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Wanted: Second Car (opinions and recommendations welcome)

Gav missin said:
Got to be really careful on those 3.0 l trooper lumps. Bad engine's. They finished the trooper off. Older 3.1 Much better engine but slower. 3.0l prone to injectors at £200 a piece and very few places on the UK have the software to set them up. Ive read guys having to trailer them 2/250 miles to have them sorted on the trooper forum. Oil pressure sensors liners and injector seals filling the sump with diesel. Add rusty fuel tanks and lines as standard and they can become money pits.
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I've got to agree with Gav on the 3.1/3.0 issue. If I'd only got £2k to spend I'd have no hesitation pursuing an imported Bighorn 3.1 auto. Nothing not to like and a better bet than a £2k Collie.
 
Thinking outside of the box Helen's Hyundai coupe S111 was astonishingly van like with the rear seats folded , i doub't they held there value well ?
 
Mondeo. Cheap and fairly reliable. Drives nice and lotsa power, stable on the "Autostrada". And the anti spin actually works well.
Otherwise a Skoda, as mentioned above. Cheaper and more reliable (statistically) than VW.

I got a 1996 Mondeo Estate when my Cruiser was off the road for a while. It cost me only a new engine. Lasted 4 ? years until it rusted apart. Excellent car - and the only one I could find of that age (and cost) with an antispin that actually works. Since that old Mondeo worked so well, I got a newer one, a Mk-III Estate with 146 hp. Excellent little car for running around, but also very stable at high speed. Much faster and snappier than the HDJ100, for about half the running cost. No problems - at over 260 k km now (160 k miles). Not very popular or fancy cars, so they come fairly cheap.
 
Not sure if this ticks any boxes but just popped up in my YouTube feed.
 
older rav 4.

Em had a '96 2 litre petrol three door. awesome little car. had a centre diff lock engaged by dash button. vary capable in snow. she even scampered past my stuck axle deep 80 once due to it being that much lighter.
 
How about a Hyundai Terracan? Quite a few around the £2k mark and a lot of car for the money by all accounts.

Legacy Outback is always a good fun tool too, especially the 3l 6 pot.
 
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That is interesting - thanks Rich. We’ve looked at a couple of C-class estates but there’s something about buying an affordable Merc that makes me very nervous. I’ve always liked the big W210 estates but good ones seem to be few and far between these days.
 
uHu said:
Mondeo. Cheap and fairly reliable. Drives nice and lotsa power, stable on the "Autostrada". And the anti spin actually works well.
Otherwise a Skoda, as mentioned above. Cheaper and more reliable (statistically) than VW.

I got a 1996 Mondeo Estate when my Cruiser was off the road for a while. It cost me only a new engine. Lasted 4 ? years until it rusted apart. Excellent car - and the only one I could find of that age (and cost) with an antispin that actually works. Since that old Mondeo worked so well, I got a newer one, a Mk-III Estate with 146 hp. Excellent little car for running around, but also very stable at high speed. Much faster and snappier than the HDJ100, for about half the running cost. No problems - at over 260 k km now (160 k miles). Not very popular or fancy cars, so they come fairly cheap.
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I will definitely have a good look at Skodas uHu but Mondeos - no offence - are just a bit dull and come with too many connotations over here.

https://www.driving.co.uk/news/who-is-the-mondeo-man/
 
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If you want super economy then anything with the Renault K series 1.5DCi will average 62/64mpg Nissan, Renault and Mercedes all use variants. Alternatively the Mercedes R-Class in 4matic. There are some decent bargains to be had. I have always found small engine 4x4s horrendously un-economical. Small engine being anything less than 4.2....
 
Shayne said:
Thinking outside of the box Helen's Hyundai coupe S111 was astonishingly van like with the rear seats folded , i doub't they held there value well ?
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Animal Mother said:
How about a Hyundai Terracan? Quite a few around the £2k mark and a lot of car for the money by all accounts.

Legacy Outback is always a good fun tool too, especially the 3l 6 pot.
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I have never been inside a Hyundai. In the name of objective research I will have a good look at them tomorrow.

Emma is under the misguided notion that all Subarus without massive spoilers are OAP mobiles. I’m planning to find a good Outback locally and do my best to change that.
 
Outbacks are very nice. I drove a 2016 outback for about 6 months and it was ace. Don't know what the older ones are like but I hear the 2009+ are very nice.

I have also always wanted a big Merc, till I hear how much it costs to fix them, and the feeling passes rapidly.
 
IRLGW said:
If you want super economy then anything with the Renault K series 1.5DCi will average 62/64mpg Nissan, Renault and Mercedes all use variants. Alternatively the Mercedes R-Class in 4matic. There are some decent bargains to be had. I have always found small engine 4x4s horrendously un-economical. Small engine being anything less than 4.2....
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That’s interesting. I didn’t know MB used that Renault engine. I’ve always found Nissan and Mercedes odd bedfellows - nowhere more so than in the Infiniti range where all the switchgear and controls etc are straight out of a Benz. Or the X-Class and the Navara.

That R-class is a wildcard but still a bit too dear for a runaround ...
 
So after a few months with a fairly useless VW that happened to be available at the right time and money I’ve started looking at swapping it for a Hiace.

Finding an honest van makes 4x4 shopping look easy. Every clocker, scammer and exporter loves a Toyota.

I’ve been down some dubious alleyways and trading estates around S Yorkshire in the last week. This cherished 100k example had only seen light use locally ...

63C1277D-1992-4BAB-B752-A25C398400D5.jpeg

This one was genuinely very good but was withdrawn within hours, probably to reappear next week under a different Lycamobile number.

D59E24FB-ED81-4205-9F13-AF4EC1028E7B.jpeg

Anyone on here have one for sale or know of any reputable sellers who might be able to help?
 
My experiences with those is to find the ones that are black... they often have the full height bulkhead, and a fully lined rear with rollers for a gurney.

Unfortunately they may have the remnants of the PRIVATE AMBULANCE stickers on the side, as they were quite popular for undertakers as the collection vehicle.
 
Van wise i'd be looking for ex fleet even if it was likely to be a Ford , high miles are to be expected so rather one thats been owned by a council or some such because they have a magical money tree to spend on maintenance .
 
I just missed out a 170k one that had been owned and maintained by Toyota GB from new. Sold before I even got up there to view it.
 
I never thought a Fiat would be the answer to our automotive quandaries but strolling back from the pub the other night this thing caught my eye.
Went in the next morning and swapped it for that horrible VW.

4AECCEA5-E1F1-4C1D-9783-629709C9B06A.jpeg

It’s about as unremarkable as cars come but it’s clean and capacious, the 1.9TD drives as it should after 160k, it’s got five seats and does 50 to the gallon. Plus it’s a lot cheaper than a van to insure. You could say it’s just what the doctor ordered. Sorry.

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Nowt wrong with that mate. We had a MultiPla. Some years ago The space and cubby holes it had were amazing Simple motoring.... Thats not a bad price for an 06 Plate
 
I’m into it. Really useful little van. Hopefully it’ll give the Land Cruiser a break from the day-to-day schlep.
 
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