Are vans better offroad than cars ?

[Taipan]

Can you not fit uprated, longer spings? Those and a set of A/T tyres would make a half decent farmers car out of it and easily reversible come sale time...

[weeksy]

Can you not fit uprated, longer spings? Those and a set of A/T tyres would make a half decent farmers car out of it and easily reversible come sale time...

Absolutely no idea, i don't do cars so i'd end up having to pay someone a chunk of change to be swapping them too. It's sounding like a lot of faff.

My current plan is "park somewhere with a bit more forethought"

[KungFooBob]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 9026907458

EDIT:

Shit, that's £275 in tax!

That's more than my 3.5l petrol!

[weeksy]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 9026907458

EDIT:

Shit, that's £275 in tax!

That's more than my 3.5l petrol!

It's less than the XC90 though and better on fuel so not a terrible shout.

210-215mm ground clearance.

[Mr. Dazzle]

My current plan is "park somewhere with a bit more forethought"

I mean...I was gonna ask "Why can't you just park somewhere else and cycle the last bit?"

[weeksy]

My current plan is "park somewhere with a bit more forethought"

I mean...I was gonna ask "Why can't you just park somewhere else and cycle the last bit?"

The answer to that is convenience. On race day for example you're back at the car a LOT... like in a 6 hour day you'll spend 2-3 hours back at the car, prepping, sorting, chilling even and waiting for races etc. So lets say the race weekend 2 weeks ago we'd have ended up about 1/2 a mile away on the main road.... When things like changes in timing happen, you'd miss that... It's also ridiculous to set up gazebo out on the main road lol.

So the answer to that is .... sometimes... but not always viable.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Just think of it as a warm up

By that Volvo and a set of tyres!

[weeksy]

Just think of it as a warm up

The distance isn't the issue... we can both pedal 1/2 a mile lol. As i say it's the inconvenience.

This was the track (in much better condition in photo) up to the car-park. We ended up 1/2 a mile the other side half-way down a hill
gawton1 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Cars were parked almost as far as you can see on this one down the road.
gawton2 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

So if we'd ended up there, well it really wouldn't have been much of a day.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Yes I get why you can't always park somewhere else, I drive to stuff too

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Putting the bikes on a trailer instead of a tow bar mount might help as there'd be less weight on the back of the car, this saves having to buy another car.

[Asian Boss]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 9026907458

EDIT:

Shit, that's £275 in tax!

That's more than my 3.5l petrol!

How do you know what it costs to tax it? It can make a big difference on cars and I don't know anywhere you can look them up.

[weeksy]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 9026907458

EDIT:

Shit, that's £275 in tax!

That's more than my 3.5l petrol!

How do you know what it costs to tax it? It can make a big difference on cars and I don't know anywhere you can look them up.

Autotrader.com > running costs on the particular vehicle.

[slowsider]

Subaru Outback?

213mm ground clearance.
£155 tax https://www.parkers.co.uk/subaru/outbac ... 1/car-tax/
quoted 40 mpg combined.

[Taipan]

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-detail ... 9026907458

EDIT:

Shit, that's £275 in tax!

That's more than my 3.5l petrol!

How do you know what it costs to tax it? It can make a big difference on cars and I don't know anywhere you can look them up.

One way is to drop the reg into here https://vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/ on the results you'll get a CO2 emission level i.e. 134 g/km highlight that and right click/search google and the first hit you get will be the tax tables from the Gov, scroll down to your one.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Subaru Outback?

213mm ground clearance.
£155 tax https://www.parkers.co.uk/subaru/outbac ... 1/car-tax/
quoted 40 mpg combined.

Good shout, I'd have thought a Legacy Outback and a set of decent tyres will get you most places! I dunno if it's still the case, but the Legacy used to be legendarily reliable.

[Wossname]

Subaru Outback?

213mm ground clearance.
£155 tax https://www.parkers.co.uk/subaru/outbac ... 1/car-tax/
quoted 40 mpg combined.

Those figs are for a current model Outback. Are you in the market for a £35-40K car for this job? And you will never EVER get 40mpg from a 2.5l Subaru engine - budget for 25-28 in normal use.

In a more general sense - I have always found the "combined" consumption figure to be nonsense if you want to know genuine fuel economy. The "urban" figure gives a much more realistic idea of what to expect day-to-day. Not sure how the new LGBT or whatever system compares. (OK, I found it - WLPT).

[Horse]

In a more general sense - I have always found the "combined" consumption figure to be nonsense if you want to know genuine fuel economy. The "urban" figure gives a much more realistic idea of what to expect day-to-day. Not sure how the new LGBT or whatever system compares. (OK, I found it - WLPT).

IIRC (and mr Dazzle will know more) these figures are obtained on a rolling road, following a set pattern. At best they are useful for comparisons.

[slowsider]

Subaru Outback?

213mm ground clearance.
£155 tax https://www.parkers.co.uk/subaru/outbac ... 1/car-tax/
quoted 40 mpg combined.

Those figs are for a current model Outback. Are you in the market for a £35-40K car for this job? And you will never EVER get 40mpg from a 2.5l Subaru engine - budget for 25-28 in normal use.

In a more general sense - I have always found the "combined" consumption figure to be nonsense if you want to know genuine fuel economy. The "urban" figure gives a much more realistic idea of what to expect day-to-day. Not sure how the new LGBT or whatever system compares. (OK, I found it - WLPT).

Hey, weeksy asked for suggestions. Its a suggestion.

[slowsider]

In a more general sense - I have always found the "combined" consumption figure to be nonsense if you want to know genuine fuel economy. The "urban" figure gives a much more realistic idea of what to expect day-to-day. Not sure how the new LGBT or whatever system compares. (OK, I found it - WLPT).

IIRC (and mr Dazzle will know more) these figures are obtained on a rolling road, following a set pattern. At best they are useful for comparisons.

What else would you be using them for?

[Mr. Dazzle]

What else would you be using them for?

Suing VW!

AIUI part of the point of introducing the WLTP was to get rid of some of the mismatch between 'Urban' and 'Combined' figures in the older tests. The other reason was to make it a global standard, the W standards for "Worldwide". Previously in the UK we had NEDC figures - New European Drive Cycle.

They're definitely a set pattern in either case - a predefined drive, stuff like this. There's a set speed, time, incline, gear selection etc. I don't actually know if you have to do it in a real vehicle, we always used to use a real car with a real person (very specially trained!) doing it, but you might be able to do it on a rolling road. I've also never worked with WLTP, I stopped working closely within piston engines before that.