Small 4wd - which

Subaru's have always served my old man well and good warranty too. Don't know how their price fits in with your budget but you get a lot of car for the money IMO.
He has always had the Liberty but a Forrester will get you further up the track than a Liberty. Just another option???

Trevor.

G'day Marq,
I think the choice between a HONDA CRV and an X-Trail is very much a personal one – not much between them but if it was me I would go the X-Trail. I think it may be a bit better on country roads, or better still, try to stretch the budget to $39,000 and get a 7 seat Terracan 2.9 CRDi. Very comfortable, economical and a true 4WD.

You should be able to get a SUBARU FORESTER 2.5X Auto new for $33,000.

Cheers…..Doodle

The Rav is by far the best car in that bracket, worth the extra money IMHO, and the motoring journos give it good raps too. Resale is great, which may alleviate some of trhe extra money. Xtrail and CRV and going to be replaced by all new models soon. You can shop around for a good deal on the Rav and it may not be much more expensive anyway.
If you do get the Rav, include the safety pack, well worth the extra money.
Have a look at the current sales figures in this bracket and youll see that Im not the only one of this opinion. And its obviously not the cheapest.

My brother just bought a Kia Sorento they appear to be a great car for the price.
We fitted Bilsteins and King springs to it last week it handles great!

None of the vehicles you listed is capable of going any significant distance off graded dirt roads, due to lack of ground clearance, poor to non-existant wheel travel, and lack of a true transfer case (they all use electrohydraulic clutches that are known to overheat). They should not in anyway be referred to as "4WD's", as in all cases they are 2WD with "on-demand" 4WD activation (usually "demanded" welll and truely after it is actually needed) and cannot be "locked" in 4WD at speed (usually cutting back to 2WD at~30 km/h wheel speed, which is NOT the same as "ROAD" speed in mud or sand).

If all you want to do is stick to well made dirt roads in the dry you could get away with these, but you would need yo upgrade the tyres, suspension and carry a heap of you own spares (lack of availability in the bush). There is also the long term strength/reliability about taking such a vehicle into the outback situations (corrugations for 100's of km, etc) These vehicles are only designed as "urban transport" and are not accepted as "4WD's" in the eyes of the alpine authorities during the ski season.

For the sort of money you are looking at and the size vehicle, you could look at the new 3 door Pajero, Terracan, Sorento, second hand Patrol or Land Cruiser, 5 door Pajero or a host of other more suitable vehicles.

If you are looking to "save money, because you dont think you need such a big expensive vehicle" then consider that most Patrols (GQ's) can effortlessly go for 500 000 km without major issues, easily outlasting 3 normal car based light 2/4/AWD's. In todays money that is $80 000 of fuel/maintanance (using your $ spend amount) towards running the larger vehicle over the long term, and you can pick up a second hand "true" 4WD for $15-25 000, and 2-3 year old GU's for low $30's.

Anyone that buys these light car-based 2/4/AWD's for their "big trip" is basing everything on false economy.........

H Marq,
As others have said, depends on what you want to use it for.

All are basically adequate for what they are designed for, bitumen, gravel and very soft offroads.

The Subaru Forestermanual has low range of sorts but the auto does not, but both are extremely good vehicles, they are constant AWD.
Suzuki Grand Vitara is another one to consider.

If heavy off roaduse is intended, you may have to look at the bigger units ie Prado, Pajero, Pathfinder, Patrol, L/cruiser and even Landrover discovery TD5.
As previously mentioned reasonably good used vehicles in this group would be available in your price range.

My suggestions; get out there and test drive any that take your fancy,
drive them where you want to take them,
Any dealer that quibbles about that, leave him and go on to the next one

Happy hunting

Disco

Steer well clear of the Freelanders - if you get a good one, you are but the majority are nightmares for the credit card as they have so much going wrong with them and they cost sa fortune to fix. We know, we used to own a nightmare and nearly everyone we know with one also owned a noightmare.

GO the Rav or X-trail, they will go a lot furthet than most people realise, even without low ratio. The likes of the CRX don't have a true 4WD but still go a lot of places with no problems.

Love the Subarus (had one for 3 years) but we prefer the older bigger 4wd's (Rangie and Troopy) rather than a newer smaller one.

Stevesub

marq

I managed to haggle $3,800 off the Cruiser L Auto if that helps. Also took one home from the dealers to test on a Sunday. Fuel Consumption was 11.7L/100km, driven normally. Odometer was at 2,000km.

I wanted a Prado, missus didn't want a bar of driving a "tank".

Had a Sorrento, but I couldn't get Fuel Consumption under 13.5L/100km City or Highway, driven as lightly as possible. On paper, fantastic inclusions, in reality its not as polished as it seems. Just lots of little niggling problems. Re-sale value is a massive problem, no one wants them second-hand.

A new Sorrento Model (going to 7 seats as well), with Diesel is due any time now.

CRV never liked them and the 07 shape does nothing for me.

X-Trail a bit long in the tooth (no new model plans), too radical interior wise and take a look at one thats a few years old in a car yard... interior doesn't last very well.

RAV4

Get your hands on Wheels "Soft-Roader Mega Test", I don't know which month. It was in order of placings, worst to best: Ssang Yong Kyron, Escape / Tribute V6, Grand Vitara V6, Tucson V6, X-Trail, CR-V, Outlander VR-X and equal 1st Forester XS & RAV4 Cruiser.

Main points from the article, Journo's criticise the RAV4 for being too big, having only a 4 Speed Auto and being underpowered at 125kw 2.4L Engine. They then go onto say that the RAV4 is quicker than all the 5sp Auto & V6's in the test.... they continually contradicte themselves. Oversees RAV has V6 Option from Aurion of 190KW. I doubt it would make it here as that would be the end of the Kluger.

I / Missus picked the RAV because:

1. Missus won't be seen dead in any Station Wagon.
2. Have a dog, so has to be, a 4WD / Soft-Roader.
3. Will accomodate kids and adults where-as a Forester is quite small.
4. Even though it was "only a 4cyl 2.4 and 4sp Auto" it felt like it was much more powerful.

Now, in the summer, will go with a Real 4WD (Hilux) on the beach and tag along to see how the RAV goes. Fingers crossed, I can still go fishing a few times a year with only the RAV. I'll be rapt if it can do that.

Just to add.

The Forester has one of the best re-sale on the market. 5 star crash rating as well.

Even though the Journo's criticise the Rav and I hated the back end of it, they are selling like hot-cakes.

And yes, I think they are a bit over-priced but if you can factor in knocking off $3,000 - $4,000 off the RRP, it brings it back into calculation with the others.