Looks like I might have to buy a 4x4 soon as I can't afford to get snowed in at the new house. BUT I haven't got a clue what to get? I do like the land rover defender but we do need some comfort.

What would you get?

Depends on what you use it for?
I've tried lots over the few years, I have a xc90 now running general grabber at's loads of comfort and enough electronic 4wd gubbery to pull you up a snowy hill.

Nothing serious, just need to be able to get about when a normal car would get stuck. I'm on a hill and no gritting takes place!

Mmmm an off road fourby

Put simply.
Best 4X4 is the Audi RS6

Surprise, surprise Subaru Forester, great handling full time all wheel drive due to Impreza underpinnings. not too big just right for 2 adults + 2 kids & luggage/shopping I had an Audi A6 1.8T Quattro for a bit, it handled well, but it was dull & full of issues The 4x4 bashers will leave you alone too by going the estate car route

I have my sights firmly set on Cayenne Turbo as my next daily to keep alongside the old 911, although I don't have any commute miles to fund. Reportedly very good off road and a physics defying superbus on road. Of course, you'd have to get over the looks and image, but for the money they're an astonishing piece of kit.

Can we presume you want a real 4x4 ?

If so you have plenty of choices.

Defender, disco are a good choice.

Isuzu genrally are bomb proof.

Toyota amazon is the nuts.

All 4x4s can be good on a bit of snow ,but the real deals are what i have listed.

celica gt4 st185 or st205

Also the Nissan Patrol, phenomenal piece of kit. Took mine everywhere it was pointed.
Mitsi L200's also have a great off road pedigree with the difflock fitted.

I have to admit any excuse to buy a RS6 makes me happy but I do think I need the real deal, never owned one and if i'm going for it then why not!

Thanks for the list i'll start doing more research.

If your place is anything like mine over winter it'll be the getting down safely you'll need to worry about. You'll want something relatively light/small.

What about a freelander? The 1.8 is cheap. It could be a winter months purchase, sell in spring, and repeat as needed.

Heh. My dad's place on Skye, severely snowed in a couple of years back... I pulled a Landrover out of a ditch. With the coupe.

Get a quad Chris

2 weeks ago picked-up a very nice Honda CRV SE Sport, series 2. Now looking forward to try it out in snow.

I lived in Idaho over winter a few years ago. There's no need for a full 4x4, unless of course you want one, a four wheel drive car with winter tyres will get you anywhere.

I've had a Shogun, a Landcruiser 80 series and currently have a G Wagon.
I would certainly recommend any Landcruiser, they are so well built and reliable. The LWB can seat 8 even though people say 7 in adverts. The Subaru Forester is an excellent 4x4. I used to get these as a courtesy car when I had a Legacy Turbo in for service at the dealers- back in the day. My wife loved the Forester and has always wanted us to get one.
I agree the Porsche Cayenne is a fantastic bit of kit and can be picked up relatively cheaply but the servicing costs have put me off and they are a bit ugly and people will hate you I personally wouldn't get a Freelander as they are just not as well made or reliable as any of the Jap 4x4s. Lexus RX and Honda CRV are great also. Plenty other great models out there - you need to go try a couple.

I do agree Winter Tyres will get you almost anywhere on ice or if the snow is light but not if there is a Foot of uncleared snow on the ground. You need the ground clearance of a 4x4 when there is heavy snow. During the bad winter we had in 2010 my Landcruiser was the only car to move in our street for 13 days including other four wheel drives.

You'll love the high driving position.

I'd suggest the Freelander TD4 might be the exception to the rule. Ours is on about 125,000 now.
Not mega miles but apart from service items like tyres, brake pads, oil and exhaust it hasn't needed anything.

I'm not necessarily recommending it because I don't really have any experience with other 4x4s to make a comparison.

One point about grip... We've been putting road tyres like Falken FK452s on and they don't really provide much traction at all on snow. I reckon a FWD car with snow tyres on the driven wheels would make mincemeat of a 4x4 on road tyres.

You've got to be careful doing this, as the disproportionate grip front to back could be really dangerous come slippery conditions. Always match winter tyres and summer tyres all round, never mix. Otherwise you could be going round & round

I have only test driven a used Freelander and I hated it as it rattled and squeaked, and it has never performed well in any reliabilty surveys,
but I accept there are always exceptions and glad you have one of them.

As for snow tyres and FWD. It really would depend on which 4x4. I only ever had road tyres on my Landcruiser and used it in light 4x4 off road competitions and found it had tremendous traction. It easily matched and often bettered the Land Rovers and Vitara's with All Terrain or Mud tyres on. And having found that out I never bothered buying All Terrains for it. FWD car with good snow tyres might match some of the soft roaders, but car will still get grounded and stuck by build up of snow and low ground clearance if there is heavy snow.

Lego

Don't forget dahn sahf heavy snow is about an inch

I think the Freelander reliability issue was the K Series head gasket thing. The TD4 has a BMW lump in it.

If you want a cheap and cheerful 4x4 that you can buy for peanuts, abuse over the winter then flog when the sun comes out, look at Nissan Terranos. Check for rust, and worn drop links, you can get a good one for sub £1k. Not bad mpg for a 2.7td, not too big and fairly capable off road with a set of good tyres.

We picked up a cheap on for the missus to tow with and if it can survive that, they can survive anything. Unfortunately that eventually got replace with a Trooper that I'm terrified will blow up (and I'll have to fix it).

Yep; down here an Audi TT is the 4x4 of choice (apart from the Cayennes and X5s)

There's no mention of budget.

How about a mid/late 90s Shogun for £1,500?

Sorry to hijack but I'm also considering something 4WD as I'm finding myself visiting more and more remote properties.

I very nearly got stuck down a single track road last week which turned from asphalt to mud very quickly and without warning.

Thing is, I still need it to be relatively small as it's just the two of us and we live in a busy city and need to park it.

I guess I'm kind of limited to something like an A3 as the 4Motion Golfs are all a bit old now (mk4 an older IIRC).

Unless anyone has any better ideas?

The Coupe on winter tyres is very good in snow. It has remarkable traction in snow.

My wife has a Rav4 with winter tyres, excellent in the snow.

Just to remind you about what we were talking about the other day, VW Tiguan or another idea, Nissan Quashqi.

I dont know much about 4x4 by just trying to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hqUbLCDpfU

there we go you cant buy a better 4x4

unless you want to go Lada http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lym_fL6KMhA

If you'e on a budget my wifes Fiat Sedici has been brilliant! Switchable 4x4 and dirt cheap to run. We've done over 50k in ours and all its needed has been a wheel bearing. Superb off-road abilities too - we actually helped pull an M class out of a field a couple of years ago where we lived.......