Best car / shed / faux van for house renovation?

[Inspectorclueso]

As per thread, getting into a full house reno in spring and I want a shed so I don't have to worry about the normal motor.... I'm thinking car not van as I can then go to the tip without a permit / appointment. Needs to be big, simple, reliable and easy to shift on when I have finished. Do I go people carrier i.e. smax / galaxy, or big estate e.g. mondeo / V70. Any recommendations ?

[anonymous-user]

Renault Scenic is a good shout as the back row of seats easily come out.

[Macron]

Scenic is hardly an easy sell when done. I speak from experience, see below. I'd used all sorts over the years.

Some to avoid, Chrysler Voyager, yes huge, but dire, that was a mistake. Honda FRV, not as big as you'd think for a 6 seater.

Ones to use:

Zafira, petrol, horrid, but easy to bang back out when you've finished.

Seat Altea has fold flat seats, not that big though, under rated and hardish to shift as not well known,

VW Touran possibly available, very easy to sell,

Citroen Grand C4 Picasso is not as horrible as you'd think and huge,

Mazda 5 has sliding doors, very useful, would buy again,

Kangoo or Berlingo fastest sellers I've known, a few with disabled ramps but just take them out, although tax class a pain to swap depending on how DVLA are feeling at the time.


I'd look on Gumtree or Faceache, plenty covered in kid mess which can be cleaned up in half a day, spend as little as poss and don't get attached if you can help it- I had a Scenic for 3 years and 4 renovations bc it was so bad it was good.

[ZX10R NIN]

807:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202003188...

C8:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210170...

Chevrolet Orlando:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209159...

Sharan:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210271...

Galaxy:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202208088...

[Inspectorclueso]

Thanks all.

I rarely get attached to cars, let along something like this so no worries there ! Quite a few French suggestions, for some reason I have an aversion. I’ve never purchased a French car, had a few company Citroens back in the day but they were awful, which may have coloured my view !

Thanks for all suggestions, I got to thinking about a Honda Accord estate, the old man has a civic which just keeps on going.

[anonymous-user]

Inspectorclueso said:

Thanks all.

I rarely get attached to cars, let along something like this so no worries there ! Quite a few French suggestions, for some reason I have an aversion. I’ve never purchased a French car, had a few company Citroens back in the day but they were awful, which may have coloured my view !

Buy a shed Scenic for a grand, take the seats out and load as much crap into as you can. Once you have finished the house renovations and it is ruined, weigh it in for £400.

Got to be a lot cheaper than paying £300 a time for a skip?

If you are literally using it to drive to and from the tip, who cares what it drives like. Having owned a few MK2 Scenics I think they drive OK, in Diesel form anyway.

[shirt]

I did it using a skoda Felicia, the pre vw one. Unkillable, once got 600kg of cement in the back. It wouldn’t recommend it! Guess the more modern option would be an Octavia estate?

[Desiderata]

I've just finished a house build/ barn conversion. Did it all myself so it took 5 years. I had a Ford Ranger double cab for the first 3 years for all the heavy stuff, pallets of blocks, dumpy bags of sand, towing diggers etc. Still classed as a car for the council tip.
The next two years ( and still got it) I used a MK1 Berlingo car with a full length van roof rack. It can't take the weight that the Ranger could, but lots of usable space. It's such a versatile vehicle, when this one dies, I'll be buying another just for daily lugging.

[Auslander]

Don't buy anything van derived or anything that looks like it's van derived / had more than 7 seats.

Council workers don't like these and take up any opportunity to send you away to get a permit.

[defblade]

Did my house with an A6 Avant.
Back seats down: roomy van for tip runs, loading up with tiles, long radiators, etc
Quick hoover, then...
Back seats up: smooth, quiet, roomy, quality family barge.

[the-norseman]

Bought a XC90 as a family car which also doubles up as a van!

[Belle427]

Just buy a popular van, fairly easy to sell on when your finished with it.

[Han Solo]

I use a LR discovery 2, huge inside.

[Silvanus]

Belle427 said:

Just buy a popular van, fairly easy to sell on when your finished with it.

Issues with them at most tips. We used a Grand Voyager V6 when the FIL was doing a barn. We both grew rather fond of it. Its was like a boat in the handling department but super comfortable and enormous with the seats out, bugger than some actual vans. I considered turning it into a camper van.

[dave_s13]

ZX10R NIN said:

807:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202003188...

C8:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210170...

Chevrolet Orlando:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202209159...

Sharan:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210271...

Galaxy:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202208088...

The Sharan/galaxy of that era are CAVERNOUS due to the seats being removable. They are as near to a van you'll get without it being a van.

[anonymous-user]

Belle427 said:

Just buy a popular van, fairly easy to sell on when your finished with it.

But the council Jobsworths don’t let you tip without the permit.

[Belle427]

Fair enough if its for tip runs.
Seat Alhambra/Ford Galaxy are huge inside with seats out.
I know the Alhambra the rear seats used to come out altogether easily.

[Roger Irrelevant]

My neighbour is a builder and he loves an Espace - he's had 2 in a row and I can see why. I've got an XC70 which has been used for a lot of renovation duties and it's pretty good (you can easily get 6x3 plasterboard sheets or a couple of standard size doors in which is the acid test IMO), but the Espace is even better. Any MPV that you can take the seats out of will be great for the job.

[Silvanus]

Roger Irrelevant said:

My neighbour is a builder and he loves an Espace - he's had 2 in a row and I can see why. I've got an XC70 which has been used for a lot of renovation duties and it's pretty good (you can easily get 6x3 plasterboard sheets or a couple of standard size doors in which is the acid test IMO), but the Espace is even better. Any MPV that you can take the seats out of will be great for the job.

we looked at a Grand Estate, but preferred the big sliding doors of the Grand Voyager, makes a huge difference to side loading large items.

[ChattingWham]

My brother bought a mid-00s Seat Toledo (the big, upright MPV-ish one) for this. It did the job really well, they still have it actually.