Suzuki Vitara

Aye - they rot quite badly underneath.

SJ was 1.0 or 1.3 - it was good off-road because like the original Panda 4x4, whilst not particularly powerful, it was light on its feet and didn't get bogged down.

The older Vitaras were 1.6 - later on, they brought out a 2.0V6 (and some other variants such as a diesel), in the 'Grand Vitara' guise.

I doubt any would be as handy off-road as an SJ.

Daihatsu Fourtrak / Sportrak, if it's a 4x4 your sis specifically wants.

-- JackH

Aye - they rot quite badly underneath.

SJ was 1.0 or 1.3 - it was good off-road because like the original Panda 4x4, whilst not particularly powerful, it was light on its feet and didn't get bogged down.

The older Vitaras were 1.6 - later on, they brought out a 2.0V6 (and some other variants such as a diesel), in the 'Grand Vitara' guise.

I doubt any would be as handy off-road as an SJ.

Daihatsu Fourtrak / Sportrak, if it's a 4x4 your sis specifically wants.

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Not necessarily a 4x4. Something a bit more rugged than a 205 with maybe a bit more ground clearance would be nice. And of course a bit of street cred, which I think the Vitaras just about have in her opinion (esp the soft top). Will have a looksie at the Daihatsus though

"...the possibilities are endless." ;-)

What's the max budget? =A0

=2E.."and the moon on a stick" ;-)

Vitaras... noticed how you don't see many now yet they used to be everywhere?

They're all getting on a bit, all rotting away.

-- JackH

Sir is getting confused with Land Rovers, you may find some surface rust tho anything still running that has not been used offroad should be okay. My old man has a £500 quid special for going to the tip, not a spot of rust on it.

Get Efi if you can the Asin carbs are s**te (tho you can get bolt on SU conversion kits) beware of gearbox grumbles, quite common for gear lever to be vague 30 second job to tighten the locating bolt.

Other then that just the general second hard checks.

SJ boys tend to buy them for engine swaps so you may find a good example with no engine, 1300 engines are cheap as chips.

Yep- my sis-in-law had one. Looked fine on top, went well, stopped well (for what it was). Failed with a spectacular amount of rust on the 2nd MOT she owned it for, having flown through the first.

Gripped, sorted, lets offroad.

Now they are old and cheap, they are one of the serious offroader's tool of choice.

No they're not.

A 'serious offroader' will have an old skool stylee Land Rover, invariably kitted with with a high mount air intake etc.

I'd reckon my chances to be much higher at getting anywhere off road in a Fourtrak or SJ, than a tarts handbag like the Vitara.

-- JackH

No they're not.

A 'serious offroader' will have an old skool stylee Land Rover, invariably kitted with with a high mount air intake etc.

I'd reckon my chances to be much higher at getting anywhere off road in a Fourtrak or SJ, than a tarts handbag like the Vitara.

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Actually, place just down the road, Langdale Quest in Dalby Forest exclusively uses s**te old Suzuki things - guy reckons they're the best for the job, and having been round it, and seen them going down the 'Red' trail - I agree heh. It's got some hardcore inclines, and lots of deep water etc. They're not modded either bar a few safety bits, rollcages and stuff.

The vitara, and even the Jimny is the same as an SJ, just newer.

The offroad guys pull all the tart tat out and get a newer but just as handy offroad tool.

They'll be SJs, which are bloody good off-road.

Vitaras, however, aren't.

No seriously, they have Vitaras as well.

Erm, isn't the Vitara coil-sprung and the SJ series leaf-sprung?

Very late SJs got coils, however, they were launched a long time after the Vitara.

Are you saying that leafs are better than coils offroad?

Dunno how much you have to pull off and stick on but I'm sure I've seen Vitaras do some quite funky offroad shit alongside SJs, bobtailed Rangies and Defender 90s.

Not Vitaras like you used to see with 12" wheel spacers, 3 spoke alloys, flared arches and pastel green with shiny metallic pink rhino decals. I'd take my MX-5 offroading before getting in one of them. These ones have chunky tyres and giant bungee tow ropes tied round the rollcages.

The Suzukis are lighter and shorter than Land Rovers on the whole which makes them ideal for offroading I think.

Cue Geoff to tell me why I am wrong. (c:

No, I'm just pointing out that they're not the same car.

So, if you radically mod. a Vitara, it can do stuff off-road that you could probably do with a completely unmodded Land-Rover or even an SJ?

If you radically mod a Vitara it will happily do some offroady things that a radically modified Land Rover let alone a standard one can't do. It will also be a lot cheaper to run and much fewer 1940s style parts like spligshafts and Windsorploff valves will break as a matter of course.

It won't have a V8 or have any chance of wangling tax exempt status, it'll be horrible to drive on the road and you can only tow tiny trailers full of gnat's testicles, and damn it lad, it's just not British. Which is why not all traditional Land Rover owners have switched. (c:

All I know is, when tyremonkey was flogging as many colways as we could order, it was Landy/Rangie buggies and SJ and Vitaras that were ordering the proper silly tyres like Atacamas and Aligators. The Difflock 4x4 forums seem to bear that out. I see an external caged vitara most days when I'm at the Reddish office, it is owned by one of the body men at a local motor body repair place on hyde road, near the Manchester academy.

Being pretty mechanically simple, cheap and made from common parts and materials means you can bend them then batter them back, break them the weld them, and still not need a nato fuel dump to get them home.

A lot of the seriously offroaded SJs are coiled now, some running GM shocks because the bodies are longer than the standard leaf units, but not as soft as pro comps.

Leaf springs can be engineered to give you huge ammounts of suspension travel however they are fookin uncomfortable.

Coil spring SJ's are rare in the UK, tho you can get bolt on kits now.

You can get lift kits for IFS Vitara's tho you will find most of the serious ones have been converted to a live front axle.

There is no such thing as the perfect off road machine, it is all a matter of compromise, lighter Suzuki's are better in the mud, heavy Land Rovers are better on hill climbs, shorter Suzuki's are better in the woods tho going down a hill the rear wheels will lift and you will roll.

Best out of the box, Land Rover 90, then Suzuki Jimney, with mods then anything with live axles and shortish wheel base and no front or rear overhang.

Yes properly modified Vitara will easily out perform a standard 90 or SJ.

They are good out of the box and cheap, cheap is the key word here, look at the price a nackered TDi 90 on eBay and you will see what I mean.