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Best cars for shifting gear?


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Just to clarify, I'm not talking about selling drugs. ;)

I have a nice old soft top car, that is great for cruising, and I love it to bits. It is however probably the least practical car ever built. I can just about to manage my bass and a rucksack in the front and my little aguilar 112 cab can squeeze into the boot. But I'm going to bite the bullet and get a PA and maybe some lights, and I need to upsize my amp to something a little bigger.

So I was thinking about getting a second vehicle for the purpose of gigging. I looked at vans first of all but van insurance costs an arm and a leg, so now I'm thinking along the lines of something like a people carrier, that I can just leave all the back seats folded over.

Any suggestions for a cheap old people carrier/estate, that has a very accessible boot space, and seats that fold down totally flat, with enough room for a reasonable sized pa, some lights, and a couple of bass cabs in the back?

Cheers! B)

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Depends on what you are after I guess and the size/amount of gear I used to fit a suprising amount in my hatch (Mark 5 golf before a lorry took a liking to its rear) but if you need more you can pick up old estates like Volvo 850 for not very much. If insurance is a big factor think classic car you would be amazed how many cars are covered up to quite modern and it's really cheap my VW bay window (is not for lugging gear but I have used it) is under £200 for limited mileage.

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I can fit a Barefaced 2x12 and an Ashdown ABM 500 in the boot of my standard Astra hatchback, with up to 4 basses in hard cases on the back seat (possibly more than four, but that's all I had to hand). Still leaves front passenger seat vacant for more gear, or singer.

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Astra estate - had a few now and have all been reliable. Fair bit of room with the back seats in use, loads of room
with them down, and a flat load area too. This is crucial as some estates have a 'lip' which means you can't easily
unload heavy stuff by sliding it out, it's that lifting action with your arms extended that kills (for me anyway.)

Also check the van insurance thing - car derived vans such as Astras and the like should n't be overly expensive.

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Vauxhall Zafira. Fully flexible seat folding. Rear seats fold flat to leave a massive Van like loading area. No idea what there like to drive or reliable but they certainly fit the bill for moving lots if equipment around. They also seem to be pretty cheap to pick up second hand

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My Dad used to have an old shape Citroen Picasso, in my previous van-owning days I would occasionally pinch that for gigging. The back seats clipped out leaving a totally flat bed from the lip of the boot to back of the driver's seat. Would comfortably swallow bloody tons of gear and still have no problem shifting around.

Can't speak for the reliability of them now as those old shape ones will all be of a certain age, but it did the job for me at the time.

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[quote name='mikeycrikey' timestamp='1483918145' post='3211188']
Vauxhall Zafira. Fully flexible seat folding. Rear seats fold flat to leave a massive Van like loading area. No idea what there like to drive or reliable but they certainly fit the bill for moving lots if equipment around. They also seem to be pretty cheap to pick up second hand
[/quote]

Be careful of the Zafira. The reason they are cheap second hand is because the Zafira B has a nasty habit of catching fire, in some cases even after the free repair from Vauxhall has been carried out. Although this affects only one very early model, the mud has seemed to stick to the entire range.

[url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36330439"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36330439[/url]

I'd still look at the people mover sector, as mentioned above there's things like the Picasso but also look at things like the Ford Galaxy or the VW Sharan. The big advantage with these is that they are a little higher than the car based vans and estates which may make loading and unloading a little easier.

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Bought at 30,000 now has 135,000 on the clock, my 02 1.6 automatic Focus estate has been a great car. The Zetec engines are very good. Cheap and cheerful - yes. No major bills yet. 35ish mpg. Flat boot. Only downside is car tax = £270 per year.

Brother had an Astra similar spec' - also very good. Partner has a Zafira - also very good.

Edited by grandad
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[quote name='Ashweb' timestamp='1483925612' post='3211212']


Be careful of the Zafira. The reason they are cheap second hand is because the Zafira B has a nasty habit of catching fire, in some cases even after the free repair from Vauxhall has been carried out. Although this affects only one very early model, the mud has seemed to stick to the entire range.
[/quote]

But what a way to turn up at a gig!!!

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Any estate car should be ok for this, I`ve had an Astra estate, currently got a Kia Ceed estate, both have plenty of room, but Chris Bs suggestion of the Volvo is spot on. Our old guitarist, who had masses of gear used to fit the whole band PA/lights and all his guitar gear in his Volvo estate. They`re massive.

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I have a Ford Mondeo Estate, great car with loads of room. I can fit all my gear in the back without dropping the seats. I'm on my second one now, first time I have bought the same car twice. But, as has been said above, any estate should do the job.

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Consider a pick up with hardtop rear. Holds loads of gear and mines has waterproof carpet in rear.
Only downside is MPG which is typically 30-33mpg
Holds 5 people comfortably and will never get stuck in winter :D
Maybe not the cheapest to buy either.

Newer shaped Mondeo estate is a huge car too. In fact the saloon is pretty huge and has an enormous boot with fold down seats. Can be picked up reasonably cheap.

Bigger Volvo 80 or 90 series estates are huge too and worth a look.

Know a few people that had a zafira and had no end of problems with them to point they got rid of them.
Have you considered a smaller type van and just keep the car too. Van insurance shouldn't be too bad provided you let them know its not for work or used for business. My pick up is classed as a commercial and insurance for 3yr old is circa £250 fully comp. That's with a recognised company and certainly not the cheapest i could get.
Van should be similar.

Dave

Edited by dmccombe7
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Passat estate is like a cave on wheels. Although basically the same car, the Passat has masses more room than the Audi A4. Audi A6 estate is huge though. You can get a surprising amount in a Toyota Yaris if you want something small and cheap.

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I have a 14 year old Mk2 Honda C-RV which is perfect - I can get my entire rig, trolley and guitar in the boot without having to have the parcel shelf up or the seats down and thanks to lighter bass gear the suspension never looks overly loaded when parked either, so you can't really tell there is much in it.

It is thirsty for petrol though - automatic 2.0 L. I commute via train during the week though, so the petrol costs aren't too bad when only used at weekends.

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