You can't be serious about using a Land Cruiser as a grocery getter?! You need a really good reason to buy one of those. Nightmare to park, lousy to drive, heavy on fuel...

I think i mentioned earlier that vehicles like the Landcruiser are magnificent machines but unless you're going to use them on the rough stuff all the time you'll end up doing 20 to the gallon (if you're lucky) to lug magnificent but redundant off road machinery around with you.

If you really want a 7 seat type 4x4 thing which can handle some snow but isnt too shocking on fuel and running costs then the XC90 is top of the list. You can get an 03-05 plate for 6-10k and generally arent bought by posers (because how would you pose in it?) but are bought by people who buy them for requirements and maintain them out of neccessity.

Chevrolet Captiva as mentioned earlier, probably get a newer, lower mileage car for your money than the XC90, half decent diesels, 7 seats, capable off road and talking about 30mpg and £260 VED a year, not too horrible for a car of its size. The Hyundai Santa Fe has already been mentioned. Most of the cars in the next bracket up from them are proper offroaders, your Landcruisers, Discoverys, Pathfinders, Hilux Surf's etc and unless you intend to use it off road all year round they just dont justify the expense.

If you just want a car then anything front wheel drive with proper wheels and tyres (none of this low profile slicks rubbish) and importantly the smallest front overhang possible. Something like a 407 which has 8 feet of car in front of the front wheels would be no good, for example.

In my personal opinion if it was my money i'd knock the 4x4 idea on the head and go for something like a Vauxhall Zafira. Im not a fan of Vauxhalls as you all know but a friend of my mother has one, 7 seats with the fancy folding flat arrangement in the back and it handled the winter ok, not brilliantly but it made it and in 1.9CDTi form its decent on the pocket. You can get a 4 year old one odd for less than the XC90 its decent value. Ford Galaxy is an also an option but is a bit more expensive. Im not saying either of these cars can rampage through rough terrain but for the sake of a few weeks of snowy icy roads its capable enough. More capable than a BMW anyway.

Edited by jamie745 on 18/08/2011 at 22:37

The other classic is buying the missus a 'runaround' like a micra. The Wife has to cram 3 kids, sports gear and a labrador into a Micra while the husband takes the 5 series to work and it sits in the car park all day!

Of the 3 choices you've narrowed it down to I'd favour the Honda. My family have owned a few recently (Jazz and Accord) and every one has been a great car. They are all petrol and whilst they do use more fuel than a similar diesel many they rarely need anything else so overall cost of ownership works out to be reasonable. Even the 2.4 petrol, automatic, estate Accord doing about 40,000 miles a year is well loved and only seems to need regular, scheduled maintenance. The other advantage is that these 'big' petrol cars tend to be considerably less expensive to buy than their diesel cousins which has to be worth something to a private buyer?

ps - I still like legacy wagons but they aren't for everyone!

Even the 2.4 petrol, automatic, estate Accord doing about 40,000 miles a year is well loved

Wow. Who pays that fuel bill?!

Edited by unthrottled on 22/08/2011 at 15:29