I know it's not much of a family car but there's a guy down here that's got an old hearse as a work's van :shock: It does look cool though :giggle:
would you have to go 4x4?
How about a larger estate... volvo or sumesuch?
I know/worked with several Tradesmen who've made good use use of estates.
lp
During the course of my work I deal day-to-day with all kindsa trades persons - builders, plasterers, decoraters, electricians etc etc
Many of these make use of an assortment of estate type vehicles - from ford mondeo to citroen to merc or VW - but I have noticed the one thing they all have in common is a good solid reiable engine - normally diesel though not neccessarily so.
Many also make use of a good solid roof rack for ladders/towers etc and so have excellent clamps and such to enable safe reliable transportation of same.
The current favourite vehicles - and the ones you should be able to get a good example of for your budget - are early model FORD MONDEO ESTATE, and VAUXHALL ASTRA ESTATE
Neither of these cars has particularly good performance or pulling power or status - but they are both cheap and reliable to own and run and can be used as vans or 4/5 seater cars, and both have fixed roof bars.
best of luck in your search
At that budget its got to be between these two.
Toyota HiLux Double Cab Pickup
Mitsubishi L200 Double Cab
THANKS :thumbup:
need to do some homework now :shock:
I just sold a Citroen Despatch 2001 150k miles, roof bars turbo deisel. 3 seets, mot'd taxed till xmas. 35mpg. never ever let me down in 2 years. for £1000.
Bought a new van. Transit 52 plate.
3 seets 2.0 TD from BCA Manchester. £3k
Brilliant, going for £4.5- £5k in dealers.
Get yourself to auction.
I bought a car at auction and the engine blew up on the way home :shock:
If you go to a dealer:
Haggle for the price especially if you have hard cash.
Never EVER buy a car/van without full service history
Make sure you test drive it first
If you're not a complete petrolhead and know the ins and out of a vehicle better than you know your own wife then invest in getting an RAC/AA vehicle check done.
:thumbup:
I was exactly in your shoes about 5 years ago, I wanted a van's practicality and a car's comfort and spec so's I didn't have to run two vehicles. I bought a Left Hand Drive Chrysler Voyager Turbo Diesel MPV for under £3000. The engine is unbreakable and has been utterly reliable for 5 years+. It's for sale right now if you want it!
D2
dont go for an LPG unless you can afford major repair bills and parts bills (fingers crossed it doesent) or unless you have a specialist buddy in LPG tanks
I run a garage and have 2 perfectly trained and time served mechanics that will quiver in their steel toe cap boots at the mere mention of .........................LPG
My suggestion would be a Mercedes vito van (crew) luxury of 5 seats and practical
Lots of very good and sensible advice here, particularly the ‘large & solid estate’ bits, and of course the LR is still a favourite.
However, :rascal:
If you would like to use said £ amount as a small deposit, how about one of these:
The ultimate, multi fuel, go anywhere, leave every other 4x4 on the market behind, carry , push, pull, drag, move just about anything you want to throw at it ] vehicle that is road legal and still fits on UK roads with ease, then this is the baby for you.
This really is a totally awesome vehicle and believe it or not, despite the financial disincentives, is becoming very popular in he uk ………….. At last!
Good luck with whatever you decide on and may it bring you many years of trouble free motoring :thumbup:
Well decided to wing it which is unusual for me when spending large sums of money and startwd to bid last night. It went to I gave up after that, it was proberly worth more than that and book value was much higher. But had not sold my car so that would have been difficult, also i had not even veiwed it, now at a low price I was happy to take a punt on it but when it rose in price i decided to forget it.
Thanks for the advice all, will still look at lpg as running costs will still be cheaper than a standard 4x4.
And its free of the congestion charge when registered and as one job cost us £100 in charges and we have another coming up soon it will be worth it probable.
:thumbup:
so dont have the use of a social car and van only has 2 seats. Looking at getting something that i can use as both so needs to have 4 seats, and be man enough to carry tools and things so was looking at a 4x4.
