[aus_marty]

Hi guys after some advice.
We currently have a 2003 Grand Vitara XL7 with 160,000km and want to get into some 4 wheel driving, easy to moderate trails and beaches.
The car is standard so lacks height and grip.

Question is do we spend money lifting, fitting lockers/slippery taller tyres or sell and buy something better suited and hopefully with the gear already fitted?

[Gwagensteve]

That very much depends on where you want to take the car and/or what other cars you're driving with (because you should never go 4WDing alone) Whilst you can add some suspension height and increase grip, lockers aren't necessarily all that easy for an XL-7 was depending on year they used different parts to a normal grand vitara. The amount of suspension lift you can add isn't substantial and the ramp over angle and departure angles will be a limitation.

I'd probably look for something better suited.

[aus_marty]

Suggestions of car and year?
Will be a daily driver as well.
Jimny is probably on the small size.
Want enough space to go camping, fishing.

[Gwagensteve]

Impossible to say without much more information. Probably something like a pajero or prado would make sense.

[TC.Barky]

Depends how challenging you want to go. If you're just doing easy stuff you'll find you may not need a lift. Decent set of tyres and careful driving with a steady throttle will get you plenty of places in stock form, especially on the beach. If you want to play in mud bogs or do tracks with rock steps that's when you'll need to start looking at mods/other options. Have been on a couple trips where someone has taken a more or less stock grand vitara (later model with BFG A/T, but still) and it was ok in the VHC on the more mainstream tracks and performed pretty well at Fraser, just needed to take it easy on the inland tracks on Fraser due to clearance but was fine on the beach (nice and light).

My suggestion if you're not looking to do anything crazy (at least initially) before you start throwing money around is give it a go with someone sensible who knows the area you're looking at and can tailor a trip to your car and see how you go. You'll find out pretty quickly if the car doesn't fit what you need (just don't overcommit if you aren't sure!)

As above, Paj or Prado is probably a good starting point if you want to upgrade and stick to a wagon body but you've not really given much info to work with (vague price, what area you're in etc) if you want specifics for year etc.

[Gwagensteve]

I think one of the problems with the XL-7 without a lift is the long wheelbase tends to make them drag on the crown when the car is in ruts on undulating terrain. (i.e in sand)

Good advice though TC.Barky.