British car for hauling cabs?

[Electricblue]

So I'm nearly 16, and when I'm 16 I hopefully get to choose a car and keep it until I can legally drive.

So what estate/hatchback can haul 2 410's or maybe a 215?

I was thinking Vauxhall Astra estate but I havent looked into what it can move.

Any thoughts?

This is very open to discussion, so get talking and showing, pics if possible!

[Electricblue]

PS, I live in the UK so no Chevy's or whatever

Has to be cheap to insure etc

[wateroftyne]

Ford Focus. Done.

[Electricblue]

Fix
Or
Repair
Daily

Focus estate? Is it cheap insurance?

I will get a knackered small car for my first year or so, its gonna end up in a ditch or wrapped around a tree.

Once the first year is over, the insurance goes right down i think.

[wateroftyne]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Fix
Or
Repair
Daily

Not really - had them for years, and never a peep of trouble.

[carl h.]

Volvo

Space, comfort, durability

Speed if you go for a turbo.

[bassybill]

Kid comes on asking about cars, and then bashes a make that some of us have been driving over twice as long he's been alive.

Cheap insurance? Ha ha ha ha...

Seriously, though, do try to avoid the ditch/tree thing.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Once the first year is over, the insurance goes right down i think.

Ya think?

LMAO.

[singlemalt]

MG Fastback would be the safest bet. You have to get it running to wreck it, and if you do get it going, you can't drive it at night, not with Lucas electrics.

[bassybill]

Originally Posted by singlemalt

MG Fastback would be the safest bet. You have to get it running to wreck it, and if you do get it going, you can't drive it at night, not with Lucas electrics.

Ha ha! This thread has got "Hall of Fame" material written over it already. The very idea of a "British car" is very different now to what it was a few years ago. The same applies in the US, I'm sure.

Forgive my cynicism. I worked in the car manufacturing industry for years here before it was closed.

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Kid comes on asking about cars, and then bashes a make that some of us have been driving over twice as long he's been alive.

Cheap insurance? Ha ha ha ha...

Seriously, though, do try to avoid the ditch/tree thing.

Not bashing, just stating a nickname that I heard once... sorry your holiness

I probably will try to avoid the ditch/tree situation if i can, but i can imagine myself stacking badly at some point.

[Electricblue]

Oh yeh, by the way, i didnt mean the car had to be made in britain.

I meant a common UK-based car, meaning not chevy's, cadillac's etc.

[bassybill]

Nothing holy about me, I'm afraid.

I was serious about the ditch and tree thing, honestly. Please don't do that.

More general advice - get used to managing without a car, because in the next few years, motoring is not going to be something the majority of people can do. It will be a luxury only affordable by the very wealthy and the days of mass motorised transport for everyone - brief and glorious/disastrous as they have been, depending on your viewpoint - will be long, long gone by the time you're as old as I am. Owning and driving a car will be a privilege for the VERY rich, just like it used to be. If that includes you, great. If not, buy good shoes.

[Electricblue]

Originally Posted by bassybill

Nothing holy about me, I'm afraid.

I was serious about the ditch and tree thing, honestly. Please don't do that.

More general advice - get used to managing without a car, because in the next few years, motoring is not going to be something the majority of people can do. It will be a luxury only affordable by the very wealthy and the days of mass motorised transport for everyone - brief and glorious/disastrous as they have been, depending on your viewpoint - will be long, long gone by the time you're as old as I am. Owning and driving a car will be a privilege for the VERY rich, just like it used to be. If that includes you, great. If not, buy good shoes.

Fair enough, to be honest, i will only get a cheap car. Like a Vauxhall Astra Estate 1997 1.6i

And they are ditching EMA so no support for college

[LuvMusic]

Originally Posted by Electricblue

Not bashing, just stating a nickname that I heard once... sorry your holiness

I probably will try to avoid the ditch/tree situation if i can, but i can imagine myself stacking badly at some point.

OK.....I'll broaden your acronym vocabulary...Ford:


First
On
Race
Day

[bassybill]

Electricblue - I know, I sympathise, I really do. I'd honestly hate to be 15 nowadays. There's some great advantages right now compared to when I was 15, but I do think the future looks really bleak.

At your age, or just after, I was working in the motor industry here. I used to go all over the country and I was a small cog in the big machine that made thousands and thousands of cars, every single day. Chances are, depending on where you live, I was doing that right in your area. At Halewood, they used to make over 100 cars an hour, 24 hours every single working day. Several other factories made even more.

What you need to understand is that just a few years earlier, almost nobody had a car. My dad had a car (because he needed one, as a gigging musician) back in the early 50s. Nobody else did. Cars were a luxury item for the very few. Fast forward a few years, and cars were everywhere. The environmental impact has been huge, but the social aspects were so empowering for the masses. Before cars, people lived years and years of their lives within a 5 mile radius of their homes. Grew up with and married people in the next street. Worked within walking distance of their house. Never saw countryside for themseves that nowadays they can get to in 30 minutes.

Social, cultural and economic changes are going to totally transform every aspect of life in the next few years for your generation and those that come after. Sincerely, I wish you the very best of luck.

[Electricblue]

Thanks man, thats a pretty deep post.

I can pretty much guarantee getting a really bad job, if any. I have my GCSE's next month, which I know for a fact I will mess up.

From what I've heard, the jobs just arent out there

[Plays_For_Dog]

Get a used sprinter van. Then you can haul the whole band and their gear. You can get a surplused fleet vehicle for pretty cheap. Insurance is cheap on a van that's a few years old. If you snag a girl at the gig.... well, you got some place to go to check each other for spider bites. If you're really punk, you can invite your friends to spray paint graffitti all over it. Vans at your age are rolling parties. I've had a lot of fun cruising around in a van during my teenage years.

[jabsys]

At 17 a van isn't an option over here, a volvo 850 or 250 estate would be perfect but I can't see you getting insurance on one for under 2k a year if you can even get insurance.

[EdHunter]

British car with space? Only one choice, my firends, Lynx Eventer!


But seriously, a Volvo 240 will be bullet-proof, as cheap as a first car will be and fulfill all your needs.