As winter is now closing in fast, thoughts inevitably turn to the rigours of winter driving – those longer nights with the earlier onset of full darkness, bright oncoming headlights dazzling you in country lanes, the slippery road conditions and the colder weather. It’s not the best time of year to be a motorist, that’s for sure.
Luckily, we’ve come up with a few vehicles that are well equipped to get through the miserable winter months, so here are five of our favourites for you to choose from.
Dacia Duster 4WD
In the previous, second-generation of Duster (2017-2024), Dacia fitted its compact SUV with four-wheel drive for the 115hp dCi turbodiesel model. This makes it your budget option for a winter hack: what you get here is a reasonably new, low-mileage machine, which is good to drive, generously specified and likeable, and not only that but you can pick a good one up for less than €20,000 if you search carefully. And yet, if you sling a set of dedicated winter tyres on it, the Duster will get you to where you want to go, no matter how hostile the conditions become. These things are surprisingly adept in the rough stuff.
Defender
Going to the other end of the scale, a quality used Defender is going to be the star of the winter show if you want a luxe-SUV. It might have been gentrified post-2020, when it went from being the rudimentary original Land Rover Defender into the high-end piece of kit it is now, but it still has all the unstoppable off-road prowess that you’d expect of ‘the best 4x4 by far’. Even in the worst of the Irish winter weather, the Defender will take it all easily in its stride.
Polestar 3
If you’re looking to combine winter-beating, four-wheel-drive capabilities with zero-emission tailpipe nasties, then one of the best EVs for the job is Polestar’s mid-range 3 SUV. Bearing in mind that the P3 comes from Sweden, a country noted for some of the harshest winters on Earth, you’d expect this electric wagon to cope well in the cold – and it does. Choose one of the dual-motor variants for maximum traction and control in slippery conditions, and then also revel in the glory of its sumptuous seats, complete with powerful heater elements to keep you toasty warm, even when the worst weather going is lashing at the outside of the vehicle.
Toyota Land Cruiser
There’s a reason Australians who live in the hostile Outback choose the Toyota Land Cruiser: out there, in those savage conditions, if you break down, you die. Now, while the Outback is clearly scorching hot and not comparable to the depths of a County Galway winter, that dependability in extreme circumstances is still going to be of immense use to an Irish driver whose regularly on the road through the darker months. Choose an older, used Land Cruiser for an affordable winter beater, but the current model – launched in late 2024 – brings a huge dollop of kerb appeal to the legendary Toyota, so you can look good as you’re plugging through the floodwaters and mud-clagged rural lanes.
Kia Sorento 4WD
For those who need to move big families around safely in the wintry conditions, look no further than the seven-seat Kia Sorento. The old Mk3, built until 2020, would make a fine value used choice with its strong 2.2-litre turbodiesel engine, but the current Mk4 is even better still – albeit a bit pricier. Choose a pre-facelift version or the latest style and the Sorento looks good on the outside, and better still the 4WD system from Kia is paired to a versatile plug-in-hybrid (PHEV) system in the latest Sorento, so you get a seriously multitalented car that should breeze you through the worst of the winter months with no problems at all.