Hey,
me and 3 friends are planning on driving around Europe next Summer for about 2 months and need a car to do so. At the moment we're just browsing, looking at whatever hits our budget (about a grand each, so four grand in total) but any 'professional' input would be absolutely fantastic as none of us are honestly 100% into cars.
I've been recommended to look at either a Citroen (as they're very easy to fix no matter where you end up) or something like a Mitsubishi (as the parts come cheap), but I honestly don't have a clue as to the best deal. Before we set off I should've been able to coerce my dad into helping me understand how to fix basic problems with engines, but nothing major.
Our trip will likely span around 8,000 miles over a 2 month period, travelling through most of Europe. There has to be enough room for 4 people (3 guys, 1 girl) to travel relatively comfortably with enough room for at least 2 tents, 4 rucksacks of kit, and a jerry can.
Basically, we're looking for the most spacious, fuel efficient, reliable car that we can find for under £4,000, that'll be relatively easy (and cheap!) to fix /if/ it breaks.
If any of you have any ideas then please, please let us know! It will be very much appreciated!
Cheers in advance,
Alex
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I'll bet a Citroen C5 estate would do the trick, big, comfortable, spacious and, as you say, I reckon you'll be able to fix it anywhere if it breaks, I believe the HDi is meant to be a good engine too.
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How about an Espace. All the space and comfort you'll need and reasonable economy from the diesel models.
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They will get to know a lot of renault garages with an old espace.The best car for the job and a cheap price would be mondeo or vectra estate or as previousley mentioned a C5.
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Mondeo with aircon! Assuming you will sell it on return, I'd get the diesel. Diesel is at least 20% cheaper than petrol in the countries that you expect to visit, and you'll get it back when you sell it. Consider a Thule top-box so you can see out of the rear window.
For that money you should get Joe Dowd, the auction buyer, to get one for you from auction. Buying from a dealer and getting their warranty won't help if you are stranded in Stuttgart, so buy the best travel/breakdown insurance available, having given it a service before you leave. It won't miss a beat, and you might make a profit if you sell it privately afterwards!
Before you leave have a practice weekend away to test your kit, and see how it all works. You may find some stuff does not get used.
Edited by oldnotbold on 06/06/2008 at 09:29
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Did this last year in a just less than £4k Saab 9-3.
It had a service history and we paid another couple of hundred to get it serviced at an independent Saab garage and it didn't have a single niggle.
Very comfortable to drive (more so than Vectra or Mondy) and a the boot is almost as big as an estate.
Diesel would be more economical but they seem to cost a little extra.
Having said that I would have thought pretty much any well looked after car in that price range would be okay, or maybe I'm being too optimistic.
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Personally I'd reduce the budget to under £1,000 for a c. 2000 Mondeo estate - definitely with aircon and get it fully serviced before departure including new cambelt. It'll still be worth £1,000 when you get back. Get a good breakdown cover - probably through your ins co. If it does die on you, buy another one...
Paying £4,000 could get you a common rail diesel which could have any number of hidden horrors... £1,000 will not buy you any less reliability.
Diesel will be much cheaper to run on the continent.
Make sure your insurance covers you for the length of your trip - green card etc.
Whatever you do, don't take an obscure car like a Rover.
And leave the Jerry can at home. Your car has a purpose-built fuel tank that takes 12-13 gallons. Why you want to have a smelly jerry can in the boot I do not know. Very dangerous in a crash to have an unsecured fuel can in the body of the car splashing flammable fuel around. Don't take it.
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Diesel will be much cheaper to run on the continent
Not at the moment in many parts its the same as petrol.
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How about a Galaxy/Sharran/Alhambara TDI?
Would probably be the most comfortable for all, with plenty of space, and driven reasonably - i.e. not over 80mph, economical.
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Those costs are way out my local garage in Germany has diesel at 145.9 the same as normal and super.
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Wow, thanks for all the replies!
So to sum up... I'm currently looking for one of the following:
Citroen C5
Renault Espace
Ford Mondeo (Estate)
Vauxhall Vectra Estate
Saab 9-3
Ford Galaxy
VW Sharran
Seat Alhambra
And Mapmaker - the reason we were thinking of just taking a jerry can was just in case we can't find petrol stations on route, but provided we're careful about filling up we should be fine I guess!
Only other thing we'd really like would be for the car to be left hand drive, as it'd make it much easier once in Europe. Might sound like a naive question, but all above cars do come in left hand drive models...right?
Thanks again for the help!
Alex
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>>And Mapmaker - the reason we were thinking of just taking a jerry can was just in case we can't find petrol stations on route, but provided we're careful about filling up we should be fine I guess!
You're going round Europe, not Africa. If twelve gallons won't make it between petrol stations, then 13 isn't going to make the difference. Horrid, nasty, dirty dangerous habit... (unless you're driving an Impreza which has a 5 pint fuel tank.)
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Are you reading the right columns? The AA is quoting ?1.41 and ?1.42 for Germany.
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Buying and selling a left-hand drive in the UK is very awkward. Very little choice when buying, most are battered and with no decent service history. When you come to sell there are very few buyers. Buying in the continent is even more awkward if you don't live there.
I drive loads in France/Belgium and Holland in a RHD car, and it's no problem at all, esp. if you have a passenger. The hardest part is getting back to the UK and remembering which side to drive on. Again, take it easy, and try not to get back to the UK at 0400 when your brain is in neutral.
Buy a good RHD and take it easy for the first couple of days.
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Yes they have just put it up to 146.9 today as I have just looked, Essen has the cheapest diesel in Germany at the moment at 143.9.
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Try this
tinyurl.com/4e7wvc {original link containing 534 characters significantly reduced}
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 06/06/2008 at 13:51
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Transit van,plenty of room,somewhere dry to sleep.
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Andy,
Try this next time you need to post a link that is a mile long.
www.honestjohn.co.uk/forum/post/index.htm?t=52503
Thanks, DD
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Those costs are way out my local garage in Germany has diesel at 145.9 the same as normal and super.
Blimey, I paid 164.9 for 100 octane last week, in Montabaur on the way to Aachen. Same price as on the motorway, although to be fair we were only a mile or so away.
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>>I've been recommended to look at either a Citroen (as they're very easy to fix no matter where you end up) or something like a Mitsubishi (as the parts come cheap)
On two counts (at least!), you've been seriosly misled!
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To be honest, I think you need to keep this in perspective. 8000 miles round Europe is basically no different to 8000 miles round Britain (but may in fact be far less stressful on the car!). There are few areas that are so remote or have such bad roads that you need to take the type of car into consideration - unless, as someone says above it is a car where spares are difficult to get here - Rover??.
We have been driving through Europe for over 30 years (a bit less adventurous these days) and have just used our family car - Renault 4, Renault 5, Renault 18, Cit BX (a couple), Cit Xantia (a couple) and I can only remember 2 breakdowns which required a trip to the garage (new battery for Ren 18 and a clutch cable for a Xant). Full European cover at all times and used them once! - the clutch cable incident. This has included about 10, or is it 12? trips to Greece and in cars loaded to the gunwales with camping gear and/or with a caravan on the back. These trips were about 6000 miles (recently we have cut down a bit and stuck to France, Germany, Austria, Italy etc).
As for comments about common rail diesels with serious problems lying in wait - it doesn't seem to affect the purchase of common rails by the people who live in Europe and they probably do far more that 8k per year - however, views like that do mean that you could pick up a C5 somewhat cheaper, so I would encourage them to promote those views.
We will be hitching up our Xantia HDi to the van again again this summer - common rail, 8 years old, 100k on the clock, never let us down yet (mind you, we really look after it - MOT and service at least once a year!) so how about a Xantia Estate HDi, you could probably pick one up for a few hundred quid?
Or do as some mates used to do - they lived in London, didn't need a car normally but drove to Greece every summer and bought an old Post Office van at auction every year for a couple of hundred quid, loaded it up, stuck a yacht trailer on the back with a yacht (Laser?) and a few windsurfers on as well as all camping equipment and off they went - can't recall them ever mentioning they had a problem. Then on return they sold the van - alledgedly at a profit!
Oh, forgot the exhaust that dropped off the "newest" Xantia - but then that would have happened at home - it was 7 years old.
Whatever you do - have a good time - and if the car breaks down you can have a few more beers/wines 'cos you don't have to drive that day!
Phil
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My wife has just reminded me of the time the Ren 18 broke down one evening in Eastern France (somewhere near Saarlouis) it just stalled on a hairpin bend and I couldn't restart it. A fire engine and van stopped to help - hitched the caravan on the back of the fire engine, the car on the back of another "fire van" and towed us to a local garage - kids got a ride in the fire engine. Since it was about 6 or 7 pm and the local garage said he would fix it (with a lot of advice from the firemen - sappeurs pompiers) - I walked down the road and bought a box of beer which we all consumed while the mechanic cleaned the carb (something to do with oil from a breather pipe blocking the carb). I said I wouldn't drink 'cos I had to drive to a campsite but the sappeurs set up the caravan in the garage yard and said we should stay there - so down went the beer and we stayed the night there. When I asked for the bill, the mechanic said that he didn't want any money because we had paid in beer and he (and us and the kids and the sappeurs had had a good evening)
Sorry, long irrelevant post, but brings back happy memories - mods- delete if appropriate Phil
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