RX4 Forum

Hello everbody!

I'm a Norwegian boy/man (depence on who you ask) looking for a new family car. One very interesting candidate is the RX4. I have alle the technical datas, dimensions and so on, but like to hear how the car is in everyday use. It seems like all of you are very fond of your car, but I would highly appreciate an honest description. I have search the web the last weeks and found several tests, and some issues seems to repeat.

-The car is noisy at highway crusing speed. How fast is highway cruising speed? Here in Norway the highest speed limit is 100km/h, and most of the mainroads actually are 80 or 70.

-The car is difficult to park because you can't see the where it starts and ends. The front is relatively normal compared to other cars, but the rear window is rather small. Is this really a problem?

-The split backdoor is not very practical, since you have to open the window first, and then the rather big and heavy door.

Which engine would you recommend? Here in Norway there are not to many RX4, and the majority has the petrol engine. I have a gut-feeling that the diesel is more powerful and suits the car better. This car is more like a small family workhorse tha a racingcar anyway. When saying small, I compare it with my brothers LandRover Series III.

I'm glad for any help, guidance and tips.

Hello Magne,

welcome and some answers for you. The following points are only my
perspective.

The noise at starts at 120-130... at 70-100 not so noisy.
It's like every other car ... you need a feeling about the dimensions.
If you drive backward the "normal cars are sometimes masked till the
roof. But there are some stickers to see the masked angle....
I can live with this limitation.

About the backdoor ... ok... you have to push the button twice to open
the door. It's the perspective ... the split window can be a adavantage too
if you need something from the rear parcel shelf...

I have no comparison between the to engines but i think that both are to
poor for the weight of this car. 20 PS more would be nice

You can't compare the RX4 with the LandRover III... there are more than 20.000 Euro difference between this cars. And you are right ... in compare
to the Landy the RX4 IS small

I think you should testdrive a RX4 if you get this possibility to find out
whether the RX4 meet your needs.

In Germany the RX4 with it's dimensions it's the best and cheapest car.
Ok ... there are some problems that can appear, but i think this problems
can hit every car aroung

Maybe my comments are helpfully to you

Greets,

Alex

yes, you should, i think !


hi magne !

your questions are still fully answered now. but i would like to make some more advertising for that car:
i also bought my rx4 as a family-car. and i tell u - my both kids love our car like my wife and i do ! we've got the petrol engine and it's now nearly 140 tkm run, without (bigger) probs ! it's so comfortable and easy-handling like the "normal" scenic that we had before (ok - not so fast and calm), but it has it's advantages on winter-streets and that bad roads in eastern europe where i must go every year (and perhaps scandinavia ). and it looks much better also !

we never would like to have another car (except a porsche chayenne s perhaps )

greetings to norway
franky

Thanks for your respond!

I am well aware that it is very wrong to compare this vehicle with a Series Land Rover. I just wanted to mention what I compered with when I said the RX4 was a small car.

I am also well aware that this is not a real offroader. It is a Scenic with "something extra". But I think that is exactly what I am looking for.
Rigth now there are about 14 RX4 for sale in Norway. As you may understand this car is rather unusual here. The prices are from 200 to 270 000 Norwegian Kroner. (25-34000 ?). I guess this is a bit higher than i Germany (and any other place in the world), but that is the price for beeing Norwegian. Cars are very expencive here.

Anyone who has driven both the diesel and the petrol version?

The price is extrem. If i sell my RX4 sometimes i'll try to sell it in Norway
This price is higher than the normal price for a NEW RX4. You should
think about a import from Germany or somewhere else!

It will not help byuing the car (or any other car) abroad. When importing a car to Norway you have to pay taxes before you can register it. I can give an example. The taxation when importing a knew RX-4 with 2,0 petrol engine will be:
6500? (witgh tax)
5200? (Size of engine tax)
1600? (Power of engine tax)

Total 13300 ?

The taxes are redused for older cars. So if I wants to import a 2003mod RX-4, this will cost me around 10000? in tax.

So if I can get a 2003-RX-4, with not to many kilometres in for instance Germany for 10-15000?, that would pay of, and be a goud deal for me.

8O extreme .... i thought that the Finnish guys have the highest taxes

but THIS ... wow ... i'm speechless. I'm sympathize with you.

I'm looking forward to your decision and it would be nice to meet you
in Norway sometimes

Hi Magne:
Im Rod, from Spain, i tell you my guess, you decide...
I got the 2.0 gasoline RX4 since abouth two months, gps, doble sunroof, one year waranted, i got it for 11.000?.
After decided it, it tooks me a lot, i almost get a discovery from 97...
i choose the RX4 because is much more a car that a tractor...
So, is easy to move, ligther, faster on highway, cleaner, safer and newer that the 97 discovery...
Then i choose the gasoline instead of diesel, because of the almost 40 extra horsepower, and even when the fuel consumition is bigger than the diesel, i think is confortable to drive on long distances on highways, and with lateral winds for example (considering the altitude of the car).

When i tried the diesel, it likes me very much because of the engine provide a lot of power all the time and it makes the driving more confortable, also more noise.
I think this is better for offroad driving but with the gasoline engine you allmost never get to use te maximun of the engine so it will last longer.
The gas engine have a not so percise gearbox so is probably more unconfortable, but is much more softer, safe and easy to deal when you need to advance a slow truck.
and finally to my and the search of my car, the fact that the 1.9 turbodiesel engine is much more problematic that the 2.0 16 valv. gasoline engine, that they are still using for news renaults like the clios, laguna, etc...
Ok, i hope this help you on youre desition and feel free to asked me for any cuestion.
if you feel confortable with spanish visist our website www.rx4.es.vg
kind regards,
Rod