Are vans better offroad than cars ?

[weeksy]

I thought it was down to Kuga vs CRV?

If that Kuga is as good as it looks I'd say the decision is made (unless the CRV blows it away)

PS What's happened to the QQ?

@crust owns it now. I've got the wifes Focus for using as she's on holiday

LOL. He'll probably get many years of trouble-free driving from it.

I have no doubt he will... but it just wasn't for me. The back seats were not particularly comfortable for the lad, along with being just slightly too small for a few things. I bought it with a plan and a criteria in mind at the time and whilst it ticked some of the boxes it didn't actually tick them all. Which is a shame and an expensive lesson for me.
I guess that's why i'm being a little gun-shy this time and not just going bonkers and buying something without full consideration.
I'll even throw him the spare bike rack so he can lob his MTBs on the towbar to keep it nice.

See, despite the higher miles i guess i'm channeling the spirit of my inner middle class snob as this looks sweet.
https://www.carz4less.co.uk/used/cars/a ... nic-13990/



Anyway, i'm closing Autotrader for the day and getting on with Nerd stuff for work.... viewing the Kuga this evening with my lad.... we'll see from there.

[Big Red]

The Mercedes would probably be a good all rounder if the price, condition and miles were good. It will drive very like a car and will not need to big a parking space.
The Kuga is a decent car, although isn't going to be much bigger than a focus as its built on the same platform as the focus.
Only downside of the 1.5 petrol ecoboost focus is the engines get a bit of a slating for blowing up. Not as bad as the 1ltr ecoboost but still troublesome.

[KungFooBob]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325283129743

[weeksy]

The Mercedes would probably be a good all rounder if the price, condition and miles were good. It will drive very like a car and will not need to big a parking space.
The Kuga is a decent car, although isn't going to be much bigger than a focus as its built on the same platform as the focus.
Only downside of the 1.5 petrol ecoboost focus is the engines get a bit of a slating for blowing up. Not as bad as the 1ltr ecoboost but still troublesome.

I thought it was the 1.6 ecoboost that was problematic not the 1.5 ? Something to do with overheating issues.

Weirdly we have a 1.0 thing in our 2018 Focus and it's absolutely sweet. Admittedly it's only got 19,000 on the clocks but has been owned since new and not missed a beat.

[Big Red]

The Mercedes would probably be a good all rounder if the price, condition and miles were good. It will drive very like a car and will not need to big a parking space.
The Kuga is a decent car, although isn't going to be much bigger than a focus as its built on the same platform as the focus.
Only downside of the 1.5 petrol ecoboost focus is the engines get a bit of a slating for blowing up. Not as bad as the 1ltr ecoboost but still troublesome.

I thought it was the 1.6 ecoboost that was problematic not the 1.5 ? Something to do with overheating issues.

Weirdly we have a 1.0 thing in our 2018 Focus and it's absolutely sweet. Admittedly it's only got 19,000 on the clocks but has been owned since new and not missed a beat.

All the petrol ecoboost were bad for overheating and blowing up. The 1ltrs were the worst and there was a court action taken against Ford because of this.
The 1.5 and 1.6 also had the same problem but they didn't seem as bad but it can still be an issue.
My wife had the 1.6 ecoboost focus for just over 3 years and it was trouble free but I knew about the issue when we bought it and paid attention to regular servicing with the correct oil and weekly checks on oil and water levels.
If my choice it would be the Mercedes.
The Kuga isn't really going to be much bigger than the cashcow you had and feel in a few months time you will be looking at vans again.
Time to rip the band aid of and try a van. If it doesn't fit your needs you will sell it again no problem as vans are in high demand just now.

[Big Red]

This could be worth a look if close to you
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/354174660706 ... Sw6TVi1oZE

[Mussels]

Watch out for new tech on old cars, whenever a big change is made there seem to be big problems to go with it for a couple of years until they work out what sloppy bit of design caused it. Hopefully by 2018 they had fixed some of that sloppy ecoboost design.

Stop start burnt out wiring and starter motors
Dual clutch autos knackered clutches
Traction control was almost dangerous
DPF failed frequently
ABS increased braking distances considerably

As far as I know all the above are pretty much sorted and I'd buy a new car with them but I'll avoid any 2nd hand car that was fitted with those things when they were new tech.

[weeksy]

The Mercedes would probably be a good all rounder if the price, condition and miles were good. It will drive very like a car and will not need to big a parking space.
The Kuga is a decent car, although isn't going to be much bigger than a focus as its built on the same platform as the focus.
Only downside of the 1.5 petrol ecoboost focus is the engines get a bit of a slating for blowing up. Not as bad as the 1ltr ecoboost but still troublesome.

I thought it was the 1.6 ecoboost that was problematic not the 1.5 ? Something to do with overheating issues.

Weirdly we have a 1.0 thing in our 2018 Focus and it's absolutely sweet. Admittedly it's only got 19,000 on the clocks but has been owned since new and not missed a beat.

All the petrol ecoboost were bad for overheating and blowing up. The 1ltrs were the worst and there was a court action taken against Ford because of this.
The 1.5 and 1.6 also had the same problem but they didn't seem as bad but it can still be an issue.
My wife had the 1.6 ecoboost focus for just over 3 years and it was trouble free but I knew about the issue when we bought it and paid attention to regular servicing with the correct oil and weekly checks on oil and water levels.
If my choice it would be the Mercedes.
The Kuga isn't really going to be much bigger than the cashcow you had and feel in a few months time you will be looking at vans again.
Time to rip the band aid of and try a van. If it doesn't fit your needs you will sell it again no problem as vans are in high demand just now.

I hear you i really do... but... well.. i just dunno on the van. It seems a much bigger risk than the car side of things for sure.

[Taipan]

I thought it was the 1.6 ecoboost that was problematic not the 1.5 ? Something to do with overheating issues.

Weirdly we have a 1.0 thing in our 2018 Focus and it's absolutely sweet. Admittedly it's only got 19,000 on the clocks but has been owned since new and not missed a beat.

All the petrol ecoboost were bad for overheating and blowing up. The 1ltrs were the worst and there was a court action taken against Ford because of this.
The 1.5 and 1.6 also had the same problem but they didn't seem as bad but it can still be an issue.
My wife had the 1.6 ecoboost focus for just over 3 years and it was trouble free but I knew about the issue when we bought it and paid attention to regular servicing with the correct oil and weekly checks on oil and water levels.
If my choice it would be the Mercedes.
The Kuga isn't really going to be much bigger than the cashcow you had and feel in a few months time you will be looking at vans again.
Time to rip the band aid of and try a van. If it doesn't fit your needs you will sell it again no problem as vans are in high demand just now.

I hear you i really do... but... well.. i just dunno on the van. It seems a much bigger risk than the car side of things for sure.

Have you got a quote on van insurance? That might be the deal breaker anyway?

[weeksy]

Have you got a quote on van insurance? That might be the deal breaker anyway?

using gocompare the car shows as £350, the van shows as £650... so it's a fair bit more.

But in it's defence i could recoup that pretty quickly by say taking the van to Pembrey in Sept, which instantly saves me £300 in van hire.... Well, once i persuade @Tricky or @dern to take the 690 SMCR for me as i don't think i'll get 2 bikes and all our kit in the van for sure, especially with the gazebo, bbq, tents.... but it'd deffo fit 1 and all the kit... but as i say, that saves us £300 off the bat, we've also go Silverstone in 3 weeks which we could then take the ZX6R in the van.

Plus i could do airport runs to subsidise the income hahahahaa.

[dern]

Sorry but I won’t have room for the KTM. I’m not taking the van and am taking the camper and the trailer with both bikes. I’d rather sleep in the camper than a tent for three nights.

I’m paying 275 for the Vivaro for insurance for comparison.

[weeksy]

I’m paying 275 for the Vivaro for insurance for comparison.

That's interesting as your postcode shouldn't be any better than mine.... who you doing that with matey ?

I was mostly kidding anyway.. i'm honestly not that bothered about taking the KTM

[dern]

I’m paying 275 for the Vivaro for insurance for comparison.

That's interesting as your postcode shouldn't be any better than mine.... who you doing that with matey ?

I was mostly kidding anyway.. i'm honestly not that bothered about taking the KTM

That was with Admiral. This is for comprehensive, social and commuting (not commercial), 9000 miles a year, parked on the road (just in case I need to) and with just me driving (clean license, no claims etc).

[Mussels]

The insurance for my Transit was about the same as a car unless I tried adding courier and then it got silly.

[weeksy]

What happens about NCD ? who's yours with mate ?

[dern]

My NCD was just transferred from the car.

[Mussels]

I can't remember who I used, it would have just been through a comparison site. I used my normal car NCD and I always insure vehicles for business use, sometimes it drops the premium.
It was just the same as insuring cars I've had, nothing special at all with about a 10k annual mileage allowance. Round here cars and van cost me about £350.

[Dodgy69]

The issues with the ecoboost Ford were early ones i think, 2016 should be fine