£11k S-Max + £3k cash and want 7 seater and horse box tower
Discussion
Am I best splitting my £14k budget into two cars or buying one car that does both jobs?
So, the wife does 10,000 miles a year and an Smax works very well for us. We occasionally need more than 5 seats - like once a month. But now a pony is arriving and I need to tow an Ifor awilliams Hb510. Do I:
A) Keep the Smax and spend £3k on a weekend pony club off-roader?
B) Sell the £11k Smax, replace it with a (say) £7k Mondeo hatchback but now have £7k to spend on a seven seat off-roader and run two cars.
C) Trade in the Smax for a £14k Hyundai Santa Fe 7 seater that does everything.
D) Trade in the Smax for a £14k Mk3 Discovery that does everything but guzzles fuel and garage bills.
I have unlimited garaging but don't want anything that's going to piss oil, not start or require me to use spanners on it and as the wife and kids wil be out in it there must be no dodgy brakes, knackered suspension, crap headlights etc etc.
I just don't know what to do. So many pros and cons. I'm hoping the wisdom of crowds might point out some options or issues I gave so far overlooked. Your thoughts would be very much appreciated - what would YOU do?
So, the wife does 10,000 miles a year and an Smax works very well for us. We occasionally need more than 5 seats - like once a month. But now a pony is arriving and I need to tow an Ifor awilliams Hb510. Do I:
A) Keep the Smax and spend £3k on a weekend pony club off-roader?
B) Sell the £11k Smax, replace it with a (say) £7k Mondeo hatchback but now have £7k to spend on a seven seat off-roader and run two cars.
C) Trade in the Smax for a £14k Hyundai Santa Fe 7 seater that does everything.
D) Trade in the Smax for a £14k Mk3 Discovery that does everything but guzzles fuel and garage bills.
I have unlimited garaging but don't want anything that's going to piss oil, not start or require me to use spanners on it and as the wife and kids wil be out in it there must be no dodgy brakes, knackered suspension, crap headlights etc etc.
I just don't know what to do. So many pros and cons. I'm hoping the wisdom of crowds might point out some options or issues I gave so far overlooked. Your thoughts would be very much appreciated - what would YOU do?
Well there is approx £14k on the table.
I am not convince by four wheel drive estates as they don't have the ground clearance to get out of some muddy rutted gateway at the end of the pony club trial and the rest of the week you've got a heavy estate car on stilts that's no better on fuel than a proper offroader because it's got a powerful engine to give normal car 0-60 times.
What worries me about a £2k Jeep is that it will be driving around my family with a £1800kg tow on 13 year old brake lines, discs, suspension, steering rack etc etc. If something broke and they got hurt I couldn't live with myself penny pinching. Other than that consideration I like the idea as long as it doesn't require constant maintenance and visits to the garage.
I am not convince by four wheel drive estates as they don't have the ground clearance to get out of some muddy rutted gateway at the end of the pony club trial and the rest of the week you've got a heavy estate car on stilts that's no better on fuel than a proper offroader because it's got a powerful engine to give normal car 0-60 times.
What worries me about a £2k Jeep is that it will be driving around my family with a £1800kg tow on 13 year old brake lines, discs, suspension, steering rack etc etc. If something broke and they got hurt I couldn't live with myself penny pinching. Other than that consideration I like the idea as long as it doesn't require constant maintenance and visits to the garage.
As the two car wouldn't do more than about 25 miles a week I could probably consider a big capacity petrol engine model - are they notably cheape than diesels? Is there anything to watch for? Catalytic converters or something of that nature? I've been unlucky with dpf' son modern diesels so I'm quite cautious in that regard.
Wow. 2 new options I had not considered.
On Autorader ;for £6500 there is a Matt black Jeep Commander that looks like a frikking TANK that certainly would tow a pony. And it's stable block. And seat seven on a school run in Basra. And handle a day at the beach.
V interesting. Are they any good?
Would leave me another £6,500 to buy a family saloon runaround and £1000 in the bank for two MoT and tax discs for a couple of years.
Hmmm. Tempting.
On Autorader ;for £6500 there is a Matt black Jeep Commander that looks like a frikking TANK that certainly would tow a pony. And it's stable block. And seat seven on a school run in Basra. And handle a day at the beach.
V interesting. Are they any good?
Would leave me another £6,500 to buy a family saloon runaround and £1000 in the bank for two MoT and tax discs for a couple of years.
Hmmm. Tempting.
I would be stuck with it for a long time as it's basically unsaleable to 99.999% of people. Might try a low ball offer - it's got to be worth £800 in scrap as a bottom line!
Having done the sums again I reckon a second car has got to cost me £650 a year in fixed costs. That's quite a bit of diesel. A one car solution that does 32mpg instead of 40mpg is the equivalent of keeping two cars in the garage over 10,000 miles a year.
I can't face the trauma of trying to run a Discovery 3 and its varies faults and repairs. I don't think I can stretch to a Disco 4.
A LWB shogun of Landcruiser is overkill for one pony so it looks like I may go down the 2010/11 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 7 seat diesel with a manual gearbox. Dr Spock would choose that. Sigh.
Having done the sums again I reckon a second car has got to cost me £650 a year in fixed costs. That's quite a bit of diesel. A one car solution that does 32mpg instead of 40mpg is the equivalent of keeping two cars in the garage over 10,000 miles a year.
I can't face the trauma of trying to run a Discovery 3 and its varies faults and repairs. I don't think I can stretch to a Disco 4.
A LWB shogun of Landcruiser is overkill for one pony so it looks like I may go down the 2010/11 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.2 7 seat diesel with a manual gearbox. Dr Spock would choose that. Sigh.
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