Car questions...

[Farmer Saint]

Afternoon all.

So as you all know I do some farm shit from time to time, and over the past 4 years I have been running a 2011 Land Rover Discovery 4. Now if you've ever owned one of these you will know that they are utterly brilliant in every way, apart from two - reliability and reliability.

It recently crossed over to 160k miles, and was getting close to a cambelt change (body off, £1500 job), so I decided to part ways.

I am now looking for a replacement, but also one that I can use for my other ventures (of which there are a few). Therefore, I am looking for the following:

- A car with as big a boot as possible.

- Comfortable over long distances.

- Very capable off-road.

- Available for circa £15k to £20k as it's likely to end up getting wrecked and I don't want to drop more than that on a car that may get a little wrecked.

- Able to tow.

At the moment I am looking at the L405 Range Rover 4.4 SDV8 (2015 onwards). Obviously does all the above, with worse reliability than my old LR4. 

I am also looking at the Porsche Cayenne 3.0 or 4.2 V8 D (2014 onwards). Think the reliability is a bit better on these.

Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated, and anyone who has had either of the above I'd be interested to know your experiences.

Ta,

Farmer

[benjii]

Get a pick up truck. They are great and you look hard.

I had a RAM TRX - amazing vehicle. 

 

[Farmer Saint]

53 minutes ago, benjii said:

Get a pick up truck. They are great and you look hard.

I had a RAM TRX - amazing vehicle. 

 

Hmmm, not sure I'd "suit" a pick-up tbh. Best I could get is probably a 2.2 Ranger and not sure that's got the capabilities I need.

[benjii]

8 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Hmmm, not sure I'd "suit" a pick-up tbh. Best I could get is probably a 2.2 Ranger and not sure that's got the capabilities I need.

Yeah, was a bit tongue in cheek, but they are fun! 

I'm afraid I have no other advice on this topic.

[leesaint88]

17 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Afternoon all.

So as you all know I do some farm shit from time to time, and over the past 4 years I have been running a 2011 Land Rover Discovery 4. Now if you've ever owned one of these you will know that they are utterly brilliant in every way, apart from two - reliability and reliability.

It recently crossed over to 160k miles, and was getting close to a cambelt change (body off, £1500 job), so I decided to part ways.

I am now looking for a replacement, but also one that I can use for my other ventures (of which there are a few). Therefore, I am looking for the following:

- A car with as big a boot as possible.

- Comfortable over long distances.

- Very capable off-road.

- Available for circa £15k to £20k as it's likely to end up getting wrecked and I don't want to drop more than that on a car that may get a little wrecked.

- Able to tow.

At the moment I am looking at the L405 Range Rover 4.4 SDV8 (2015 onwards). Obviously does all the above, with worse reliability than my old LR4. 

I am also looking at the Porsche Cayenne 3.0 or 4.2 V8 D (2014 onwards). Think the reliability is a bit better on these.

Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated, and anyone who has had either of the above I'd be interested to know your experiences.

Ta,

Farmer

I work within agriculture and I've used loads of different vehicles in the past, some great, some not so much. 

My personal recommendation if you want the right mix would be a Land Cruiser, I have a 2021 model here and it's brilliant with plenty of ground clearance and a solid drivetrain. You can pick up 2016 models in and around the budget mentioned.

Special mention also goes to the Jimny, I have a commercial here and it's excellent on the farm although a bit so/so on the 'normal' roads. 

Both the Volvo V90 cross country and the Subaru forester are decent too, one of the lads is running a 6 year old v90 XC and the Volvo four wheel drive system is very good and my god it can tow well too.  

Really depends on what you want at the end of the day, a Disco is always capable but has a challenging reliability record as you've mentioned and I wouldn't fancy pissing about with a Cayenne. For a big diesel engine I'd be looking at the older Touareg's with the V10 TDI.

[leesaint88]

17 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Hmmm, not sure I'd "suit" a pick-up tbh. Best I could get is probably a 2.2 Ranger and not sure that's got the capabilities I need.

I've got a 2014 Ranger and currently I'm wondering how to make it go away conveniently for an insurance payout. Quite possibly the worst pick up I've ever owned.. 

[rallyboy]

Park it in pompey with a Saints sticker in the window?

[Farmer Saint]

2 hours ago, leesaint88 said:

I work within agriculture and I've used loads of different vehicles in the past, some great, some not so much. 

My personal recommendation if you want the right mix would be a Land Cruiser, I have a 2021 model here and it's brilliant with plenty of ground clearance and a solid drivetrain. You can pick up 2016 models in and around the budget mentioned.

Special mention also goes to the Jimny, I have a commercial here and it's excellent on the farm although a bit so/so on the 'normal' roads. 

Both the Volvo V90 cross country and the Subaru forester are decent too, one of the lads is running a 6 year old v90 XC and the Volvo four wheel drive system is very good and my god it can tow well too.  

Really depends on what you want at the end of the day, a Disco is always capable but has a challenging reliability record as you've mentioned and I wouldn't fancy pissing about with a Cayenne. For a big diesel engine I'd be looking at the older Touareg's with the V10 TDI.

So in general I think Land Cruisers are slightly out of budget (which is why I don't mention it above), but I will certainly keep an eye out.

V10 Touareg will cost me as much as a RR to maintain and run 🤣 The gearboxes on them can be ruinous.

XC90 should be on the list as well - great cars and lovely to drive.

Love Jimmy's, but not big enough for what I need unfortunately. 

Cheers for your suggestions though!

[leesaint88]

39 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

So in general I think Land Cruisers are slightly out of budget (which is why I don't mention it above), but I will certainly keep an eye out.

V10 Touareg will cost me as much as a RR to maintain and run 🤣 The gearboxes on them can be ruinous.

XC90 should be on the list as well - great cars and lovely to drive.

Love Jimmy's, but not big enough for what I need unfortunately. 

Cheers for your suggestions though!

The XC90 is beautiful, but I still think the V90 XC has the edge as an all rounder. 

Land Cruisers are great though, our Amazon lasted 20 years and never put a foot wrong. We sold it on to another farm who still use it today.

[Farmer Saint]

5 hours ago, leesaint88 said:

The XC90 is beautiful, but I still think the V90 XC has the edge as an all rounder. 

Land Cruisers are great though, our Amazon lasted 20 years and never put a foot wrong. We sold it on to another farm who still use it today.

I'll nip down to Volvo and have a test drive - cheers mate.

[skintsaint]

19 hours ago, leesaint88 said:

The XC90 is beautiful, but I still think the V90 XC has the edge as an all rounder. 

Land Cruisers are great though, our Amazon lasted 20 years and never put a foot wrong. We sold it on to another farm who still use it today.

Land Cruiser would be my go to. Even an older low KM model. Lots of aftermarket parts too for it. 

Cruiser would shit all over the XC90 off road as well.

[Patrick Bateman]

On 02/06/2025 at 16:08, Farmer Saint said:

Afternoon all.

So as you all know I do some farm shit from time to time, and over the past 4 years I have been running a 2011 Land Rover Discovery 4. Now if you've ever owned one of these you will know that they are utterly brilliant in every way, apart from two - reliability and reliability.

It recently crossed over to 160k miles, and was getting close to a cambelt change (body off, £1500 job), so I decided to part ways.

I am now looking for a replacement, but also one that I can use for my other ventures (of which there are a few). Therefore, I am looking for the following:

- A car with as big a boot as possible.

- Comfortable over long distances.

- Very capable off-road.

- Available for circa £15k to £20k as it's likely to end up getting wrecked and I don't want to drop more than that on a car that may get a little wrecked.

- Able to tow.

At the moment I am looking at the L405 Range Rover 4.4 SDV8 (2015 onwards). Obviously does all the above, with worse reliability than my old LR4. 

I am also looking at the Porsche Cayenne 3.0 or 4.2 V8 D (2014 onwards). Think the reliability is a bit better on these.

Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated, and anyone who has had either of the above I'd be interested to know your experiences.

Ta,

Farmer

New Dacia Duster. Don't laugh, it's cheap, it's more than capable off road and should be cheap to fix.

Land Cruiser a good shout as is the XC-90, although Volvos can get costly too when needing repairs. But I was just dropping in the thread to say NOT to get a Cayenne. Neighbour had one, lots of issues and crucially none of them cheap, but that's a sample set of just 1.

[Farmer Saint]

27 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

New Dacia Duster. Don't laugh, it's cheap, it's more than capable off road and should be cheap to fix.

Land Cruiser a good shout as is the XC-90, although Volvos can get costly too when needing repairs. But I was just dropping in the thread to say NOT to get a Cayenne. Neighbour had one, lots of issues and crucially none of them cheap, but that's a sample set of just 1.

So the Cayenne is a really odd one. First gen are awfully unreliable, but second gen are meant to be bombproof (according to online!). Who knows.

I can't be turning up to board meetings in a Dacia unfortunately 😕 

[leesaint88]

14 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

So the Cayenne is a really odd one. First gen are awfully unreliable, but second gen are meant to be bombproof (according to online!). Who knows.

I can't be turning up to board meetings in a Dacia unfortunately 😕 

A vehicle shouldn't need to be a status symbol though? The richest individual I know (Times rich list wealthy) drives around in a 2004 Subaru Outback, he does not give a shit about what people think of it. He drives that thing into London, to meetings, the golf club, the lot.

(He does however have a rather lovely car collection stored away....)

[Farmer Saint]

34 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

A vehicle shouldn't need to be a status symbol though? The richest individual I know (Times rich list wealthy) drives around in a 2004 Subaru Outback, he does not give a shit about what people think of it. He drives that thing into London, to meetings, the golf club, the lot.

(He does however have a rather lovely car collection stored away....)

I get that, I really do, and it shouldn't. But as Non-Exec board member, it unfortunately does matter.

[suewhistle]

Do they pay a car allowance? If not, blow 'em and point out how cost conscious you are.. 🙂 Then take a bottle of Krug to the board meeting for afterwards and mutter and mumble something like 'priorities, priorities'..

[Farmer Saint]

45 minutes ago, suewhistle said:

Do they pay a car allowance? If not, blow 'em and point out how cost conscious you are.. 🙂 Then take a bottle of Krug to the board meeting for afterwards and mutter and mumble something like 'priorities, priorities'..

Car allowance, for Non-Exec? No, I get renumeration for time on each board, but car allowance doesn't tend to be something you get for that, and that money gets re-invested into the farm.

Edited June 5 by Farmer Saint

[benjii]

On 05/06/2025 at 12:51, Farmer Saint said:

I get that, I really do, and it shouldn't. But as Non-Exec board member, it unfortunately does matter.

If it helps, the Duster is a Renault in some markets.

[benjii]

18 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Car allowance, for Non-Exec? No, I get renumeration for time on each board, but car allowance doesn't tend to be something you get for that, and that money gets re-invested into the farm.

You're a farmer, right? Do you own some red flannel trousers? And a tweed blazer / shooting jacket? Mustard shirt? 

Just turn up with that regalia, mention how the land is doing, try not to sound like a yokel. 

If you're assumed to be an old fashioned toff, it would be expected that you bumble around in an ancient car.

[egg]

17 minutes ago, benjii said:

If it helps, the Duster is a Renault in some markets.

It's a Renault under the badge. Personally, I'd rather have a Renault built by a diligent Romanian than a French bloke, and pay less for it. 

[Farmer Saint]

30 minutes ago, benjii said:

You're a farmer, right? Do you own some red flannel trousers? And a tweed blazer / shooting jacket? Mustard shirt? 

Just turn up with that regalia, mention how the land is doing, try not to sound like a yokel. 

If you're assumed to be an old fashioned toff, it would be expected that you bumble around in an ancient car.

I'm a farmer now, but not in a previous life, hence why I am a Non-Exec on a couple of Tech SME boards. And behave, I'm not some ruddy cheeked, gout ridden 60 old farmer, thank you very much 😂

[Farmer Saint]

34 minutes ago, benjii said:

If it helps, the Duster is a Renault in some markets.

I'm aware, thank you, but that's like saying "it's R Kelly, not P Diddy".

[Patrick Bateman]

On 05/06/2025 at 09:51, Farmer Saint said:

I get that, I really do, and it shouldn't. But as Non-Exec board member, it unfortunately does matter.

lol fair enough, based on cars you've mentioned, the family non-exec car of choice would be an XC-90 then ...

[Weston Super Saint]

3 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

I'm a farmer now, but not in a previous life, hence why I am a Non-Exec on a couple of Tech SME boards. And behave, I'm not some ruddy cheeked, gout ridden 60 old farmer, thank you very much 😂

Yet.

[Farmer Saint]

On 06/06/2025 at 17:45, Patrick Bateman said:

lol fair enough, based on cars you've mentioned, the family non-exec car of choice would be an XC-90 then ...

It's also the fact that I need to be able to tow 3.5 tonnes (or more 😕), and at some points tow tractors out of holes. I don't think a 1.5 litre engine will really be up to that - needs to be at minimum a 3L Diesel, or 4L petrol to have enough torque.

Edited Tuesday at 06:37 by Farmer Saint

[whelk]

Hire a Lamborghini for the days of your meetings. Bright green

[leesaint88]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

It's also the fact that I need to be able to tow 3.5 tonnes (or more 😕), and at some points tow tractors out of holes. I don't think a 1.5 litre engine will really be up to that - needs to be at minimum a 3L Diesel, or 4L petrol to have enough torque.

Telling ya, that Volvo V90 Cross Country.....tows beautifully. 😁

[Farmer Saint]

36 minutes ago, leesaint88 said:

Telling ya, that Volvo V90 Cross Country.....tows beautifully. 😁

I'm indeed looking at it - ta!