Anybody run a 4x4 as a second car?

Shetlander

Shetlander

Member
Aug 23, 2010
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Surrey
I got stranded this morning trying to get my daughter HOME from school as the snow suddenly got worse and her school is more rural than where we live.

So, having abandoned my car and started walking for her, a kind teacher with a Discovery brought her home (long before I got back, minus my car)

Now thinking of buying an old 4x4 so that this never happens again. It doesnt make sense to sell my (very economical) car as I do a lot of miles for work and I would lose out on what I paid for it so any 4x4 would have to be a social/domestic and pleasure use only.

Trouble is, I can't use my no claims bonus on my car plus a second one. Do any of you run one as an additional car? Got any tips on how to do it as cheap as possible?

Thanks!
 
No, mine is my only car and costs an absolute fortune to run. I do often think I should get another run around which would be much cheaper to run, but I must admit I did feel quite smug as I cruised around a normal car stuck on a hill! Have to be some perks to paying a fortune to run them!
 
Hmm, it can be difficult to save anything anywhere with a 4x4. We have a new discovery as well as my audi a3 and its expensive but very handy where we live and really required. The insurance is cheap, its the tax and everything else that's expensive, and if you get an older one it can cost a fortune in repairs. Have you thought about a 4x4 car to cover both jobs?
 
We used to have two. One 'best' car for doing no horsey things and a 4x4 for the horsey things and towing the trailer. Unfortunatley when the fuel prices went up and the recession hit home the 4x4 became a very expensive liability.
 
Not yet, but I'm planning to. We did have a Pajero for a year a while back but we bought it cheap and one thing after another went wrong with it. This time I'm saving up to buy a better quality one.... I do realise that things go wrong with cars but the interior of the Paj was worse than crap to be honest! First I'll get the 4x4 and than a trailer so I can Joey out and about.... and then if we get hit with poor weather next winter, hopefully we won't get snowed in like we've been today....
 
12 year old discovery

I love this car! It has grass growing in the boot from carrying hay and although my '2nd' car I use it more than my other car. If I sold it I'd be lucky to get £2k but worth it's weight in gold to me! If I had to get rid of one car it wouldn't be the Landrover! As for saving money - errm not sure about that - on the bright side it will save putting miles on your other car!
 
We used to have a Pajero (which I absolutely loved) for pulling the trailer but sold it when we got the box. I have a 30 mile motorway journey to work and worked out that the Pajero cost exactly twice as much in fuel as my Passat so I just couldn't afford to run it as an every day car. It was so handy for winter though and, unlike Domane's, it never went wrong. It was 16 years old when we got it and we had it a few years and it never needed anything more than basic maintenance. I really liked the interior too - way ahead of it's time for its age - heated seats, good radio, all sorts of electrical gadgetry and more options for 2/4 wheel drive, OD, Diff Lock etc than I knew what to do with. Fuel was very expensive but insurance wasn't too bad.

We got it in the winter of 2009/10 and that and the next winter were really bad with snow and ice. We used it all the time that winter and it got me to work without a problem every day. The guys in the car park used to get me to smash piles of snow down with it so that they could park other cars on the space.
I felt like I should be ripping into Yorkie bars with my bare teeth!

I miss that car so much, but we can't have our every day cars, a horsebox and a 4 wheel drive that we might need for a few days every year. Wish we could though!
 
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I was reading a thread on another horsey forum today, a lot of people mentioned their 4x4s aren't that fantastic in snow anyway, in fact one person mentioned their old Peugeot 106 was much better. I've seen many 4x4s stuck in ditches at the side of the road during snowy weather - probably owned by those that believe they are invincible and can drive however they like just because they're in a 4x4!
 
We have an old Audi A3 which my OH mainly drives - it is our "town car" - and an old NIssan X Trail which we bought two winters ago after some &^%@&$*( totalled our Honda CRV just as it began snowing.

We paid over the odds for the Nissan, as we had to buy it from a guy who would actually come out in the snow to collect us to go and look at it - we were completely stranded! - and my OH sometimes rails at it for being so big. We would ideally have liked another Honda CRV but the Nissan does fine for hay lugging and driving in the snow.

It is heavier on diesel than the Audi but not that much. Its consumption is better than the Honda's was. It's been very reliable so far but we've only had it a couple of years. The Honda CRV was brilliant, we had it 6 years and it was never sick or sorry.

Both of them are good in snow but I prefer the X Trail because its 4WD is optional whereas the Honda's was on all the time.

I would say do your research, buy one privately, not from a dealer, and get it vetted. Like a horse! :bounce: and you just bought one of those and did good...

Mind you, you have a little Haffie, couldn't you just train him to pull a sleigh for you to take daughter to school? Imagine the kudos!
 
until last year I had an old Nissan Terrano as my main car and it was absolutely brilliant in snow never got stuck and it would go where most 4x4 would not.
Sadly it blew up so no longer have one, still trying to work out what to get!!
Whenn I heard about the snow this weekend I hired a 4x4 from enterprise, asked them for a small one as it's cheaper!! when I went to pick it up they gave me a Mercedes ML350!! Horrendous great lump.. brand new with 29 miles on the clock!!
Drove up the stables yesterday in a blizzard and had it sideways after half a mile LOL..
It is useless!! Can't get it up the field...I think it's a fine weather 4x4.

Here it is well and truly christened :biggrin:
IMG_1635_zpsc2014818.jpg
 
I've got a Mitsubishi Outlander which is a 4x4 but I don't find it *that* much more expensive on fuel than my old Focus. Obviously there is a difference but I do a 35 ish mile round trip to work every day and it isn't extortionate to run. It got me back from work in some pretty awful conditions yesterday but admittedly it did skid about a bit. Worse snow I've ever driven in though! It's also very handy for feed runs. I can fit 6 bales of Horsehage, 3 bales of Nedz bedding and a couple of bags of feed in it!
 
We have the quad, the Subaru Forester, and the van (which does not go if you sneeze on the road)

No point in even looking at taking the van out if there is a heavy frost let alone snow! We get by with that combination
 
OH sunk his car when the end of out road flooded last year so we replaced it with an older Freelander, it's been great so far!
 
We managed to switch the no claim bonus to the more valuable of our two cars. Our best car cant tow. So we keep the old one in case we buy a horse - and want to tow a trailer - which we still havent done. It is crazy really.

But OH and I now keep one car each in our own name. Naming each other as permitted extra driver.
We now get penalised by Council for keeping two cars parked at the same address. But we each get a no claims bonus. And the insurance seems lower too if you state you have the use of another car.
I would shop around insurance wise as some companies make a reduction for a couple with two cars insured with the same company (we dont do this as it worked out to cost more!) But if you are single and the only driver and own two cars the insurance may be reduced a lot?

I was sweeping snow off my car yesterday and a passing London taxi driver (driving very slow indeed) told me to let a bit of air out of my tires - may be flatter tires dont skid so much?
 
Chessy said:
I was reading a thread on another horsey forum today, a lot of people mentioned their 4x4s aren't that fantastic in snow anyway, in fact one person mentioned their old Peugeot 106 was much better. I've seen many 4x4s stuck in ditches at the side of the road during snowy weather - probably owned by those that believe they are invincible and can drive however they like just because they're in a 4x4!
Click to expand...

Its not just about the car. You need to have good off road tyres in the mud and snow.
 
I used to have a Subaru Forester :wub: that car ! I would have another in a heartbeat. Both OH and I drive Discoverys. His is definately a work vehicle and the one I drive is the family car. We use his for towing the horse box though.

I do love having a Discovery to drive but at £120 to fill up every fortnight/3 weeks it does get expensive !
 
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