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Roxylola

Roxylola

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Hey hho, help a girl out if you would please.
I love my dinky little aygo, but having moved yards I'm dealing with a short but very rutted lane now to the farm, coupled with one or two other rather bumpy tracks and I think they're killing my poor car.
The suspension makes some concerning noises, now and I have bottomed her a couple of times despite actually being pretty careful. She's a car about town, not a country girl at heart 😞
I'm not in a rush (spent a whack on a clutch recently 🙈) but I think I need to be open to other vehicles.
In an ideal world I'll remortgage in the next 6 months free up a little equity and get a small box and just use that as my vehicle but I may need to act sooner and/or I might not get enough freed up for a box as soon as I'd like.
Can you suggest not too expensive to tax and insure cars that won't hate a bumpy track please? Bear in mind aygo is free to tax and costs about 30 a month to insure in one of the worst insurance areas. Anything else has a lot to live up to 🙈
 
my "box" is a berlingo. (a Peugeot partner is similar)
I would have another. Gets so much feed/shavings and everything else in.
It is basically a box on wheels and we have lousy potholes. Diesel.
I think the tax is £30 (or maybe £15) and insurance would be within your parameters.

not 4WD if that matters.
 
Do you prefer having a smaller car? I have an ignis, not the 4wd version, it's a matchbox but there's not much it can't get over tbh for a small car. It's really cheap to run so far
- though I only have it a couple of months. It's the perfect throw it about but park anywhere. I imagine the 4wd one would be even more adept if you felt you needed it.
 
I like the insignis. My hesitation over something like that is I'm not sure even the 4x4 version would be much tougher, and I'm not sure what that would do to tax and insurance.
 
paddy555 said:
my "box" is a berlingo. (a Peugeot partner is similar)
I would have another. Gets so much feed/shavings and everything else in.
It is basically a box on wheels and we have lousy potholes. Diesel.
I think the tax is £30 (or maybe £15) and insurance would be within your parameters.

not 4WD if that matters.
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Our friends have a Berlingo - it replaced his Land Rover when he decided it was no longer economical to keep paying Land Rover prices to repair it! It's not stylish but it carries everything, including felled trees, and costs peanuts to run. It also seems to cope better than it should with country lanes and tracks.
 
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I have a fiat panda 4x4 having had a Citroen dispatch microcamper as my main car for 9 years but started dying a death in November after having to cycle to the yard in the snow I gave up. I decided I wanted something for the small lanes to the yard in the winter but also not expensive to commute on a dual carriage way. I really like it it's way nippier than my van, not overly engineered and also very cheap to tax. I umm and ahhed about getting something I could tow with but decided I'll save for a little 3.5tonner instead. It's done the winter well. I'm going to put a tow bar on and yet a mini caravan and a trailer for hay eventually. It can tow up to 900kg.
 
AShetlandBitMeOnce said:
Would one of those not drive you mad as a daily? Parking it in town would be a nightmare and they make a racket to drive 🤣
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I mean, maybe. But...
I don't drive in town much these days, we have a car park at work, I really want one, and I'm not sure I can justify 2 vehicles especially if I'm killing my regular car off with work a van/box could cope with.
That said, a panda/insignis etc 4x4 if they're actually more rugged than a regular version might be an option 🤷‍♀️🤯
*Edit
Might also help if I remember I have a motorbike which I can use at least some of the time too...
 
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Have you looked at 3.5tn horsebox insurance in detail yet? Its (mine's a Citroen Relay) generally pretty reasonable, but I think the norm is to keep the mileage pretty minimal, unless your a serious competitor. I think I have about 1500 miles a year on mine, I use it once a week - if I used it as a near daily runner I'd blow through that pretty quick. So might be worth checking out?
 
Suncat said:
Have you looked at 3.5tn horsebox insurance in detail yet? Its (mine's a Citroen Relay) generally pretty reasonable, but I think the norm is to keep the mileage pretty minimal, unless your a serious competitor. I think I have about 1500 miles a year on mine, I use it once a week - if I used it as a near daily runner I'd blow through that pretty quick. So might be worth checking out?
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Crikey that's not a lot of miles at all. Tbh though I'd be trying to be out at least every week or twice even if that was all I was using it for, would be at least triple that mileage I think
 
Suncat said:
Have you looked at 3.5tn horsebox insurance in detail yet? Its (mine's a Citroen Relay) generally pretty reasonable, but I think the norm is to keep the mileage pretty minimal, unless your a serious competitor. I think I have about 1500 miles a year on mine, I use it once a week - if I used it as a near daily runner I'd blow through that pretty quick. So might be worth checking out?
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I don't have any mileage restrictions on mine, insured with South Essex, renewed last September, just double checked small print. Never had it when previously with KBIS either.
 
Roxylola said:
Hey hho, help a girl out if you would please.
I love my dinky little aygo, but having moved yards I'm dealing with a short but very rutted lane now to the farm, coupled with one or two other rather bumpy tracks and I think they're killing my poor car.
The suspension makes some concerning noises, now and I have bottomed her a couple of times despite actually being pretty careful. She's a car about town, not a country girl at heart 😞
I'm not in a rush (spent a whack on a clutch recently 🙈) but I think I need to be open to other vehicles.
In an ideal world I'll remortgage in the next 6 months free up a little equity and get a small box and just use that as my vehicle but I may need to act sooner and/or I might not get enough freed up for a box as soon as I'd like.
Can you suggest not too expensive to tax and insure cars that won't hate a bumpy track please? Bear in mind aygo is free to tax and costs about 30 a month to insure in one of the worst insurance areas. Anything else has a lot to live up to 🙈
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Fiat Panda 4X4, Suzuki Vitara, Skoda Octavia Scout, Dacia Duster?
 
I've got a Suzuki Swift, absolutely love it. 4 wheel drive, hybrid 1.2L engine, extremely good mileage, lots of safety gadgets so insurance is pretty good even for a newer young driver like me. Enough space in the boot or back seats for feed bags or tack, I've never had a problem with it getting stuck or having a flat tire and drive it through horrible pot-holey lanes frequently, it also offroads well and in the summer use it to drive feed bags up our steep hilly paddocks to our yard.
 
I also have a Suzuki swift with optional 4x4, 1.3 litre. I like it, but it is a bit gutless and can't say the boot is very big. But Suzuki's are good value for money, so worth a look at a jimney or equivalent .I used to have a polo dune, which was 4x4 with extra ride height.
What I will say is I'm not sure I would want to be driving a 3.5t along a rough road that is causing issues to cars. They are fairly low riding and can't imagine having all that weight on a long wheelbase chassis, twisting over pot holes will do it any good. Plus tyres are more expensive if you blow one.
I have 'restricted' mileage on mine, it's set at 10,000 a year so never going to get near that. I asked if I could bring it down to reduce cost but they said it wouldn't make any difference
 
I have a fiat fiorino small van and it’s fantastic. I use it for work too. It does 51mpg!! I am actually selling it soon if you are interested as going back to a car but I go down many bumpy farm tracks with work and it’s never let me down. It also fits 4 small bales of hay in the back too!
 
Ooh can I butt in here and ask if anybody can recommend a smaller 4wd to navigate yards/snow/mud, that also might suit towing a single horse trailer when or if the need arose? Thinking ahead! Thanks.
 
@terrierliz tbf, most of my journeys start or end with a horse technically...
These are all helpful things I hadn't considered though. At least if the need arises before I've made a decision/raised funds about a box I've got options
 
terrierliz said:
Check the insurance on 3.5t most policies are carefully worded that they are only covered for horse related journeys
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Oh yes - that too, definitely true on mine (specific horsebox insurance), though you could just insure it as a van. I think the horsebox specific insurance is designed to keep the cost low as a trade off of risk (same for the optional mileage) - ie its cheaper because its only being used for one low risk activity (driving very precious cargo around) 😄 I did check with my insurer and they said I can drive it home or occasional trips locally for the purposes of parking it up, maintenance and keeping it ticking over. But the above has also been a very useful reason not to end up moving everyone's furniture of a weekend....
 
Vw caddy vans, and citreon berlingo’s we’ve always owned for getting anywhere rough. The berlingo even managed snowy frozen windy french-alps roads fully laden!

Here in Ireland these vans are really common to see used by yard and farmer folk for navigating the trench-type lanes and rough tracks. Our Caddy even tows our 16ft ifor willians trailer with a ton of cargo on it, uphill track to our place! They seem less ‘beefy’ than they are…great work-horses 🙂

Tax and insurance for them in the uk im unsure now…was cheap when we were there.
 
mavandkaz said:
What I will say is I'm not sure I would want to be driving a 3.5t along a rough road that is causing issues to cars. They are fairly low riding and can't imagine having all that weight on a long wheelbase chassis, twisting over pot holes will do it any good. Plus tyres are more expensive if you blow one.
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This - I have my horse up a bumpy track so have to take the horsebox up and down it and although it can get up and down it, it doesn't do it any good. The 4 x 4's get up the track a lot better even in 2WD and I've had times where the extra weight of the box has made it struggle getting up it more than a non 4x4 type car.

Also the repairs to a box are more expensive, especially if it's bodywork and they're not as easy to get around in. I wouldn't fancy using one for everyday tasks.
 
We’ve got 3x Mercedes Vito, a transit and a Citroen, recently lost our last VW transporter in an accident. The Vitos are brilliant, nice to drive, really reliable. Transits are just horrible Smokey things and the Citroen is just forever needing work done as minor things break in a regular basis.

Having owned an Aygo before and our 4x4 garage having them as hire cars, pretty much anything you drive will be nicer, they feel like they’re made out of elastic bands!

I run an old diesel estate car with 150k on the clock for my daily driver and have a Discovery for towing, that’s the car set up we’ve been happiest with.

I’ve only ever heard good things about a 4x4 panda!
 
PurBee said:
Vw caddy vans, and citreon berlingo’s we’ve always owned for getting anywhere rough. The berlingo even managed snowy frozen windy french-alps roads fully laden!

Here in Ireland these vans are really common to see used by yard and farmer folk for navigating the trench-type lanes and rough tracks. Our Caddy even tows our 16ft ifor willians trailer with a ton of cargo on it, uphill track to our place! They seem less ‘beefy’ than they are…great work-horses 🙂

Tax and insurance for them in the uk im unsure now…was cheap when we were there.
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My VW combo was amazing! did 350 miles on £30 of diesel, never let me down and could fit a small shed in the back. I took the back seats out and used it as a van, although it was still classed and insured as car. So long as you keep the seats to put back in its fine. You just undid bolts to take them out. Sadly some idiot hit me at a roundabout and wrote it off, but it was an awesome little car and so practical
 
Roxylola said:
Hey hho, help a girl out if you would please.
I love my dinky little aygo, but having moved yards I'm dealing with a short but very rutted lane now to the farm, coupled with one or two other rather bumpy tracks and I think they're killing my poor car.
The suspension makes some concerning noises, now and I have bottomed her a couple of times despite actually being pretty careful. She's a car about town, not a country girl at heart 😞
I'm not in a rush (spent a whack on a clutch recently 🙈) but I think I need to be open to other vehicles.
In an ideal world I'll remortgage in the next 6 months free up a little equity and get a small box and just use that as my vehicle but I may need to act sooner and/or I might not get enough freed up for a box as soon as I'd like.
Can you suggest not too expensive to tax and insure cars that won't hate a bumpy track please? Bear in mind aygo is free to tax and costs about 30 a month to insure in one of the worst insurance areas. Anything else has a lot to live up to 🙈
Click to expand...
Skoda Yeti - they come in a 4x4 version, decent ground clearance, my 2ltr costs under £300 a year to tax. Insurance is less than £30 per month and I live in a deprived and rough area. Very versatile vehicles.
 
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