Two Cars or One

D+C_4

I am trying to view this situation dispassionately and it is proving very difficult, so hopefully you smart money saving types can help me!

For my work and my lifestyle I need an offroad capable vehicle that I can occassionally fill with crud and get absolutely filthy. My dog often rides with me and moults gratuitously, despite being confined to a travel crate. This role has been fulfilled by an awesome little Jimny that I removed the back seats from to create a van-back. It is brilliant at everything I need it for.

My wife has recently bought a new car on a PCP, so she is limited in her annual mileage. Unsurprisingly, being a refined lady, she doesn't like travelling in my filthy, hairy car, so whenever we take long journeys we take her car. Moreover, the jimny is a pig on the motorway. It wears AT tyres so it is very noisy, and it vibrates violently at 70. And it has no radio. So we are putting far more miles on her car than we should be, and this needs to be resolved.

Now the Jimny is paid off, I need to decide what to do from a financial perspective. My need for an offroad vehicle (for work, not play, so think greenlanes and occassional steep muddy fields) is unchanged, as is my need to occassionally cart stuff that is dirty. But now I also need to be able to do my share of the long-distance driving in my vehicle.

So I have two options. The good lady wife would like me to buy a pick up with a truckman top and a dog travel box on the load area, so dog and mucky loads can be confined to the back, thus leaving a clean cab area. I can't register this through a business, but as I understand it even when taxed privately this will be recorded as "dual use" and cost somewhere in the order of £240/pa, which is less than the Jimny. There are mileage considerations, but I only get 32mpg from the Jimny and I reckon I'll be doing about 6000 miles a year. I would probably be buying for around £8-9k, and would hope to sell the Jimny for about £1500 or so, once I've cleaned it. But I don't relish the idea of an enormous pick up being my everyday vehicle.

The second option is to keep the now paid-off Jimny, for all my off road and pootling around the countryside needs, and buy a fuel efficient but capacious hatchback (a diesel Civic appeals) for about £6k. This would of course double my MOT costs and add to the tax burden (but not much if I choose something very efficient), but it would lower the loan repayments and would be more fuel efficient on any journey where I didn't need the Jimny. My biggest worry would be doubling up maintenance costs.

I would appreciate any thoughts on which way to go with this. Two tools, each perfect for its job, or one tool that does everything pretty well? Many thanks!:beer:

Wh05apk

Surely the cost of buying a 3rd or even upgrading your exiting Jimny will far outweigh any penalties for additional mileage on your wifes car?

If you are happy with the Jimny, just take the hit on the mileage, or amend the PCP to give you enough miles.

Weird_Nev

It is virtually impossible to "save" money by buying an additional car.

A friend tried it: He had a Petrol Jag that got 25mpg, and bought a Peugeot 106 1.6 non turbo diesel - a genuine 65Mpg car to try and keep the commuting miles etc off the jag. Guess what? It was more expensive to run both cars than it was to simply put the miles on the Jag.

I think that a pick up would be a sensible idea, running one car that will meet all your needs.

I have A/T tyres on a Pajero, not particularly aggressive ones, but it still cruises fine at 120Kph and can deal with mud and loose stuff fine, so you can have a 4x4 that will handle tarmac and still be capable off road. Of course, if you rely on aggressive mud tyres for your off road work, this might not be the case.

However, bang out a quick excel spreadsheet to calculate the various differentials in costs between your options, then you'll find out if one of the options is a clear winner or not.

Herzlos

You must be able to find a compromise between a pick-up and a diesel hatchback. If you don't need the full size truck bed, why not look at fairly standard 4x4's? I'd imagine an X-trail will do all you need, as would a freelander or defender (though the defender might still be a bit utilitarian).

Failing that, unless the mileage excesses on the wifes car are colossal, you're better off putting the miles on that than a 3rd car (because you'll have extra tax, extra servicing, extra insurance without no-claims because it can only be applied to 1 car at a time).

fivetide

At 6000 miles a year too, you really don't need a diesel.

As said though, can't see you saving with all the additional costs.

Road_Hog

Well, you've pretty much identified your two options. My fist view (before I got to it) was double-cab pickup 4x4. That way you could still have the dog in the car and leave the back end for all the rubbish - I'm thinking Mitsubishi.

The other, is to keep the Jimny, as you've said and get a Civic diesel. Now, I spent 20 years working for Honda, so I have a little experience of them.

Maintenance is low cost, seriously, they don't go wrong. Judging by your budget £6K, you're looking at the older 2.0L diesel, which is much better than the newer 1.8L model. The reason for this is, that Honda only had one diesel engine at the time and had to use the Accord engine in the Civic as well.

Good points, it is seriously fast, no, I mean it is really quick, quite fun to drive for a diesel. Economy is good. Bad points, make sure you drive one before you buy. The driving position, rear view window etc. feels a bit funny, not to everyone's taste, it's got a fairly modern feeling, a bit like something out of Star Trek.

Once again, it's fun to drive, handles well, goes off like a rocket (about 0-60 in 8secs), but you just need to see if the interior suits you.

gilbert_and_sullivan

I've run a twin cab pick up, 3 litre Hilux auto.

Desite its obvious size it drove nicer than most cars, the engine and box were sweet and smooth, it would cruise at 90 all day if you so wished., and yes commercial VED was far cheaper.

However insurance costs are high and most companies will only ensure these as commercial vehicle insurance meaning you lose the right to drive other cars on TP only under you own cover.

Fuel costs high expect 30mpg average if you buy a manual possibly better on a long run if you keep the speed down, but boot it and they will drink the stuff, they are after all a 2 ton brick with a heavy transmission so ignore those idiots who tell you they get 40mpg.

Underbody corrosion can be bad, the chassis are thick but its sensible to get the whole vehicle rust treated.

Hard ride if lightly loaded, tyres last a long time but not cheap for decent stuff and you do not want cheap ditchfinders cos the things are notoriously tail happy, and as you already know with the Suzi chunky tyres do not make wet road driving enjoyable.

If they do go wrong they can be expensive, however they are generally simple to work on if you're handy, and many parts can be bought online now.

Hilux is good but expensive used, Isuzu/Ford/Mazda/Mitsi are cheaper used, Nissans need a of research before taking the plunge.

I would have another but the running costs are heavy, so i would have to need one badly before i did again.

You obviously already know how good Suzis are, could you manage with a Grand Vitara and partially partition the rear section off for dog and stuff.

Prothet_of_Doom

Too complex by half.

Start with a spread sheet. List all the costs in first column. In the 2nd column start with the costs if you continue as you are. then in more columns put different options.

Add up columns. If any column is within 10% of the current baseline, you can ignore the difference in cost, because they are estimates and will be subject to variation and inaccuracy. If they are more than 20% different than now, then you know there is a difference.

Be aware that a second old specialist car, on a classic policy is quite cheap to insure. Jimney might fit that discription? Wifey has a second car - an old MX5 which costs about £400 for tax and insurance a year, so we accept that 1.20 a day is spent on having a car in the garage we don't actually need. (1/2 a cup of tea at nero I think?)

keith1950

Hi the nissan xtrail is about the only SUV that drives like a car, doesn't roll on corners,, very comfortable, brilliant off-road and has flat loading area that will take a large dog cage.

Not the best for fuel economy but my 2.2dci gives 38 mpg on motorway runs and around 32mpg around town.

Buying a 3rd car would mean another insurance policy starting with zero no claims bonus.

Wh05apk

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi the nissan xtrail is about the only SUV that drives like a car, doesn't roll on corners,, very comfortable, brilliant off-road and has flat loading area that will take a large dog cage.

Not the best for fuel economy but my 2.2dci gives 38 mpg on motorway runs and around 32mpg around town.

Buying a 3rd car would mean another insurance policy starting with zero no claims bonus.

You obviously have not driven many others then?

I have a Santa fe, and that drives like a car, I am sure many others will do as well.

marlot

keith1950 wrote: »

Hi the nissan xtrail is about the only SUV that drives like a car, doesn't roll on corners,, very comfortable, brilliant off-road and has flat loading area that will take a large dog cage....

Really? I know these 'what car?' threads bring out people who push their favorite car, but there are loads of others out there which would do the job being asked for by the OP.