Advice on speccing a budget and then a barge

shroomz

shroomz

shroomz

Associate
Joined
18 Feb 2010
Posts
2,322
Location
Glasgow, UK
Hey folks,

I'm not looking to buy a car anytime soon (hopefully) as the 307 I have at the moment, while not ideal in many ways, is still alive. However, when it eventually does die or I save enough, I will upgrade.

What do I know I need?
- Enough room in the back to stick a sleeping bag and kit (first and foremost). I'm 5'8" tall and would like to be able to actually sleep comfortably when I go away. If there are seats, it'd be really great if they fold flat.

- Secure roof rack mounting, either bolt holes or actual rails for the kayaks I take with me most weekends, not like the rubber pad + door-frame hook on the Mk. 5 Golf...

- Reasonably comfortable. At the moment, I live 30 miles from my office so I've got a commute plus weekend adventures. Judging from what I've been doing recently, I would say I do about 25,000-30,000 miles per year. I will probably move closer to work in the next few months and cut the commute out completely, dropping that mileage to about 15,000 miles, mainly on motorways and country roads with very little city driving. If I can have some creature comforts like cruise control, that'd be great but as I said, I'm driving a 307 at the moment and it's "ok".

- Cheap(ish). I'm trying to keep the amount I actually spend on fuel, maintenance and actual purchase down.

- Reliable. I'm often miles and miles away from civilisation so having something unexpectedly break would suck. I'd also like it to be able to survive driving to the Alps.


I'm trying to decide on a reasonable budget to work with but so far it seems pretty appealing to either get an older Mondeo estate or a van because Mondeo's are cheap and reliable, while a van could then easily be made into a camper. Both could be quite happily driven for years and years and I wouldn't feel bad about the inevitable scrapes from loading/unloading and generally driving on country roads. It's one of those "how long is a piece of string" questions but can you give some advice to help choose 1. how much money I should actually be thinking about spending 2. narrow some options down. Lastly, is there anything I'm overlooking?
 
4-5k mondeo would do you fine.

Cheap car, spacious and perfectly fine on clear mountain roads. Being a midget a 5'8 you could have a family in there ;) A set of snow chains and the usual gubbins will see you right with the law.
 
I know this sounds like an odd ball suggestion but I'd go for putting £1500 towards the best Jeep Cherokee XJ out there and an LPG system.

4.0 litre engine in them are easy and cheap to work on and very reliable despite the age. It'll do the sleeping in the back thing as its like a small van with the seats down and roof rack is no problem. The LPG will make the 25mpg on the motorway seem bearable and it comes with cruise, leather, auto, electric seats etc. It drives like a comfy, wallowy sofa on road and capable off road for your jaunts.
 
BigT said:
I know this sounds like an odd ball suggestion but I'd go for putting £1500 towards the best Jeep Cherokee XJ out there and an LPG system.

4.0 litre engine in them are easy and cheap to work on and very reliable despite the age. It'll do the sleeping in the back thing as its like a small van with the seats down and roof rack is no problem. The LPG will make the 25mpg on the motorway seem bearable and it comes with cruise, leather, auto, electric seats etc. It drives like a comfy, wallowy sofa on road and capable off road for your jaunts.
Click to expand...

Had a look, seems fun, I guess the fact that they should cost about a grand offsets the impressive fuel economy?
 
BigT said:
I know this sounds like an odd ball suggestion but I'd go for putting £1500 towards the best Jeep Cherokee XJ out there and an LPG system.

4.0 litre engine in them are easy and cheap to work on and very reliable despite the age. It'll do the sleeping in the back thing as its like a small van with the seats down and roof rack is no problem. The LPG will make the 25mpg on the motorway seem bearable and it comes with cruise, leather, auto, electric seats etc. It drives like a comfy, wallowy sofa on road and capable off road for your jaunts.
Click to expand...

Good shout, but you won't get 25MPG on LPG out of one of those, even on a run. 20 should be achievable though, and when you consider LPG is half the cost of petrol that's still decent economy.

The only negatives of having a car like that on LPG is that you need to live close to an LPG station, and not mind spending what feels like your entire life there - although it's great that filling the tank only costs £30-£40, you'll be filling it up an awful lot. :p
 
I recently picked up a 2000 plate Jeep Grand Cherokee and absolutely love it. I needed something with a lot of space and comfort, and it has been reliable so far touch wood.

The one I picked up comes with the 4.7 litre V8 and it cost all of £650, perfect condition and 124k mile on the clock. The main thing to be aware of with these is the mpg, which might make you want to sit in a corner and cry.

That said, I don't regret my purchase. :)
 
Bromhead said:
The main thing to be aware of with these is the mpg, which might make you want to sit in a corner and cry.

That said, I don't regret my purchase. :)
Click to expand...

My old Man had one of these, lovey car, but the economy, these are not built for economy, and that is putting it lightly ahah :D
 
mattyfez said:
My old Man had one of these, lovey car, but the economy, these are not built for economy, and that is putting it lightly ahah :D
Click to expand...

Yeah if I had it as a second car, I could live with it but if I had to commute :eek:. Pretty sure I'd be sitting in a corner and crying for real.
 
I didn't include it in my original post but I get a lovely 16.2 mpg hah. Luckily my round trip is 6 miles in total for work.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom