hi there looking to get in to 4wding and been tossing up between a sj413/samurai and a escudo/vitara. It will be a dedicated off road car which i will modifiying over the next year but still needs to be road legal.
from previous experience what would u guys recommend? at the moment im leaning towards the vitara, as im from new zealand vitaras go for around the same or less than the sj413s.

Vitara:
newer interior less ks, more reliable, easier to keep road legal eg less rust than a sj413, bigger engine, better suspension set up coils.

sj413:
Lighter weight, cheaper more readily available parts, more potential once modified?? prices i find abit steep for the age of these cars as becoming harder an dharder to find.

some ive been looking at: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=135335416

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=135778786

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/Cars/Suzuki/auction-134938803.htm
 
any thoughts/ideas/opinions would be great!

There are a lot of discussions on the Samurai VS Tracker/Sidekick on here.  I think the general answer is "What can you get that is affordable?"

Is it going to be trailered or street driven?  Are you looking for more of an adventure build or rock buggy?  31" or 35" tires?

The Vitara/Sidekick/Tracker can be just as trail worthy as the SJ-413.  There is just a bit more body to be smashed up. 

The SJ has a lot more gearing options available with the transfer case, but if you don't need crawler gears and plan on doing an axle swap anyway, the Vitara is very easy to put a solid front axle under due to the true frame underneath it.

yes its going to be street driven too/from trips but a weeknd car not daily driver. more adventure buggy but will probably be going 31"+ tyres and a decent suspension set up. what kind of axles would u reccomend using for the front, would it benefit much upgrading the rears?

If you want to put a solid axle under the front end of a Vitara, I would go with a Toyota axle if you can find one.  A Sammy axle with fit without an issue though.  As for the benefit of upgrading both axles, it is just added strength and ease of finding gears.  With a Toyota axle front and rear you can easily match up your hardware to make sure the gears are the same.  That and you can find factory E-Lockers for them. 

For an adventure build I would probably go with a Vitara rather then a Samurai, unless you want to spend the extra time on the Samurai and do an engine swap.  The extra power for driving around from the 1.6 instead of the 1.3 is just to nice on the highway.  And if you are just looking to run 31" tires at first the standard 2+3 build (2" spacers, 3" body lift) is enough to get you going.  If you have an automatic Vitara then you just need the 5.12 gears from a Manual transmission and you have your gearing closer to stock.  Quick, easy, and will go almost anywhere you point it.