What car do you drive?

F

FeatherPower

Well-Known Member
Joined
26 June 2009
Messages
251
Visit site
...and is it practical for your horsey activities?

I need to get a more suitable car for my horsey things, my previously outdoor cob has become an indoor cob having discovered the luxury of being in over night and as such luggin bales of shavings around in an Alfa is just not practical!

Tell me what you drive and give it points for reliability, cost to run and practicality for horsey things (and how many bales or feed bags you can fit in!)

Thanks!
 
i have a 3 door peugeot 207, not the most practical although i did manage to squeeze in 2 sacks of feed and 3 bales of shavings (couldnt see a thing though!)
 
I drive a VW Polo and with the back seats down I can fit 5 bales of hunters shavings in plus feed on the passenger seat, I cant store many more shavings bales in my tack room so its fine for me.
 
I drive a land rover discovery and i love it so much all tho i have been with out it for 6 months due to it needing very expensive repairs.
But i have missed it terrably.

I am using my partners skoda oktavia its ok and it is getting me from A-B but it is just not the Disco
frown.gif


The disco can fit loads and loads of bales/feed in it.
grin.gif
 
I did once fit 13 bales of horsehage in my Honda Jazz. Ok not the best looking car around, and all other drivers will assume you are over the age of 70, but in the 7 years i've had it has never broken down, or had big repair bills. It is also really cheap and economical to run. I can fit more in the Jazz than in my Land Rover Defender!!!!!!!
 
I drive a VW polo also
smile.gif
its reliable, pretty cost effective, nice little car to drive. With back seats down can fit a good amount of stuff in.
 
wow thats a lot to fit in one car - and I ddint realise you could get so much in a polo! I used to have one, never tried though I suppose

I am thinking possible a rav4 3dr (the back seats come right out) or maybe a nissan xtrail?

do any of you drive estates?
 
My old Peugeot 306 was THE most practical car! It was diesel, ran for ever without having to be refilled, was dead roomy and great fun to drive
smile.gif
However, I killed it
frown.gif


Now got a Fiesta which is great, but is quite thirsty.... though is quite roomy! I can get lots of feed and bedding in without a prob!
tongue.gif
 
I drive a Honda Prelude - sports coupe and leather interior, but have got 3 bales of shavings in the back, and feed in front plus any boot space I can use - it's usually stuffed with horsey gear LOL...
Not very practical really as its also lowered on very expensive springs so have to be sooo careful when going anywhere really...

Did have a Nissan Terrano 3 dr loved it but I love my sports car's too much
 
I'm a bit over carred at the moment.

Audi A4 1.9 Tdi saloon, fantastic drivers car, dreadful for practicality - nothing will fit in the boot and farmers etc freak out at being asked to put bales on the leather back seat, 50+mpg.

Skoda Octavia 1.9 Tdi estate, quality sadly lacking compared to the Aud, practical as you can get loads in the boot and will happily tow single horse trailer or large trailer filled with muck / carrots etc, 50+ mpg. Has been tortured pulling unreasonable loads through mud and survived.

Golf 1.9, non-turbo, better as a driver's car than the Skoda but not as good as the Audi, can get loads of stuff in the back and it managed over 50 miles circulating round a cross country course score collecting - only two bits dropped off(!). Very old so wouldn't try towing with it as it wouldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding, has probably dropped from around 64 bhp when new to 40 bhp now but is excellent as daughter's first car. Will still do 50+ mpg.

Land rover, heavy duty ex-electric board with mahoosive winch on the front. Practical but difficult to get into because it's so tall, tows HUGE trailers filled with horse poo as if they weren't there but sadly not man enough to pull large lorry delivering 40 cubic metres of wood chip out of mud this morning. Don't like to think how many miles to the gallon it does but takes nearly £100 worth of diesel at a time so visits to the pump few and far between. Lots of fun and gets you noticed - mainly because of winch and spectacular roof rack with ladder rollers. Practical for fence judging because I can put a cassette loo in the back and sit on the roof for a good view (not whilst on loo!)

All vehicles have proved very reliable but they are each serviced by a main dealer, even the elderly Golf, at recommended intervals. It may appear to cost more but in terms of reliability it pays huge dividends.
 
[ QUOTE ]
wow thats a lot to fit in one car - and I ddint realise you could get so much in a polo! I used to have one, never tried though I suppose

You do have to strategically put the shavings in so they all fit! but its do-able!
 
Punto 5 door, cheap to run (as per previous Pajero 2.8TD...say no more
crazy.gif
), easy to vac out, never had to put any bales in, deep boot so you can easily fit two saddles and various stuff and keep your parcel shelf in.
Some times suffers from Fiat disease but come to think of it, I'd actually have another, I do like it.
smile.gif
 
I have an unusual one...a Mercedes Vaneo. Not many about as they were expensive when new (no longer made) and didn't sell too well, but are sought after by those that know they're good for kids, dogs and clutter, so you might not find one! I was looking for a little A class/runabout to replace my Dad's old Fiesta I'd been using, and OH kindly bought it for me on eBay one Bank Holiday weekend.

It's fab to drive, 1.9l diesel engine and does about 50mpg mostly as a runabout, handles well on motorway, country road or round town and so far (touches wood, we've had it 3 years) it's been very economical to run only needing a headlight replaced for MOT and a clip replaced on the exhaust, but if you park in tight spots as I used to it can scrub the front tyres, much more economical on those now I park elswehere.

It's a 7 seater - back 2 seats are smaller 'child' seats which can take teenage/small adult so takes a 6 aside girls footie team + all their kit with room for fold up chairs behind the back seats but is only a foot and a half longer than the Fiesta and plenty of head room for 6ft 3 OH, and you can take ALL the seats out - or any combination out you need. So you can take at least 6 bales of shavings + some bags of feed (not tried more, but I'd guess you could go to 8 or 9 maybe 10-12 if all the seats were out), or the dog, saddles, bridles, grooming kit, 2 kids and all their school bags + clobber for a sleepover with space for more.

Can honestly say I've never run out of room - once we took a 3 piece suite, a chest of drawers, a small armchair and a single bed to the tip in one trip with a helper in the front! It's a bit like a tardis really, dread cleaning it out.... can you tell I don't do that often enough?! The back doors are sliding which is great for kids and supermarket car parks. Mine is black and looks lovely.

I'd give it 10 out of 10 for everything apart from being black shows the dirt too much and as I park outside the front door OH always comments on the state I leave my car in! The other negative is it's unusual and distinctive (the Fiesta blended into the background) so everyone knows where you are and where you've been
grin.gif
 
I have a BMW 1 series and it is cheap to run, tax is only £35 a year too but it is massvely impractical storage wise

I can fit about 2 bales of Aubiose in it and a couple of sack of sheep feed but thats about it, the space inside is decent but the shape of the hatchback and the size of the opening make it pretty useless!

The seats mark easily too and straw is a nghmare to hoover off the carpet

Being a 2l diesel and rear wheel drive means it does drive nicely on a muddy field though so and I have no runnng water at the field I can fill up the H2GO bag in the boot and drive it right up to the stables which is a godsend

It is useless on a snowy road though
shocked.gif
 
I drive a 7 seater Ford Galaxy. Have four children under 11 so need it. Mind you, there's rarely room for them what with all the horse stuff already in there. They're pretty used to climbing over bales of shavings, muddy rugs and buckets of feed...
blush.gif
grin.gif
 
I have a BMW Coupe, not the most practical car, however the car came before the horse & as my horse likes draining my purse, i have to make do until i perhaps win the lottery or find a rich man
laugh.gif


I can get one bale of shavings in the boot & one on the back seat, however i do try & use my OH's "work horse" (company car) wherever possible or whenever i cn get my hands on it!

He has a 09 megane coupe, the rear seats do come down in this car so i can get 3 bales of shavings in, he doesnt mind me borrowing it as long as i keep it clean (ish), he does moan about the smell tho, perhaps i should get him an airfreshner for xmas lol
grin.gif
As for him letting me use his RX-8 - Forget it!
 
Currently I have a very practical 5door 2.0tdi Ford Mondeo, plenty of room to cart horse stuff about when I need to, and its a good old workhorse.
Its not a flash car, its high mileage and needs a darn good clean but it gets me to and from work and to and from the horse each day
grin.gif


For the money they are exceedingly good cars, much the same as a Ford Focus is a good reliable working car.

I used to have a 3door Peugeot 306 1.9tdi but I wrote it off
blush.gif

That was also a fantastic car for the money, very reliable, a very deceptive amount of space indeed for a hatch, I shoved all sorts in it from bales of hay to moving all my rubber mats when moving yard
grin.gif
 
BMW 320i.
Nice car to drive but not massivley horsey practical. i can get 4/5 bags of feed in the boot and a couple bags of shavings on the back seats, but its main sticking point is that as a fairly low, rear wheel drive it doesnt like mud/rain/bumpy drives etc!
 
[ QUOTE ]
4 litre Landrover discovery, running on LPG. Cheap to run and loads of space for dogs, hay, mobile tackroom etc.!

[/ QUOTE ]

what MPG do you get from the conversion?
 
My own car is an Audi A3 2.0 TDI sport - it's a fantastic car, drives beautifully, looks fab, really really love it! However, am not allowed to scruff it up like I did the last one!!!! Horsey stuff, if it must go in the car at all, is confined to the boot!
I have had a fair few bags of feed in there, could probably carry a couple of bales of shavings withotu moving the seats etc.
As I'm not allowed to trash my car I usually use my work car for all stables duties, that can range from a Toyota Yaris to a Ford Mondeo!!!!!
 
I have a Suzuki Vitara (3 dr new model), I basicaly have the back seats down all the time for dogs, saddles etc but it has been great so far (had the older soft top version befiore but that broke!). It is very handy for doing stuff inteh field throughout the spring/summer as we have 12 acres of hilly fields and also great when the heavy snow comes as is about the only vehicle we have that can get to and from our field (steep road) safely.

I like that it has a diff lock so you can have high or low ratio 4x4. It is not that cheap to run though. Fuel isn't too bad (is a 1.9 Diesel) but the tax is £215 a year!!!!
blush.gif
(scandalous I reckon!)
 
I've got a free lander and wouldn't be without out! Although it's like a dumping ground at the minute and my OH keeps on at me to get it cleaned so i keep telling him that it's a working car!!!!!
 
[ QUOTE ]
My own car is an Audi A3 2.0 TDI sport - it's a fantastic car, drives beautifully, looks fab, really really love it! However, am not allowed to scruff it up like I did the last one!!!! Horsey stuff, if it must go in the car at all, is confined to the boot!
I have had a fair few bags of feed in there, could probably carry a couple of bales of shavings withotu moving the seats etc.


[/ QUOTE ]

Me too i love my car and my boyfriend has a van but i'm not insured on it (because i think it is ugly! so purposely didnt insure myself!!) but i hate seeing my pretty audi muddy and smelly so we are going to get a freelander and he can use that for work and i can use it for the stables. my friend has one and its great for the yard and i get jealous seeing her wizz through puddles and over bumpy roads without a care in the world!!
wink.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top