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Post by bothwellbuyer on May 16, 2023 13:40:07 GMT
I am planning to drive to south of France later this year. Last time in 2019, I took the Volvo XC90 diesel which was comfy and bags of room, which stored a spare wheel in the rear and the suitcases. Sold the XC90 last year after I bought the 3 door auto petrol Rav. I don't want to clock up lots of miles on the RAV..its more of a pet car and its too small for all the stuff.
I need to drive as my 2 nieces live in the sticks.
So, I sees a Volvo S60 in nice condition for sale - a 2006 model for £1800. First step - visit local Volvo dealer who have a S60 in stock albeit a 2018 model. Opens door and gets left leg in....but total failure to get head through the door opening. the car is too low n the ground, door not high enough and my back is way too stiff to bend as much as needed.
So back to car adverts.... I have had a Citroen C4 Grand Picasso and also a Mitsubishi ASX but both were diesel...I've gone off diesels after the petty problems I had with the XC90; plus my riendly garage of old told me to avoid diesels now as they're too complicated.
I don't fancy a landrover...the one I bought some time ago broke down 5 times on the road from Bristol to Glasgow, and completed the remaining 200 miles on the back of an AA truck.
Anyone any ideas of alternatives? Budget is around £5,000. Enough for a green goddess but the wife might not be too happy. The 2006/7 RAVs seem to suffer from extreme rust.
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Post by davrav on May 16, 2023 13:47:07 GMT
How about a Yeti? EDIT Scrub that, the petrols only seem to be 1200cc  |
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Post by firemac on May 16, 2023 13:49:18 GMT
Would a Dacia Duster be big enough. Older ones should be relatively cheap and they’ve got a pretty good reliability reputation. Or a Ssangyong Rodius. Ugly as sin but big and seems to be reliable. Or a pickup with a Truckman cover or tonneau? Lots of ex-builder stuff should be around: Isuzu, Mazda, etc but forget HiLux, silly money.
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Post by davrav on May 16, 2023 14:02:16 GMT
Yes, I wondered about a Duster too.
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Post by davrav on May 16, 2023 14:05:32 GMT
Honda CRV?
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Post by bothwellbuyer on May 16, 2023 15:55:40 GMT
Would a Dacia Duster be big enough. Older ones should be relatively cheap and they’ve got a pretty good reliability reputation. Or a Ssangyong Rodius. Ugly as sin but big and seems to be reliable. Or a pickup with a Truckman cover or tonneau? Lots of ex-builder stuff should be around: Isuzu, Mazda, etc but forget HiLux, silly money. I'd forgotten about Dacia - my late brother, who lived in France, used to say they were good value. The Hilux lookalikes are out as the missus hates them. |
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Post by unclebob on May 16, 2023 15:57:46 GMT
How about a RAV4.2 petrol auto 5 door 👍🏻
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Post by charliefarlie on May 16, 2023 16:04:33 GMT
4.3 petrol auto ?
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Post by widge on May 17, 2023 6:28:32 GMT
If you are planning to do a lot of miles in france, it might be worth fitting an e85 conversion kit to use bio ethanol, it is widely available in france.
Although it is not as cheap as it was 1€ to 1.25€ a litre where until the fuel crisis I was paying 0.65 to 0.80€ a litre, it can still make a big difference, 95 is 1.80€ to 1.95€ litre.
I am not sure how much the kits are now, i paid about 130€ for mine but that was a few years ago.
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Post by widge on May 17, 2023 7:28:16 GMT
If you are planning to do a lot of miles in france, it might be worth fitting an e85 conversion kit to use bio ethanol, it is widely available in france. Although it is not as cheap as it was 1€ to 1.25€ a litre where until the fuel crisis I was paying 0.65 to 0.80€ a litre, it can still make a big difference, 95 is 1.80€ to 1.95€ litre. I am not sure how much the kits are now, i paid about 130€ for mine but that was a few years ago. This is the company I used, www.autoethanol.co.uk/Although they have not had any stock for a while, i am not sure why, maybe to do with the car chip availability issue, I have found other sites but in french, But at least this one tells you about it in english. And kits are available on amazon so some manufacturers must be not having a problem. |
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Post by bothwellbuyer on May 17, 2023 9:04:57 GMT
I kinda wondered about the 4.3 petrol. Was there a petrol engine that had 'issues' or was that diesel? Shame that the 2006 model I had briefly was sporting so much rust on the inner sills. Its a slightly bigger car than the 4.2. I've been looking at the Dacia petrol autos but prices are pretty steep.
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Post by firemac on May 17, 2023 10:51:32 GMT
I kinda wondered about the 4.3 petrol. Was there a petrol engine that had 'issues' or was that diesel? Shame that the 2006 model I had briefly was sporting so much rust on the inner sills. Its a slightly bigger car than the 4.2. I've been looking at the Dacia petrol autos but prices are pretty steep.
The vvt-i petrol engines are pretty much bombproof, Ian. |
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Post by davidwilson on May 17, 2023 13:28:41 GMT
4.3 petrol was good. Exhaust very expensive to replace but hopefully a copy is available now. The fuel filler pipe needed checking and that was it on the manual we had.
Now had two CRV petrol automatics which have been faultless but mpg in high twenties. Have thought about other cars but ours is six years old and will keep for now. Will get something similar to replace it when the time comes - probably another CRV.
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Post by charliefarlie on May 17, 2023 16:16:50 GMT
I kinda wondered about the 4.3 petrol. Was there a petrol engine that had 'issues' or was that diesel? Shame that the 2006 model I had briefly was sporting so much rust on the inner sills. Its a slightly bigger car than the 4.2. I've been looking at the Dacia petrol autos but prices are pretty steep.
Petrols excellent no issues . It was the diesels that had problems. There are rust issues with some and more likely from cars near the coast but there are rusty cars from any manufacturer as the Yeats tick by. 👍👍 Oh and as David Wilson says above the Hondas are cracking cars. Mate from the village has a 2006 one and it’s superb 👍👍 |
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Post by firemac on May 17, 2023 21:13:51 GMT
Just occurred to me: Hyundai Santa Fe. A neighbour has an ‘08 reg from new. Pulls his rather enormous caravan with it. Has never had any trouble with it and it must have stellar miles on it now. Also Kia Sorento has a good rep.
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