It's July 1992, you have £2.5k to buy a 4x4....

[Peter C]

Whoever goes for the Duster gets a yellow card.

I think I would have to take the Land Cruiser.

[Peter C]

Actually, I might prefer the Patrol.

[EyesWeldedShut]

I owned a 2 door Range Ruster so, this time around, Land Cruiser

[IronStar]

Hilux if I don’t need the rear seats.
Do I actually need to go off-road though? If not Alfa 33 or XR4x4

[SEATMad]

Subaru 1800 GLF Hatchback for me. Followed up by the Tercel. Always fancied a 33 though. And the Duster is an obvious want. 

[RichardK]

It's 1992, I'm buying the Panda 4x4, which is what I did back then.

[grogee]

The proprietor of the garage where I worked had a Patrol like that. 

It had an enormous NA diesel and the noise was something else (not good). I think it was not troublesome though. 

I'd have the Sierra, bit weird it's listed in the first place. Where is the Shogun and Isuzu Trooper? 

[wesacosa]

The Subaru GLF or a Jesse Pinkman spec Tercel for me 

[Soundwave]

Blimey, I'm buying an awful lot of cars in 1992!

Not very original, but I reckon the venerable Land Rover. Though they have their own problems, they don't dissolve quite as quickly as most of the Japanese offerings of the time.

[Dyslexic Viking]

Toyota Tercel

[warch]

Subaru hatch, haven't seen one for years.

[sierraman]

XR4x4 naturally. But if I couldnt have that the Alfa 33 sounds a great way to lose a shit ton of money and cause a heck of a lot of inconvenience to day to day life and probably lose me a job due to it’s recalcitrance and probable impossibility of finding a transfer box for it on a Sunday afternoon. 

[MantaGTE85]

31 minutes ago, grogee said:

The proprietor of the garage where I worked had a Patrol like that. 

It had an enormous NA diesel and the noise was something else (not good). I think it was not troublesome though. 

I'd have the Sierra, bit weird it's listed in the first place. Where is the Shogun and Isuzu Trooper? 

The Sierra would be a good choice, though finding a particularly decent one would still be tricky at that price. Like the Fourtrak, the Shogun and Trooper in 1992 were still very fashionable, and may be a bit too recent to be included as of yet. But they certainly started to fall to £2500 from about 1995-on, at that point they started to fall faster, in wake of the smaller 4x4s like the Vitara, Sportrak and the first RAV4s hitting the used market.    

[warch]

40 minutes ago, grogee said:

Where is the Shogun and Isuzu Trooper? 

The Trooper only came to the UK in 1987 and the Shogun 1982. I think both were quite sought after and possibly didn't come in on budget (both fantastic vehicles though).

I did do a double take where it suggests that the Patrol wasn't the best off road, which is frankly bollocks.

[83C]

Range Rover or Series 3 for me. 

Not sure about the ‘no rust problems’ bit of the S3 description though.

[Rightnider]

My dad had three Tercel’s in a row from 85-89, he was working as a veterinarian and wanted  4wd. I have memories of going on vacation in them, with a German shepherd, tent, sleeping bags and more in the boot as well as on the roof. It was cramped. But I’d still take the Sierra. 

[Urko]

Range Rover please - I had a Sierra XR4x4, very nice too.  Power was distributed to the rear mainly.

[Popsicle]

Middle age me it would be the Landcruiser or Patrol. Back then, well 1994 I think, I gave £2.5k for a white C reg mk1 XR4x4, brilliant car, probably the one car I look back on most fondly.

[Agila]

No contest.

Sierra 2.8

[Leyland Worldmaster]

1 hour ago, Peter C said:

Whoever goes for the Duster gets a yellow card.

I think I would have to take the Land Cruiser.

Toyota Land Cruiser Diesel for me. ULEZ exempt nowadays too! 👍😎

[DVee8]

The Nissan Patrol for me.

[Metal Guru]

Sierra for me.

I’ve had a few big 4x4s and they’re not fun to drive on road, but 4 wheel drive in a performance car is great for useable performance on the road without making a twat of yourself as most people would at the slightest hint of a wet road.

[Scruffy Bodger]

Subaru. We had 3 of them when in my teens, brilliant cars that could pull ridiculous weight with the low box, the hill hold function was brilliant.

We had a turbo too, loaded with toys, self levelling suspension, increased ride height that lowered automatically over a certain speed, auto 4x4 if it sensed wheelspin, etc etc and it went very well indeed for what it was.

Virtually none left now they all rotted away.

[Zelandeth]

Will surprise nobody who knows me that my immediate pick is the Niva.

Though the Subaru 1800 would come a very close second.  I've always wanted one of those, but not rotten ones were basically extinct by the time I started looking.  Comfy old things I remember our neighbour's one being though, and oh my word that noise.   Didn't hang around either, though they always drove their cars like they'd stolen them!

Admittedly I'd not say no to the Land Cruiser either...but realistically they're just so flipping huge that it would be cumbersome in every day use.  I wouldn't exactly want to put diesel in it either at today's prices!

A Land Cruiser on an A plate was the first vehicle I ever actually drove independently (off road obviously), back in the mid-late 90s.

[artdjones]

The best of the real offroaders is the Patrol, although the body would need looking after.

As I've never needed a Jeep, the Panda would be best for me.

[delux]

Subaru GLF 1st choice, Could pretend I was Jackie Chan!

Suzuki SJ 2nd

then Landbruiser.

Would have gone for the Patrol but now, because I've been working with Nissan (and welding up that Cube at the weekend!) I never want to own another!

 

 

 

(Although if anyone wants a Cube, this one is a great car!)

[sierraman]

36 minutes ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

Subaru. We had 3 of them when in my teens, brilliant cars that could pull ridiculous weight with the low box, the hill hold function was brilliant.

We had a turbo too, loaded with toys, self levelling suspension, increased ride height that lowered automatically over a certain speed, auto 4x4 if it sensed wheelspin, etc etc and it went very well indeed for what it was.

Virtually none left now they all rotted away.

Saw one at a show a few months back - a guy had restored a Brat - he’d done a really good job at it actually. As you say I figured most would be under the manure patch on a farm. 

[Mrs6C]

The Range Rover V8 for me, with an auto box...

[somewhatfoolish]

Range Rovers are a comfortable place to wait for the flatbed.

[Dobloseven]

As with the diesel thread,in 1992 we'd have needed at least a seven seater,so Landcruiser or Patrol.