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Hiya All,

My partner and I have a 1998 (T) Ford Focus 1.8 in 80,000 miles in pretty good condition.  We would really like to get a 4x4 but wanna wait a few month to save a bit of money.  In the mean time we find our car struggles to get up steep hill's and would like to get an older 4x4 before we invest in a new ish one.  I was wondering if any one know's of a place/website that you can swop car's.  My thinking behind this is some one out there might wanna get rid of there 4x4 and want a smaller car (Same position as me) and wanted to swap car's with me?

Look forward to hearing back from you.

Lyns

Quote: Originally posted by LYNS24 on 01/4/2009

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My partner and I have a 1998 (T) Ford Focus 1.8 in 80,000 miles in pretty good condition.  We would really like to get a 4x4 but wanna wait a few month to save a bit of money.  In the mean time we find our car struggles to get up steep hill's and would like to get an older 4x4 before we invest in a new ish one.

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The main benefit that a large 4x4 has for towing is it's huge weight and stability.  The downsides include limited performance and much worse road holding & handling when driven solo, higher fuel costs, often higher servicing costs and potentially worse reliability due to their greater complexity,  

There is no particular reason why a 4x4 should be any better a towcar than a saloon car of similar size and weight. As your caravan has a maximum weight under 1200kg, I'd have thought that a diesel Mondeo saloon would be perfectly adequate and probably much better and more ecnomical than most of the smaller 4x4s both as a towcar and when driving solo.  

On the other hand, given the governments apparent intention to tax large 4x4s into oblivion, there may well be some bargains about.

Best of luck
Andrew

Hi Lyn

I don't know of any car swap sites, you could always pop your car on ebay and see if it sells, there are plenty of cars around to chose from as soon as you have some cash, its a buyers market at the moment

Quote: Originally posted by cobblers71 on 02/4/2009

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i have a 4x4 i find yes it pulls our van no problem, but you do use more fuel when you are towing ,than you would with an estate, but it that might be the size of the engine in the 4x4 i have got

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I Used to have a 4x4 and as people above have said, although it was great for towing they do use more fuel, especially when not towing and just everyday driving, as much as I loved the old girl we got rid of her and got a 2.0 Mondeo, once I got used to the difference in towing with a car, being lower down & "feeling" more of the caravan behind me, I now find we save a small fortune and actually find it more comfortable too!

By feeling more I mean I could feel the caravan going up/down (if you know what I mean) because of the much softer suspension on the car against the 4x4 perfectly fine but I found by putting in spring asisters into the rear car springs it felt 100% better!

Steve 

We used to have a Series 5 470/4 and it was towed really well by a Civic 2.2 CTDi.  For a Ranger (single axle models) you really do not need a 4x4 unless you are going to do a lot of touring on muddy CLs in winter.

We now tow a Pageant with our Zafira and it is no trouble at all.

Cor what is it with this site when you put 'you would like a 4x4' every one says we dont need one.  We dont want a 4x4 for towing its just the sort of car we like.  Thank you all for your very helpful information.

Cheers,

Lyns

Dont be put off by people who say you don't need a 4x4, If you want one get one, We got a Land Rover Discovery 2 and Love it!! Yes its gonna be a bit more expensive to tax next year but so what! We needed a 4x4 to tow our van as its quite large so I cant really do with out it. I'm like you, I would have one even if I did'nt (need) one there just great cars! I think people who go on about how you don't need a 4x4 secretly want one!!!

Quote: Originally posted by LYNS24 on 03/4/2009

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Cor what is it with this site when you put 'you would like a 4x4' every one says we dont need one.  We dont want a 4x4 for towing its just the sort of car we like. 

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Forget folks who tell you what you "need" (including me).  No one ever bought something because they "need" it.  Folks only ever buy things that they "want" them - which is exactly as it should be.

If you look at my Avatar, you'll see that I drive a Nissan Patrol, which along with the Landcruiser Amazon and Land Rover Discovery 3 is just about the biggest, heaviest 4x4 that you can buy in the UK - so definitely don't take any notice of what I say about large offroaders being uneconomical and slow.    

If you simply "want" a 4x4 - get a proper one (little ones seem sort of pointless) and at least try it out offroad (or take it greenlaning).   

Have fun .........

Cheers
Andrew