We now own a farm house up in the East Lancashire Pennines and after the recent snow we realise that a 4 wheel drive vehicle could be a neccesity on occasions. We have just over 1/4 mile of track to meet the lane and that is not a public adopted road even then. As we don't really know what we want I thought it would be useful to have some advice and I have noticed that there are some Mudcatters who seem to have quite a bit of knowledge in this area!
Ill be travelling 50 miles each way to work (mainly motorway) so it's probably best to keep my car at the bottom of the hill in bad weather and use the 4x4 to get up and down the last mile and a half, but on the other hand it might be OK to use the 4x4 to go to work in on occasions.
It would be useful to have something that could tow a horsebox type trailer, but not a total necessity.
It has to start first time and it might not have been used for a couple of months.
I have heard from a breakdown vehicle driver that he has to deal with quite a lot of electrical breakdowns on newer Land Rovers.
I don't really want to spend more than about £2000.
I'm not looking to go for cross-country sport, but it might be useful to be able to get around my 9 acres of field (not too steep but with natural drainage channels in).
Old style Land Rovers look good and rugged, but can't be so nice on the motorway, and Anne has hip problems so power steering would be better for her.
Discoverys seem to be available cheap but are they as good as an old style Land Rover off road? Can you mount a winch on them (just in case I do something stupid and get it stuck)?
As you can see, I'm just beginning to find out about the subject and I'm having difficulty finding useful unbiased information on the subject.
Any help gratefully received.

Robin Madge