7 Ridiculously Cheap Ways To Buy AWD

Owning a cheap AWD car at this time of year serves many purposes. There’s literally nothing better than tooling around on your wintry business in a car that will always get you where you’re going without you having to give a damn about it.

Fortunately, getting hold of a proper AWD system doesn’t have to cost much. It’s surprisingly cheap to buy the car, insure and tax it for three months, SORN it after the weather warms up and leave it in your garage or on your drive until next year. If you have a garage or drive, anyway. Let’s get started on our list of the cheapest ways to buy into AWD that absolutely could have been 100% Subarus but isn’t. Promise.

2001 Subaru Impreza

Okay, so it’s part Subarus. You’d have known that an Impreza was coming, so we’re getting it out of the way first. This one is a much frowned-upon non-turbo car, but who really needs a turbo when the grip coefficient is close to zero?

An asking price of just £495 buys you a small estate with a Sony DAB radio and a Momo steering wheel(!). It’s not going to be fast or efficient, and according to the advert you’ll pay less for the car than you will for a year’s road tax, but still…

2000 Land Rover Discovery II

A completely different idea is to get an old Discovery, like this burgundy beaut, at a modest asking price of £995. It has permanent AWD with the option to slot into low-range for really gnarly rough stuff. Famously popular with caravannists, it’s a proper machine. When it works. Which this one does… sort of.

The Active Cornering Enhancement (no, really) seems to be broken by the evidence of the freshly-appeared warning light on the dashboard, and it’s not alone. There are three others, making this something of a gamble. But if you’re a handy mechanic, maybe it’s a bargain project. Maybe.

1996 Subaru Justy 4x4

The Subaru Justy might look a bit… yeah… but as you might have seen lately, they’re actually amazingly handy off-road. This neglected little fella has only covered 50 miles since 2014, says the seller. It’s had a brand new battery and is, the advert says, cheap to insure, but since its MOT expires next month, the £995 price could do with coming down a bit.

It’s the familiar 1.3-litre petrol with a five-speed manual gearbox, on a 1996 P-plate. If you don’t need to tow and you don’t need a lot of space, this has surely got to be a hell of lot of fun when you take it away from the asphalt.

1999 Range Rover (P38)

Sorry; we know this is an avenue fraught with risks but we couldn’t resist. Haggle a bit and you’ll net this classy old chunk of British off-road history, complete with customary petrol V8 and automatic gearbox for about £900. Even better, despite the faintly horrifying 398g/km emissions, as a pre-2001 vehicle you get away with £235 annual tax.

This fully-leathered (check out the lovely contrasting piping!) pale beige beast looks fantastic. What’s the catch, you ask? Ah. Well, it starts and drives as it should, says the seller, but it has no MOT. You could be buying any number of horrifically expensive problems, but we can’t help wanting to take the gamble.

2003 Jaguar X-Type

Before the platform was massively revised in the mid-2000s, the X-Type V6 ran a traditional AWD system, splitting power between the axles. It was a more luxurious version of the Mondeo of the same vintage, so it was good to drive as well as being liberally splashed with cow and tree. For a mere £790 you can buy this early 2.5-litre car with some visible wear to the steering wheel, but really not a lot else to complain about.

It looks really clean, dent-free, the upholstery looks immaculate and it’ll do 140mph. This is a staggering amount of car for the money. It even has a full dealer history. Seriously, why aren’t you buying this right now?

1997 Toyota RAV4

The RAV4 always got a bit of a beating from the press and large parts of the public. It was seen as a bit soft and limp, like a forgotten rich tea biscuit post-dunk. But its permanent AWD setup meant that it was genuinely handy when grip levels dropped, and it had enough ground clearance to get away with it on the majority of green lanes.

This delicate green one wins points for its truly awful 1990s upholstery, but for just £595 you’re getting a superb winter beater with four driven wheels and pluck. It might not be the least camp car here, but you’re still getting a peerlessly dependable all-season car for your cash.

2002 Subaru Legacy Outback

Yep, we’re back to Subarus, but we’ve saved this for last because it might just be our favourite. This Legacy Outback has the 3.0-litre flat-six we know and love from a number of early-2000s Subarus, which is good for 207bhp and 130mph. As an estate with small wheels (read: cheap winter tyres), an ultra-reliable slushbox transmission and a characterful six-pot under the bonnet, there is literally everything to love. Even the 141,000-mile readout isn’t too worrying.

If you’ve not already looked at the price, brace yourself. For this trouble-free workhorse with almost a full 12-month MOT and a full service history you’ll pay just £520. Frankly, we wouldn’t even stoop to haggling over that. Someone please just give the man his money before one of us does.