So looking to do a long weekend road trip to N Wales/Lakes to try some different trails. Dont really want the extra faff of setting up a tent inflating beds and packing it all up, so thinking about sleeping in the car.
Car is a golf estate so is it just a case of a sleeping bag with the back seats down and legs in the boot?

Will probably book into a camping place as then can use the showers etc.

At night bike will be on the roof with a great big chain on it.

Is this wise?

It’ll be a lot colder than you’d expect..
I’d rather be in a tent, and lock my bike in the car, but I’ve done it a few times and survived..
for the odd night you’ll be reet.

It won’t be very comfy without some sort of thermarest/foam mattress, and campsites might be a bit sniffy about it.

If you do do it, make sure you leave the windows open a bit, otherwise it’ll condensationtastic.

TBH, if you’re planning on using a campsite anyway, I’d just put a tent up.

A lot of camp sites probably won’t accept you in just a car – you may be a wrong ‘un! So if you want showers you may have to pay for a swim at a local leisure centre.

But really how much faff is a 2 man pop-up tent, sleeping mat and sleeping bag?

Camping can be as basic or as complicated as you want it to be.

Used to do it loads in my old hatchback. Pretty comfy. Back seats down feet in the boot. Had to lay diagonally so not much room for anything else. In some cars there is quite a bump as the seats don’t go properly flat but mine was fine.

slept in my car for 2 nights in the lakes recently.
thin airbed, quilt and a sleeping back. bigger than a single bed, nearly as big as a double bed.
zaffira tourer is huge in the back.

B&B?

Erect a pop up tent inside the car before you go and sleep in that. 😉

you may be a wrong ‘un!

Jurys out…

Camping can be as basic or as complicated as you want it to be.

I think your right, my default camping is thinking what the family takes and we fill an MPV with our cr@p

It’ll be a lot colder than you’d expect..

This is the bit im confused by, surely its going to be more insulated than a tent?

I’ve been to wales – it rains A LOT. Packing a tent up in the rain is horrible, then riding being cold to start with doesnt sound a good idea.

B&B?

Was trying to keep the manly ‘bikepacking brigade’ on my side to begin with…hadnt considered a B&B…hmm tempted…

This is the bit im confused by, surely its going to be more insulated than a tent?

You’d think so but not in my experience….
By the time you open windows to to prevent condensation etc.

You can buy a pop up tent really cheap…

Packing a tent up in the rain is horrible, then riding being cold to start with doesnt sound a good idea.

Just shove it in and then dry it later… I’ve got a tiny 1.5 man (or 1 man + someone really close :twisted:) .. I can just stick it in the car in 2 mins in a plastic bag… get it home after and then dry it out.

Actually less hassle than drying a camelback!

http://www.yha.org.uk

Beds from 12 quid in a dorm type thing usually. Earplugs and eye mask.

Ton and Nickjb are winning ATM (unless i get arrested/turns out to be a dogging spot)

Think ill give it a go, just pull up somewhere quiet,park and stay unwashed for a couple of days…whats the worst that can happen

Ton and Nickjb are winning ATM (unless i get arrested/turns out to be a dogging spot)

Think ill give it a go, just pull up somewhere quiet,park and stay unwashed for a couple of days…whats the worst that can happen

Earplugs and eye mask

How rude, im not that sort of man

I do it fairly often in a Seat Alhambra with all the rear seats removed, which provides plenty of room for a couple of bikes and myself. I generally only do it for one night and just park up at trail centres or isolated car parks.
If you can’t find a shower and you’re doing a few nights, wet wipe showers aren’t really up to the job, especially if you are out riding all day!……edit….it’s never bothered me, but possibly others 😳
As others have said, campsites don’t like people kipping in their cars.

This is the bit im confused by, surely its going to be more insulated than a tent?

Nope. I think there are several things that cause it:

1. Most modern tents have two layers (fly + inner) and so effectively have a bit of a cavity wall going on.
2. The car is metal – metal conducts and then radiates the heat very effectively. The bits that aren’t metal are glass. If you think glass is efficient for keeping the heat in you presumably don’t remember life before double glazing. Curtains aren’t really for modesty!
3. All the cold metal and glass takes your breath and forms condensation (even worse if you have wet kit), and so everything is damp and you probably open the windows.
4. The volume inside your car will be bigger than a 2 man tent. You body is what heats it up. You are effectively sleeping in a 6 man tent on your own.
5. The car itself has quite a thermal mass – ie. it takes a lot of energy to heat up all that metal, seat, plastic fittings. The tent is much lower – provided you insulate from the ground below.

I have wondered whether hanging a tent inner inside a car would help with some of the above.

I’ve been to wales – it rains A LOT.

Good luck getting to sleep in your car when the rain is lashing against the roof…

Tried it a few times, wouldn’t bother again. A Decathlon pop-up tent is your friend.

Thank you poly.

The glass – i’ve lived in a flat with crap timber windows and single glazing – im sure my cars glass is thicker and the u value would be betterer…admittedly thermal bridging would be much much worse!

So being difficult – if i used a thermorest and a winter thick mummy sleeping bag would be optimal?

I know what your getting at with the volume thing from camping at cannock in a 4 man tent in november it was **** horrible

Good luck getting to sleep in your car when the rain is lashing against the roof…
another good point

Done it a number of times in my old Astra Estate, as above crack windows slightly, presume it is going to be freezing and most important part headphones to block noise and a “pee-bottle”

I’ve done it a few times in my pug estate. I’ve had some good nights and i’ve had some shit nights. I had a night where the temp dropped to around 1 deg outside and it was Baltic in the car, as above the insulation is piss poor at best. On the flip side in the middle of summer when the nights are mild, the legs are tired and you are full of cider then sleeping in the car is a doddle.

No bother, done it before, will do it again.

Take a mini rhyno bucket for a wash.

I use a thermarest and a decent sleeping bag in all seasons up in Scotland and have never been so cold I couldn’t sleep. Heavy rain has woken me in both my car and my tent and I’ve always managed to get back to sleep.
Sleeping in a car is not as bad as people think, but it is reallly only suitable for a few days.

I’d give it a go with the car, having slept in mine a few times and quite enjoyed it. Yes it can be cold and plenty of condensation so windows open a bit, but as it is summer the overnight temperature might be absolutely fine even in the lower altitudes of mountain areas. And rain in a car is noisy – but rain in a tent is pretty noisy too surely!?

Yes, comfortable thin mattress is needed. Take a spare duvet to go over or under you for a bit of comfort, and take a normal pillow. Campsites won’t necessarily turn you away for being without a tent, you can call and ask when booking one? Recently stayed in the back of our Mazda five (2 of us!) in a Dorset campsite and it was very cosy and hassle-free. Going to be doing an overnight in the car in Wales this weekend too.

I’m fairly anti-social/social-phobic so would rather sleep in a car than a YHA dorm, any day of the week 🙂

I must be in a minority, much prefer the back of my car to a tent. I use a foam mattress that folds up and a eye mask. Open windows means no condensation at all. Cannot be doing with tents for simple one night solo sleeping.

The correct answer is, obviously, by a T5 and convert it to a camper 🙂

I’ve done it a couple of times in the back of my Vectra estate which is huge and also completely flat once the seats are folded. Airbed, sleeping bag, job done.

Cars can get VERY cold – the metal simply soaks up all the body heat being given off whereas a tent has a cavity wall thing between the inner and fly.

Privacy is a bit of a concern in a car as well, I tend to put a big tarp up over the back of the front seats and hook it to the back of the boot then sleep under that.
For more than 1 night I’d want to put a tent up though.

Condensation is the problem and leisure centres for the shower.

Usually do it in Scotland when skiing – if you have the window open in the summer midges might be an issue but you can get window socks:

E.g.

In my estate car with a flat floor I prefer to sleep the other way around with my head at the tailgate end. I pull the luggage screen over for improved privacy and to hide from the early morning sun… Room for a bike in the car with me, too. Proper air mattress and sleeping bag, of course.

So much over thinking here. He is going to Wales in June, not Kiev in January.

So much over thinking here. He is going to Wales in June, not Kiev in January.

My anxiety levels are high, you should see what im like on a group unplanned trip to Afan! 😯 😯 😯
😆

Search youtube for “living in your car”. Tonnes of people in the states living in walmart parking lots it would seem. But they have bigger cars.

Also tonnes of people in Europe have converted their cars into “microcampers” – the Berlingo/Kangoo is popular, but any car big enough is a possibility.

As people have said, many campsites won’t let you just sleep in your car – maybe you’ll need to throw up a cheap pop-up tent next to the car to keep them happy, in which case you might as well sleep in it.

I’d certainly do it for a bit of stealth camping in a trail centre car park though – tinted windows would help.

I slept in my Sierra estate (remember them?) when I marshalled an October Polaris in Wales (Trefriw I think)
It was fine, 3/4 Thermarest, Snugpak bag & the bike to keep me company!

I’ve slept in many cars, in fact for a short while I lived in a VW beetle with my girlfriend and a cat.
Give it a go but you will spend longer getting the car half comfy than you would putting up a tent, then you will have ages lying awake uncomfortable wishing you had. You dont need to fully set up for one night, just fling up the tent, and bung in your mat and bag.

Sweepy has it. I went on a trip a few years ago (summertime) that mixed youth hostels and sleeping in the car (stealthy, not campsites). Only did one night in the car, with moving stuff around, getting set up and then undoing everything in the morning, pain in the arse. And that was a citroen estate IIRC. Might have been the peugeot. Or the Opel…… an estate anyway.

Bought a cheap 2 man tent after the first night in the car, by the end of the trip it was only taking me about 10 minutes to completely pitch, and “move in” (Mattress, sleeping bag, pillow, light and a book, was about it) and about 15 minutes to go the other way. Bugger to roll them up and get them back in the carry sack thing.

Oh, my sleeping bag dried out in 20 minutes instead of being left all day flat in the boot. Steaming up the windows.

Ive done it – its cold, condensation builds up and everything gets damp.
That said, leave the windows ajar and man up and it can be great.

Especially when you have a Galaxy with 7′ flat load bay. 8)

Especially when you have a Galaxy with 7′ flat load bay

Ah we used to have a grand espace the 7 seater thing, it would have been comfy but inevitably would have broken down 20 miles from the destination!

I slept in my car at Mountain Mayhem. Back seats down and open a window a bit for air. I just used a sleeping bag and a pillow. I didn’t have wet kit or bike inside though.

Also – you probably don’t notice how loud the rain is on the roof of a car, as you are usually driving in it.

Very loud.

Don’t expect to get any sleep if it rains.

I have slept in my Ford S-max a few times, on an air bed. Its comfy enough and if you drink heavily, you’ll not notice the hammering rain either.

It’ll be much colder than you think, or a tent, but with a 4 season bag and a hat i’ve always been toasty.

Condensation was noticable, but not a problem.

Fine for one night, but not more than two.