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That's a very open ended question I know...
I do around 20,000 miles a year, almost exclusively on rural A/B roads and tracks, a lot of the A and B roads couldn't really be described as much better than tracks in honesty. I do about 10,000 miles of those miles for work (claim 45p/mile), and am generally sat in the car for 2-4 hours a day Monday to Friday.
Ability to tow a trailer would be nice, as would being able to fit a bike in with the rear wheel in. A big enough boot for a dog is essential. Tyres in a size that don't fall apart when they see a pothole would be nice. Some ground clearance would be good, and MPG over 40, not too worried about diesel in terms of LEZ's as rarely venture into a proper city.
Budget ~£10k - would look to chuck down a decent deposit and finance the rest, maybe as much as half.
EDIT: ignore me, just saw the tracks bit
id say volvo cross thingy or something like.
Skoda Octavia Scout
Hah, just came on to say Octavia Scout or Volvo XC70.
Skoda Yeti TDI
My mate runs a successful independent garage and MOT centre. I tend to copy him when it comes to car ownership as he sees everything and only drives stuff that works. On that basis, of the crop of vehicles he has had/currently has, I reckon a 5 door Rav4 would come closest to your remit. Just find one that fits your price point.
Toyota landcruiser?
Hyundai santa fe
Some sort of Japanese/korean pick up truck, there are several.
Subaru outback? These have more ground clearance than a mk1 freelander, but are totally carlike to drive, the diesel will do 40+mpg easily.
Definitely an Octavia Scout
Dacia Duster, you can get LPG bi-fuel and 4 wheel drive, I think the 999cc petrol starts at 11k and with decent tyres even the 2 wheel drive will be fine.
Wont break the bank, I think you get a decent warranty as well.
A Skoda octavia scout or a yeti would fit the bill
They are great cars and toy get a good bang for your buck
Scout, outback or xc70 get my vote.
I'd be looking for a Subaru Outback as there's very little choice of estate car with reasonable ground clearance. The others I can think of are the Audi A4/A6 allroad. SUV's are pointlessly tall and worse in every respect.
Dacia Duster
Have you ever been in one? They are not great spaces to be, I certainly wouldn't want to be in one for 2-4hrs per day.
I have a Santa-Fe and it is a cracking car and ticks all of your boxes, but I think you would struggle to get 40mpg reliably.
Skoda Yeti - brilliant cars!
Had a rental Yeti a couple of years ago, we loved it!
Unimog
Volvo XC70
Be prepared for poor mpg and huge tax yearly. I'm a big V70 fan, but 30-35mpg and £3-500 tax is a big cost compared to our D3 V70 at 45-50mpg and £20 tax.
I've spent 8 years traveling around Scotland doing 20-25k a year, including many a rural road. I lug a lot of kit and travel year round. At no point have I needed 4wd or indeed raised suspension. I have appreciated all-seadon tyres.
I've used Touran, Galaxy and V70.
IMO you just need an estate that's comfy, easy and cheaper to fix (I'm not touching a vw again) and generally a nicer place to be.
Volvo XC70
Be prepared for poor mpg and huge tax yearly. I'm a big V70 fan, but 30-35mpg and £3-500 tax is a big cost compared to our D3 V70 at 45-50mpg and £20 tax.
I've spent 8 years traveling around Scotland doing 20-25k a year, including many a rural road. I lug a lot of kit and travel year round. At no point have I needed 4wd or indeed raised suspension. I have appreciated all-seadon tyres.
I've used Touran, Galaxy and V70.
IMO you just need an estate that's comfy, easy and cheaper to fix (I'm not touching a vw again) and generally a nicer place to be.
Load space in a duster is poor too. If you're leaving the rear wheel in anything over a medium 26'er is going to laid on it's side, not upright. And I'd rather walk than be in a Duster for 4 hours, seats are dreadful
Have you ever been in one? They are not great spaces to be, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in one for 2-4hrs per day.
No, but it ticks all the boxes.:D
Vitara?
The A6 Allroad as mentioned above is a good shout. Loads of space and a nice place to sit to get you from A to B.
This one is slightly above budget but you should be able to find one around the 10k mark.
What about the volvo xc60 - if you're sat somewhere for a while you'd want nice seats?
And I’d rather walk than be in a Duster for 4 hours, seats are dreadful
Don't know if there is much change in seats across the Dacia range, but I have a stepway and find the (front) seats perfectly comfortable and regularly do 3+hr drive, at least before lockdown.
Never sat in the back so cant comment on those.
Stuff the budget, you need this obvs:
The Singer Vehicle Design All-Terrain Competition Study
Comes with two spare wheels/tyres stored onboard, which solves your pothole problem.
outback ticks pretty much all those boxes. If I had to replace mine (2010), I'd probably just get a newer one.
I'm glad I'm on the right track, the STW track anyway...
My mental shortlist was:
A4/A6 Allroad (issues with air suspension on A6?
Subaru Forester/Outback
Skoda Octavia Scout
Audi seem to like big wheels, up to 19" on some I've seen listed, not great for my intended use of such a vehicle!
Dacia is a no from me, coming from a very well spec'd BMW I think I'd struggle. Yeti is a possible, but as a single chap in his early thirties I'm not sure it's quite the image I'm after... Yes I do slightly give a 5hit. Appreciate they're brilliant cars.
SUV's seem worse in every respect than a decent, slightly rugged estate car.
I wouldn't worry too much about the wheel size as long as the suspension is decent. I've been along some pretty bumpy tracks in my 5 series and that's got 20" wheels and it still seems to manage without crashing you about.
Honda CR-V? Good high up position, not too wide, reliable, comfortable and big enough boot. I had a 2010 petrol EX version for a couple of years and it was good jut a bit boring to drive.
Just picked up a Mondeo estste last year, 13 plate 26,000 miles diesel, £7000, full service history etc.
Do a similar mileage to you, business miles tend to A roads and motorways, the rest lugging mountainbikes around. Have a tow bar carrier for 4 bikes if it's onlt 2 sling them in the back.
Looks smart enough for visiting clients, untilty enough for what I really need.
You could get an early Porsche Cayenne near that budget, with 100k miles on the clock. It's a Bond car..so you will pull chicks for sure.
but as a single chap in his early thirties I’m not sure it’s quite the image I’m after… Yes I do slightly give a 5hit.
Woah there cowboy,you said nothing about posing round the town and worrying about what anyone thinks. Stop changing the brief 😉 🙂
I’d be looking at Octavia Scout, A4 allroad, Golf or Passat Alltrack. I had the Octavia 4x4 (scout without the body kit) and it was superb. Go for a dsg model and all season tyres.
Audi Allroad.
wouldn’t worry too much about the wheel size as long as the suspension is decent. I’ve been along some pretty bumpy tracks in my 5 series and that’s got 20″ wheels and it still seems to manage without crashing you about.
Yeah there's a difference between doing it once or twice and doing it daily.
I'd be looking for steel wheels with some deep section tires on to minimise the time spent crawling along at 2mph or at the other end of scale the length of time I spend changing flats
I’d be looking for steel wheels with some deep section tires on to minimise the time spent crawling along at 2mph or at the other end of scale the length of time I spend changing flats
Dacia duster 999cc
Yeti or Scout, yeti isnt in production anymore so some bargains to be hard....as are parts as its all standard VAG stuff. we've had two and they are perfectly decent cars.....only problem is old codgers love em so we give ourselves an extra point if you see a younger person driving one 🙂
If you spend half your time on poor surfaces/off road and need to transport a soggy dog and want to tow things I reckon you're very close to justifying a pickup.
£10k should score you a 12/13/14ish plate Navara/Hilux/L200 crew cab.
Ideally with a truck-top already on the back as a ready made Dog transport solution...
You could set up a landscaping business on the side too.
Any half decent estate car would fit the bill, ground clearance on some of the "rugged" estates isn't massively higher and they do tend to be a lot more expensive, so have a good think beforehand.
I would budget for some nice steel wheels (you don't have to get basic ones, there are other options) and a nice set of quality all season tyres and a towbar too. I'd probably get a decent boot liner as well, mudguards (if not already fitted) and some properly fitting rubber floor mats (not cheap universal ones).
Volvos are the way forward.
I did recommend the outback, but I actually have a forester and tbh I can’t fault it.
The worst mpg we’ve seen is 39.9mpg, that was on a long trip at typical motorway speeds.
Average at 65mph is high 40s. Obviously, that’s a diesel eh.
I can fit a road/gravel bike in with both wheels on, and probably a 26er HT would fit, but a fs bike would need the front wheel off.
Audi allroad, octavia scout, volvo xc70 are all similar concepts.
A mate has an outback which is the same age as mine, both cars are on close to 90k, only consumables have been needed.
The big question is would i buy another?
Yes.
One of the cross-country Volvo estates? Roomy, comfortable, AWD and raised ground clearance.
(Not the XC60, the V60 CC or V90 CC. I had a V90 as a hire car in 2017 so higher mileage ones must be in your budget by now.
Take out a huge loan and get a Bowler Wildcat. No idea what MPG you'd get but it would be fun to own
Dacia duster 999cc
Why is that relevent to the quote of mine. Dacia's seem to be made using left over Easter egg protective plastic.
I want to like them as cheap motoring but not even me the guy who drives an ergonomically horrid land rover 90 could subject his family to a Dacia. They are pretty nasty cars to be in for any time. Test drove a 0.9tce Logan MCV and 3 adults in it was chronic.
Xc70 is a very comfortable car and a nice place to be for long periods but you won’t get any fuel consumption starting with a 4. I have one and find it much more comfortable than my old v70 but that did have stupid low profile tyres.
Vw Tiguan
Suburu Forester
Phev mitsubishi
You can buy a Ford Focus active which is their take on VAG allroad, new Mondego to be released soon the old one will be cheap and looks good.
Touareg looks good value to me
Or x3
Personally I think 16" or 17" wheels are as big as you want to go on something that spends so much time on crap, potholed roads. And even then they want a fair bit of sidewall.
I could almost justify a pickup, but it is only almost. I shoot most weekends in winter, tow a car to motorsport events perhaps 10 times a year (currently borrow my dad's pickup) and do a bit of building work on the side already... But you're looking at more like 30mpg in most pickups. And anything 2015 onwards with reasonable miles is up near £20kb now.
Subarus are I think where I'm leaning...
17” on my outback with a decent amount of sidewall. 225/60’s from memory.
Nahhh you’re all wrong. Ford Ranger is the correct answer. (Mpg may be a sticking point though)
You can get a brand new duster for around £11k with all the warranty stuff that that brings
This chap has just brought one as have a few others,they all seem happy and if I was in that position I’d strongly consider one.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=47&t=1900473
Dacia Duster
Have you ever been in one? They are not great spaces to be, I certainly wouldn’t want to be in one for 2-4hrs per day.
The latest iteration of the Duster is an improvement on what the previous model was like, some external detail improvements which have tidied up its appearance quite a bit, seats seem pretty comfy, it’s mostly Renault derived, and I’ve never had an issue with the seats in any Renault I’ve driven over the last five years. Trim levels are fairly basic, but fine for what it is.
Believe me, I’ve driven a nearly new Merc A-Class which had seats like church pews; thirty minutes into an hour drive, I was desperate to get out of the bloody thing, it was impossible to get comfortable in it, my ass was completely numb by the time I got to Bristol. I’d definitely prefer to take a Duster.
With that much driving time I would go with comfort above all else.
In your position I would get a Kuga, not because it is the best car ever, far from it, but because I'm yet to find something that keeps me comfortable for as long.
Ours has the 10 way adjustable seats though, think for me tilting the seat base is what makes all the difference.
We never planned to keep it this long but haven't been able to find a suitable repacement.
Considering the kind of roads the OP is driving on I would also add to the list of requirements a decent NCAP rating.
lease a car?
Passat in se business spec. 17 inch wheels with big sidewalls. I had one and traveled from quarry and backroads to motorway a d town. Did all of them comfortably.
I did 90k in a brand new one in 2.5 years without a single fault.
Manchester to Aberdeen was comfortable enough to do a full days work after the drive.
50mpg easy
Big boot
Ergonomic seats
Cheap to run
Honda CRV but not a top spec one with stupidly large alloys.
Doing those miles I would go for an auto.
Should get a 2014 2.2 diesel for 10k with <60k.
Xc60. Much nicer place to spend several hours a day than most other stuff that's been mentioned. Will hold its value better too
I've spent a considerable amount of my weekend mulling over the various options recommended here, and I think come to the conclusion that I want a BMW X3... That hasn't been mentioned once.
I currently have a very nicely spec'd 2007 BMW 120D auto, 175bhp, automatic gearbox and electric everything. Aside from the slightly harsh ride and uncanny ability to eat tyres, it's a very pleasant place to be and seems to take the abuse well, even with 150k miles on the clock. So the X3 seems like a logical step? I'm not an X5 fan.
As much as I'd love a Subaru, the interiors look terrible and I think after the BMW would take too much adjusting too. The Octavia or A4 allroad (or Avant SE quattro) are the most likely contender otherwise.
Am I nuts?
Wouldn't an x1 be the logical step? Based on the 3 series estate floorpan iirc
the bottom spec interiors on the subaru's I've has as courtesy cars are pretty poor.
mines the top spec with a full leather interior etc and its as nice as any other brand of car i've driven.
5lab - good shout, I'd totally forgotten the X1, you do seem to get a fair bit more for your money compared to an X3, without losing much room.
I did just see an Octavia Scout in the flesh while I was out though, and whilst totally different to either BMW, does have a dependable, utilitarian look to it that I quite like. I hate buying cars.
Having driven the X1 and the Scout, I’d take the Skoda. More comfortable and nicer to drive in my experience. More usable space too