Greg replied:

Landrover Discovery , Toyota RAV 4 , Landrover Freelander , Nissan Pathfinder , ........man this is going to take forever.
Here are real 4x4 ,s......Cruiser all series , Nissan Patrol , Defender and maybe a Hummer. That is it.
Hope this helps

Michelle - ExplorOz replied:

Victor, have you read our page Buying a Vehicle?It covers the major points to look for and discusses the various size differences.

Steve replied:

Vic : don't want to stir the hornets but I would put the Defender in the 'soft' pack...a pitiful machine when you look closely, Greg is pretty spot on with the rest !!
Steve

liam the pizza man replied:

I dont think I agree. The Defender has found to be quite a competant tough fourby, compared with and on top of some aspects of a Toyota 78 Sieries (PC). And the hummer made the 10 worst 4WD of all time in the most recent Australia 4X4. It is too wide for our tracks and not suited to Aussie conditions. With so much on the market it is hard on where to draw the line. Hey, horses for courses.

Ken replied:

Land rover Defender and Discovery are NOT soft 4x4's regardles of biesed opinion or even wether they are reliable, the traditional way to differentiate is a proper 4x4 has either no centre diff or a locking centre diff and high clearance with adequate underbody protection and low range transfer box.This rules out many like HondaCR/V, Subaru ,Ford Escape, MazdeTribute, Toyota RAV and a few others, but includes Pagero ,Pathfinder,Challenger,Prado, Jackeroo,Kia Sportage?, Cruiser ,Patrol, Discovery etc,etc, oh and all commecial based 4x4 utes HiLux , Rodeo and the like Regards Ken.

colin replied:

hEY vICTOR, GOOD QUESTIONS, BUT UNLESS WHAT YOU WANT FROM YOUR 4X4 AND HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU WANT TO CARREY ,,,, KIDS AUNTS TV ,,,,BAR,,,, CANNT HELP YOU


cOL

Axel +Karen replied:

Victor,there is an awful lot of bias in this forum on what is a 4x4 soft or otherwise,,all you realy need is to decide is petrol / diesel / auto /manual /5/7/8 seat/ jap/korean/usa//british/or any of the others,,,THE best way to decide is to take 2/3 panadol/heron asprin for the headache , drink a bottle of scotch or rum ect. and see what YOU like in a 4x4, want to use it for, and can aford///////best of luck in your quest,Axel.

Nigel replied:

If you are only doing gravel roads and the occasional track then independent suspension gives a better ride, but at the expense of clearance. If you want to be able to do serious 4WD tracks (the fun ones with washouts, etc) then you should go for a vehicle with beam axles from and rear (such as Patrol, some Cruisers, Suzuki Sierras, old Hiluxes, and Landrover Defenders).

Vehicles like Jackaroo, Pajero, Pathfinder, etc are more capable than the soft all wheel drives, but don't have the serious offroad abilities of the beam axled vehicles. It comes down to what you want to do and what you want to spend, and how many people you want to take with you.