So, apparenlty I need to look into a new vehicle of some sort before the end of the financial year (since there are funds at the moment, but next year is looking like it may be a little Spartan – and given my car is looking tired after 3 years….)

What I need is something with reasonable luggage/lugging capacity for filthy engineering stuff, and something very tax efficient. 4×4 would be useful, but perhaps not essential.

The current shortlist is:

Mercedes Vito Sport (150)
Isuzu Rodeo (not convinced but think I will have a look since I am passing the garage tomorrow)
Ford Ranger (also remain to be convinced, but it is just down the road)
Toyota Hilux (I suspect it will be too big)

That is the tax efficient stuff from the point of view of being commercial, but I think they may be physically too large to park in my parking space! On road parking is very limited so would like to utilise my space.

On the car front I am thinking about estates (Skoda Octavia/Octavia 4×4), MPVs (Citroen C3 or C4 Picasso perhaps… trying to avoid the Berlingo as the last one I tried to drive was a nightmare with my size 12s!) and 4x4s, since I do actually drive off road of occasion, would be things like the Citroen C Crosser, Skoda Yeti and perhaps some of the other cross overs.

So any thoughts, recommendations, comments or general slagging off since I have very little time to put together a short list and that is all I have come up with this evening 😉

Budget around £24k maximum, less is better, and commercial vehicles can be up to that plus VAT!

VW Transporters are too big 😉

Oh – and it will double as a family car/mountain biking vehicle!

I’d not have the vito or a twin cab pick up. Vito’s aren’t nice places to be for long periods, not comfy to drive etc. I sold mine after 3 months as I just didn’t like it (having had transporters, vivaros etc before and since). Pick ups are all very thirsty which will put co2 and hence tax bills up and not that practical. Even with a hard top anything in the back is very vulnerable, can’t put bikes in the back whole without hanging front wheels over the tailgate (security again) and room in the rear seats tends to be very poor.

Anything with a 1ton payload will be good for tax, does a caddy maxi fall in to that category? If not maybe look at a vivaro/trafic sport?

It’s the where to park it issue though… I don’t think I would get away with a larger pick up (I used to drive a Navara which was a lot of fun, when it wasn’t broken!), hence why I was toying with the idea of the Rodeo/Ranger options as they are a good bit shorter than the big beasts. I entirely agree that they aren’t all that practical though, but better than my Vitara 😉

I was trying to work out the tax thing, some of the new “greener” cars and MPVs are coming in with benefit in kind figures that aren’t that far away from the commercial vehicles. That got me wondering about a smaller/medium MPV as an option instead. I think the C3 Picasso was coming in at around £600 a year for example (I am in the lower tax bracket which helps!)

It’s really a case of weighing up the compromises, and seeing what people can throw up as interesting suggesions so that I have some idea of what I may be looking for when I start hitting the dealerships!

Is there not a low cost/eco Mitsibushi 4×4?

If it was my money any of the Skodas. liking the Yeti because I like the sitting up high driving position(drive a Touran) atm)
The Caddy Maxi does appear to be a bit of a load lugger from what I have seen.

I was looking at Octavia Estates, but it turned out to be cheaper to lease a Golf estate (but I think it’s slightly smaller in the boot department). Last car was a Qashqai, which whilst it had plenty of room and was economical, the build quality and service back up was sh*te.

I ended up with a Golf 1.6Tdi Bluemotion Sportline Estate (mouthful!) with a few options, lease is £275 a month (15k). To buy would be £23k or so.

I know someone with a ranger.

Don’t.

It’s far beyond rubbish!

Rubbish to drive, rubbish handling, rubbish mpg, rubbish load area, rubbish and useless back seats, rubbish running costs, rubbish everything. It even looks rubbish.

For my company car this year I am thinking RS6. That will do nicely.

BIL has a Mitsubushi L200 which is Okay and takes a ton so is very cheap tax wise, not too vast either. His is a warrior so has all the toys and leather..

BIL has a Mitsubushi L200 which is Okay and takes a ton so is very cheap tax wise, not too vast either. His is a warrior so has all the toys and leather..

Octy 4×4 estate 🙂

jools, we’ve heard ya! 🙂

Passat 1.6 bluemotion estate? Not fast but low tax, lovely to drive, spacious and reliable. Handsome bugger too

For tax efficiency nothing beats a Prius. I can get two bikes in mine comfortably with the front wheel out. Not at all bad to drive, loads of toys (even parks itself if you want) and the right side of 50mpg.

1.6TDI- surely engine of the year.

Not sure you could pop a 100kg poo covered sewage pump in the boot of a Prius though, especially if you were at the wrong end of a farm track 😉

The Octavia 4×4 Estate and Yeti are both needing some further research – both the Octavia and Yeti now have “Greenline” versions which look good on tax and running costs, although they lack the 4×4 ability.

Just looking at some of the other soft roader options (I am not needing to be able to drive across the Kalahari, just the occasional muddy field!)

If you are really doing that sort of thing you need a pick up for sure!!

http://www.comcar.co.uk/newcar/companycar/vancalc/g5calc.cfm?clk=2&source=van&carAlreadySaved=1973616&id=130087&userID=86880119

This site is good for costs etc. L200 and the like are cheap as chips on the tax side of things assuming you get a fuel card as well as they count as a commercial vehicle

joolsburger – it’s the only reason I am considering a pickup again, just not sure I could get one into my parking space! I will have to take one for a test drive and see. It was one of the handy things with the Navara I had for a year, I could just hose the flat bed down after dropping the mucky stuff off.

My dad has a Mistibishi Outlander – more of a soft roader, but does the job.

A friend has a Ranger and loves it. Crap of fuel, but he drives it full tilt everywhere anyway. It appears to handle ok, although I close my eyes when we are drifting around corners in it.
Most importantly it doesn’t get stuck anywhere. Even when the mentalist drives along motorway embankments covered in snow to get past traffic jams caused by jackknifed lorries.

Pickup? Redneck + mullet????

New shape Berlingo for lugging capacity – apparently it is bigger and far comfier to drive…I’d love one but can’t afford it.

There is a new VW pickup coming out which I have been looking at, the Amarok. I don’t know if they’ll be available in the UK before the end of the financial year, they keep pushing the date back.

I ended up with a Golf 1.6Tdi Bluemotion Sportline Estate (mouthful!) with a few options, lease is £275 a month (15k). To buy would be £23k or so

£23k for a Golf!

Surely not so?

Pickup? Redneck + mullet????

If you were at Hamsterley on Sunday and saw a white pick up trying to powerslide all the way around the bush in the main carpark on the ice, that was my mates ford ranger……..he doesn’t have a mullet, but he should

br – £23.5k!

believe it!! GI’ve got a golf GTD on order, about #25K before adding options. Works out cheaper (due to CO2 emissions) than a lot of cheaper cars including the Skodas which although use the same engine are pretty poor on CO2.
I don’t see how VW can sell this car to anybody but a company car driver, 25K for a golf is a joke

for a 1.6diesel golf?
saw you coming!

Purchase price doesn’t make much difference to me iain, I’m leasing it. The lease price fot the golf was less than an equivalent Skoda, presumably because the residuals are better.

I would go for a van style berlingo-esque thing rather than an estate car if you are going to be carrying around chunks of machinery or junk. You’ll trash the interior of a normal car pretty soon.

However if you do feel comfortable with a normal car don’t underestimate the Prius’s load carrying capacity. Tons of room with seats down.

Land Rover 110 Utility Wagon, quite easy to park when you’re used to a 130, probably takes up less parking space than my Mk3 Mondeo.
New 6 speed boxes are good on the motorway and for the first time, working heaters that will roast you.

Just went thru a similar scenario
Got a Skoda Octavia VRS DSG Estate in the end
Love it

Look at a Fiat doblo, the mrs got one and it’s great, cheap to buy, cheapish tax (1.9 diesel) good mpg and its HUGE!!!
The tailgate is good for getting changed under when it’s raining as well

Not sure you could pop a 100kg poo covered sewage pump in the boot of a Prius though, especially if you were at the wrong end of a farm track

I never leave home without one.

I agree, it sounds like you need a 4×4 wagon of some kind. A 2wd skoda will be no more useful up a farm track than a prius.

Sounds like a single cab would be ideal for the job (payload) however for all round use a double-cab with a decent ‘boot’.

After all, for hygene reasons you really wouldn’t want any matter-spores on the interior fabrics would you!

Hora, that was why I got back to thinking about pickups. Got a wee un due in mid – late May so something that I can keep the work clag seperate from the occupants is probably not a bad plan. Although my border collie is equally likely to transport filth around the place in general!

Going to be passing a couple of dealerships today so will call in and take a look at what is on offer. The van route is still possible, but that needs to wait until I can get up to Carlisle!

Today I should be passing close to Isuzu, Toyota, Kia, Ford and possibly Citroen if I pop into Kendal. Landrovers are too thirsty so will leave them be (and the boss hates them due to past experiences!)

A wee one due? Then there is no other answer. It comes down to which you prefer to drive IMO as all will have warranty. The only other consideration would be crash test results- which faired better.

Please don’t get a black one with ‘warrior’ and full leather. Get a proper mans pickup with fabric, plain paint and dents. 😀

It makes me cringe when I see shiny black lifestyle pickups in trail centre carparks.

My work vehicle is a C-Crosser Enterprise (van) and our domestic car is a Yeti 4×4.

The C-Crosser is comfortable to drive, rails corners like you wouldn’t believe and goes like stink (2.2 diesel, I think Mitsubishi use the same Citroen engine now). Being a van I can get two bikes in it and all my work kit with just the front wheels off, but I don’t know what the seating flexibility is like in the car version.

The Yeti is not as comfortable to drive long distances (for me) and the rise is a bit jittery if you are a rear passenger, but the seating is flexible. We remove the middle seat and fold the rear off-side seat down and can get two bikes in and all the kit for a week away, no bother or just lift all the seats out to fit the mini marquee and all the other rubbish for enduros.

Off road, don’t get a tow hitch on the C-Crosser/Outlander as it catches on everything, but with good tyres (BF Goodriches on mine) it can go up and down farm tracks and most moorland tracks just be aware of the limited ground clearance.
The Yeti stock Dunlop tyres are rubbish in the snow so they need to come off but the hill descent control/off road button does everything for you particularly in snowy weather.

All in all I recommend you buy both, one for fun one for practicality.

£14,500 (ex-VAT)new a year ago for the C-Crosser Enterprise, but I’m not sure they convert them to vans anymore and you get Japanes build quality.
£20,000 for the Yeti140 BHP 9 months ago (with VAT).

How about a SWB Transit 350, they are pretty rare in the 350 3.5t form, but look great with the bigger wheels it comes on. Plenty of ground clearance, geta hose out liner fitted that the bin washing/window cleaner vans have. Would make a great bike van, nice to drive, nice to work in, 3 seats up front, not too long.

We just happen to have 2 x Rangers (2.5TD XLT) and 2 x Hiluxes (3.0 D4D Raider) in our fleet.

The Hiluxes have been numbered 01 and 02, the Rangers 03 and 04: make of that what you will!

Economy is pretty similar. On an almost daily cycle of 20km town, 140km open road, 50km dirt road they are all returning about 10 litres / 100km.

Hilux is bigger and more awkward to park than the Ranger, but definitely the better one to drive.

After a couple of months (one vehicle is pushing 7000km) the Fords are already a bit rattley: this may also be the result of less professional fitting of the accessories by the local dealer.

South African Car Magazine tested a VW Amarok, it might have been head-to-head with a Hilux, which is the benchmark. I don’t remember the results exactly but it came down to something like “if the Amarok had been around since the dawn of time like the Hilux it’d be the winner.” And they know a thing or two about 4×4 pickups.

Although it has to be said, the Volvos have a bigger payload and are better offroad.

Well, just had a quick look. The Isuzu dealer is no more, so I need to go to Carlisle or Blackburn to look at them, which may rule them out (this is the problem with VW Transporters and Mercedes Vitos as well to be fair). Not sure about having a vehicle that I need to drive to a dealer an hour to an hour and a half away should I have a problem (up the M6 – so if it were in limp home mode… that would take some time!)

The Hilux is damn nice, but sweet Jesus that is a big vehicle. Pretty sure it won’t fit in my parking space! The Ranger wasn’t bad – seemed comfy enough to sit in, so may get a test drive… but I am a bit worried by the fuel consumption that seems to be a little heavy (ie more so than the Hilux).

Will look at the Mitsubishi tomorrow since I am passing that dealership – and I suppose I could possibly pop by Blackburn on the way to Sheffield tomorrow afternoon to check out the Isuzu.

I did book a test ride of a Lapierre Spicy though, so it wasn’t a wasted day 😉