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Best compact 4x4?


Milo
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A mate has asked some advice on the buying a compact 4x4 (think Tiguan, Qashqai size). He tows a jet ski so it needs to drag the ski and itself off the beach/out of sand etc. For that reason, a means of selecting permanent 4 wheel drive is what he needs really. The Qashqais have this function, apparently.

It needs to be diesel, used and no more than 2 year old. Budget is quite important, I'm guessing around the £18k mark.

Any suggestions? :)

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Can they be switched to permanent 4x4 or are they Haldex?

 

No offence, but what's the obsession with Haldex.  It gives AWD.  The traction means it switches instantly.  I've never ever got stuck in any Haldex equipped VW or Audi - and I used to live properly in the sticks, mud fields etc.  Kind of justified why my R32 was always brown over blue :P

 

Wonder what AWD electronics the Qashqai uses..?

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No offence, but what's the obsession with Haldex.  It gives AWD.  The traction means it switches instantly.  I've never ever got stuck in any Haldex equipped VW or Audi - and I used to live properly in the sticks, mud fields etc.  Kind of justified why my R32 was always brown over blue :P

 

Wonder what AWD electronics the Qashqai uses..?

I'm just passing on what his requirements were +++

 

I asked and he said he's seen some 4WD cars dig themselves into the sand and have 2 wheels effectively useless as they can't get traction, so I presume it sends all the power to the remaining 2, which may or may not be enough to get it going. Hence he wants something that has the ability to switch (if not already have) permanent 4WD.

 

I believe the Qashqai's gadetry has 3 settings - 2WD, Auto, 4WD.

The 4WD option apparently continues to distribute the power to all 4 wheels, regardless of whether it detects any wheelspin i.e. if you got 2 wheels bogged down, it would continue to try to drive them, rather than channel the power solely to the other 2.

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Qashqai all the way.  Apart from anything else, they hold their money like rocking horse poo. 

 

The problem is, when you're looking to buy used, it works against you.  Anything Qashqai seems to be 12 months older than its peers, for his budget.

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I asked and he said he's seen some 4WD cars dig themselves into the sand and have 2 wheels effectively useless as they can't get traction, so I presume it sends all the power to the remaining 2, which may or may not be enough to get it going. Hence he wants something that has the ability to switch (if not already have) permanent 4WD.

 

I think what he's talking about there is the degree to which the 4WD is controlled by a diff lock (mechanical or electronic) and the manner in which it does it.

 

For example, if you're using a 2WD arrangement with an open diff and one wheel has no grip, the diff will send all the torque to that wheel and you go nowhere slowly.  Adding more open diffs to make it a 4WD car will not help at all, because all the torque will still go to the spinning wheel.  What you need is some form of diff lock to close them down and make both wheels/all four wheels/both axles/whatever turn at the same rate.  That then means you can't go round a corner* but you can get out of the sand.

 

Land Rover just have a lever that you push to lock everything and make all 4 wheels turn together.  Simple.  Others have cleverererer systems that sense stuff with the ABS sensors and clamp down on a spinning wheel and sort of work in the same way.  It's usually the sports-biased 4WD systems that trip up in these situations, for example the 4WD system on my Carrera 4S is up the creek if both the wheels on one side are on slippery stuff, it is the PSM electrickery that will (hopefully) get me out.

 

I have no idea how Hal Dex works, or who he is, so the above is just for general interest.  You can wake up now. 

 

 

*without hilarity ensuing

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I think what he's talking about there is the degree to which the 4WD is controlled by a diff lock (mechanical or electronic) and the manner in which it does it.

 

For example, if you're using a 2WD arrangement with an open diff and one wheel has no grip, the diff will send all the torque to that wheel and you go nowhere slowly.  Adding more open diffs to make it a 4WD car will not help at all, because all the torque will still go to the spinning wheel.  What you need is some form of diff lock to close them down and make both wheels/all four wheels/both axles/whatever turn at the same rate.  That then means you can't go round a corner* but you can get out of the sand.

 

Land Rover just have a lever that you push to lock everything and make all 4 wheels turn together.  Simple.  Others have cleverererer systems that sense stuff with the ABS sensors and clamp down on a spinning wheel and sort of work in the same way.  It's usually the sports-biased 4WD systems that trip up in these situations, for example the 4WD system on my Carrera 4S is up the creek if both the wheels on one side are on slippery stuff, it is the PSM electrickery that will (hopefully) get me out.

 

I have no idea how Hal Dex works, or who he is, so the above is just for general interest.  You can wake up now. 

 

 

*without hilarity ensuing

 

I have 4 wheel drive. It works.  That's all I need to know :grin:

There's precious little room left in my brain as it is +++

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A Defender would be perfect, but he's not in a position to be running 2 cars and a Defender wouldn't work as the family car.

I think the Sportage ticks all the boxes personally. There are decent 2.0 diesel models on a 63 plate for around £19k.

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