[scarlettoara]

any opinions on cars welcome...as im not car literate 
we are looking for a old banger to runaround in and tow abit and collect feed.
 
our shortlist is a Saab 9-5 2lt estate or a Mitsubishi Shogun 2.5 diesel.
both are oldish - y reg. both are trade sales but min warranty due to there age.
its to replace our discovery which has a dodgy head gaskit so reliability is the main thing im wanting.

iv never owned either before.
any pros and cons?
thankyou 

[Carl f k]

Both are gona be expensive when needing repairs I'm afraid 

[Brijjy]

The shogun will be very thirsty too. Don't know about the Saab.

[Alistair]

Buy a Citroen berlingo van, or a peugeot partner van for about a grand

Vans are better than cars

[Anke]

Vans are better than cars

Definitely! And give a completely different street cred than 4 x 4's ...

[MAK]

True about vans. You never see a big 4 wheel drive truck driven by farmers around here (France). They all have the small vans with winter tyres or use tractors when the snow is deep. Berlingo's are very popular here and take a big load - easy to chuck stuff in too. The old drive 500cc cars ( never seen them in the UK) that are just big enough to fit the driver and a loaf of bread in. If you see a Shogun or Landrover then you can bet that they are owned by Brits ( such as our local vet).

[Shnoowie]

I've got a Suzuki Vitara (1999)...little 1.5 petrol.  It isn't spacious, but it does pull a trailer and still moves when it is packed to the gunnels and it works in snow!  The local cricket club buys written off Vitaras and uses them to tow gang mowers and virtually everything else their tractor would have done.  (Except cutting hedges...Vitaras don't have PTO shafts!)


Top Gear proved that a Toyota Hilux is virtually indestructible...could be worth a shot!

[HappyHippy]

Subaru legacy estate  They're workhorses in disguise 

LOADS of room inside them (we moved a bath from Nottingham to Glasgow) 4Wheel drive gearbox, so they handle every bit as well as jeeps, actually they're better IMHO because they stick to the road incredibly well (great if there's any 'boy racer' in you  ) They're reliable and a bit like the hilux - just keep going (we pulled out 20, fairly well established llylandii with one of our old ones, after the engine block cracked (OH forgot to top up anti-freeze in an Aberdeen winter  ) - then we drove it to the scrapie 

We've got an old hilux here too (strictly off-road, only for farm/forrestry use, or to pull start the tractor  ) they're incredible machines, ours certainly doesn't want to die (which is amazing considering the abuse it gets  ) and it runs on half diesel and half waste veggie oil 
HTH
Karen

[lachlanandmarcus]

I would vote for the van too - the car tax rate is MUCH lower for the same size engine, our commercial landrover is only £200 odd a year - if it had windows in the side it would be classed as a car and would be many hundreds more.

[scarlettoara]

i hired a small transit van once and loved it. but we are a family of 5 so not enough seats in a van unfortunately.
id get another discovery but they are like gold dust around here and im not wanting to travel to far.
is the shogun worse than the disco in fuel, as iv found the disco not too bad.

[hughesy]

Buy an old disco keep it for a year then sell it for spares. I've been doing this for years and have actually made money rather than spent it. Another real bargain is an older Volvo estate you can get them for peanuts and they're dead reliable and most have got all the luxury stuff too.

[Brijjy]

I'm in a family of six and we've had a VW transporter van for the last year. It's on a '56 plate and wasn't cheap but it does tow and is relatively economical (compared to my old Mitsubishi Delica which is basically a Shogun). If it had snow tyres then it would have been better getting around in the crappy weather than it was  . My mums got an old Berlingo and she loves it. It gets about really well as it's got snow tyres. It probably wouldn't tow a horse trailer but it would tow a smaller livestock trailer.

[john and helen]

if you need something to drive around the fields then its got to be a 4x4..Ive had a shogun, that was ok, the diahtsu 4track was ok..got a for ranger now crew cab... not the most comfortable... but does the job..

[scarlettoara]

the problem with discos is that i cant seem to find any local to me in aberdeenshire. i got mine from dundee which added a few hundreds pounds in transport costs.
iv looked on autotrader and ebay but maybe im looking in wrong places, or maybe they are an english car? lol  seems plenty down south. 

i used to have a diahatsu fourtrak but found it very heavy on diesel. had a sangyong musso but that struggled with towing heavy ponies.
i have an off road farm truck at mo. i just need a roadworthy one that is reliable to go to school 3 x times a day and can take animals to mart / pull a caravan and not overheat every 3 miles....ha

[lachlanandmarcus]

Maybe have a look on Aberdeen Gumtree, it seems to be the place for inexpensive but running/taxed/MOTd motors I know what you mean tho, we had to get our used x trail from the Midlands! There were some up here but very overpriced for the age we wanted.