What car for moving house?
Discussion
We've recently sold our house have quite a bit of stuff to put into storage / take to the tip / move to our new house (if we ever find one!) and perhaps for chucking renovation materials into (as we're looking at a potential fixer-upper) so I was considering buying an additional car to handle these duties. My cars are an R53 MINI and a Z4M Coupe, neither suited to moving much more than a fag paper or two.
My man maths suggests that if it's my own car I can do tip runs and such at my leisure over the next couple of months whilst the house goes through then that will be less stressful than having to do it all in a concentrated burst when I hire a van for a few days and allow me to get stuck into some bargain barging and perhaps get all or most of my money back when I'm done with it...
So I'm looking for something sub-£1k or thereabouts with decent load lugging capacity for lobbing stuff in the back, hopefully not break (although that's a gamble obviously) and still be desirable enough to punt on for close to what I paid for it a few months down the line. MPG not massively important, nor is image but I guess if it can be slightly interesting then all the better.
At the moment I'm thinking some form of Volvo estate or perhaps something more MPV shaped but then I've never had an excuse to buy something 4x4 so that's a possibility as well - any suggestions?
My man maths suggests that if it's my own car I can do tip runs and such at my leisure over the next couple of months whilst the house goes through then that will be less stressful than having to do it all in a concentrated burst when I hire a van for a few days and allow me to get stuck into some bargain barging and perhaps get all or most of my money back when I'm done with it...
So I'm looking for something sub-£1k or thereabouts with decent load lugging capacity for lobbing stuff in the back, hopefully not break (although that's a gamble obviously) and still be desirable enough to punt on for close to what I paid for it a few months down the line. MPG not massively important, nor is image but I guess if it can be slightly interesting then all the better.
At the moment I'm thinking some form of Volvo estate or perhaps something more MPV shaped but then I've never had an excuse to buy something 4x4 so that's a possibility as well - any suggestions?
My brother bought a 54 plate volvo estate for about £1k. All the toys, 50+ mpg and huuuuuuge boot.
I have an A4 estate and we picked up some sofas for his house. The 2 seater hung out the back of my car and we had to tie the boot down. The 3 seated went in his with plenty of room to spare!
I have an A4 estate and we picked up some sofas for his house. The 2 seater hung out the back of my car and we had to tie the boot down. The 3 seated went in his with plenty of room to spare!
toerag said:
we once moved house with my old Jeep Wrangler & 3 balls of string, the sofa was fun...we momentarily lost the fridge freezer.
When I moved out my first place I went from Basildon to Colchester in a Transit I borrowed from my mate. Sounds fine but it was a flatbed and it rained all the way.Luckily I didn't have any nice stuff when I was 19!
I'm currently in a similar position. I started off with Merc 124s and Ovlovs, but there's not a lot of height. Which got me thinking...
There's a lot of old MPV available at that budget - Sharan / Galaxy / Espace etc. I'm thinking I'll remove the seats and end up with a useful van-sized thing that'll be just the job.
There's a lot of old MPV available at that budget - Sharan / Galaxy / Espace etc. I'm thinking I'll remove the seats and end up with a useful van-sized thing that'll be just the job.
Gruber said:
I'm currently in a similar position. I started off with Merc 124s and Ovlovs, but there's not a lot of height. Which got me thinking...
There's a lot of old MPV available at that budget - Sharan / Galaxy / Espace etc. I'm thinking I'll remove the seats and end up with a useful van-sized thing that'll be just the job.
He's very good point - go back a few pages on the high mileage thread and there was a 2006 sharan for £800 IIRC if that's available - 300k miles thoughThere's a lot of old MPV available at that budget - Sharan / Galaxy / Espace etc. I'm thinking I'll remove the seats and end up with a useful van-sized thing that'll be just the job.
For sheer van-like capacity without getting charged money at the tip you need old-style Galaxy/Sharan/Alhambra. Remove 5 seats and you've got stacks of space - although then you've got to figure out where to stash the seats.
For moving stuff to the tip and boxes into storage at a more leisurely pace any decent size family estate with roof rails will be fine - I've got a V70 which is ideal, and has been known to arrive at the tip with more stuff on top than inside (despite being packed out inside too). Look for a flat load space when the seats are folded to make life & loading easier.
A Mondeo or old Volvo estate would probably hit the right price-point and be saleable for a similar amount as long as it still works.
For moving stuff to the tip and boxes into storage at a more leisurely pace any decent size family estate with roof rails will be fine - I've got a V70 which is ideal, and has been known to arrive at the tip with more stuff on top than inside (despite being packed out inside too). Look for a flat load space when the seats are folded to make life & loading easier.
A Mondeo or old Volvo estate would probably hit the right price-point and be saleable for a similar amount as long as it still works.
That was another point of motivation as vans aren't allowed in the local tip with payment.
As much as I'd like an old wafty Volvo I think the suggestions of something Galaxy shaped and popping out the seats is a good one.
I'll do some calculations and see if it really works out once I factor in insurance- I know someone quite vehemently suggested this was a stupid idea (before deleting their post!) but if it costs me less than £500 all in to have it for a few months or so then that'd be worthwhile to me from my point-of-view.
Hell, if it works out then it might even get me into 'barging with the M as a weekend car.
As much as I'd like an old wafty Volvo I think the suggestions of something Galaxy shaped and popping out the seats is a good one.
I'll do some calculations and see if it really works out once I factor in insurance- I know someone quite vehemently suggested this was a stupid idea (before deleting their post!) but if it costs me less than £500 all in to have it for a few months or so then that'd be worthwhile to me from my point-of-view.
Hell, if it works out then it might even get me into 'barging with the M as a weekend car.
I did this a couple of years back...
Bought a 1998 V70 TDi for about a grand on the basis it'd be a great removal van. Several 100 mile round trips filled to the roof lining, returning 50mpg made sense in my head and got the job done. The plan was to then sell it on but I got quite attached to it and proceeded to run it for the next two years / 50,000 miles with almost zero spend in the process.
So yes, old Volvo estate - plus get the right car, keep it reasonable and you could turn a profit too.
Bought a 1998 V70 TDi for about a grand on the basis it'd be a great removal van. Several 100 mile round trips filled to the roof lining, returning 50mpg made sense in my head and got the job done. The plan was to then sell it on but I got quite attached to it and proceeded to run it for the next two years / 50,000 miles with almost zero spend in the process.
So yes, old Volvo estate - plus get the right car, keep it reasonable and you could turn a profit too.
AARONM3 said:
Hell, if it works out then it might even get me into 'barging with the M as a weekend car.
Late follow-up, but if barging is on the agenda then Volvo waftiness is a better way to go and will carry a remarkable amount of s
te. For sheer carrying capacity the Sharan/Galaxy/Alhambra will win every time at your target price point, but I'd rather not keep one as a barge unless I needed to.Any estate car with a towbar.
Rent a small tow-a-van type trailer for the move - nice & square, decent capacity & low floor/step for getting in and out. I did this for my move, best £50 spent for 2 days.
Then get a trailer for the future dump runs & materials collections - beats sweeping out bits of broken wood/glass etc from the nooks & crannies of a car, no reaching in to pick up long heavy items, can even sell this once the work is complete - just make sure it's within the length allowable at your local dump.
Did use the other half's Fabia estate to pick up my kitchen & hallway tiles, she wasn't impressed when it failed the mot due to a broken spring.
Rent a small tow-a-van type trailer for the move - nice & square, decent capacity & low floor/step for getting in and out. I did this for my move, best £50 spent for 2 days.
Then get a trailer for the future dump runs & materials collections - beats sweeping out bits of broken wood/glass etc from the nooks & crannies of a car, no reaching in to pick up long heavy items, can even sell this once the work is complete - just make sure it's within the length allowable at your local dump.
Did use the other half's Fabia estate to pick up my kitchen & hallway tiles, she wasn't impressed when it failed the mot due to a broken spring.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff