On 09/02/2012 16:20, thirty-six wrote:

Hmm is there any of these oil/gas suspended motor-carriages with 4wd
for off-road capability (and zi;pping out from slippy negative camber
corners) and a gutsy engine.

BX GTI 4x4, but the 4wd was fragile and you'll really struggle to find
one these days.

Or there's the BX 4TC, but that's a proper racing car and most were
scrapped by the factory after they didn't do well enough, so unless
you've insanely rich you'll not get one.

Actually the biggest hurdle is a local
"road" with potholes every 30' of tyre swallowing size. It's a 10mph
job with fogs and dips on in the dark just to plot a course to avoid
the worst. It's a private road yet the corporation have numerous
properties adjoining it. There's a detour around good roads which
takes as long but with better suspension I can use the potholed road a
bit quicker (at least by day).

Sounds like what you mostly need is a car you don't mind wrecking.

In the 90s, a friend with a mid-80s VW Passat followed some 4wd people
up a track in the mendips one day. They got to the top and were slightly
surprised to see a normal-looking car with them. They asked "What's that
then?". "It's an automatic".

(that car body and gear box were fine - pity about the exploding engines)