Help !!!

Evening all,i need a bit of advice as to what fronty to get,i like both swb/lwb's but think the lwb would suit my needs more,taking the dog up the woods,collecting the odd bale of hay etc but i also wanna have a pop at off-roading,it'll be used everyday for work and back and do the odd 300 mile journey,so i need something thats not a slug,not too horrendous on fuel but capable of tackling the muddy stuff,i'll have a budget of 500-750 quid so what one is best,Doris has already said about the 2.2 dti but that'll probably be out of my budget although if i could find one that needed bodywork that would be fine,cheers in advance.

I'll probably be bias here, but why not try the 2.5?
I have one (bias bit), and it is great on fuel for the size of the car. I'm getting a return of high 30s even 40 on a long run, driven in a proper manner.
Looked after, you will have a good car that will go anywhere. Every model has its ups and downs, but to be honest the 2.5 doesnt really have too much that goes wrong.
OK the number 1 injector has been known to cause limp mode problems, but touch wood, nothing like that has ever happened to mine.
Change the oil and filters on a regular basis and general checking, and you should be ok.
It does have a lot more in the way of electrics and there is no throttle cable as its all done by computer.
Have a look around the forum and chech out all the engines to see where all the problems seem to be.
The 2.5 replaced the 2.8 and has as much torque and power, it is a newer engine.
The biggest job I think ive seen done on them on this forum, is the head gasket. All engines have had these blowing, the only difference with the 2.5 is there are 4 seperate ones on one gasket.

cheers mate i like the sound of the 2.5 but head gaskets are my worse nightmare so sounds a bit scary to me,gotta say though i'm impressed with the economy figures though,pretty immpressive.

I am happy with my 2.3, but would be like to test drive a 2.5 or a 2.8.I would go for a diesel lwb. I am impressed with riflemans mpg which matches my 2.3 and you get more power it seems.Are you near any fog members? you could always get in contact to go and see their frontera.There are one or two members who have more than one frontera

Thanks for all tthe replys,i'm now going for a 2.5 lwb so once i getone i'll be posting up some pics,as for living near any fog members i'm not sure,anyone around the Bedford area?

Tom doesnt live too far away from bedford IIRC

Its only about 25 miles away, thats nearby in my book. I live in Wales, my nearest cinema is 25 miles away!

technically wouldnt bedford be part of east anglia ? them midlanders have got enough fogging members

Very popular in the midlands those fronteras.

Yep ya right mate,technically Bedford dos come under the Anglia region,its good to hear a couple of you are from Dunstable,might be calling on your local knowledge soon if thats ok for good off-roading places that are local,i've only lived here for 3 months after moving up from kent so totally new to everything around here.