Best city friendly, off road suspension upgrade?

[BiGs]

First up, G'day. Ben Here. First post.

I've been helping my sister purchase a new car of late and we have recently purchased a 2009 LV Focus diesel.

But first some history leading up to this purchase. We have lived on a 300 acre property 100km north west of Sydney for about 17 years now. The property has a 1.2km private driveway with another 3.5km of unsealed state forest roads to get to the main tarmac road. These dirt roads are very harsh on vehicles. Very accessible by 2wd, just very rough, specially at speed. Corrugation is bad on one part, water ruts on another part gets bad the few months before a grade and after a lot of rain.

To begin with we had a brand new 1996 Rav4 which went through 5 front and 2 rear suspension replacements during its 3 year warranty and also a couple engine mounts. Since then, a Hilux, Holden Barina, Toyota Camry, Mitsubishi Magna, a Great Wall SUV, a Suzuki Jimny and Holden Colerado. All the small SUV had a similar fate at the Rav4. The (purchased new) 2006 Jimny being the most effected, now sitting in a wrecking yard, barely clocking over 100kkm. Great Wall had all but one engine mount break (caused from failed struts) which eventually caused a major gearbox problem recently discovered and cost $5000 to fix, it was then sold off. The camry and magna held up ok, both had aftermarket struts put in once and the magna is still running today along these roads. The Colorado and Hilux have run flawlessly through this punishment and have had no ill effects whatsoever. Hilux purchased new in 2000 has had the longest proving record.

One thing I've noticed in all of this is that the supposedly (city) 4wds have clearly had the most trouble with the roads, they are also expensive to buy, fuel and upkeep in every way.

So with my sister needing a new car I thought I would sit down and plan the next purchase with all this in mind. We want a small car, hatchback is plenty, diesel would be a bonus, but most importantly upgradable suspension gear specifically designed for these rough roads. At first we looked at the Hyundai i30 but after a ring around, discovered no one does any after market shocks for them. Looked at some Subarus, but they are pretty much in the same cost category as a small SUV, only the newest models were diesel and were out of the budget anyway.

I soon discovered that the focus came in diesel. Being in Australian, Europeon and world rally events and having the XR5 model distributed in Australia I figured that there must be a pretty high aftermarket suspension demand and availability for this vehicle, so we decided on this car and went and purchased one. Also, in addition to our roads, my sister's work is down another 3km (each way) of even rougher private dirt roads.

I have got some contacts of suspension places that are 'friends of friends' etc but before I approach a business with a single bias opinion, about to get a sale, I thought I would post in the local forums first and see if I can get a consensus of mostly non bias opinions and make a decision off that.

So I ask for advice on suspension upgrade in this regard. What extra height can safely be achieved using the stock arms/CV gear? Can you recommend a brand of adjustable coilovers and/or a business (or site sponsor) in Sydney/Newcastle that has had focus handling mod experience that you would recommend? I would be interested in strut tower bracing and general chassis stiffening as well (sway bars, harder bushes etc).

Thanks ahead for you help.
Best regards,
Ben