Potholes

[Gittins Gal]

That's what I thought lol....

It's not really a proper 4x4 like a Land Rover.

I tore the bash plate off going through some snow last year. It was held on with plastic rivets .

[Spacecadet]

I'm sure there is a joke about large holes just waiting to be told

[vwdan]

I'm sure there is a joke about large holes just waiting to be told

I'm just thinking it sounds like every other Chelsea Tractor being driven like it's a British Army Range Rover! Ripping bash plates off, smashing up ARB's over potholes? Either they're built very badly, or it's being abused!

[d000hg]

The council will probably deny all knowledge of said pothole, insist they've never been informed of its existence, & refuse to pay a penny.

Councils have specific procedures by which potholes can be reported and are then tracked - we've reported them before. And you know what councils are like with procedure, it must be followed.

Quite a few near us right now, probably pretty soon the repair van will turn up as it does after each winter.

[Gittins Gal]

I'm just thinking it sounds like every other Chelsea Tractor being driven like it's a British Army Range Rover! Ripping bash plates off, smashing up ARB's over potholes? Either they're built very badly, or it's being abused!

While the engine, electrics and various other subsystems have been rock solid in the 6 years I've had the car, some of the coachwork and trim is somewhat plasticky.

[VectraMan]

My Mum has a RAV4. Good car. But obviously not intended to deal with anything more difficult that a few leaves on the road.

[MicrosoftBob]

I'm just thinking it sounds like every other Chelsea Tractor being driven like it's a British Army Range Rover! Ripping bash plates off, smashing up ARB's over potholes? Either they're built very badly, or it's being abused!

I was intrigued as I'm moving to north wales shortly, and am going to need a 4X4 by next winter, and was looking at RAV4 as people were recommending them as cheap and good enough to get me out on to the main highways and back to commuterville

Looks like a lot more research is needed

[vwdan]

I was intrigued as I'm moving to north wales shortly, and am going to need a 4X4 by next winter, and was looking at RAV4 as people were recommending them as cheap and good enough to get me out on to the main highways and back to commuterville

Looks like a lot more research is needed

It's a Toyota, so probably good start in fairness - realistically, if it's normal, but snowy, roads you're worried about nearly any 4x4 vehicle with decent winter tyres will probably do the trick. The problem you'll have is that anything truly off road is going to compromise heavily on comfort, economy or is going to be expensive.

Part of my hatred of 4 x 4's in general use is that they're treated as tall cars with people ploughing along the snowy roads on their summer tyres etc.

[Ticktock]

"North Wales" doesn't really define your need.
You could be up on the A55, in which case you don't need a 4WD.
You could be up in the mountainous areas, in which case you don't normally need a 4WD, but may in really bad weather once you get off the paved highway onto your driveway.
You could be up a mountain, in which case you don't really need a 4WD most of the time, but may be stuck without one every now and again.

So for the first two situations a RAV4 would be fine, but then so would a Vauxhall Corsa.

[MicrosoftBob]

"North Wales" doesn't really define your need.
You could be up on the A55, in which case you don't need a 4WD.
You could be up in the mountainous areas, in which case you don't normally need a 4WD, but may in really bad weather once you get off the paved highway onto your driveway.
You could be up a mountain, in which case you don't really need a 4WD most of the time, but may be stuck without one every now and again.

So for the first two situations a RAV4 would be fine, but then so would a Vauxhall Corsa.

My missus needs to be able to commute to Warrington, but otherwise somewhere a bit rural to rent whilst we start scouting out the places we want to buy a house

It will be away from the A55 as we have cats, so we don't want to be next to an A road

We're probably looking between Llangollen to the west and probably as far as Mold to the east for now, she's never done commuting before so needs to broken in gently. For me commutes to London are going to more realistic

I've driven normal cars with 'snow mode' over fresh snow to get to clients, but knew if it we had a few feet come down I'd be stuck there, moving out to the stick I want a least one car for a long commute as realistically I will be driving a fair distance to any client