Anyone familiar with them? I'm looking for a 4x4 beater under $5K and the Jeeps I am seeing have too many miles on them. My wife has a brand new MDX but I need something that can be street parked and can get out of 4-7 inches of snow.

My big questions are what goes wrong with them, and do they have air suspensions in the back.

 

they are ok, i dont believe they have air suspension. I have drove a few of them and i personally hate them. they just are not very confortable for me. but if its just a winter beater i would say go for it.

 

I've got a 8 mile one way commute, but I don't want to shovel out a street parked car all the time. They have reliability problems, but I'm not sure what. I just want to be lazy and not have to dig a car out... Here is a pic of a little snow, imagine 7 inches of snow:

http://psj.ls1tech.com/gallery/main....m&g2_itemId=88

 

a family friend had a Deffender 90, I went rock crawling with him in it and stock that this is a monster...

They had it for years but it was bought new and very well maintaned.

 

Okay thanks for the info.

 

a defender 90 and a discovery are two totally different animals. I have been looking up rovers and havn't really seen too much on them. I would say if you found one that has been taken care of and hasn't been off road i would go for it. I have noticed that parts are not cheap for them.

 

Yes, and the Defender is not on my list.

I'm posting on a LR forum and it sounds like they go through a lot of the same things my 99 Tahoe was going through. I think LR owners get aggravated by having SES lights and sell them when they get close to 100K miles. I'm still interested but am forewarned.

 

if you are looking for a snow beater have you looked at suburu? i had a 2wd subu gl in western new york when i was in highschool. don't get me wrong. the car wasnt a eye catcher or head turner but that bastard would go through some snow. i had a friend that had the same car only with 4wd and it would do even better. 6 or 7 inches of snow wasn't a problem. either car would just walk out of it. i'm sure you could find one of those for pretty damn cheap.

 

Subarus rock...they are the best kept secret in the automotive world IMO. My friend put 300,000 miles on his "Trusty Justy"; there are guys with STi's turning 550+ WHP through stock transfer cases and transmissions with nary a hiccup; and like the man just said, they GO through snow. I'd get a Forrester or an Outback for a winter beater....my friend just picked one up (used) for his girl for $4K. Said it drove like it was brand-new.

 

Even though I'm in Houston, I have heard many stories of how Subarus are awesome in the snow. I sure like my AWD at the dragstrip. Actually in my forester it's just a "3-wheel peel" since the front diff is an open variety.