My perfect road trip car, does it exist?

[russell294]

I recently got back from doing a 5000 mile road trip around western Europe (9 countries in total) sleeping in the car often.

I did it in a Diesel Audi 80 Avant I bought for £750 which was good, reliable, plenty of room and economical. A fairly sensible choice.

But there were so many amazing bendy mountainous roads where my inner petrol head wished I was in a fun small loud light weight RWD sports car! instead of a big diesel lump chugging along.


Got me thinking about what would be the best car to do a road trip like this in again?


I came to these needs:

RWD - needs to be rwd in my eyes for the most fun driving experience (debate later that's just my opinion)

Light - better handling and easier to push out of a ditch or unstuck from sand

Diesel - not a massive fan of this, but it needs to be very economical. (ruins the trip if you feel guilty every time you floor it) Could use an old diesel and run it on veg oil for even more economies!

A Van - Car sized so its still small(ish) and fun to drive, but the van part is more for sleeping in at night. The problem with a car is it has windows so it makes you become abit more picky about where you sleep (don't want people seeing you really) even though I blocked the windows with cardboard and blankets, its still fairly obvious. With a van you could park anywhere and as long as your not to obvious about it, nobody would suspect its anything but a parked van. Also its a practical shape for sleeping and packing things.

Cheap! - Because I'm poor.


The problem is, does such a van exist? or if not what would be the easiest (and cheapest) way to make one?


Some pics of the trip for attention:

North Spain



South Spain


West Spain


Swiss Alps somewhere

(also selling the Audi soon so PM if interested)

[b3nson]

Awesome photos, wish I had to balls to just sleep in the car in random places, would save so much money!

Maybe some old RWD pickup with a truckman top? 2wd, lowered, wide wheels. Would look good, maybe not handle too bad and be practical!

[ettorebugatti]

A Transit, it is not the smallest.

But they are actually good fun to steer around the bend, although you probably need a turbo to get it moving on the hills. A LWB 2.5D struggled on the Kent hills.

[jossyboy]

BMW 3 series estate?

[rsmithy626]

this p100 with 2.0 pinto?

www.gumtree.com/p/ford/ford-sierra-p100-classic-pickup-pinto-2l-/1143702776

[joem83]

If it doesn't need to be a full on retro what about a BMW 330d touring.

Avoid the 320d, its a poo engine.

[madmog]

I made up some 'curtains' out of navy parachute material (very fine nylon that can be squashed into a small space) off Ebay. With a bunch of neobydium(sp?) magnets to hold in place on the metal of the windowframes then when cut correctly I stuck the magnets to the material with dots of tigerseal. Rear doors, rear side windows, tailgate and one piece hanging down behind the front seats. It had an odd effect from the outside in that it brought the reflection in the glass to be much more to the fore and gave the appearance of the interior just being too dark to see in the light. the whole lot lived in the front seat pouch.

I also had a spare black sleeping bag over my main sleeping bag and backpack and without the curtains, made the interior look uninteresting from dusk to dawn. driving to Berlin, I just did this, stopping for the night in services when it was already dark and getting up at early.

Here's my merc 124 estate at RRG09 showing curtains roughly knocked up.


and the black sleeping bag. A black sheet or blanket over you will obscure you at night


As for car, Alfa diesel estate might be cheap, economical and sporty. No idea what they're like but they do seem cheap.

[qwerty]

Dec 9, 2015 21:11:32 GMT jossyboy said:

BMW 3 series estate?

This, or maybe an Omega estate diesel.

[skylinedave]

A friend of mine did this in a old van , cant remember the make , the sort that looks like a bedford rascal but longer and lower ? A toyota or mazda maybe or one that was a vauxhall ?

He mananged to park right in the middle of Rome a stones throw from the colleseum and you would never know anyone was sleeping in it .

[russell294]

Yea that pretty much what I did.



But I was gone for about a month (not always sleeping in the car, but often)

It just got abit tiring unpacking and setting it all up in the dark and then repacking it all into the boot every morning. (I wanted to make sure everything went back in the boot so nothing was on show when I left the car)

That's why I would rather a van ideally, or I like the pick-up idea too (if I can find one with a box)

[russell294]

yea your friends got the right idea!
just need it to be fun to drive in the mountains too and its a winner

[mikeymk]

Doesn't take long to vinyl wrap the windows, like a plain version of this. Hairdryer, stanley knife, Fablon roll (or similar) from craft/diy store. Can use solid black or some colours may be a near-enough match (white being an obvious one).



But i don't see the point with a diesel. I've never found them any fun, they don't respond to being revved like a petrol does, they don't feel alive. The only thing i like about the drive is the requirement to work the gearbox, but even then it's only because they run out of power so early.
And it's not about speed, i find a 206 1.4 far more enjoyable to drive than a Golf 1.9 TDi. RWD could never make up for having to use a diesel.

Bear in mind weight, too - A circa 1990 Ford Granada Scorpio is lighter in weight than a Peugeot 207. A Sierra 1.8i is lighter than a Clio Sport 182.

And as long as the seats fold, you can sleep in saloons. Less conspicuous, too.

[waveman1500]

I would say that your current setup was close to perfect for your requirements.

A diesel van will be far worse to drive than your Audi, regardless of whether it's RWD or not. The extra height and weight ruin the handling far more than spinning the front wheels.

[pistonpopper]

I would go with a big petrol estate, a V6 Scorpio or Omega. Tint the window black with window film, then fit the cardboard inside to make it really dark, and van-like. It would then still look like a car, but you'd have the darkness of a van in the back and no one could look in on you as you sleep.

[SmokeEm]

300C Wagon for me. 3 litre diesel. Privacy glass everywhere and loads of room with seats folded.

[tofufi]

I wonder if a VW T3 might fit the bill?

I took my T2 across the Pyrenees twice, and despite the low power it was entertaining pushing it around the corners and trying to maintain momentum as much as possible

T3s are cheaper and come in diesel flavour if you must. Good parts availability too.

[cianha]

Great photos! After sleeping in the Trabi last year, I started thinking along similar lines. Tents are a PITA.

Big RWD wagons (Volvo/300C/Omega/Merc/5xxD/hearse derivative) aren't light though. Am Impreza wagon, though neither diesel nor RWD, would tick all the other boxes. MPG in the 30s if you're taking it handy, and 4x4 to get you out of sandy situations.

Limo tint the back windows, fold out sunscreen in the windscreen, and a couple of dark towels in the fron side windows. Or curtain off behind the front seats.

[MK2VR6]

I'm either Waveman on this. Your Audi is perfect for the job - cavernous, reliable, pulls hard enough for what's needed and damn good on fuel. Only feasible alternative is an MR2 towing a caravan, but can't see it would quite work...

[mattfletcher]

Daihatsu hi jet? Maybe with an engine tune?

[glen62]

As already said your choice of car is pretty much
spot on,all things considered.Heres a few more to
consider
Bmw 3 series touring
VW Passat Estate
Subaru Legacy Estate
Or maybe Alfa Romeo 156 diesel Estate ask Bryn for details