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I have been toying with the idea of getting a pickup type vehicle like a Mitsubishi Warrior. Anyone have any good or bad experiences? What are they like for transporting bikes around?
Heavy, awful to drive, hard on fuel, and your bikes are outside.
Get a van.
Old Mk1 Caddys look cool.
Had a Navara for a bit, loved it to drive but it blew up on a regular basis.
Probably going to get a new L200 in the coming weeks though for various tax and business needs reasons. I am actually rather looking forward to it, which surprised me. Yes they are pretty compromised to drive, but that isn't entirely the point (and it should be much better for lugging large lumps of ironmongery about the countryside on and off road than the Outlander is).
HOWEVER - you need to really consider if it is going to suit you. The turning circles can be kinda Supertanker like, though the L200 is not as bad as the rest. The size of the trucks also has to be considered, they are BIG and can be an arse to park or find somewhere to actually park them! If you are looking at an older Warrior with the short bed it is not quite so bad as everything else being about 5m long on the nose (the current Trojan is the only niceish mainstream pickup which is not stupidly long and hence why I am going for one).
That said, if you want a pickup and don't need the carrying capacity for either practical reasons or tax reasons then check out the Ssanyong Korado Sport (or something like that) which has multi-link rear suspension as standard, reasonable MPG figures and pretty reasonable running costs.
If I had the space for a new monster size pickup I would be looking at the new Ford, Isuzi or VW. Alas my parking space is of a standard size so I don't have very much choice!
Old Mk1 Caddys look cool.
I had a couple of those new back in the day, they were the perfect biking pickup. If you find one and need an Ifor Williams hard top, I'm your man.
ha ha! driving round in a car called a Trojan!
Yeah... I know... I said I wasn't going to buy a car named after a johnny for the well endowed too. But it was either that or a Defender - and the latter was going to cripple me doing the miles I do (and probably break down every third day) so I was left with one choice.
Well... two actually... but the Great Wall Steed filled me with even greater dread of forthcoming mocking!
All the rage over here in Tassie where bike theft is non existent and fuel is half the price of the UK, and we actually have places off road (not the gravel car park at a trail centre) to drive them and you can self shuttle most dh tracks. Still not tempted for me...
Few mates have them, welcome to a world of having to put everything in waterproof bags if it rains and leaving all your stuff exposed to the world - unless you buy the cover in which case it a tunnel to crawl into 🙂
Get a van.
Don't listen to the nah sayers pick ups rock!
Had old toyota, new Toyota, Nissan, Landy as pick up and van back all great. Interestingly the Landy never broke down unlike the merc I had at the same time!
Plenty of space easy to drive and park and hugely practical. Buy one!
Olie, on the practical note, where did you put your stuff when you were driving round?
How did you secure your bikes?
Where do you check the weekly shopping?
Just curious as it's the bit's I never worked out when I was looking
If you like it up Loud and your hillbilly proud. Then you know what i'm talking about. Let me hear you say TRUCK YEAH!!!!!!
For the record I think your better with a Van.
Never understood why people buy them unless they have a business use for them. Other reasons as per 1st response.
Van or car more practical in every way
If you don't want a back the roll covers are pretty good, if not entirely weather tight. The hydraulic strut aluminium covers look pretty handy too.
I have a dog whom will need to go in the back of occasion so a full top it will be for me, and the joy of crawling into the tunnel 😉 My Dad's Isuzu is entertaining for that having a hugely capacious back!
The bike is either going in the cab (when I am on my own working), or on the roof when I am loaded up!
Apparently we are ordering said johnny wagon tomorrow....
Driven L200's for the past 6 years current one is 12 months old. Okay for work but for personal use I'd have gotten a van.
Cost about £80 to fill up and i'm heavy on the accelerator and get about 350 miles to the tank and thats with the vehicle laden, turning circles better on the newer models but still shite.
Oh and the tailgate seem to be made out of tin foil as I found out the other day 😳
That isn't much worse than my Outlander to be fair - 400 miles for £75, and we don't get the VAT back on the diesel with that!
Getting the reversing camera AND sensors for just that reason (and so I don't total my neighbours car backing into my parking space!
Whats even worse I do have reversing sensors fitted.
lol ooops!
I had to reverse the Navara onto a ferry once. There were no railings on the ramp, I was clenching on that one!
I've got an Isuzu. Reliable, 35mpg. Stick a top on it and it's like any other 4x4. Drop a demountable camper in it and you've got a camper (and don't get confused as a hippy). Back off and you can get 3 bikes in with front wheels removed (2 with them on). Or... a cement mixer... piles of logs etc etc.
I can't see me ever getting a normal 4x4 again (and I was already sworn off cars).