Which vehicle to buy to ferry my steed?

steviemidnight

I'm presently sticking the bike in the back of the car and well i would prefer to get a cheap van or people carrier.

i've seen all types being used at numerous venus, vans, people carriers etc. Any recomendations for a cheap afforadable motor to stick a few mtbs in and carry some peeps? tools and a portable pressure washer in.

97th choice

Fiat doblo, 5/7 seats, sliding doors and 55mpg. cheap too. Massive rear door that you can stand under when it's raining

Butt ugly, but amazingly practical.

steviemidnight

dam thats one ugly van but as you mentioned fits the bill with regards to practicallity

thanks for the suggestion i'd not even seen one till now

diy

Landrover Defender in a 110 but the 90 is great too.

You can then leave the jet washer at home.

andysol

Any car is ok but always remember that the value of the bike must exceed the value of the car.

Its the rules

Andy

bigpee

I got a very ugly Renault Scenic people carrier for £650 earlier in the year. It has terrible MPG but with the seats always down / removed my bike goes in with only the front wheel off, and there is loads of room for tools etc. Works for me .

bluechair84

why? it's cheaper to get a bike rack. Then you can have a car that is... well... not a van. you can keep the vehicle clean by having them outside. Unless you want to keep them in for safety whilst in a B&B, but people break into vans for bricks and blunt old screwdrivers - I think they'd be extra incentivised with a three nice rigs in there.

My 407 has taken four people and three bikes before. To France. Sorted.

jon1993

new shape corsa with the bike rack built into the car - behind the redge plate?
if not maybe merc mito van maybe lol

jon1993

i see his point of view bike racks are so annoying putting them on and off scratching all the back of the car and spending 5/10 mins putting it on ect and always worrying about it coming off ect when straps losen.

bluechair84

Toe bar mounted rack solves all.

bearfraser

Camel TOE :?:

The Rookie

Zafira, cheap, reasonably economical and take a bike standing up complete.

Better still, a TOW bar mounted rack.

Simon

steviemidnight

i've had bike racks but i spend far too much time looking at my bike in the mirrors, worrying that it will slip or move. Plus i've scratched the car several times, pedals moving or you have them in the wrong place, clips swinging about.

tow bar racks do sound the best however that still leads me with the need for a new motor.

thanks all I've certainly got some ideas that i wouldn't have necessarily looked at

Northwind

Putting the bike inside is better... No impact on fuel economy, can't fall off, no need to buy expensive racks, and no worrying if you're bike's being stolen (I met a chap at Glentress once who'd had a bike stolen off his toeball-mounted rack while stuck in traffic!)

Any decent size estate will take bikes easily... Focus is a good one, not a big car but it has a bigger boot than most larger cars, with the seats down I can get my downhill bike in without even taking the front wheel off, just ride up and throw it in. Astra too. Or Mondeo if you want to go a bit bigger, ideally with the 130 TDCI in it I reckon.

Watch out for- wheelarches that stick in, seats that don't fold flat, low roofs, and boot lips that stick up. Especially the last! It's a moronic thing to do to an estate tbh.

It's surprising how different capacity can be... When my Focus was broken I hired a Toyota Avensis estate to go up to fort william, and getting my 2 bikes and kit into the back was a nightmare, ended up moving a load of stuff into the passenger's seat. But the Avensis is a wider, longer, taller car than the Focus, it just makes poor use of all that space. Same for the V40 etc.

Having said all these nice things about Foci, I'm trying to sell mine. Want to buy a Focus? £1200, Edinburgh area, 115000 miles and going strong.

nation

bigpee wrote:

I got a very ugly Renault Scenic people carrier for £650 earlier in the year. It has terrible MPG but with the seats always down / removed my bike goes in with only the front wheel off, and there is loads of room for tools etc. Works for me .

Got a Scenic as well. The ability to take the seats out completely and have a massive, flat, floor is fantastic. The back is big enough that in Wales earlier in the year I finished my ride in the pissing rain, got the bike in the back (standing up with front wheel off, bungeed to the passenger grab handle and a couple of other places) and there was enough room left in the back to be able to climb in and change in the dry for the drive back.

d3matt

I've got a Kia Ceed SW and I can put my bike in the back without taking off the wheel.
They've got the largest load capacity of any car in it's class at 1664 litres - 64 litres more than a Volvo V70!
You can used ones which are still under the original 7 year warranty (as long as it's not exceeded 100,000 miles).

But as others have said, a towbar and a towbar mounted rack is the easiest solution and cheaper than changing your car.
I've got one....

trebor127

roof bar mounted carrier :twisted:

Brighty

I recently bought a 1998 volvo v70 T5 for £900, 2.4l turbo petrol with 240bhp, such fun, oh and bikes fit in it too

Brighty

pilch

I bought an old ford galaxy from a friend of a friend as an inbetween(er) car, cost me £125 and would fit 4 bikes & 4 people (at a push), rough as a badger's and noisey, but it lasted 6 months, I had many bike trips in it and I eventually sold it for scrap for £150.

jacksonrj

Porsche 911

Probably the most versatile vehicle out there!

Plus it will get you to the trail before anyone else.

d3matt

Take your pick.

shoddy

I have a Skoda Roomster. Very good.

Northwind

jacksonrj wrote:

Porsche 911
Probably the most versatile vehicle out there!

Would it not be better to go for a roof mount? That way when you drive it backwards through a hedge the bikes are less likely to be damaged.

jacksonrj

Northwind wrote:

jacksonrj wrote:

Porsche 911
Probably the most versatile vehicle out there!

Would it not be better to go for a roof mount? That way when you drive it backwards through a hedge the bikes are less likely to be damaged.

lol

May be I should put the Orange on the back to protect the car?

Seriously, drive them badly and they are like any car regards ending up in a hedge back. It's really a myth which came about in the 80's when a few banking spivs were buying and crashing them. But they really stick to the road like glue.

The pre 98 air cooled verions are simply the best (affordable) cars ever made. 30 years of evolution plus the quality german engineering 8)

add595

Brighty wrote:

I recently bought a 1998 volvo v70 T5 for £900, 2.4l turbo petrol with 240bhp, such fun, oh and bikes fit in it too

Brighty

+1 for this!

I've had my '99 V70 T5 for just over a year and it is ideal.

Handles like a bag of potato's, but still great fun and it can fit in 3 bikes and 3 people (including me) without too much fuss.

Northwind

jacksonrj wrote:

The pre 98 air cooled verions are simply the best (affordable) cars ever made. 30 years of evolution plus the quality german engineering 8)

Just googling around and I think the one i had a go in was a 964... It was a total heap tbh but still amazing to drive. Then I got back in my diesel Focus and part of my soul refused to get in with me

jacksonrj

Yes Im with you there. They are very adictable cars. The one i had in the pic is a 964. Agree though there are a lot of rough ones out there and buying one can be a minefield

Wayupnorth

Elderly Nissan xtrail, diesel. Big spacious box on 4wd and reliable at high miles. Ace sunroof too!

hoots

Citroen Berlingo or Renault Kangoo. I've got a Kangoo and mate has a Berlingo, both diesels and on a mixed Mway/A road journey, it's easy to get 50+mpg. The running gear on 'em is all van based, so designed to take a hammering. Obviously, you're not gonna get the same levels of comfort and ride quality as something like a 'normal' estate car from Ford/VW etc., but the car versions are loads better than the vans. There's also the look of the things (er...if that bothers you remotely?!!) - if you can get a decent secondhander, they're also normally a bit better looked after than commercial vans.

I'm on my second Kangoo, first one was bought as a cheap import and I kept it 5 years. and I've had the current diesel one nearly 6 years. You can get internal bike mounts from Renault for about £20 - then it's just the case of drop the front wheel out, stick the bike in and clamp the fork in the mount and secure the frame with a ratchet strap (takes less than a minute!) The standard mounts only fit QR forks, but you can get 20 and 15mm adapters. Obviously, you have to fold the seat back down to get the bike in upright.

Reliability wise, the only thing that went wrong on the first one was an anti-roll bar drop link snapped - £40 to fix. We've had a couple of busted suspension springs and drop link on the current one, and mate has had a spring go on his 8 year old Berlingo - but given the s**t roads around here, that's good!!

In my experience of several French cars, once the extraneous bits of trim drop or break off, you're left with mechanically tough and reliable cars. If you're paying a reasonable amount for the car, I'd recommend getting an RAC/AA inspection though. Anyway, if you want any further advice on what to look for when buying a 2nd hand Kangoo, just drop me a PM.

campbellrae1

I've got a Saab 9-5 estate just now and can't believe how massive the boot is. With the seats folded down can easily take my 61cm road bike with both wheels still on, and I've even used it as a bed after a night out no problem, 6 foot 5 and could still lie flat! lol. Can pick up a high miles example for £1500! Mines got the best part of 150,000 on the clock and still going strong, haven't had a mechanical since I got it at 90,000!

Half decent economy in the diesel engines as well, 45-50 mpg on most mixed drives.

d3matt

campbellrae1 wrote:

I've got a Saab 9-5 estate just now and can't believe how massive the boot is.

I used to have one of these. They have ginormous boots. Our was a 2.3T petrol and only averaged about 22mpg and even though 130k miles isn't much for one, it was at the point were we were having to spend a lot on it as bushes were wearing out. With this and the fuel costs, it's why I got a new Kia Ceed SW. Now I get around 50mpg, no road tax for the first year and my first annual service was only £99+VAT. The saving is huge.
I do this the performance of the Saab sometimes though. It really shifted when in Sport mode.