It's just a vague idea, but I've the urge to get an off-roader. Not a poncey SUV, but something like a very cheap n' cheerful off-road prepped Hi-Lux 4x4 of the sort that could be fixed with a sledge-hammer and a crowbar.

Anybody got any experience of that kind of thing? Alternative ideas?

Cheers.

Landie are normally fairly easy to get on with and are good for first timers.

series 2/3 or 90/defender shape.

Scoobychris has done off-roading he might help more

I'm thinking dirt cheap to buy and buttons to insure. Do Hi-Lux drive better than Land Rovers? They seem to be effective revolutionary machine gun wagons!

Probably fairly short-term, a year or so, just to get it out of my system

for cheap and chearful for off decent roading i tend to think suzuki jimny. more serious maybe a mitsubushi shogun?

buy one of the off roading mags, they are full of usefull stuff.

Have you been off-roading yet? If not go to one of the off-roading day events it's well worth it.

What ever you choose make sure it's right for where you want to go, ie enough gound clearance, wading depth. Oh and make sure you have recovery stuff aswell just in case you get stuck, plus it's best not going solo incase you get into trouble. Plenty of clubs you can join.

For very cheap fun try a Suzuki SJ

Suzuki is probably a good idea. A pickup would have more storage space though.

Be warned the SJ is prone to falling over while cornering on the road They're also easy to open without the key (almost any SJ key will open another SJ)

If you are the dirt cheap end of the market Lada Nivas are very highly regarded as offroad vehicles.

crude and basic for road driving , but good in the muddy stuff

Niva Cossack could be the answer.... If there are any left, outside of Russia. I saw a few over there.

Octy or Furby vRS offroader as a project ?

Hmmm, that might stretch the budget a little

I hear the Fabis VRS makes a good "off-roader" ask Tom or Jason

Your on top form today Mr Goochie!

If you are the dirt cheap end of the market Lada Nivas are very highly regarded as offroad vehicles.

crude and basic for road driving ' date=' but good in the muddy stuff[/quote']

agreed

If you are the dirt cheap end of the market Lada Nivas are very highly regarded as offroad vehicles.

crude and basic for road driving ' date=' but good in the muddy stuff[/quote']

agreed if you can find a good one!

First timers nearly always go for the Suzuki SJ, they came in 1.0 and 1.3 variants. You should be able to find a Vitara for next to nowt these days too.