Another "What car should I get" thread

[redsturgeon]

OK a bit of backround, I have run new cars on the company for me a Mrs RS for the last decade, buy a car, run it for a couple of years or more, depending on how we get on with it, then rinse and repeat.

Because of the punitive BIK taxes for company cars we have decided that going hybrid/PHEV/ electric is the way forward and last year got rid of the expensive (in BIK terms) Range Rover for a BMW PHEV, this has worked very well. Mrs RS had run a Lexus CT200h for nearly five years and she loved it, which is why we kept it so long, but now that has been sold and I have had a rethink.

We have the nearly new "posh" BMW which is great for 100% electric use around town and also very comfortable for long run up the motorway on business. What it is not good for (or what I'd rather not use it for) is trips to the dump with a boot full of garden waste, taking the dog in the back for a walk, stick my muddy mountain bike in the back or bringing the lad back from a wet and muddy game of golf.

We need a big clear out at home, about four shedfulls of stuff and a garage full of junk that all needs sorting and variously dumped freecycled or sold. We are then having a major extension built on the back of the house and I intend to project mange, hire trades and generally keep the site clean and tidy.

I thought an old pick up truck would be the ideal vehicle for this and started looking at what was available. What a shock! These pick up cost a mint even when old and knackered. A decade old workhorse with over 150000 miles on for £5000, complete with worn and grubby interior and dents and scrapes seems the norm. I have no desire to spend more like the £10k required to get anything semi decent. Also they are of course all diesel so I am not sure if they will be happy with the many short runs I would want it for.

Lateral thinking has led me to the world of big, petrol engined SUVs. Looking at Merc MLs, Range Rovers has shown that much better value is to be had there. £4k or £5k buys you a lot more SUV than pick up truck. Of course I have no desire to buy into a money pit and having owned an ML and being aware of Range Rover's reputation I am concerned about repair bills.

Enter the Lexus RX300! After our very positive five years and 70k miles with a Lexus (never missed a beat) I am happy that these cars are built well and I can get something about ten years old with less then 100k miles for about 4k. Some nice "one owner from new" one too! They have thirsty but pretty low stressed 3 litre V6s, lots of leather and nice toys and are big enough to chuck a lot of stuff in the back. The fuel consumption doesn't really worry me since I'll be doing perhaps 5k miles a year and I'd probably just run it until it dies...I'm sure the engines are good for 200K so it could outlive me!

So that's my plan, I welcome any thoughts. Any other ideas, perhaps an old Landy Defender but those go for silly money.

John

[Clariman]

John

I feel ill-equipped to help - because I completely incapable for making my own car decisions at the moment. Best of luck though!

Clariman

[tea42]

A Defender truck because it's likely to appreciate not depreciate.

[BT63]

A few years ago, when the Zafira B was phased out, dealers were offering new ones for £10-11k with 10yr/100k warranty (whatever that means).
So we bought a 1.8-litre petrol Zafira B and it does a good job of impersonating small vans, small minibuses or large-booted family cars depending on how we arrange the seats.

Given the low cost (half that of a new VW Touran) our view was that we could buy a replacement in six years if we still needed the space and it would still total up to no higher cost of ownership than a single VW over a twelve-year period.
Also being low value means we don't fret about car park dinks from trolleys, opening car doors, scratches from handbag buckles, low-speed scrapes and bumps by other cars, kids vomit or spillages on the seats. In the few years we've had it, due to the type of usage it gets, it has suffered all the aforementioned minor bumps, scrapes and spillages.

High-30s mpg in mixed driving. Fast? No. Adequate? Yes.

[Clariman]

John

I feel ill-equipped to help - because I completely incapable for making my own car decisions at the moment. Best of luck though!

Clariman

I'm also completely incapable of writing a proper sentence too, so it would seem.

[redsturgeon]

John

I feel ill-equipped to help - because I completely incapable for making my own car decisions at the moment. Best of luck though!

Clariman

I'm also completely incapable of writing a proper sentence too, so it would seem.

LOL

Are you going for the Volvo then?

John

[Clariman]

Are you going for the Volvo then?
John

It is certainly the best deal of the cars that I would have considered initially - S60, A4, Passat. Will look at the Mazda 6 before making any final decision. May look at the Avensis. I need to test drive the S60 with a petrol engine which is turning out to be a challenge. I'm in no rush though.
C

[bungeejumper]

Lexus sounds like a good plan. And maybe a trailer would be worth considering as well if you're really going to be shifting a lot of heavy stuff? Just make sure that it doesn't have a double axle, which some dumps (sorry, errr, community recycling facilities) classify as a trade vehicle, meaning that they won't let you in without a paid-for trade licence.

I think the rules vary from county to county, though, so it would be no bad thing to find out first. I've even heard that some authorities classify a crew-cab as a builder's truck and charge/refuse non-trade access accordingly. A bit of DYOR goes a long way. Just sayin'.

BJ

[poundcoin]

<drool> would love to be able to run a Lexus RX but doubt I could even afford to replace a tyre nevermind anything mechanical .
Another droolmobile "beast" used to be the rarely seen Nissan Murano . Hardly see any down here in the "sticks".
A few here but certain models attract the higher £500 tax.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search? ... ars&page=2

[Gaggsy]

I can get something about ten years old with less then 100k miles for about 4k.

Alternatively, save yourself the trips to the dump. You could buy 143 Hipposkips for your £4,000.
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Hipposkip/p/220 ... lsrc=aw.ds

[redsturgeon]

I can get something about ten years old with less then 100k miles for about 4k.

Alternatively, save yourself the trips to the dump. You could buy 143 Hipposkips for your £4,000.
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Hipposkip/p/220 ... lsrc=aw.ds

Liking the lateral thinking...but you can't drive very far in a hippo bag.

Also, at £209 for bag and collection I make that under 20 bags!

John

[jonthetourist]

You might want to check out Irish cars. Since they introduced a huge annual road tax for anything over 3 litres the price of of older vehicles has fallen through the floor. I picked up a very nice Lexus LS430 from a very motivated seller in Dublin.

Jon

[Dod1010]

No idea what is available nowadays but in the days when I had room for it, I used an old Passat Estate for just what you are contemplating. It would go on forever and I gave it up only when I moved to my current place where I do not have room to keep it out of sight!

Dod

[Mike88]

If your intention is to buy a vehicle suitable for carrying loads to the tip I wouldn't bother. There are plenty of man and lorry people around who will do the job for you at a fraction of the cost of a vehicle suitable for this purpose. If you want to hump the stuff yourself a few skips will suffice although, from experience, skips tend to be more expensive than the man and lorry alternative.

Whatever you buy, piling a vehicle with junk is bound to cause damage such as scratched and soiled upholstery so save yourself money and buy a small runaround for your other around town trips?

[bungeejumper]

Whatever you buy, piling a vehicle with junk is bound to cause damage such as scratched and soiled upholstery so save yourself money and buy a small runaround for your other around town trips?

Between you and me, I think the OP's opening post suggests that he's got those bases already covered. And his needs ("a big clear out at home, about four shedfulls of stuff and a garage full of junk that all needs sorting and variously dumped freecycled or sold... a major extension ... to project manage, hire trades and generally keep the site clean and tidy") suggest that a trade account at Skips-R-Us isn't really going to cover it.

My wife and I have run a small property business for the last 30 years, and we do enough dump runs with rubble/timber/crushed plaster/dead cement etc to have found that it isn't that hard to keep a decent-sized estate wagon's interior clean with a little bit of care. Boot liners and a supply of those inexpensive 2 x 3m groundsheets you can buy in the pound shops are all you really need. All you really have to watch out for is liquids, jagged metal rubbish, and anything that might soil the head lining. Oh, and bins of sewage. Don't ask. Tenants can be lovely like that.

BJ

[redsturgeon]

Just to update things, something good has popped up, one owner, bags of room, low mileage, FSH...when I asked to see this I was shown a sheaf of receipts about an inch thick, every single receipt for any work ever done on the car. 5k miles per year and a service every year at the same place, carried out by the same mechanic. Just finalising the deal over the next day or two. It will cost less to buy than the annual depreciation I usually get with my cars, I intend to use it for about six to nine months and with a bit of luck will be able to sell for maybe a couple of hundred less than I buy it for...that pays for one skip around here!

John

[bungeejumper]

Just to update things, something good has popped up, one owner, bags of room, low mileage, FSH...when I asked to see this I was shown a sheaf of receipts about an inch thick, every single receipt for any work ever done on the car.

Bite his hand off! Fussy owner, just what I like.

BJ