigans - we are considering the following possible vehicles as a replacement.
Freelander td4. I think the later 2001-> freebies had the bmw td4, is that right? If so, what are they like in terms of reliability and general day to day use with a bit of caravan towing? Are they as badly built as the solihul rubbish, or do they build them right at Halewood?
Nissan X-Trail. Nice looking car like 4wd, but maybe a bit 'chelsea tractor'. On paper it seems to be right between the disco and freeby in size (which is good) and quite powerful.
Audi A6 allroad quattro. Me likey alot! Splendid looking powerful diesel auto with plenty of toys and supposedly brilliant german build quality. We dont really need or use the discos offroad prowess - just the odd field to trial sites and towing the pikey wagon on grass, so that should be adequate. But i am completely unaware of their reliability and that could be an issue with audi prices for parts!
Volvo X60/80 - fine motor on paper and gets good reviews, but their looks are a bit of an aquired taste i think, plus the social aspect of driving one of the ultimate hated chelsea tractors and the fact its a volvo are a bit off putting. I am willing to be pursuaded though.
Toyota - not on the list. Amazon which i love is too big and the prado/LC with ifs is not to her taste (plastic shiny chrome and ugly), so having a reliable 4x4 built by toyota is not to be...
Have i missed anything off that list that we should consider and does anyone have any real world experience with them - any advice would be massively appreciated.
Nick
ps. whatever it is, it will have to be a diesel. I am not considering a petrol with lpg as per other peoples posts on here about availability and real world running costs and range.
Bugger!
Another bloody dent...
Another bloody dent...
Nick
Ive had a Freelander 2.0 TDI for about 4 years, that I origanaly bought to use for work but a change of jobs and r las now uses it.
Its good on the motorways and holds its know in the fast lane, its also ok on the urban routes. Ive done some towing with it half ton trailer full to the plumbs and a bit more and it coaped fine.
the turning circle could be better but you soon get us to it.
We have had some problems with the electric windows (cables snapping) other than a new starter this week and a battery last month Touch wood ive had no problems with it
Mine has high milage 11400 but still starts first time every time, its also good on juice but could not give you any figures
I can't fault it and would buy another.
Ps r las the noisey cow has just read this and has told me she would break my neck if I sell it cos she loves it.
Rod
Ive had a Freelander 2.0 TDI for about 4 years, that I origanaly bought to use for work but a change of jobs and r las now uses it.
Its good on the motorways and holds its know in the fast lane, its also ok on the urban routes. Ive done some towing with it half ton trailer full to the plumbs and a bit more and it coaped fine.
the turning circle could be better but you soon get us to it.
We have had some problems with the electric windows (cables snapping) other than a new starter this week and a battery last month Touch wood ive had no problems with it
Mine has high milage 11400 but still starts first time every time, its also good on juice but could not give you any figures
I can't fault it and would buy another.
Ps r las the noisey cow has just read this and has told me she would break my neck if I sell it cos she loves it.
Rod
Stercus fit !
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pamw
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- Location: Knaresborough, N Yorkshire
- Full Name: Pam White
Our Freelander was quite an early one - 1998 - so not sure what improvements to the interior made after that, but if anything like ours was I'd say it would be quite a step down from the D2 - in comfort and ride at any rate. Was the petrol 1.8 so not a fair comparison to the Td4, but was noisy and hard work on the motorway and compared to our Range Rovers and Disco 1, crap crap crap for towing! Too small an engine in a heavy car, with the caravan on the back. Diesel would be better but the early diesels had a tendency to consume their own oil at inopportune moments. Think the Td4 fixed that problem though!
Our was the 3 door, the 5 door may have been better interior, can't say.
My sister has a Nissan x-trail and I'd say it is nicer than our Freelander in a lot of ways. Better interior, more comfort, very quiet. They live on a farm, a couple of miles down gravel/dirt tracks from the main road, and it seems to be holding up well as far as suspension and paintwork go - had it around 3 years now I would say. They had a D2 before that and find the Nissan much cheaper to run. Don't think they have anything other than servicing to pay out for yet, so how it compares on parts etc if something does go wrong I couldn't say. On out and out 'presence' and being a one size fits all workhorse, the D2 surely beats it though!
Personally although the Audi looks good and is probably great to drive, once you've been seated high up in a proper off-roader as long as I have, I find it incredibly annoying to drive 'cars' with lower seating positions - hate not being able to see over stuff!! lol
Difficult one. Good luck!
Our was the 3 door, the 5 door may have been better interior, can't say.
My sister has a Nissan x-trail and I'd say it is nicer than our Freelander in a lot of ways. Better interior, more comfort, very quiet. They live on a farm, a couple of miles down gravel/dirt tracks from the main road, and it seems to be holding up well as far as suspension and paintwork go - had it around 3 years now I would say. They had a D2 before that and find the Nissan much cheaper to run. Don't think they have anything other than servicing to pay out for yet, so how it compares on parts etc if something does go wrong I couldn't say. On out and out 'presence' and being a one size fits all workhorse, the D2 surely beats it though!
Personally although the Audi looks good and is probably great to drive, once you've been seated high up in a proper off-roader as long as I have, I find it incredibly annoying to drive 'cars' with lower seating positions - hate not being able to see over stuff!! lol
Difficult one. Good luck!
Archaeology - my career in ruins !
Nick, we have two of the motors you list, a 2004 Freeloader and a 2010 Volvo XC60. We got the Freelander new and within a year the fuel pump packed in and was changed under warranty, a couple of months ago it started to get noisy again so I changed it (20mins and £90) and its fine again. It has now done 80k without any other problems. I have not towed a caravan with it but I have towed jumpety up and downy horses without a problem and also loaded car trailers. It is the BMW engine in the TD4 but is detuned to 116bhp. At 50k I fitted a Synergy 2 adjustable tuning module which raised the power to 130bhp 
and gives us over 40mpg. The rear dif mounts are just starting to knock when you set off hard but at £18 each (there are 3) that's not going to break the bank either. We only intended keeping it 3 to 4 years but its been so reliable, here we are coming up to 8 years and its still with us.
XC60 was new 6 months ago, its the AWD D5 205bhp model, its now done 25k, it returns 43mpg no matter what I do with it and does 0 to 60 in 7.9 seconds. The handling is stunning for its size and height and it goes around corners better than a lot of saloons. Its quiet and comfortable, I regularly do 250 miles without any aches or pains. The back is absolutely cavernous, especially with the seats down. Servicing is every 18k and so far I have not had any problems other than a recalibration of the electronic oil level meter. The only quirk it has is when passing through barriers, if you don't let them get all the way up as soon as you set off the city safe kicks in and stops the car dead as it thinks something is in front of it. In short, I love it and would have another tomorrow.
and gives us over 40mpg. The rear dif mounts are just starting to knock when you set off hard but at £18 each (there are 3) that's not going to break the bank either. We only intended keeping it 3 to 4 years but its been so reliable, here we are coming up to 8 years and its still with us.
XC60 was new 6 months ago, its the AWD D5 205bhp model, its now done 25k, it returns 43mpg no matter what I do with it and does 0 to 60 in 7.9 seconds. The handling is stunning for its size and height and it goes around corners better than a lot of saloons. Its quiet and comfortable, I regularly do 250 miles without any aches or pains. The back is absolutely cavernous, especially with the seats down. Servicing is every 18k and so far I have not had any problems other than a recalibration of the electronic oil level meter. The only quirk it has is when passing through barriers, if you don't let them get all the way up as soon as you set off the city safe kicks in and stops the car dead as it thinks something is in front of it. In short, I love it and would have another tomorrow.
5/4 of people admit that they’re bad with fractions.
Twifies Xtrail has, so far, been the mutts, it is an 04 plate base model with the slightly less powerfull 2.2td engine than the following year (cant remember exact figures and dates, thats what the willbly wobbly is for). Dispite this it pulls the caravan as if it isnt there and returns better fuel milage than the old 1800 petrol nissan we had. It is as fast as you will ever need on lanes and motorways (bit of body roll on tight corners though). The boot isnt as big as you might think but enough for a family of 4, the Terrano2 is much bigger but alot more agricultural. The four wheel drive system has kept Zoe moving during the snow, some days she was the only car in the car park.
We would definitely buy another.
The only downside IMHO is that the interior plasticy bits sometimes rattle and I feel that they may start to fall off later in its life.
Cheers Nick
We would definitely buy another.
The only downside IMHO is that the interior plasticy bits sometimes rattle and I feel that they may start to fall off later in its life.
Cheers Nick
If it ain't broke, I'd be bloody suprised.
New Motor
Nick
At the risk of further complicating your choice, we've had a Honda CRV (06 model) for about a year and we've been really impressed:
- Good driving position
- Economical (diesel)
- Part time automatic 4WD (normally runs as FWD, 4WD only kicks in when front axle loses traction). I'm sure there's a proper/technical name for this!
- Great in the snow of the last few months, didn't even think about getting stuck
- Good level of trim
- Put a towbar on and it's pulled some fairly heave trailer loads, haven't tried it with a caravan though
Anyway, something to consider perhaps.
Cheers
Mark
At the risk of further complicating your choice, we've had a Honda CRV (06 model) for about a year and we've been really impressed:
- Good driving position
- Economical (diesel)
- Part time automatic 4WD (normally runs as FWD, 4WD only kicks in when front axle loses traction). I'm sure there's a proper/technical name for this!
- Great in the snow of the last few months, didn't even think about getting stuck
- Good level of trim
- Put a towbar on and it's pulled some fairly heave trailer loads, haven't tried it with a caravan though
Anyway, something to consider perhaps.
Cheers
Mark
it is possibly on the list after Sara saw one and had a poke about. She didnt realise how big they were.
I think thats the thing with these 'small' SUVs nowadays - when we first got the disco 1 many moons ago, the small soft roaders were actually very small. Anyone remember the little rav4 and crv from old? They were no bigger than a 5 door fiesta on stilts!
But you look at the softroaders now and they have doubled in size! So the market for a mid sized practical 4x4 has grown massively, all seem capable of towing 2 tonnes of caravan, all seems happy to cruise the motorways and all seem to return high 30's mpg. So tomorrow we are going to trawl around some dealers and take a test drive in as many different types as we can find. I think it will come down to how easy they are to drive and interiors, as they all appear on paper to be about as capable as each other and none seem to be flagged as 'crap' anymore. Plus i should be able to pick up almost any of the popular softroaders on a 05 plate for about £6k, which is what i am hoping to get for the disco,
Nick
I think thats the thing with these 'small' SUVs nowadays - when we first got the disco 1 many moons ago, the small soft roaders were actually very small. Anyone remember the little rav4 and crv from old? They were no bigger than a 5 door fiesta on stilts!
But you look at the softroaders now and they have doubled in size! So the market for a mid sized practical 4x4 has grown massively, all seem capable of towing 2 tonnes of caravan, all seems happy to cruise the motorways and all seem to return high 30's mpg. So tomorrow we are going to trawl around some dealers and take a test drive in as many different types as we can find. I think it will come down to how easy they are to drive and interiors, as they all appear on paper to be about as capable as each other and none seem to be flagged as 'crap' anymore. Plus i should be able to pick up almost any of the popular softroaders on a 05 plate for about £6k, which is what i am hoping to get for the disco,
Nick
Bugger!
Another bloody dent...
Another bloody dent...
the nissan Xtrail wins!
having driven a nice top spec td4 freelander, i was extremely unimpressed. Head room was limited for me, inside felt very cramped, boot was tiny (certainly not big enough for 3 dogs) and it was slowwwwww. Certainly didnt feel like it had any major get up and go and felt like towing a big caravan would be a chore.
To say i am dissapointed is an understatement, I really wanted it to be brilliant.
Kia Sportage was next on the list. Alot of car for the money. Drove lovely and was fast, but felt like it was built way below a budget. I think by the time it hits 100k and 6 years old it would have fallen to bits.
CRV and rav4 - bloody ugly and was told the 4wd system would struggle on a gravel track, never mind anything like a greenlane. Also not the best tow cars about according to reviews. And they have a terrible 'soccer mom' perception.
Nissan Xtrail. Powerful, fast, loads of boot space, loads of room up front and in the back seats, love the fact the back seats recline so violet can go to sleep. Loads of cubby holes, will tow 2000KG, has 2wd and 4wd and a proper 4wd centre diff lock, brilliant massive sunroof. Looks proper smart too and feels like its been engineered out of solid steel - that proper weighty feel to it.
incredibly impressed. Sara liked it too.
So the search is now on for a nice low mileage 04/05 plate dci 6 speed - preferably with evidence its had the turbo and intercooler changed by Nissan with the corrected version.
Nick (loves car shopping) C
having driven a nice top spec td4 freelander, i was extremely unimpressed. Head room was limited for me, inside felt very cramped, boot was tiny (certainly not big enough for 3 dogs) and it was slowwwwww. Certainly didnt feel like it had any major get up and go and felt like towing a big caravan would be a chore.
To say i am dissapointed is an understatement, I really wanted it to be brilliant.
Kia Sportage was next on the list. Alot of car for the money. Drove lovely and was fast, but felt like it was built way below a budget. I think by the time it hits 100k and 6 years old it would have fallen to bits.
CRV and rav4 - bloody ugly and was told the 4wd system would struggle on a gravel track, never mind anything like a greenlane. Also not the best tow cars about according to reviews. And they have a terrible 'soccer mom' perception.
Nissan Xtrail. Powerful, fast, loads of boot space, loads of room up front and in the back seats, love the fact the back seats recline so violet can go to sleep. Loads of cubby holes, will tow 2000KG, has 2wd and 4wd and a proper 4wd centre diff lock, brilliant massive sunroof. Looks proper smart too and feels like its been engineered out of solid steel - that proper weighty feel to it.
incredibly impressed. Sara liked it too.
So the search is now on for a nice low mileage 04/05 plate dci 6 speed - preferably with evidence its had the turbo and intercooler changed by Nissan with the corrected version.
Nick (loves car shopping) C
Bugger!
Another bloody dent...
Another bloody dent...
supposedly they have problems on the 2.2dci with turbos leaking oil past the seals / premature failure and problems with leaking intercoolers.
the warning signs are oil leaking out of the bottom left of the intercooler as you look at the engine from the front and smoking under high revs/boost.
Seems to effect 04 and early 05 models mostly from what i;ve seen on the t'interweb.
Nick
the warning signs are oil leaking out of the bottom left of the intercooler as you look at the engine from the front and smoking under high revs/boost.
Seems to effect 04 and early 05 models mostly from what i;ve seen on the t'interweb.
Nick
Bugger!
Another bloody dent...
Another bloody dent...
replacement vehicle bought! Dont have the money from the insurance company yet - minor point 
- but that should hopefully come through before we go and pick it up next weekend.
Nissan Xtrail 2.2dci, 05 plate, 80k miles in black with all the toys. Fingers crossed it'll be a good'un!
- but that should hopefully come through before we go and pick it up next weekend.
Nissan Xtrail 2.2dci, 05 plate, 80k miles in black with all the toys. Fingers crossed it'll be a good'un!
Bugger!
Another bloody dent...
Another bloody dent...
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