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| Change of vehicle ponderings; Your thoughts, please | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Mar 1 2014, 05:06 PM (442 Views) | |
| belugabob | Mar 1 2014, 05:06 PM Post #1 |
Mudking
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As we have recently acquired a dog, we're thinking of changing cars, to allow us to accomodate the woofer as well as our camping gear (which only just fits into our current car) Looking at vehicles along the lines of...
Any suggestions for alternatives are welcome. We were thinking that we could fold all but one of the rear seats down, to give the dog somewhere to sit, the stack the camping gear up around her (so to speak) Cheers. |
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| Chadders | Mar 1 2014, 09:01 PM Post #2 |
Mud Connoisseur
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Avoid the Renault unless you fancy spending hours chasing earth faults through the electrical system. Tony had the same issue with his Megane too I believe. Depending on funds available and size of dog look at the Ford C Max or even the Volvo V50. Easily big enough for anything up to Springer size. |
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| belugabob | Mar 1 2014, 09:18 PM Post #3 |
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Mudking
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Chadders wins a spot prize - it is a Springer! Didn't think the CMax was big enough, but I'll have a look. Zafiras are cheap at the moment, but need to think about whether the deal is worth it. |
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| Ming the Merciless | Mar 1 2014, 09:54 PM Post #4 |
Overlord of all Known Sheds!
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Avoid the 1.6HDi engines used by Ford/Peugeot. It's very prone to blowing injector seals and lunching turbos! |
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| Jim | Mar 2 2014, 07:46 AM Post #5 |
If this was a combat situation, we'd be dead by now.
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We have a older zafira, hasn't missed a beat in the four years we've had it. I'd quite happily replace it with another. |
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| guy | Mar 2 2014, 08:41 AM Post #6 |
Mudking
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Depends really on your budget Bob and just how big a car you want....how big is the dog? dachshund or Great Dane? If you are going for nearly new then try the following: Ford Cmax 5 seater with a 1liter Ecoboost engine, actually pretty good on motorways and if you aren't doing silly milage the teeny petrol engine makes a lot of sense (its 125 bhp so not slow). 7 seater version looks a bit like a brick but has rear sliding doors that your dog will like  by the way, nobody seems to be buying the 7 seater so you might be be able to get a good discount on one. Downside....I helped design parts of it( not the brick-like bits)Previous gen Kuga is very good ( it's the previous C max underneath so its really an MPV dressed up as a 4x4) it's got a clever split tailgate and you can get as only 2wd as well. Has some Colborne design touches too...current Kuga is very big and looks worse ( didn't work on that one) Zafiras seem to be tough as nails and super practical, the only reason to avoid mk1s like Jim has is because I helped design quite a lot of it and was the second car I ever worked on so was still learning... Honda CR-V....again, very good reliable alternative to an MPV. The latest one is Mahoosive too...take on tractors and win! Peugeot 3008...looks like a slightly mad Gallic take on a 4x4... It has a head up display too. Other upsides mean that the french government supports Peugeot so effectively contributes money to your purchase. Downsides: its French. Lots of good mid-size estate cars around too, have a look at Hyundai i30s and Kia Cee'D wagons which are both very good, have 7year warranties, tend to come loaded with toys and are also cheaper than the opposition. If it was me these are what I would start with. Finally, if buying new: honda Civic 1.6 dtec estate...engine is better and far more fuel efficient than the one in my car. Biggest load bay in its class as well as the clever rear seats. Oh, and if the car doesn't come with a spare tyre and instead just has a can of tyre gloop and a compressors and think taht this is ok, understand that this wont work, especially if you hit a huge pothole just outside Handcross, please buy a space saver tyre. I speak from personal experience.... |
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| darth vader | Mar 3 2014, 06:49 PM Post #7 |
Mudking
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Guy are you trying to start a tyre thread? 
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| belugabob | Mar 3 2014, 07:05 PM Post #8 |
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Mudking
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LOL I know one thing - I now have a list of shonkily designed vehicles to avoid 
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| belugabob | Mar 3 2014, 08:33 PM Post #9 |
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Mudking
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Actually, I've just had a thought - shonklily designed car clocks that always run ten minutes late - wondered if anybody we know was involved in that
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| Dave le Trek | Mar 5 2014, 07:46 PM Post #10 |
Mud Lover
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Citroën Berlingo.....every time.... had one for 6 years from new...Never had a problem.......never dropped below 50mph best of luck Bob DLT |
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| belugabob | Mar 5 2014, 09:59 PM Post #11 |
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Mudking
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The Berlingo looks quite good value for money but, by the time you've chosen diesel engine, alloys etc, it soon jumps up quite considerably. It definitely has loads of room and neat storage compartments, but it's also a little bit too van-like for my tastes.
hmmm - you must have been very lucky with the traffic lights. ...and had access to one of these... 
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| Dave le Trek | Mar 14 2014, 07:18 PM Post #12 |
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Mud Lover
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Ha ha MPG.........doh!! Your refusal of the Berlingo leads me to think your concerned about your image Bob......why not try the Nissan? Cube....lol DLT...
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| belugabob | Mar 14 2014, 08:35 PM Post #13 |
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Mudking
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Nissan - a company determined to illustrate the full range of their capabilities, by producing the GT, the Skyline and the Micra :wacko: |
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| Dave le Trek | Mar 25 2014, 09:06 PM Post #14 |
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Mud Lover
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XC90 go on Bob......you know you want one DLT :ph43r: |
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| Bunnyflop | Mar 31 2014, 03:04 PM Post #15 |
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Mudking
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We loved our old zaffira, we like our new s-max. If you want practical its the zafira (you can pick up new old shape for £10k) but also look at the new shape which is a virtual copy of the smax. Haven't driven one as they were out of our budget, but could be worth a look as the interior quality has improved a lot. The smax is a lot sportier ride than the zafira, much wider, longer and heavier, but because the roof slops down at the back, has less effective storage space for us and although the seats fold down there is a rise which impacts on that roof height by 4" too. The smax is a nice looking car and cheaper on fuel too, which is weird considering how much bigger it is. I think if this was my money I'd be looking at the new style zafira or a CRV.... either way happy shopping New zafira: http://www.vauxhall.co.uk/vehicles/vauxhal...vate-buyer.html but this review doesn't rate it too highly http://www.whatcar.com/car-reviews/vauxhal...summary/26058-7 |
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| belugabob | Mar 31 2014, 08:21 PM Post #16 |
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Mudking
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Thanks for the feedback Lisa. Currently short-listed to Zafira & Smax Zafira is proving tricky to test drive at the moment (our local dealers apparently have enough business without me contributing to the pot) Smax would have to be later than 2012, to avoid earlier model issues with steering racks. Still looking into the various options. |
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| steveonstumpy | Apr 6 2014, 07:22 PM Post #17 |
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Fairly Muddied
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All due respect to the Beluga bike Sir, however if I had your budget I would purchase this... http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=151258586366 And then I would procure a much, much cheaper car thingy. Its a no brainer to me :lol: :lol: :lol: |
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| belugabob | Apr 6 2014, 07:47 PM Post #18 |
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Mudking
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One of us is still delerious from Saturday's ride, as I'm not sure what your message means :wacko: |
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| steveonstumpy | Apr 8 2014, 06:38 PM Post #19 |
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Fairly Muddied
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Hoping edited post clarifies :lol: |
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| belugabob | Apr 8 2014, 07:05 PM Post #20 |
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Mudking
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Ah - I see now... Was thinking of getting a vehicle big enough to use as a bike shed, then I can buy a few more bikes
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