Works Vehicle for accessing the woods

[Mattsnaturalrivers]

Hi all,

I know this thread has been discussed in the past just wondering what peoples opinions are. I'm looking for a 4wd that has 5 seats, thats reasonable with fuel consumption so perhaps not a hilux or landrover, but can still tow a trailer and is reliable taking some punishment off road on rutted tracks. I have used a Suzuki Vitara for last couple of years but found that they tend to struggle at Mot with rust. Am open to the idea of a pick up would be useful for logs. Looking at spending £6k tops. What are peoples experience and opinions? Have found a jap import isuzu crew cab pick up 93 plate with just under 60k on clock going for just under £4000 is this too expensive?

[armchairarborist]

do you just mean off road on rutted tracks? or properly off road in the woods? any 4x4 will cope with rutted tracks but only a few will go through the thick stuff loaded up and last for years doing it, what weight of logs/people/kit are you going to be carrying?

[Lyndon]

I have had a vitara for the last few years in if you can afford to run that you can afford to run a discovery1 7 seats of 5 seats and a big boot, my advise would be buy a solid landrover for 2k and spend 4k modding it for off road

[Brushcutter]

You'd get quite a solid D22 Nissan Navara for that money. There is a 04 plate Navara D22 double cab sport going for 5790+vat with 50k on the clock and a mountain top. My one does 470 odd miles on a tank on diesel so its quite economical to run. The suzuki's eat fuel my friend has one.

[Charlieh]

i had a grand vitara, but got a defender 130 twin cab about 3years ago, its ace for moving 4 people and loads of kit, i can get 6' fence posts in the back and a pole saw, also its good if you need to move more people off road, most i have had in mine was 8 people a boat, generator and electrofishing kit.

[Daniel Jiggins]

This works well for me, does get stuck occasionally though but we always have tractor to pull her out cost £3,500 two years ago on a 03 plate ex national trust only done 54k

[Daniel Jiggins]

pic would help

[Mattsnaturalrivers]

do you just mean off road on rutted tracks? or properly off road in the woods? any 4x4 will cope with rutted tracks but only a few will go through the thick stuff loaded up and last for years doing it, what weight of logs/people/kit are you going to be carrying?

 

Thanks for all responses so far, access into woods is mainly on rutted tracks but occasionally I do go off road between the trees to reach new patches of coppice/logs etc. Problem I have is the truck not only needs to cope with off road in woods but needs to be reasonable when working on other jobs that might be several hours drive away. Usual weight towed by 4by4 is bateson trailer 3m in length loaded up with logs upto the height of sides. It would be handy to have extra space for kit and people on larger jobs but needs to be economical enough when carrying out the small jobs coppicing which doesn't pay too well.

[Mattsnaturalrivers]

Just been looking at some of vehicles mentioned so far, not sure about l200 or navarra as have heard reports of engine probs whether these are just one offs, I like the idea of landys but was under impession they were thirsty any ideas of mpg on short distances I was finding I was spending about £15 to do a 30mile round trip towing trailer of logs with the vitara?

[tommer9]

Thats more than my 300tdi defender!!

6k ought to get you a pretty decent crewcab landy, or any 4x4 TBH. Going on the fuel returns of your vitara, I would be fairly confident that most of the trucks mentioned above would be perfectly fine, and all would have the capability to do what you need, so long as they are well shod that is! I personally favour land rovers. My hilux was okay, but not really man enough for extensive heavy work (i bent that one), but i would say I havent really been that impressed with troopers or L200s. The Ford ranger is worth considering for certain.