Small car and cheap 4x4 for towing or decentish 4x4?!

C

Corker

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 April 2010
Messages
57
Location
Saddleworth, Oldham
Visit site
I am swapping my peugeot 206 for another car as there are quite a few problems with it so do I swap it for another small car and get a cheap £1500ish 4x4 to use for towing or do I spend £3-5k and get a decentish 4x4?!
I currently drive about 450 miles a week as I am at uni 3 days a week and its 55 miles one way plus all my other driving when im not at uni. In Spetember I will hopefully only be in uni 2 days a week so this should take my miles down by about 100 milles.
I'm just trying to figure out which would be cheapest as I know 4x4s arent cheap to run!

Please help as i'm starting to pull my hair out tryin to work out what to do for the best, thanks :-)
 
Corker said:
I am swapping my peugeot 206 for another car as there are quite a few problems with it so do I swap it for another small car and get a cheap £1500ish 4x4 to use for towing or do I spend £3-5k and get a decentish 4x4?!
Click to expand...
What licence you got B or B+E ?
That could make a great difference in what you can opt for

What will you be towing?
 
Last edited:
I looked at this before I got my most recent 4x4 and found it worked out cheaper to run a 4x4 as my main car and towing vehicle.

you need to look at the tax, insurance (remember you can only claim a no claims bonus on one vehicle), MOT and running costs for 2 cars compared to just running a diesel drinker.

I just have my 02 plate Isuzu Trooper 3.0 TD and it tows like a dream and does the 400 miles I drive a week.

With current diesel costs it's around £400 per month plus at bit more when I'm competing.. hope that helps!! :)
 
ROG- I have got my B+E, Class 1 and Class 2 does that make a difference to insurance? I'll b towin a 510 with a 17.2 Irish draught and possible other horse.

Thanks Emma S I'll look into costs etc further :-)
 
Corker said:
ROG- I have got my B+E, Class 1 and Class 2 does that make a difference to insurance? I'll b towin a 510 with a 17.2 Irish draught and possible other horse.

Thanks Emma S I'll look into costs etc further :-)
Click to expand...
http://www.adelaideinsurance.com/lgv-insurance/

HB510 has a MAM of 2584 so I doubt you ever get near too that being fully loaded
With B+E you just need to be sure that any towing capacity is enough for you to tow the maximum ACTUAL weight of the trailer when loaded
 
I spent several (long!) months going back and forwards over this recently and have decided to go with a small everyday car and cheaper 4x4, the latter of which I'm excited and nervous to be buying in a couple of months after saving up (then comes the trailer...!).

I've got a Hyundai i10, which the dealer said with the kind of driving I do (equally split between lanes, A roads and motorways), I can expect to get 55mpg from (they're advertised at up to 62mpg). I currently do about 85 miles each weekday plus running about at the weekends, although this will halve shortly when I change jobs and I'll be doing up to about 1,000 miles per year max in the 4x4. My car tax is £20 per year and as someone very kindly pointed me towards Admiral Multicar, which I'd previously ruled out, I can expect to pay in the region of £800 total insurance for my car and an older 4x4 (example S reg Jeep Cherokee 2.5) fully comp - putting the quotes through separately came out about £500 more, eek.

When I did all the sums, there wasn't much difference in running a daily 4x4 costing about £3k and running a small new car and older 4x4. The thing that really put me off only having a 4x4 was the worry over anything going wrong. It's one thing not being able to take my horse out because something's packed up on a car - it's quite another when I can't get to work to earn the money for the horse and car! Having a small car and older, cheaper 4x4 will mean that my daily running costs are kept to a minimum and any repairs will be a little less of a headache.
 
Thanks as ever, ROG :)

Corker, I've personally also got a reliable mechanic (friend's older and qualified brother) lined up to give anything I look at a good going over first, too. RAC also do full comprehensive car 'vettings' - but obv are pricey - £300-350 for 4x4s but may be worth bearing in mind for future ref if you're not very 'car literate' and don't have anyone you could take along.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top