View Full Version : Driving 1500 across europe - what car?
Stanley
21-11-07, 12:29 AM
My plan for the end of next summer is to have saved/earned enough money to pay off some stuff back home and whatever left is hopefully going to be used to purchase a car, and drive back home to scotland. Im in Rome, Italy at the moment and if i was to drive home, itd work out at near 1500 miles.
The plan would also be to stop by the Nurburgring too.
Make it a two-day trip.
Im thinking il have a budget of ?1000-2000.
Petrol 'should' work out at around ?225 (based on an average of 30mpg over the whole trip)
I would also keep the car once i got home so i would be looking for something worthwhile I.E., not just a scrapper to get me home - something nice!
If you were in the same position, what car would you aim for? (bare in mind it will be LHD)
Im thinking
Cavalier GSi Turbo or similar......
Lancia Delta hehe http://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/images/smile/biggrin.gifhttp://www.corsasport.co.uk/board/images/smile/shocked.gif
NovaLad
21-11-07, 12:32 AM
Toyota Hilux
It will never break lol!
As silly as it sounds, get a nova, find a mint XE out there and bring it back, plus it'd be worth a go round the ring in it.
paulnova
21-11-07, 01:14 AM
It would have to be a nova for me, cheap to buy/run, if you've set a budget of ?2000, you could find a mint example, and have plenty of spare change left over to do it up a little to make the ring more enjoyable!! lol
Toyota Hilux
It will never break lol!
And also never return 30mpg lol
I'd also say Lancia Delta (if you're willing to put up with silly maintenance costs), maybe some form of Alfa. Should be a plethora of those in Italy!
And double your fuel costs :p
The delta is an awesome car, but getting one for under ?2k? Good luck!
paul james
21-11-07, 10:21 AM
A couple of years back I went on holiday driving around europe, stopping off at Nurburgring for a day too, I must have clocked up a similar mileage. Did it in my Nova no problem. Put it this way, if something on the car breaks on the track, you can just go to the nearest opel dealer and you'll easily get any new parts and it'll be easy to fix!
Duno what prices are like now, but in the UK a few years back you could buy them for about ?1500 for a turbo - and that was from a lancia-badged garage. Used to drive past it every day, ohhh the temptation lol
Just a thought, will that budget have to cover insurance and import costs too? Also bear in mind, according to the letter of the law, you're not allowed to drive the car on UK roads until its registered here, so it'll need transport from the docks to your house.
More info here:
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/BuyingAndSellingAVehicle/ImportingAndExportingAVehicle/DG_4022583
?1500 ay? I thought they were still going for ?3k+ being a rare car and all.
Jeff16v
21-11-07, 11:06 AM
Do like topgear, get a beetlelol
sell it for loads when you get it back
craig green
21-11-07, 01:10 PM
Renault 21 turbo. Comfy as feck, pretty fast & cheap!
Saloony
21-11-07, 01:23 PM
Sounds gay but, a 92' Cavalier 1.6 carb. Put a full suspension kit on it and a set of gsi wheels and they go round corners like go-karts. Easily see near on 600miles to a full tank, and they just carry on running. If it does brake its so easy to repair. Then when you get back with the money youve saved you can buy something a little tasty or dump a V6 or Let in the cav.
craig green
21-11-07, 01:25 PM
Citroen 2Cv for the hero points you deserve. Probably do the whole trip on 1 tank of dandilion juice!
dhdev (Oli)
21-11-07, 01:30 PM
I did a Euro trip earlier this year and the final leg was from Siena (Italy) to my home in the midlands, was approx 1300 miles and took about 21hrs IIRC. I used my trusty ?700 Mk3 Astra TDS LS and it averaged 45mpg. It was truely horrific on the ring in the wet with it's full compliment of assorted ditch-finder tyres, but it was fun! I'm planning another trip again next year using the same car too!
Nova 1.0 8v alot of oil and water and you can drive around the world in that.
My personaly record in my old Nova 1.0 was From Denmark to Berlin in Germany 783 km total 1566 km in a weekend. No problem at all on the roadtrip :)
Its cheap with the gasolina. And when you came home again, i will bet you never will drive so long in a Nova 1.0 i Sold mine after the trip ! lol
Jim Mcrae
21-11-07, 03:30 PM
Remember a delta is LHD;)
I drove from London to Budapest via Brussels and Prague on the Cannonball in a Clio 172, fecking awesome car, we drove direct from Budapest to the Ring in 8 hrs and I got out feeling like I had just driven round the corner (not including the hangover from the last few nights lol)
IMO A xe nova would be a blast but its not exactly comfortable
Any Renault would be the best bet for comfort, if its old though it will probably do a headgasket !
Another option is a 2l Sierra, bombproof and rwd so you can go hanging everytime your bored lol
i dunno if anyone else saw that jack osbourne thing where he did the mongol rally, his team had a metro, a panda and a nova. the only car to make it with no problems at all......the nova :)
peester
21-11-07, 06:45 PM
I did a Euro trip earlier this year and the final leg was from Siena (Italy) to my home in the midlands, was approx 1300 miles and took about 21hrs IIRC. I used my trusty ?700 Mk3 Astra TDS LS and it averaged 45mpg. It was truely horrific on the ring in the wet with it's full compliment of assorted ditch-finder tyres, but it was fun! I'm planning another trip again next year using the same car too!
my next runabout.. :thumb:
Any big old vauxhall 2.0 8v onwards will chew the miles up; cally, cav, carl, but its the omega that would be my choice.. sooo much car for the money, get a white one, like police, rwd, toys, easy.
Buy something thats popular and rusty here and not so rusty over there, then you should be able to sell the shell over here....? Also, if its an old nuts and bolts car like a Nova, you'll be able to convert to RHD in time if its worth doing? I'm thinking either a Mk1/2 Fester, Nova, Citroen Visa GTi or a hero chariot like a Manta or a Capri....
But if mileage is your concern, pick up a 2.0 ish Ovlov 240/740 saloon or a 2.0 Omega of some sort.
Or maybe an oddball fiat, Romeo or Lancia.... Decisions!!
BMW did a special 2.0 litre version of the original m3 that only sold in italy or portugal. it was for tax reasons. it is in lhd only, has a 180hp 16v four pot & is apparently incredible. it was called something like a 320is. get on t'internet & find one. Failing that, get ony of those old fiat500 based minibus/camper thingys, you will make a profit when you sell it.
Stanley
21-11-07, 10:42 PM
Hmm suppose i could nip to spain....
http://i13.ebayimg.com/02/i/000/c5/93/0ef8_1.JPG
Going for 1500 Euros (around ?1000 +/-)
http://cgi.ebay.it/OPEL-CORSA-1-3-GT-1986_W0QQitemZ190175690996QQihZ009QQcategoryZ9858Q QrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD2VQQcmdZViewItem
Pug 305! THE world most comfy car. I used to regularly drive 100miles feeling if i'd had a good nights sleep.
I would recommend something thats popluar in the countries along your trip for spares, etc.
BMW did a special 2.0 litre version of the original m3 that only sold in italy or portugal. it was for tax reasons. it is in lhd only, has a 180hp 16v four pot & is apparently incredible. it was called something like a 320is. get on t'internet & find one. Failing that, get ony of those old fiat500 based minibus/camper thingys, you will make a profit when you sell it.
A bloke locally had a E30is, proper sleeper.
Infact I think he uses this forum, Lee from Cambridge
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