Soft roaders

Does anyone have any personal experience with "soft roaders?" I am talking more specifically about RAV4, Forester, X-Trail, Pajero iO, Suzuki Grand Vitara.

I am tossing up moving to Redcliffe because I really want to live on the waterfront. Redcliffe is about 30-40minutes drive to my office near the CBD, so I am looking at something a little more economical. However I still want something that can tow a trailer to the dump, drive on the beach, is comfy inside and can fit some stuff in the back.

For a car that will satisfy these criteria, I am looking to the abovementioned vehicles. At first I was somewhat cynical about their off-road ability, but I have been watching youtube videos of these vehicles in action off road. The vehicles in the videos I watched looked to be stock standard and still held themselves pretty well on the sand and in the mud. So surely with maybe a 2" suspension lift and some more off-road spec tyres they would be quite competent on the beach and sandy tracks. I'm not looking at doing any serious off-roading like big ruts and rocks, but just on the sand islands around SE QLD, maybe the odd muddy bush road etc....

From the videos I watched ground clearance and tyres seems to be the achilles heel of each vehicle in the more serious off-road attempts. None of them except the Suzuki and maybe the X-Trail have a lockable 4WD system, I think the suzuki is the only one to have low range cogs. On paper I would have thought their off road performance to be pretty pathetic but it seems that they are capable of doing the things i want to do.

Does anyone have any first hand experience with these types of vehicles (good or bad) and if so, please describe.

Thanks all.

I owned an 05 Forestor until I brought the Nav and originally was going to trade the 05 in on an 08 until my local Subaru dealer decided my car was worth so little as a trade in. In all I was happy with the Forestor, it wasn't a 4wd and it wasn't made to go places a Nav would go but at the same time I never expected it to. The new model has more clearance than the older model I had but it still isn't and wont ever be a rock climber.

I took my Forestor on plenty of bush tracks for fishing and was driving it around the beach and the dunes in Robe SA (without letting the tyres down). If you know your limitations and don't push the vehicle beyond them then there is nothing wrong with this type of car. As a road vehicle I can't fault the Forestor it drove well, sat at 100ks using less than 7l per 100 (low 6's across the Nullabor) and the ride was comfortable. I did have a slight issue after 50K in that i thought I was hearing noises in the car that weren't there before 50K and wondered if maybe 50K was the limit of keeping the car but in the end i just put it down to the desire to have the Nav being greater than the want to keep the Forestor.

Although dealers figures are mostly crap when I traded the Forestor I got about $23K for it, brand new in 05 I paid $35K, (although Subaru only wanted to offer me 13K for it), so even though the resale value dropped 12K over 4 years it wasn't drastic enough for me to think it was a bad purchase. I'm not as fond of the new model as I was of the older ones but the still drive quite well.

As for other soft roaders, 1 sis in law has a Rav4 and 1 has a Honda and as bitumen only they are just like any other car, I've never taken the Honda on the dirt but the Rav is just like the Forestor, understand that it can't climb a mountain and you'll probably be able to drive it everywhere they show you on the ads, even without mods.

The new suzi is getting a lot of good write ups in the 4x4 magazines, as far as being a soft roadster is concenred. Also my sister has a previous gen Forester up in Port Headland and uses it in the sand quite a bit and is more then happy with it. Better than the Rav4 she owned prior to that one.

my misses has a grand vitara and the thing is a beast with stock hiway terrains on she was driving up a boggy hill i got stuck on cos it was so light, we done a few little trips just it and my navara and havnt ha problem yet has gone everywhere i have.

Your already driving a soft roader!

We have an 07 Rav4 cruiser that my missus mostly drives. She absolutely loves it. It is so easy to drive, has a brilliant turning circle, is super easy to park, has loads of room inside when the seats are folded down and is really nice to drive.

It has a diff lock (of sorts), downhill assist which actually works brilliantly, but I'm still not sure it would excell off road. I guess thats not what it's built for though. We have never had it on anything tougher than crap dirt roads so I couldn't tell you what it's like there.

To say we are happy with it as a road car is an understatement!

Hi , I have owned 6 nissan x-trails. I still own 3 ,have put 220,000 klms on one. Never had any mayor problems with any of them. they average about 9 lts/100klms.
I have done a bit of beach driving in the older ones.
They are ok on the beach - clearance is a problem. mine are all autos.
The pre 08 models(with the centre speedo) are a better unit to drive in a auto. The auto in the newer model is a CVT and is a bit sluggish.
I have a camper trailer i tow ok with the x-trail for camping trips.
We currently have a 2005 auto for sale on trading post.

One of my friends ran up the back of a ute in an X-Trail doing less than 40 and wrote it off!!. Not that you plan on ever driving a car to have an accident on purpose. I guess my point is.... make sure you dont run up the back of a ute!! :-D

Year i have written one of mine off also - 100k/h head on.(bloody p plate drivers)
I did not get a scratch on me.The air bags did their job.
I would not advise it but - shook me up a bit.

08KINGCAB said:

Your already driving a soft roader!

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Haha, a D22 owner I suspect?

One of my mates has a new rav 4, its a good car but you cant fit bigger tyres, the standard tyres are already close to the shock/spring hoop. Dont know personally too much about the x trails, i drove one once for a bit, i liked the feel of it but in an article i read in a 4b magazine it stated the engine and auto overheated on sand driving. Iv driven a forester, very nice to drive but dont know its specs on offroading. Id personaly go for the suzi just because of its 4b heritage.

I watched quite a few videos on this guy who was driving a bog standard 09 forester around Fraser Island and Teewah beach through water crossing and soft sand - and it looked pretty capable. I realise you're gonna have to give that type of car a bit more stick to get through certain conditions, and I always like to stay on the safe side so would probably put a 1-2" lift and some chunkier treads just to make sure it gets there

The one thing I found the 08 Forrestor (which is basically the same as the 09 with a few less refinements) was the comfort factor over the Rav and Honda. Comfort is obviously a personal thing and we all require different things but the seats in the Forrestor did feel better to me. The most annoying thing and probably one of the biggest factors in me not choosing one was that despite the 08 redesign looking bigger than the 05 I had the internal storage space was less, but if your not using it for family outtings then it's probably not a huge issue, although fitting golf clubs in the back is a tight proposition.

For me it would be a choice between the Subaru and Susuki. The Subaru it a bit larger and everyone who has one loves it, the Susuki I think would be more capable off-road. I know 2 people at work who have damaged their Forresters driving on sand, nothing major, but damage to some plastic guards.

I remember reading something some about Xtrails and Rav having issues with the centre diff unlocking when the diff gets too hot, as happens when you drive in sand for any time, thus the car reverting to 2wd.

dec0guy said:

For me it would be a choice between the Subaru and Susuki. The Subaru it a bit larger and everyone who has one loves it, the Susuki I think would be more capable off-road. I know 2 people at work who have damaged their Forresters driving on sand, nothing major, but damage to some plastic guards.

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Those dickheads that do the Aussie Top Gear had the same issue with the Forrestor but they also treated it like crap. The newer model is higher than the 05 I had yet taking it easy and not trying to get air of the dunes or bounce the crap out of everything I manged beach driving without taking the guards off. I think it once again comes down to knowing your vehicles limitations, Suzi's are no doubt higher and will survive better in those situations but taking it easy and so can lower vehicles.

I have learnt quite a bit today, I used to be quite ignorant of these compact SUV type vehicles but it seems that they are actually not so bad for the average beach driving punter. And let's face it most of the 4WD vehicles that even go off road only go on the beach or a muddy bush track.

Leaning probably towards the Forester at this stage. So if anyone wants a tough looking D40 - let me know

WIR35 said:

So if anyone wants a tough looking D40 - let me know

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Why do you know someone that has one

I highly recommend getting the Forester XT. It's the turbo version. Loads of power and torque. I've got the 05 model and jumping from the titanium edition Nav into the Forester, the Forester makes the Nav feel like a big slow truck. Even though the Forester is a SUV, it's performance and handling feels 'car like'.
I've put 200k km on it and so far nothing has gone wrong. The Forester is my favourite all-round car. Have driven Rav 4s, BMW X3 and they both can't hold a candle to the Forester.

Softroaders

I've had most Subaru 4WD models over the years so I'm a big fan. Last was a MY06 Forester, manual. Terrific on sand. Ground clearance may be a problem on bush tracks but most of the competition has the same or less.

The Forester is heaps of fun on dirt roads. Rides like a car but with the kind of balance BMW is renowned for. The turbo model is a blast but a bit thirsty by comparison.

Reliability, resale, safety, economy and servicing costs are all very good. Has one of the best power to weight ratios in this class. The current model may not offer as much luggage space as some of the others but this depends on your needs.

If you'd like to see what people are doing with their Subarus, visit OFFROADSUBARUS.com and be sure to view some of the videos in the Trip Reports section.

I've towed a 15 foot clinker power boat and a 750 kg plus camper van without too much trouble but chose to upgrade to a Navara to move bigger loads over longer distances.

As far as I can tell most of the automatic AWD/4WDs tend to overheat their transmissions if pushed too hard for too long and the fancy driver aides can cause problems.

Best of the rest would be the Suzi which has a proper low range but no cruise control last time I looked.

I've got an 03 forester that I'll happily swap for your D40?

Its got a front bar, sump guard and bigger A/t's

Have n't had any major problems with it, it has developed quite a few squeaks and groans over the years and has a few electrical gremlins that I attribute to being driven through water a few times.

On road it makes for a very comfortable car, if a little slow in traffic. Offroad the AWD system is great, I've had it rocking side to side on one front and one rear tyre a few times and always been able drive it out. It's mainly let down by a lack of torque (in soft sand) and clearance when driving in the wheel ruts of full sized 4wds.

Have regularly towed a 5m alloy boat without dramas.

The vitara is likely more capable offroad, but less comfortable on.