Hello From Gloucestershire

March 28, 2011

Hello Chaps,

Just a quick intro from me;

I'm not yet a RAV4 owner but am currently on the hunt.

I do most of my miles by motorcycle but have had a few 4 wheel drives over the years for when I need to ferry the kids about, carry more crap than I can fit on the bike, or get me through the snow to work. I've owned a 2.8 Petrol LWB Nissan Patrol, a 4.2 Diesel LWB Nissan Patrol, a 4.0 Petrol Jeep Cherokee and more recently a 1.6 Suzuki Vitara purely as a winter hack.

We did have an early 3 door RAV4 as the wifes company car years back, but she only had that for approx 1 year.

Anyway, running the Vitara through the winter persuaded me that whilst it was very capable through the worst of the snow on my 80 mile round trip commute, I could use a bit more on-road comfort, still want 4wd, centre difflock would be useful, but low range isn't essential. The vitara was 3 door and I've decided 5 doors is better to allow more room for carrying the dog and to allow for smoother disembarkation of kids on school runs.

So I concluded either a Subaru Forester or a 5 door Rav4 would fit the bill and am leaning toward the RAV4 - as money IS an object I'm hoping to get something in the £1500-£2500 bracket.

So I look forward to many hours browsing the collective wisdom (and hopefully not too many horror stories) on this forum.

Cheers

Andy

March 28, 2011

Hello Chaps,
Just a quick intro from me;
I'm not yet a RAV4 owner but am currently on the hunt.
I do most of my miles by motorcycle but have had a few 4 wheel drives over the years for when I need to ferry the kids about, carry more crap than I can fit on the bike, or get me through the snow to work. I've owned a 2.8 Petrol LWB Nissan Patrol, a 4.2 Diesel LWB Nissan Patrol, a 4.0 Petrol Jeep Cherokee and more recently a 1.6 Suzuki Vitara purely as a winter hack.
We did have an early 3 door RAV4 as the wifes company car years back, but she only had that for approx 1 year.
Anyway, running the Vitara through the winter persuaded me that whilst it was very capable through the worst of the snow on my 80 mile round trip commute, I could use a bit more on-road comfort, still want 4wd, centre difflock would be useful, but low range isn't essential. The vitara was 3 door and I've decided 5 doors is better to allow more room for carrying the dog and to allow for smoother disembarkation of kids on school runs.
So I concluded either a Subaru Forester or a 5 door Rav4 would fit the bill and am leaning toward the RAV4 - as money IS an object I'm hoping to get something in the £1500-£2500 bracket.
So I look forward to many hours browsing the collective wisdom (and hopefully not too many horror stories) on this forum.
Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy and welcome to toc,hope you enjoy.