I'm looking for something to replace my escort van, I play in a band and so need loads of space for gear. I've got tired of my van struggling to make 60mph uphill so I'm looking for something with a bit more poke Obvious answer is a mondeo estate, but I want something a bit more exciting

Got about £3k to buy and insure, bearing in mind I'm 18 but will (hopefully) have 2 years no claims by the time I buy.

Any suggestions?

Cheers.

 

What about a cheap Transit Connect? Might be a bit out of your price range, but it will have everything you want and more

 

Yeah, they are coming down in price, I looked at some when I got my escort, bit over my budget at the time. They do look a bit shit though tbh and 50/60mph limit as they're not 'car-derived'. Think its only the combo van left that is allowed to do 70...

 

Apparently Connects are derived from C-Max`s mate.

Carnt beat the Astra van for a small van IMO

 

RS4 Avant

 

astra 1.7 TD, really good small van. what gear are you transporting? guitar amps, drumkit,PA system etc... is there any valve gear in there as you dont really want to shake it about too much.. just a thought from a fellow muscian and sound engineer lol

 

volvo 850 t5 estate

 

bearing in mind he is 18

 

early mk3 mondeo tddi estate. well within your price range, genuinely nice comfy modern car, all the toys, plenty quick enough and shitloads of space. loads more than an astravan or similar with the rear seats down, and got better access.

ticks all your boxes and more.

 

Try 7 and a half grand for the cheapest quote?

Didn't realise the Connect van was car-derived Rossco, looks nowt like a c-max

The Mondy estates are looking like the best option atm, just a bit of a 'dad car' as my girlfriend calls them

How much life is left in a 100k tddi? the high mileage is the main thing putting me off them...

 

The lot mate For a big gig we take the drum kit, a half stack and a big combo, a 15" bass combo and a 2 speaker PA kit, with 3 or 4 guitars, Just fits in my van atm...

 

100k isn't a problem really, have you thought about a transit?

 

Yeah, but this'll be my day to day car that I drive every day too, so I want something nice-ish to drive If anything I'd rather downsize and get a box trailer than go bigger.

Except maybe for a T5 174ps VW Transporter they go alright, not sure what my insurer would say though.

 

tddis will do moon miles and more

100k isnt anything to worry about i know plenty with 3/4 thou on them and run sweet

 

Loads of room the other week we got in ours 8 packets of loft flooring and 20 rolls of insulation ,and 2 people ,i kid you not

 

I have an Iveco 29l9 Daily what is mint inside and and out ,it stands me 1500 its a X plate and its only been used for light use motocross slight bit bigger than a transit though.To big ?

 

Yeah sorry, I'm more looking for something big car sized.

I'm looking for a replacement basically because my van is slooow (as anyone with one can vouch for), has loads of body roll and understeers by a worrying amount in the wet.
I guess they're not really meant to go round corners at speed though

 

the 56mph limit only applies to vehicle with a gross weight of 3.5tonne+

so long as your not towing anything heavy you could get away with anything upto a transit.

 

not sure about that tbh... we did a lot of looking into this at work as we have a couple of high power VW Transporters that could happily sit at 100mph all day. Basically the outcome was that we can only do 60 on dual carriageway / motorway and 50 on single lane.

Apologies if what I just said was BS though, it may well be the boss being over cautious

 

well if it is over 3.5t it will be limited to 56mph as that is the law now. anything else you just go by the highway code as far as i now.

we've got lwb LT35's (gvw 2.9t) and i just go by the road signs as if it were a car.

 

Thinking about it, I once overtook an unmarked Octavia at 'more than 70mph' in a transporter and nothing came of it...