One car for summer and another for winter?

[Coconzo123]

So, I have a 2015 Audi A1 1.4 TFSI which is a great for me and it has served me very well so far. It’s 3 years old and only 25k on the clock but before I bought it I had as my first car a 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara 1.6 4x4 which I adored. It was brilliant in the snow and bad weather (Scotland) but I sold it because it had too many problems that I didn’t know how to fix myself at the time.

However, as much as I love the Audi and it’s delightful interior and handling I find myself missing a rugged 4x4 for kayaking and camping trips. I was thinking of buying a Land Rover Freelander 2004-2006 full spec (leather/suede interior, heated seats, sunroof etc) for winter and harsher use, with a budget of 2-3k. I’m going to try to do basic repairs and maintenance myself as I will be doing a mechanic course soon.
Freelander 1’s get a crappy reputation in general but I think a fairly low mileage, well maintained 2L diesel wouldn’t be so bad.

Has anyone done this before? Had one car for summer/commuting/trips to the shops and one for offroad/winter/tough use? Is it worth the cost for the times you will actually need both cars?
Thanks.

[slipstream 1985]

N+1
You havn't been here long but yes most i'd say on here have more of a daily and a weekend/ summer toy/s

[Coconzo123]

slipstream 1985 said:

N+1
You havn't been here long but yes most i'd say on here have more of a daily and a weekend/ summer toy/s

I only just made an account today but have used the site for a couple of years.

[Riley Blue]

Coconzo123 said:

Has anyone done this before? Had one car for summer/commuting/trips to the shops and one for offroad/winter/tough use? Is it worth the cost for the times you will actually need both cars?
Thanks.

Both? We have an A8 for long distance journeys, a Fiesta diesel for shopping trips and a Riley for touring in the summer + another Riley currently under restoration which will be my weekend toy.

[Coconzo123]

Riley Blue said:

Both? We have an A8 for long distance journeys, a Fiesta diesel for shopping trips and a Riley for touring in the summer + another Riley currently under restoration which will be my weekend toy.

Haha yes both! But is it really worth all that tax and insurance? It’s great if you have the money, and congratulations on your fleet, but I probably only earn 1/4 of what you do by the sounds of it!

[Shrimpvende]

I've had 2 cars for a while, big thing for me was to make sure that the summer car was fun enough to warrant running two. I wouldn't entertain having a somewhat practical/normal car and then another more practical car if that makes sense?

Perhaps a bit different for you if you're used to getting snow, but my summer car is an impractical 2 seater with a small boot, whereas my daily/winter car is a big 4 door hatchback so I've got a car to cover everything.

Would it be worth considering selling your A1, adding your £3k budget to the proceeds and seeing if there's a nice 4x4 out there that covers all your needs? Insuring and taxing 2 cars doesn't have to be too bad (multicar policies will normally mirror NCB's) but keeping 2 maintained and in tyres and consumables can get expensive

[Plate spinner]

Coconzo123 said:

Riley Blue said:

Both? We have an A8 for long distance journeys, a Fiesta diesel for shopping trips and a Riley for touring in the summer + another Riley currently under restoration which will be my weekend toy.

Haha yes both! But is it really worth all that tax and insurance? It’s great if you have the money, and congratulations on your fleet, but I probably only earn 1/4 of what you do by the sounds of it!

OP, it's really up to you - only you know the money you have and how you want to spend it.

Personally I would never go back to one car.
If funds are tight and you genuinely want a summer / winter car, then when you use / tax / insure one car, don't on the other - so it's not costing you that much more really.

[aka_kerrly]

slipstream 1985 said:

N+1
You havn't been here long but yes most i'd say on here have more of a daily and a weekend/ summer toy/s

Indeed, aside from the daily you [i]need[/] at least a back up car, a "I don't care"/ditch it anywhere car, projects/restorations, show cars, track cars and some parts cars.

[Pica-Pica]

We have a 2013 Skoda Fabia 1.2TSi. We looked at the Audi A1, very small in the back, so disregarded it. The Fabia is rock-solid and no rattles at all. Other car is a 335d, sufficient ground clearance for farm tracks, but not off-road. May swap for a Subaru Forester soon, a car I have always fancied. At the moment I am thinking of winters for the 335d, and when the current tyres wear down, Cross-Climates for the Fabia. They should both then cope with the seasons.

[Riley Blue]

Why has this been moved? It's not a 'which car should I buy', it's a discussion about multiple car ownership, please return it to General Gassing.

[Jayho]

My summer toy was recently crashed into and written off. I'm actually going to use this opportunity to consolidate from 2 cars to 1.

Running costs for 2 cars is surprisingly not the driving factor however. I'm old enough that the insurance for both cars were about £500 total for the year and paid about £30 / month road tax for both. In terms of running costs I fathomed that tyres and fuel etc shouldn't cost me any more than only having 1 car as I'm only ever driving one of them at a time and wear would be for the one.

The main factor for me wanting to consolidate is my perceived waste. Whenever either car was sitting for over 1 week without a runout I'd feel guilty that I was paying for something and not using it. This would then mean that I was taking the "wrong" car out for what I required for that day and resent the decision when out.

[aka_kerrly]

Jayho said:

. This would then mean that I was taking the "wrong" car out for what I required for that day and resent the decision when out.

Ah that would be those situations when driving one of the slower cars in the fleet and you come across a prat in a only marginally more powerful car than yours that gets in your way when other times you'd have no problems with double or more the horsepower.

On the flip side taking the fastest/noisiest car out on a day when the traffic seems really busy and you'd rather be sat in the quiet comfortable car can be irritating to.

[Coconzo123]

Riley Blue said:

Why has this been moved? It's not a 'which car should I buy', it's a discussion about multiple car ownership, please return it to General Gassing.

It was moved by the website, I was notified yesterday that they had had some trouble with too many posts in the one place or something like that.

[Coconzo123]

Plate spinner said:

OP, it's really up to you - only you know the money you have and how you want to spend it.

Personally I would never go back to one car.
If funds are tight and you genuinely want a summer / winter car, then when you use / tax / insure one car, don't on the other - so it's not costing you that much more really.

Do you know of any companies that will sell insurance one a 3-6 month basis? I was thinking of only taxing the freelander for half the year (winter) and making do with the Audi for the rest of the time.

[Coconzo123]

Shrimpvende said:

I've had 2 cars for a while, big thing for me was to make sure that the summer car was fun enough to warrant running two. I wouldn't entertain having a somewhat practical/normal car and then another more practical car if that makes sense?

Perhaps a bit different for you if you're used to getting snow, but my summer car is an impractical 2 seater with a small boot, whereas my daily/winter car is a big 4 door hatchback so I've got a car to cover everything.

Would it be worth considering selling your A1, adding your £3k budget to the proceeds and seeing if there's a nice 4x4 out there that covers all your needs? Insuring and taxing 2 cars doesn't have to be too bad (multicar policies will normally mirror NCB's) but keeping 2 maintained and in tyres and consumables can get expensive

Well I pay for the A1 monthly on hire purchase, and it’s very good on fuel economy where my old Suzuki cost me about £100 a month just commuting (I only live 10 mins/3 miles from work) and was £300 on tax.

Insurance on the A1 is pretty low too (I’m 21). Road tax is only £30 a year so overall it’s making my cash flow a lot smoother. I guess is just miss the capabilities of a 4x4 especially with winter coming and we are seeing a lot of snow these years compared to a decade ago. I would only be using the freelander in the ice/snow and for going up north a few times a year.

The Audi drives really well for such a small car and I only got it a few months ago so selling isn’t really on my mind right now. I’m only looking to see if a second car is really all that worth it for the price or if I should just make do for the few months a year when the weather is harshest.

[Coconzo123]

Pica-Pica said:

We have a 2013 Skoda Fabia 1.2TSi. We looked at the Audi A1, very small in the back, so disregarded it. The Fabia is rock-solid and no rattles at all. Other car is a 335d, sufficient ground clearance for farm tracks, but not off-road. May swap for a Subaru Forester soon, a car I have always fancied. At the moment I am thinking of winters for the 335d, and when the current tyres wear down, Cross-Climates for the Fabia. They should both then cope with the seasons.

The A1 is a very small car but I’ve gotten used to it. Less space in the back is worth it for such a nice interior in my opinion. It’s worth the cost because it’s low mileage and relatively new so I don’t have to worry about those annoying trips to the garage (yet!).

I think a freelander would be perfect for the odd bit of light off-roading when needed and for bad weather. Would also be ideal for transporting sea kayaks and all my camping gear but the costs of running 2 cars is really daunting. I guess there’s just no one car that will do it all!

[Jayho]

aka_kerrly said:

Ah that would be those situations when driving one of the slower cars in the fleet and you come across a prat in a only marginally more powerful car than yours that gets in your way when other times you'd have no problems with double or more the horsepower.

On the flip side taking the fastest/noisiest car out on a day when the traffic seems really busy and you'd rather be sat in the quiet comfortable car can be irritating to.

Haha pretty much nail on the head. Sometimes it was unpredictable too. Like taking the saloon to work as it's looking glum in the morning and then it brightens up and you wish you had convertible.

The only thing which annoys me about my next planned car is a very slight compromise. Will be going to a coupe which will be fine as I can probably count on both hands the number of times I've had passengers in the rear seats to warrant the saloon. But cant really justify a 2 seat convertible for all year round and unfortunately there's not many (if any) 4 seater convertibles I like.

[Toed64]

Coconzo123, my wife and I both have 2 road cars each. They all have different uses and none of which are particularly expensive either

I couldn't use my daily driver (10 year old BMW 130i hatchback) to tow my heavy trailers...or to go anywhere when there's snow on the ground. So, I have a 23 year old Toyota 4Runner diesel that gets used for all things filthy, smelly, doggy, off-road and for towing. I very rarely wash it! However, I would not want to commute or visit clients in it.

My wife has a petrol Fiat Panda 4x4 that she uses as her daily driver, and it goes in an out of the stable yard daily. She also has an old LWB Shogun that she uses two to four times a week for towing an enormous horse trailer. The Shogun is rarely un-hitched, but it's also our car of choice for family trips/holidays that are often with dogs too. Having the economical runabout saves her about £175 per month on fuel.

The Freelander MK1 diesel is OK, if you get a good one. Personally, I'd probably buy a Toyota RAV4 or Subaru Forester instead.

[ZX10R NIN]

OP do it, the Freelander is a good choice with your budget in mind you should land a good well looked after one so it makes sense, also you can haggle hard as most owners are aware of their reputation & will be more susceptible to taking some money off.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Petrol Version which may make more sense depending on how much you're going to use it.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

A good alternative to the Freelander is the X Trail in SVE/SE/SE+ spec:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

[Coconzo123]

ZX10R NIN said:

OP do it, the Freelander is a good choice with your budget in mind you should land a good well looked after one so it makes sense, also you can haggle hard as most owners are aware of their reputation & will be more susceptible to taking some money off.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

Petrol Version which may make more sense depending on how much you're going to use it.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

A good alternative to the Freelander is the X Trail in SVE/SE/SE+ spec:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201...

That freelander is already in my saved items on autotrader haha. Yeah I’ll think I’ll go for it to be honest. Will be nice to have a Landy sitting in the drive for when I need a car I don’t mind getting dirty!

The Nissans look good also, and have a big boot but the lack of roof rails are a killer for me, so I’ll have to give them a miss.

I think with the budget I’ve got I should get a reasonably low mileage freelander. Ah the 4x4 with heated seats and heated windscreen... winter won’t be so cold this year haha