In a Galaxy not so far away......a brief history.
Discussion
Today was a day i never thought id see in the 32yrs that ive been on this planet.I have bought, what my folks would call, a sensible car!
Let's begin in early 2006 when i picked up this lovely, completely standard, 1998 Quicksilver Supra n/a
The day i bought it...
I traveled, via train, all the way from Swansea to Cobham to pick it up which was bit of a gamble as i had never driven an auto prior to this car. I had read up a lot about Supras and the auto box before hand so was confident it wouldnt be a problem. Needless to say, it wasnt.
The kickdown was enjoyable, the comfort more than enough and fuel economy horrendous.....perfect! However on the drive home i noticed that approaching 85mph the rev counter was reading much more than i was expecting. High enough to make me think how on earth it would got over 110mph...........not that i tried of course!
This lead me to believe that as it was an import it had a limiter fitted to it. The problem was more simpler than that.....i was in 3rd and actually had an extra gear to go had i know about the overdrive button! So, yeah,200 odd miles of motorway in 3rd gear!
I had many good times in the Supra. The most memorable being during the first week of ownership sat at some traffic lights with a nice 1/4(ish) mile straight ahead. I came over all 'boy racerish' so it was me in the driver seat, mate in the passenger, auto box in manu mode, brake pedal down and revs up. Lights go green, brake pedal lifted, accelerator floored.......revs get near the redline....car comes to a complete stop in spectacular fashion right in the middle of the cross road with mate firmly wedged between the dash and windscreen whilst having some very strange looks from passers by!.....i guess getting use to the auto box takes some getting used too! I didnt mistake the brake pedal for the clutch again after that episode!
I owned this until mid 2010 with the only mods being a new set of alloys. Reliability was as good as it could have been and flew through all MOTs until the last one prior to me selling it where it needed some replacement suspension arms. These werent cheap and i had a feeling it was just a taster of what and with my work mielage suddenly going up four fold i felt it was time ti sell up, a very sad day, i bloody loved that car
A pic of it not long before selling it...
While it was up for sale the hunt for a replacement began. Ideally it needed to be something enjoyable to drive, decent(ish) fuel economy and aesthetically pleasing. I ended up settling on a BMW Z4 3.0.
Again it was along train journey but this time north to Sheffield. 8 hours later i got there and within half an hour the sale was done.
I soon learned to leave the traction control on, especially in the wet, as i had only got 200 yards down the road when i over estimated my driving skills and ended up facing the other way on a mini roundabout. My escuse was that was raining and i swear there was diesel on the road......
A pic of it a few days after getting it...
This has been my daily driver since purchasing it in 2010 and apart from the well documented faults and issues its been faultless......there's an oxymoron in there somewhere!
The roof motor has gone,water expansion tank cracked, rear springs cracked, drivers window failing, 3rd brake light cracked in half.....im sure there's another thing but cant remember it right now, maybe for the best!
However it had adequate performance, bloody good mpg and served a purpose.
It was around late 2011 i was thinking of changing it but long story short i ended up keeping it and buildindg this thing instead
Full write up here..
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=5&a...
The Z4 should have been an enjoyable driving experience but as i was spending so much time in it it had lost its appeal somewhat and i needed some sort of driving enjoyment and the Exocet fitted that perfectly. The Z4 was now cast off as a work horse, nothing more, nothing less.
Fast forward to now.
Im still working away a lot with journeys averaging about 200miles one way and still spending a small fortune on accomodation (the down sides to self employment!). After seeing someone pull up on site in motorhome it got me thinking.....i need a motorhome! Unfortunately i hadnt quite realised how expensive the damn things were! So i then moved onto the idea of converting a van but again the cost of some of the vans i was viewing were ridiculous considering none of them had had 'one careful lady owner' if you know what i mean!
So somehow the thought of buying a people carrier became appealing, even more so when i discovered the price they could be picked up for. The plan was to buy the biggest one i could find, ended up on a Galaxy, and pretty much live in it whilst in work. I work away 5 nights a week, working nights and sleeping in the day (4 days). I usually work anything between 12-14hrs a night and shower/change and eat in work so literally only need somewhere to sleep and i can sleep anywhere anytime so sleeping in a car shouldnt be a problem!
As a trial run i decided to attempt a week in the Z4. This went better than expected and ended up doing it for 2 weeks! Sleeping in a car isnt hard, the thought of doing it is.
So back to the car hunt....I found a Galaxy up for sale 1 mile from home (hence the thread title
). One phonecall later, an agreed price and the Galaxy was mine! Picked it up today and couldnt be more pleased with it. Its a 2.0 tdci.
An 'arty' pic with the Z4
First impressions of it.....its bloody big! The comfort levels of it are unheard of for me coming from a Z4 and it should be good for nearly twice the mpg of the Zed. The biggest selling point is that all the 5 rear seats fold completely flat and provide enough room for me to lay down straight. All i need is a camping mat and a sleeping bag and away to go!
All in all im more than happy with it and my 'sleeping in a car' adventures begin this Monday. My family think there's something wrong with me and my friends arent surprised one bit, they think im a bit odd as it is!
The plan is to use the Galaxy solely for work and bring the Z4 back to its former glory, fix the hood and the other little niggles etc and then keep it purely for social use and pleasure.
I keep reminding them that i havent been forced into this and that its more of a lifestyle choice for me. Add to that the money ill be saving on accommodation and the better fuel economy i'll be getting will be more than enough to cover my mortgage twice over each month!
I might get completely fed up within a few weeks or it may be a success, either way i'll update this thread maybe on a weekly basis to document the pros and cons of sleeping in a car!
Let's begin in early 2006 when i picked up this lovely, completely standard, 1998 Quicksilver Supra n/a
The day i bought it...
I traveled, via train, all the way from Swansea to Cobham to pick it up which was bit of a gamble as i had never driven an auto prior to this car. I had read up a lot about Supras and the auto box before hand so was confident it wouldnt be a problem. Needless to say, it wasnt.
The kickdown was enjoyable, the comfort more than enough and fuel economy horrendous.....perfect! However on the drive home i noticed that approaching 85mph the rev counter was reading much more than i was expecting. High enough to make me think how on earth it would got over 110mph...........not that i tried of course!
This lead me to believe that as it was an import it had a limiter fitted to it. The problem was more simpler than that.....i was in 3rd and actually had an extra gear to go had i know about the overdrive button! So, yeah,200 odd miles of motorway in 3rd gear!
I had many good times in the Supra. The most memorable being during the first week of ownership sat at some traffic lights with a nice 1/4(ish) mile straight ahead. I came over all 'boy racerish' so it was me in the driver seat, mate in the passenger, auto box in manu mode, brake pedal down and revs up. Lights go green, brake pedal lifted, accelerator floored.......revs get near the redline....car comes to a complete stop in spectacular fashion right in the middle of the cross road with mate firmly wedged between the dash and windscreen whilst having some very strange looks from passers by!.....i guess getting use to the auto box takes some getting used too! I didnt mistake the brake pedal for the clutch again after that episode!
I owned this until mid 2010 with the only mods being a new set of alloys. Reliability was as good as it could have been and flew through all MOTs until the last one prior to me selling it where it needed some replacement suspension arms. These werent cheap and i had a feeling it was just a taster of what and with my work mielage suddenly going up four fold i felt it was time ti sell up, a very sad day, i bloody loved that car
A pic of it not long before selling it...
While it was up for sale the hunt for a replacement began. Ideally it needed to be something enjoyable to drive, decent(ish) fuel economy and aesthetically pleasing. I ended up settling on a BMW Z4 3.0.
Again it was along train journey but this time north to Sheffield. 8 hours later i got there and within half an hour the sale was done.
I soon learned to leave the traction control on, especially in the wet, as i had only got 200 yards down the road when i over estimated my driving skills and ended up facing the other way on a mini roundabout. My escuse was that was raining and i swear there was diesel on the road......
A pic of it a few days after getting it...
This has been my daily driver since purchasing it in 2010 and apart from the well documented faults and issues its been faultless......there's an oxymoron in there somewhere!
The roof motor has gone,water expansion tank cracked, rear springs cracked, drivers window failing, 3rd brake light cracked in half.....im sure there's another thing but cant remember it right now, maybe for the best!
However it had adequate performance, bloody good mpg and served a purpose.
It was around late 2011 i was thinking of changing it but long story short i ended up keeping it and buildindg this thing instead
Full write up here..
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=5&a...
The Z4 should have been an enjoyable driving experience but as i was spending so much time in it it had lost its appeal somewhat and i needed some sort of driving enjoyment and the Exocet fitted that perfectly. The Z4 was now cast off as a work horse, nothing more, nothing less.
Fast forward to now.
Im still working away a lot with journeys averaging about 200miles one way and still spending a small fortune on accomodation (the down sides to self employment!). After seeing someone pull up on site in motorhome it got me thinking.....i need a motorhome! Unfortunately i hadnt quite realised how expensive the damn things were! So i then moved onto the idea of converting a van but again the cost of some of the vans i was viewing were ridiculous considering none of them had had 'one careful lady owner' if you know what i mean!
So somehow the thought of buying a people carrier became appealing, even more so when i discovered the price they could be picked up for. The plan was to buy the biggest one i could find, ended up on a Galaxy, and pretty much live in it whilst in work. I work away 5 nights a week, working nights and sleeping in the day (4 days). I usually work anything between 12-14hrs a night and shower/change and eat in work so literally only need somewhere to sleep and i can sleep anywhere anytime so sleeping in a car shouldnt be a problem!
As a trial run i decided to attempt a week in the Z4. This went better than expected and ended up doing it for 2 weeks! Sleeping in a car isnt hard, the thought of doing it is.
So back to the car hunt....I found a Galaxy up for sale 1 mile from home (hence the thread title
). One phonecall later, an agreed price and the Galaxy was mine! Picked it up today and couldnt be more pleased with it. Its a 2.0 tdci.
An 'arty' pic with the Z4
First impressions of it.....its bloody big! The comfort levels of it are unheard of for me coming from a Z4 and it should be good for nearly twice the mpg of the Zed. The biggest selling point is that all the 5 rear seats fold completely flat and provide enough room for me to lay down straight. All i need is a camping mat and a sleeping bag and away to go!
All in all im more than happy with it and my 'sleeping in a car' adventures begin this Monday. My family think there's something wrong with me and my friends arent surprised one bit, they think im a bit odd as it is!
The plan is to use the Galaxy solely for work and bring the Z4 back to its former glory, fix the hood and the other little niggles etc and then keep it purely for social use and pleasure.
I keep reminding them that i havent been forced into this and that its more of a lifestyle choice for me. Add to that the money ill be saving on accommodation and the better fuel economy i'll be getting will be more than enough to cover my mortgage twice over each month!
I might get completely fed up within a few weeks or it may be a success, either way i'll update this thread maybe on a weekly basis to document the pros and cons of sleeping in a car!
Edited by MLH on Friday 10th October 19:14
TopGear7 said:
Nice Z4.
How are you keeping warm sleeping in the car? It's not too bad now but it's getting colder!
Have you ever slept in a car?How are you keeping warm sleeping in the car? It's not too bad now but it's getting colder!
It gets HOT. The air isn't moving, without the engine running the air circulation is nil, so once a well-insulated modern car has got up to temp it pretty much stays there. I went on one of those chavvy weekend car shows years ago and got fed up of the drunks stumbling into my tent - so I moved to the car. I had to put the window down a bit because it got so hot in there!
If you stop for a long time with the engine off and the windows shut the whole car will steam up too, right?
It may not be the same for a car the size of the OPs Galaxy, but I don't think it will be too bad. Keeping the condensation down and finding somewhere to use the toilet will be the fun bit...
Nice Z4
I love this idea, as someone who spends alot of time sleeping out doors (I'm not a tramp!) the best advice I can give is get an expensive sleeping bag. Cheap one's are cheap for a reason, also wind deflectors on your front windows so you can crack them without the rain coming in would be a good idea I'd imagine....
dunny83 said:
I love this idea, as someone who spends alot of time sleeping out doors (I'm not a tramp!) the best advice I can give is get an expensive sleeping bag. Cheap one's are cheap for a reason, also wind deflectors on your front windows so you can crack them without the rain coming in would be a good idea I'd imagine....
I'll second that. I had reason to sleep in my A6 estate earlier this year, February I think. In a village near Aberdeen, a mile from the North Sea. Unplanned as it was I had no bag, just a change of clothes so I wore everything I had and rolled myself in a rug I had in the boot.Left a window open an inch and cold rain was on my face in minutes. Swapped the open window but to say it was a cold night would be an understatement. Something in me likes the idea of doing it again, but being better prepared. A decent sized car and a bit of planning and it should be fine.
Hoink said:
Any update OP?
Strangely enough i was just about to update this.Arrived in Southampton about half an hour ago. spent the first part of the week in Yeovil and a few days in Portsmouth.
Knowing i didnt have to book any hotels this week was a massive relief even more so as my plans had changed about 3 times in the space of a monday morning!
The first day i was a bit apprehensive about dropping all the back seats and actually laying down to sleep. Just felt some sort of vulnerability if that makes sense. So spent that day laying across the middle row. Was very aware of near by vehicles pulling up and people walking past (all my parking spots so far have been at the furthest point away in supermarket carparks). All the rear windows are tinted but for added peace of mind i made little 'S' shaped hooks out of an old coat hanger, wedged them into the plastic trims around the windows and hung towels on them all around. It made for quite a cosy sleeping area.
After seeing how well the first day went i had no problem dropping all the back seats and laying flat to sleep for the rest of the week. If for whatever reason i would be disturbed and/or asked to move on then so what. Also with all the back seats dropped i can lay flat with a few inches to spare and im 6ft 3 so no waking up with stiff joints!
My friends still think its comical and my parents are still trying to talk me out of it but i think im going to be living like this, for work, for a long time to come yet. The freedom of it all is just too appealing not to mention the cost saving, approx £250+ this week alone.
ecopia said:
Have a look online for car window blinds there made to fit cost me 80 quid for my jetta can be got for all car's to what u working at lad? Also try and find good safe places to park lots of weirdos around
The temporary towels have now been replaced!Was pretty quiet in work last night so chopped up some corrugated plastic flooring protection to suit each window. The window frames have a slight lip on them so they stay in place without the need for any fixings also meaning easy to remove. Today was their trial run and they done the job perfectly. Feels far more roomy in it now that there arent any towels hanging about.
I was contemplating some made to measure blinds but im going to see how these hold out first before investing in the proper ones.
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