Am looking around at the moment from Uk at what car to get when we get there, or for when we arrive. Was looking at the Outlander. I know that they do this in Oz.

Will mainly be used as a normal car though will be camping and may be a bit adventurous as to going 'gently' off road. Family of 4.

Does anybody in Oz have any comments on this car, or advice of buying a car once there v buying it to collect at the airport?

HOW UNCANNY !!!!!!!!

Just been looking at one in Auto Trader. , outlander

Bosses wife has the newest version, and shes a doddery old biddy but lol.. she zooms everywhere innit.

They are a very nice looking car, also worth looking at the MURANO by Nissan...

I had come over in 2002 or 2003 for a visit, saw a ute i fancied ( was a 1977 V8 job ) got back to uk, paid the money by transfer, and a mate met us at airport in it, when we touched down.

you might find this thread useful:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...=479367&page=2

Hi there,

Hubby just bought a new outlander a couple of months ago and we love it. We got the one with the extra 2 seats that fold under the floor in the rear so that we have a normal sized boot for the four of us but have the option of the rear seats when rellies are visiting ( these are only suitable for kids).

Petrol consumption isnt too bad, it is a nice comfortable smooth drive and some of them have a dvd player in the back (now that is worth its weight in gold). We can now go anywhere and forget we have two kids.

Julia

Hi Mark,

We also love our Outlander - very good value for money and a very sturdy vehicle, but if planning to use one offroad here get it rustproofed, worth the investment.

Cheers,

George Lombard

Hi There........

We bought one in Perth and drove clean across the country in it with 2 kids, 7 large bags, a rhino box on top and love it. Top car, very comfortable. We had a Toyota Hilux in the U.K. and it was uncomfortable. For our long journey it was great. Go for it.

Ta Ta

The new Outlander is bigger than the previous version, it now has 7 seats (two in the boot as above poster states).

We hired and drove an Outlander while on holidays in December '05 (so it was the old 5 seat version) and I have to say it was the best car I've ever driven. Very responsive, fabulous feel to it. Highly recommended. We didn't take it off road, but it was just great on it. It was however the first 4wd I've driven, so maybe the 4wd made the difference, all my previous UK cars have been new standard saloons, executive cars or people carriers.

We hired ours from Budget (ordered a Nissan X-trail, but got the Outlander), so maybe hring one for a week would give you an insight.

These extra 2 seats would be the smallest crappest extra 2 seats I have ever seen on any 7 seater car. They are a little bench about the size of a laptop. The previous poster suggests only kids to go there, I would go further and say only under 7's. Also once you have the extra seats up there is not even enough room for a packet of fags in the boot.

Get a Pathfinder. You can get adults in the back seats (although not 6 foot tall ones) and you can still get a pram and shopping behind the 3rd row.

Buzzy

Thank you to all who have replied. Generally good feedback which is reaauring. I suspect that hiring one, maybe along with 1 or 2 others, over a month may be the way to actually decide in the end, though the outlander is the lead choice still at the moment.

Regards

Mark

We have the Pathfinder and back seats are fine. I have four kids and no problems fitting them in. Even the eldest who is nearly 16 and tall can fit in this car no bother.

If you have older kids, it may be looking at a few cars in the UK. As some we thought were ok, were tiny in the back if kids are older than 9.

GEM

Have to disagree - my 11 year old - who's over 5ft has no probs in getting in.
We bought one when we first arrived - brand new for under $30.000 - good value, nice drive and good on fuel.

We got one a month ago very pleased with it. My 10 & 11 year olds are fine in the back seat. We looked at Kluger, Santa Fe, Territory and Captiva this was the best for us as it can change from 2WD to 4WD so we didn't feel we were wrecking the environment on everyday driving in a petrol guzzler. You can still fit (ok only 1) a suitcase in the boot with the 3rd row seats in but we only need the 3rd row occasionally. We only have 2 kids so wanted to buy a car for us not for the 2 months of a year we have visitors.

So personally for us it ticked all our boxes but one (3rd row wasn't split seat) big word of warning - Luckily we test drove the Captiva over night. After about 4KM's both myself and hubby's backs were killing us. Mentioned this to rellies and their friend has had the Captiva for 2 months and is having the seats changed because of this ($$$$). So glad we didn't just drive it around th block and make our decision on that basis!

LJJ

I loved everything about the Pathfinder apart from the fact that when sitting in the rear seats, my feet would not slide under the driver's or passenger's seat - leaving me feeling a bit restricted

The floor somehow felt raised in the back and it meant my knees were at or above waist height - very uncomfortable

With 2 lanky teenagers I'd imagine this would drive them crazy over anything but the shortest of drive

The Pathfinder's 3rd row are designed for kids or short adults only.

However compared to other 7 seat 4x4s they are actually quite spacious!!!

Buzzy

I was referring to being sat in the 2nd row

Cheers