Good day all,
I have a weekend away coming up soon and I have a decision to make - how brave to be with car choice?
I am in the extremely rare position where most of my fleet of scrap heap dodgers are actually road worthy so there are a number of contenders.
First, the trip - round trip of roughly 400 miles, heading up north from home and can take motorway or A roads and back roads or a combination. Trip is in July so potential to be very hot if its anything like last year or very wet if its anything like last week! Just an overnight stay so not taking massive cases and we don't intend on buying an antique French wardrobe so really, just need to seat 2 of us with space for our things and some sweets for the driving. The driving forms a lot of the holiday enjoyment for me, I like driving, even in modern day Britain and I find doing trips away creates a strange bond with whatever vehicle I go away in.
So, in no particular order and with some background information, the choices:
2001 P38 Range Rover 4.0 - My trusty old friend of nearly 3 years now, brings the luxury of air suspension, working and very effective air con, massively comfortable despite the fact I fitted a Barry boy exhaust and basically use it as a mobile skip. It's on 150,000 miles and on a decent run I've had 24mpg from it. Some trim rattles a bit and the all terrain tyres I've fitted make a bit of a hum which I quite like but wife not so keen.
1974 Jaguar XJ6L - I've got a thread about this car in the reader's rides section - I've had this for 3 years also and have now replaced or repaired more or less everything mechanical, it drives just the way I hoped a big old Jag would but it looks dreadful, badly painted brown years ago by an eccentric previous owner. Engine is still less than 1000 miles after a rebuild so economy not a strong suit at the moment, probably something in the region of 16mpg but very comfortable and I think it looks cool however, it has no air con so the wife will moan if the sun is out.
1971 MGB GT - Great bit of fun and since buying it last September I've gone through quite a lot of it and made it drive lovely now, it is a non-overdrive gearbox so cruising isn't where it performs best but it looks great and gets about 30mpg.
2009 L322 Range Rover TDV8 - My wife's daily driver and a truly splendid vehicle, many luxury items, 30mpg on a run and wonderfully comfortable. Bit boring though.
2005 Renault Modus 1.6 - My wife's first car that for some reason we never got rid of and now seems to come in handy quite regularly, did a holiday around Normandy in this car a few years ago and despite what your first impressions of these cars might be, it was great! I am currently doing a timing belt change and some other service items, didn't realise that the engine is one where the cam belt drive pulley isn't keyed to the crank shaft so I may well have destroyed the thing but £13 ebay timing tools turn up Thursday this week and I'll find out. If it still works, it's great, 40mpg, dreadful aircon, other motorists seem to go out of their way to cut you up or bully you around when you drive this, can be quite an experience at times! Got a strange soft spot for it though.
So there it is, what do you reckon?
I have a weekend away coming up soon and I have a decision to make - how brave to be with car choice?
I am in the extremely rare position where most of my fleet of scrap heap dodgers are actually road worthy so there are a number of contenders.
First, the trip - round trip of roughly 400 miles, heading up north from home and can take motorway or A roads and back roads or a combination. Trip is in July so potential to be very hot if its anything like last year or very wet if its anything like last week! Just an overnight stay so not taking massive cases and we don't intend on buying an antique French wardrobe so really, just need to seat 2 of us with space for our things and some sweets for the driving. The driving forms a lot of the holiday enjoyment for me, I like driving, even in modern day Britain and I find doing trips away creates a strange bond with whatever vehicle I go away in.
So, in no particular order and with some background information, the choices:
2001 P38 Range Rover 4.0 - My trusty old friend of nearly 3 years now, brings the luxury of air suspension, working and very effective air con, massively comfortable despite the fact I fitted a Barry boy exhaust and basically use it as a mobile skip. It's on 150,000 miles and on a decent run I've had 24mpg from it. Some trim rattles a bit and the all terrain tyres I've fitted make a bit of a hum which I quite like but wife not so keen.
1974 Jaguar XJ6L - I've got a thread about this car in the reader's rides section - I've had this for 3 years also and have now replaced or repaired more or less everything mechanical, it drives just the way I hoped a big old Jag would but it looks dreadful, badly painted brown years ago by an eccentric previous owner. Engine is still less than 1000 miles after a rebuild so economy not a strong suit at the moment, probably something in the region of 16mpg but very comfortable and I think it looks cool however, it has no air con so the wife will moan if the sun is out.
1971 MGB GT - Great bit of fun and since buying it last September I've gone through quite a lot of it and made it drive lovely now, it is a non-overdrive gearbox so cruising isn't where it performs best but it looks great and gets about 30mpg.
2009 L322 Range Rover TDV8 - My wife's daily driver and a truly splendid vehicle, many luxury items, 30mpg on a run and wonderfully comfortable. Bit boring though.
2005 Renault Modus 1.6 - My wife's first car that for some reason we never got rid of and now seems to come in handy quite regularly, did a holiday around Normandy in this car a few years ago and despite what your first impressions of these cars might be, it was great! I am currently doing a timing belt change and some other service items, didn't realise that the engine is one where the cam belt drive pulley isn't keyed to the crank shaft so I may well have destroyed the thing but £13 ebay timing tools turn up Thursday this week and I'll find out. If it still works, it's great, 40mpg, dreadful aircon, other motorists seem to go out of their way to cut you up or bully you around when you drive this, can be quite an experience at times! Got a strange soft spot for it though.
So there it is, what do you reckon?