Grime and punishment: the best used 4x4s
Dacia Duster is more than capable driving on the rough stuff... If you’re not willing to pit your expensive 4x4 against Mother Nature, consider these used alternatives instead Ah yes: depreciation. It has been working tirelessly for years, taking chunks out of the pricing of large, expensive cars in order to make them more accessible. And our old friend has been working overtime when it comes to 4x4s. The cars on this list are proper workhorses, too, perfect for tackling muddy trails, snowy backroads or, erm, a Tesco car park. Our favourites comprise of legendary off-roaders and a few left-field choices, but all are any-weather warriors with proven performance and serious value-for-money credentials. Jeep Cherokee XJ If your idea of holidaying isn’t heading to a log cabin in the New Forest but a great Texan ranch, this is the one for you. The 4.0-litre petrol straight six offered until the end of the Cherokee’s production run is renowned for its dependability, although it doesn’t have much in the way of grunt. The 2.5-litre diesel from Italian firm VM Motori is good, too. If you want a Cherokee, move fast: age has claimed many examples and those that survive are rapidly climbing in price. Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon Superlative reliability, comfort and cool factor – especially nowadays – all make the ‘J100’ Cruiser, sold here from 1998-2007, incredibly compelling. Unfortunately, the market agrees. Its place in the off-road hall of fame means you will have to stump up a five-figure sum for one that isn’t a wreck, and nice ones nudge £20,000. Mind you, with the value of the yen in freefall after the Covid pandemic, there’s an opportunity to save a few quid by importing one from Japan, where low-milers go for the equivalent of £13,000 or so. Fiat Panda 4x4 A suspension lift and four-wheel drive (by viscous coupling) turned Fiat’s city car into a surprisingly capable machine. Its dinky proportions, narrow wheels and superb interior visibility make it a great option for green-laning in particular. Two engines were offered: earlier cars got a 1.2-litre petrol unit with 60bhp and 75lb ft, whereas the later 4x4 Cross packed a 1.3-litre turbo diesel with 75bhp and 107lb ft. Neither is fast (the petrol dispatches the 0-62mph sprint in a full 20.0sec and the diesel cuts that by only 2.0sec), but the donkey’s extra grunt is useful for more serious mud-plugging. Watch out for rust and make sure everything specific to the 4x4 – especially the bumpers and the viscous coupling – is in working order. Many Panda 4x4s have already been consigned to the scrapheap because they’re uneconomical to repair, and nice examples are now in fairly short supply. To that end, expect to pay anywhere from £500 for a knackered car you can use as a parts donor or restoration project to £5000 for an immaculate one-owner Cross. Toyota FJ Cruiser Toyota was late to the party after the early-noughties wave of retro-futurism, but the FJ was worth the wait. It’s just as capable and dependable as the rest of the Land Cruiser family, and those looks (harking back to the FJ40) are utterly lovable. It was never sold here officially but imports are plentiful, starting at £15k. Hummer H3 Like it or not, the Hummer is a nailed-on design classic. Few cars can turn heads (or attract scowls) quite like America’s flying brick, and the success of the new electric version across the pond proves its enduring appeal. Ignoring that, there’s still plenty to like about the H3: it can wade through more than two feet of water and has an impressive approach angle of 60deg. It is absolutely hopeless on the road, but you could accuse a classic Land Rover of similar… Range Rover (P38a) This is the black sheep of the Range Rover family, with the shortest lifespan and a well-earned reputation for unreliability. They are tremendous when they do work, though, and their modern-classic status justify prices north of £10k. A sub-£1000 rotter could be an interesting candidate for restoration. Dacia Duster With prices starting at £1500, the Duster is so cheap that you won’t mind landing it in a ditch. Yet it’s also so capable that you probably won’t. Stick with a four-wheel-drive diesel and you will struggle to find places it won’t go. Genuine rally pedigree means there’s plenty of specialised kit, like snorkels, out there too. Mercedes-Benz Unimog If you don’t want to simply traverse terrain but pummel it into submission, this is your wagon. No, Unimogs aren’t cars – and you will need an HGV licence to drive one – but they are as cool and capable as 4x4s get. Expect to spend around £30,000 (plus VAT) on a modern-ish example. Suzuki Grand Vitara The third-generation Vitara was wholly average in its day, but it did have an ace up its sleeve. As standard, it got a proper full-time four-wheel drive system with a locking centre differential and a set of low-speed gears – rare virtues for a mass-market SUV built after the millennium. As such, tackling the rough stuff in
Dacia Duster is more than capable driving on the rough stuff...If you’re not willing to pit your expensive 4x4 against Mother Nature, consider these used alternatives instead
Ah yes: depreciation. It has been working tirelessly for years, taking chunks out of the pricing of large, expensive cars in order to make them more accessible. And our old friend has been working overtime when it comes to 4x4s.
The cars on this list are proper workhorses, too, perfect for tackling muddy trails, snowy backroads or, erm, a Tesco car park.
Our favourites comprise of legendary off-roaders and a few left-field choices, but all are any-weather warriors with proven performance and serious value-for-money credentials.
Jeep Cherokee XJ
If your idea of holidaying isn’t heading to a log cabin in the New Forest but a great Texan ranch, this is the one for you.
The 4.0-litre petrol straight six offered until the end of the Cherokee’s production run is renowned for its dependability, although it doesn’t have much in the way of grunt. The 2.5-litre diesel from Italian firm VM Motori is good, too.
If you want a Cherokee, move fast: age has claimed many examples and those that survive are rapidly climbing in price.
Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon
Superlative reliability, comfort and cool factor – especially nowadays – all make the ‘J100’ Cruiser, sold here from 1998-2007, incredibly compelling.
Unfortunately, the market agrees. Its place in the off-road hall of fame means you will have to stump up a five-figure sum for one that isn’t a wreck, and nice ones nudge £20,000.
Mind you, with the value of the yen in freefall after the Covid pandemic, there’s an opportunity to save a few quid by importing one from Japan, where low-milers go for the equivalent of £13,000 or so.
Fiat Panda 4x4
A suspension lift and four-wheel drive (by viscous coupling) turned Fiat’s city car into a surprisingly capable machine. Its dinky proportions, narrow wheels and superb interior visibility make it a great option for green-laning in particular.
Two engines were offered: earlier cars got a 1.2-litre petrol unit with 60bhp and 75lb ft, whereas the later 4x4 Cross packed a 1.3-litre turbo diesel with 75bhp and 107lb ft.
Neither is fast (the petrol dispatches the 0-62mph sprint in a full 20.0sec and the diesel cuts that by only 2.0sec), but the donkey’s extra grunt is useful for more serious mud-plugging.
Watch out for rust and make sure everything specific to the 4x4 – especially the bumpers and the viscous coupling – is in working order. Many Panda 4x4s have already been consigned to the scrapheap because they’re uneconomical to repair, and nice examples are now in fairly short supply.
To that end, expect to pay anywhere from £500 for a knackered car you can use as a parts donor or restoration project to £5000 for an immaculate one-owner Cross.
Toyota FJ Cruiser
Toyota was late to the party after the early-noughties wave of retro-futurism, but the FJ was worth the wait.
It’s just as capable and dependable as the rest of the Land Cruiser family, and those looks (harking back to the FJ40) are utterly lovable. It was never sold here officially but imports are plentiful, starting at £15k.
Hummer H3
Like it or not, the Hummer is a nailed-on design classic. Few cars can turn heads (or attract scowls) quite like America’s flying brick, and the success of the new electric version across the pond proves its enduring appeal.
Ignoring that, there’s still plenty to like about the H3: it can wade through more than two feet of water and has an impressive approach angle of 60deg.
It is absolutely hopeless on the road, but you could accuse a classic Land Rover of similar…
Range Rover (P38a)
This is the black sheep of the Range Rover family, with the shortest lifespan and a well-earned reputation for unreliability.
They are tremendous when they do work, though, and their modern-classic status justify prices north of £10k. A sub-£1000 rotter could be an interesting candidate for restoration.
Dacia Duster
With prices starting at £1500, the Duster is so cheap that you won’t mind landing it in a ditch. Yet it’s also so capable that you probably won’t.
Stick with a four-wheel-drive diesel and you will struggle to find places it won’t go. Genuine rally pedigree means there’s plenty of specialised kit, like snorkels, out there too.
Mercedes-Benz Unimog
If you don’t want to simply traverse terrain but pummel it into submission, this is your wagon.
No, Unimogs aren’t cars – and you will need an HGV licence to drive one – but they are as cool and capable as 4x4s get. Expect to spend around £30,000 (plus VAT) on a modern-ish example.
Suzuki Grand Vitara
The third-generation Vitara was wholly average in its day, but it did have an ace up its sleeve. As standard, it got a proper full-time four-wheel drive system with a locking centre differential and a set of low-speed gears – rare virtues for a mass-market SUV built after the millennium.
As such, tackling the rough stuff in a Grand Vitara is little drama, especially once you’ve fitted a proper set of off-road tyres. You can even find suspension lift kits for them, although such modifications are liable to ruin a car’s on-road manners.
You can choose from either a three- or a five-door body; the smaller of the two is what you will want for outright manoeuvrability, although it does trade away rather a lot of boot space.
Four engines were offered, but it’s best to stick with Suzuki’s own 2.4-litre petrol or the 1.9-litre diesel that it borrowed from Renault. Anything smaller is a little too wheezy for comfort.
Prices range from under £1000 for one well past its use-by date to around £7000 for a later car with low mileage.
Volkswagen Iltis
This German military Jeep is said to have inspired the creation of Audi’s famed Quattro system. Legend has it that one was being used as a support vehicle on a winter test in Sweden when Audi engineers noticed just how much more capable it was in the snow than its own front-driven prototypes.
The rest is history. Examples of the Iltis are incredibly rare (significantly more so than ex-military Jeeps, Land Rovers or Humvees), you will have to cross the Channel to find one and clean examples aren’t cheap, but hey, when are you ever going to see another?
Renault Scenic RX4
We have no idea what Renault’s board was smoking when it signed off this odd cross-breed of an MPV and a proper 4x4, but we’re glad it did.
The RX4 sat 210mm higher than the regular Scenic, added 4WD by way of a viscous coupling and even got a mean-looking wide-body package.
It was shockingly capable, despite its humble origins, but that didn’t translate into sales success. Shoppers met it with sheer bewilderment, both for its looks and (at the time) sky-high price of almost £20,000.
Today they’re nearer £1000, but replacement parts are almost impossible to find.
Porsche Cayenne
No, we aren’t kidding with this one. You see, the first Cayenne came about in an era when SUVs still had to tick the ‘utility’ box, so it can do the business off road.
And their relative disposability (prices start at just £3000 for working examples) means they often do end up pressed into action by those with a sense of humour and money to burn.
The most sensible pick is probably the 3.0-litre diesel V6 that was introduced in 2009, but none of them will be cheap to fix when – not if – they go bang, so why not opt for the snorting turbo petrol V8?
Land Rover Freelander
This late ’90s soft-roader melded tough-yet-cute looks with cheerful Rover engines and an affordable price.
It was capable enough for light duty too, moonlighting in the G4 Challenge series – the continuation of the famed Camel Trophy. Rust has thinned the herd but nice early cars, from £3000, are nailed-on modern classics.
Skoda Octavia Scout
This rufty-tufty version of one of our favourite family estates got a 31mm suspension lift, Haldex four-wheel drive and plenty of plastic body cladding.
It’s more than enough to do the job on the kinds of muddy roads you will have to cross out in the country and doesn’t compromise its on-road manners. Nice ones will set you back about £10k.
Toyota RAV4 (mk1)
A similar deal to the Freelander above but a bit smaller and with the bonus of Toyota’s famous reliability.
The RAV4 can double as something of a hot hatch when fitted with the uprated 2.0-litre four-pot that was also used in the contemporary Celica and MR2, although this powerplant was exclusive to Japan.
Get one from £1500 before they’re all gone.
Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution
This isn’t the farmer’s hack that most Pajeros (or Shoguns, as we know them) are but a proper Dakar Rally homologation special.
As well as a tremendous bodykit, it got a gutsy 276bhp 3.5-litre V6 and Recaro bucket seats. It wasn’t ever offered in the UK but there are a few imports kicking about, priced at around £30k.
