Thanks for the input folks...and helpful advice...much appreciated.

Also consider the Daihatsu terios, cheap as chips and lasts forever.

Thanks for more helpful advice. It's good to get some useful input...to help me make a decision...and much appreciated!

Sorry sofa spud but a light weight 4x4 will stop very well in snow and ice, and after owning 3 Panda 4x4's and having been through many winters & deep snow in Wales i can assure you they stop very well. Infact I used to be able to drive up and over mounds of snow left by ploughs or bull dozers! but my landrover couldn't so the advanatge of a light weight 4x4 is it doesn't sink into the snow. I can go as far as to say when i took people with me they were astonished at how I could drive along at 50-60 and stop quite normally in snow 18 inches deep !

Edited by Sofa Spud on 07/11/2010 at 21:42

Until 6 month ago i owned a impreza 2.0 sport...no no not a go faster WRX with spoilers and grp 20 insurance...

but a un-turboed 2litre engine, the estate (sport wagon) has a low ratio gearbox, the saloon doesn't. also the estate/sport wagon is cheaper to buy than the saloon, as all the rally boys want the saloon look/styling....perminate AWD. skinny 15" wheels/tyres and Low range....bye bye bmws and mercs who usually sit on the back bumper....pay back was sweet...hahahahaha.......and the photos of the impreza with snow up to the doors are great....

.costs.... mine was traded in for £2500. on a 03 reg. with FSH and 60k on the clock. reason for selling it, was 29mpg on my 50mile work run was getting silly. insurance grp 13. service period 12k , 0-62 was just under 10secs. so good enough for daily use. My father in laws on his 2nd legacy. (in the snow, apart from the MD in his series 2 landie the works car-park was empty...and everyone else had to take day holiday.........for me it was the fact that you couldn't disconnect the perm AWD that meant 29mpg was in the end a reason to sell....i miss the old girl though....how easy was it to put in low ratio...well just dip the clutch, and pull up the lever next to the handbrake. then a little dash light somes on....job done....it used to half the speed that first gear gave you...ie in a traffic jam or snow you could crawl along without slipping the clutch slower than the average person can walk.....great for taking the children sledging as well....we got to placed that only "proper" 4X4s got to...want mine back now.......bo hooooo

paul.

ex-impreza sport wagon owner. (oh if you look for one...the cam/belt change its at 50,000 miles or 5 years...its easy to change as its right at the front of the car. but the belt itself from subaru is £100....

just found the below on the panda......The 4x4 is a different sort of animal with raised 165cm ride height and chunky 185/65 x 14 or optional 185/70 x 14 M+S tyres. Its suspension is stiffer so on the road its ride quality suffers a bit, but it corners flatter so the extra height does not seriously affect its handling. It’s slow, though. Zero to 60 takes nearly 20 seconds.

Edited by Paul G1pdc on 08/11/2010 at 10:01

I have personally seen a Daihatsu Fourtrak pull big Landrovers out of snow banks. They are tough little beasts. Now very rere only two natioowide on Autotrader. People tend to hang on to them. Very basic inside if that is a consioderation, they were built as work tools.

Can not speak for the later Terios as I moved on to a sensible job before they were introduced but people speak well of them.

Get two steel wheels from scrap yard and fit M+S tyres to front fwd cars and drive it in a higher gear don't spin wheels get traction.

M&S is simply a discription of the tread design, and there's no official test behind it. The pathetic tyres on my landcruiser were M&S marked but not much cop. You really need to be looking for a snowflake symbol.