Two Cars or One

keith1950

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.

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.

Hi again, as part of my job I have to drive just about every car available in the UK.

I find the Sante Fe to be quite a good car but compared to the Xtrail there is more body roll when cornering.

This also applies to many other cars such as the older shape Freelander, the Toyota Rav 4, the Honda CRV , the Santa Fe , the Vauxhall Antara , the Chevrolet Captiva plus the likes of the Range Rover and Discovery, whilst luxury cars are quite unstable when pushed.

Any of them would be suitable for the OP however I have never found any other car that I can throw into a roundabout at speed as the pre-2008 Xtrail.

I would suggest that it is you that have not driven many others,
it probably depends how you drive, if you drive like a fairy any car could be considered stable at speed.

I have so far done over 3,500,000 miles and do have extensive driving experience of most cars.

Wh05apk

keith1950 wrote: »

I have so far done over 3,500,000 miles and do have extensive driving experience of most cars.

Really? if we assume your DOB is in your user name, that makes you 63? assuming you have been driving since 18, that means you have averaged over 80,000 miles a year?

keith1950

experience of most cars.Really? if we assume your DOB is in your user name, that makes you 63? assuming you have been driving since 18, that means you have averaged over 80,000 miles a year?

For many years I averaged 85,000-90,000 per year however in the last five years this has dropped to around 45,000 per year.

Why are you so sceptical ?

TradePro

keith1950 wrote: »

Why are you so sceptical ?

I don't believe you either

TradePro

D+C wrote: »

My wife has recently bought a new car on a PCP, so she is limited in her annual mileage

This is quite often misunderstood - mileage only an issue really if you plan to hand the car back to the finance company.

If you are keeping the car at the end of the term, it's yours, go to the moon and back if you wish!

If you are going to trade in, obviously there will be an impact on valuation depending on miles covered, but a couple of thousand here and there won't be an issue.

keith1950

experience of most cars.Really? if we assume your DOB is in your user name, that makes you 63? assuming you have been driving since 18, that means you have averaged over 80,000 miles a year?

I don't believe you either

What a pair of sanctimonious !!!!!! !

I don't appreciate being called a liar.

Most days I did 'around' 290 miles , working 6 days a week.

Now I cover 180-210 miles per day , 5 days a week.

I have no reason to lie.

I may not be a 'good' driver but have been a 'safe' driver, no accidents in 14 years and a total of only 2 x SP30'S both during one week in 2001.

You on the other hand you probably won't get to 500,000 miles in your lifetime.

Talk about going off subject , I think you should be trying to give advice to the OP not criticise someone else's advise.

Have a good night......not.

TradePro

keith1950 wrote: »

For many years I averaged 85,000-90,000 per year

So, did you do this job for 40 years?

I'm just curious, I'm not doubting your ability to drive.

keith1950

So, did you do this job for 40 years?

Yes my original job lasted nearly 40 years , most vehicles we drove needed servicing every 5 or 6 weeks and lease vehicles were changed after 18 months as we had done 120,000 or more by then.

Since then I have been delivering cars.

The only point I was making was that I do have more experience of a wide range of cars than most people and my only real advice when buying a car would be to test drive every make of car of a similar type and ensure you test it to the limit.

You may test drive one make and think the handling is pretty good , if you don't try them all you won't know.

I may have a liking for the pre-2008 xtrail but can honestly say that while the newer xtrail may be more luxurious the older one appears, in my opinion, to have better handling.

I had mine re-mapped from 136 bhp to 180bhp and during the 7 years I have owned it have had no 'faults' , only the usual wear and tear items such as pads and discs.

I am not a good driver, I would probably struggle to pass my test now because of all the bad habits I have developed but I can 'read' the road and avoid all the mistakes caused by the inexperienced.

Lets get back to giving the OP some useful advise.

Wh05apk

keith1950 wrote: »

What a pair of sanctimonious !!!!!! !

I don't appreciate being called a liar.

Most days I did 'around' 290 miles , working 6 days a week.

Now I cover 180-210 miles per day , 5 days a week.

I have no reason to lie.



Have a good night......not.

Thank you for that, I was not calling you a liar, just that averaging over 80,000 for a long period is an incredible achievement.

With regards my mileage, for a long time I was doing 50k+ then changed job, reducing to 30K+, now I only do about 15K, but even so, well in excess of 500k.

Iceweasel

Now that that little skirmish is past lets return to the OP's original post.

Here's my take on the difficulty of additional vehicles.

While there is no genuinely universal multi-purpose vehicle I can only suggest finding the best compromise taking into account how important the lifestyle needs really are.

My wife and I currently own 3 vehicles - but very rarely are even 2 of them in use at the same time.

We have a family saloon, a medium sized 4X4 and a small van.

The standing costs of maintaining this 'fleet' have crept up on us and now we have to take stock, as it's ridiculously expensive.

Our conclusion is that we really should only have the one vehicle - capable of the very occasional light off-road, and the regular long journeys we do together.

We've worked out that the money saved on insurance, tax discs, MOTs etc will mean that we could easily afford to hire a vehicle for a weekend for example if it really became necessary.

We asked ourselves the question - did we really need a 4X4 - and a van. The answer of course was NO - the costs far outweighed the convenience.

As we never drive through deep mud - the off-road is just farm tracks really - a saloon with decent ground-clearance driven slowly can cope very well - especially if fitted with all-season open-tread tyres.

A small trailer is going to replace the van.

That's our solution which we plan to implement in the next few months.

Aha - but the OP has a dog, I hear you say - OK then an estate car version is the solution as already mentioned.

We're thinking of that too - and perhaps forget the trailer, but I think not, as some of the stuff I carry in the van I wouldn't like to put in an estate - bags of garden refuse for example - from which a few creepy-crawlies often escape - Mrs Iceweasel wouldn't stand for that. LOL