estates vs saloons

Estate.

I have an A4 estate – I can get the bike and 1271,83713,8123 spares I’ll never use and there’s still room for sleeping.

• like the rear glass opens when the boot lid is closed for quick access, or to cram more stuff in while the boot is closed.

That was a reason someone else gave me to buy the touring over the saloon. I can say that in the time I’ve had mine Ive only used it once.

But then I guess the advantage of the Touring is that its a power up/power down boot lid.

• like the rear glass opens when the boot lid is closed for quick access, or to cram more stuff in while the boot is closed.

That was a reason someone else gave me to buy the touring over the saloon. I can say that in the time I’ve had mine Ive only used it once.

we use our a lot when loading up for a weekend/week away, big bags, coolboxes, food etc in first, shut the boot, open the glass and pack rest in nice and tight. We always seem to fill it though….

The lack of a sill/lip on the boot makes it an excellent place to sit

My wife sat there on put some wellies on yesterday, thankfully I’ve put a stainless steel protector on top of the bumper lip to protect it. Put it on for the dogs mainly (and the kids, there are flip up seats in the boot), glad I did now!

benp1 – Member

The lack of a sill/lip on the boot makes it an excellent place to sit

My wife sat there on put some wellies on yesterday, thankfully I’ve put a stainless steel protector on top of the bumper lip to protect it. Put it on for the dogs mainly (and the kids, there are flip up seats in the boot), glad I did now!

It’s a nice place to sit isn’t it.

I keep a stove in there for chill out moments, sitting in the boot is ace!

Good place to get the kids sorted too!

Biggest downside of this car is that the rear glass doesn’t open on its own, was a handy feature for lobbing stuff in. My 5 series had that before. Though this one has electric opening and closing which I’m growing to appreciate!

Estates are my preference, more space, no boot lip, underfloor storage for wet stuff, dry place to get changed and performance is the same as the saloon mostly. Also with the seats folded down many councils allow you to use loading bays to park as classed as light commercial – really – I found this out parked in Kingston Upon Thames.

People carrier. Like all the advantages of an estate, but volume turned up to 11. 😉

Its 10 years since I had a saloon car and I don’t miss it one bit, had estates before that right back to a Hillman Avenger.

Previous was a Mazda6 Estate & now a Volvo XC60 and the thought of struggling with a wheelchair in a saloon car doesn’t appeal.

As others have alluded to I prefer the look of an estate but that might just be my taste?

saloons…. why?

Can’t see the point of saloons. There’s no downside to having an estate and it’s just so much more useful.

I had estates or combi vans since 1994. I’ve never considered a saloon or hatchback, there’re just too small. Bikes, tip, work, camping, holidays, kids, tip, did I mention the tip? They just make life soooo much easier in my opinion.

If you want to, or already do, transport up to 4 people with no luggage on a regular basis, then a saloon might be quite handy.

Saloons are both quieter and stiffer than estates. I’d still have an estate.

that I can sit in the boot with the lid up and put my shoes/boots on.

Split tailgate picnic bench FTW!

I picked up and drove a Ford B-Max last week, a car I’d never even heard of before! I’ve driven the S-Max and the C-Max, but this was an unknown quantity, and I must say I was really impressed.
Drove it from Bath down to Bridgwater via Chew lake, along nice twisty roads and it was loads of fun, basically a Fiesta van but with proper seats and windows, like a Meriva, but the thing I really liked was it had two sliding rear doors, with no ‘B’-pillars, making it dead easy to load stuff when it’s tricky to get the doors wide open.
The one I drove was the 1500 diesel, and it was just a really enjoyable car to drive, and practical with it.

Split tailgate picnic bench FTW!

Needs a table and cushions

People carrier. Like all the advantages of an estate, but volume turned up to 11.

You mean dad level turned up to 11.

Estates are much cooler than people carriers.

That split tailgate looks like an XC90? That’s not an estate…

Any estates with a split tailgate?

Fixed that statement…

People carrier. Like all the advantages of an estate, but you’ve given up on life

… Or when you’ve got more than 2/3 kids

^^^ I was very tempted by an SMax this time, but we really don’t have a need for the extra seats and with bikes on roof, sticking with estate made more sense.

I think if we had to cart more than our own 2 kids around regularly, people carrier would make a lot of sense

The problem with roof racks is the bikes can fall off if something fails or isn’t quite right, height barriers, muddy crap dripping all over the car, theft,
I’ve seen all the above happen over the years, I prefer a tarp with the bike inside the car personally.

I drive a saloon and used the bike roof racks for a while, until one come off on a bend leaving the forest, I probably didn’t secure it correctly as it was dark and I was tired after a long ride and I was lucky that the pedal actual missed the roof so had no damage at all, due to this I bought a van for my bikes as when looking for roof damage I noticed that when fastening the bikes to the roof I’d been putting fine scratches all over the doors (come out with the T cut) and I’d also got used to having mud all down the back window and across the roof, basically I was trashing my car with the bikes on the roof.

I was trashing my car with the bikes on the roof.

err, apart from some dirt on the roof and windows, it sounds like user error then …. 🙂

I have used Thule roof carriers for last 10 years, probably driven thousands of miles with bikes on roof, and apart for one bird strike, no issues…so far 🙂

err, apart from some dirt on the roof and windows, it sounds like user error then ….

I have used Thule roof carriers for last 10 years, probably driven thousands of miles with bikes on roof, and apart for one bird strike, no issues…so far

Certainly was, I hadn’t given a thought to the little scratches I was causing when trying to secure the bikes.

And so was the bike that fell off, I can’t have secured it right (cold, dark and I was tired).