Am I mad?

Hello all, long time lingering on here first time poster. Could do with a bit of a sanity check from you chaps if you dont mind. Apologies for the long post.

I am considering (3-3.5k max) a 110 defender as my every day drive, either diesel or V8 with LPG is fine. Reasoning is that I enjoy the outdoors and tend to do some mountain bike racing, currently I drive to the event and then back again the next day for the race which can be a major pain. I figure that if I bought a good defender, roof tent and rear door cooker and fridge unit I'd have a usuable everyday mini weekend vehicle that could take me, the wife and my son (due in July) plus 2 dogs to the bike events ( or beach, peaks, lakes etc) and that wouldnt leave me stranded in fields when its sopping wet, or at practice days (its happened quite a few times). I also love the idea of taking the family when the nipper is old enough accross Europe etc for a few weeks and this again seems to lend itself to one of these vehicles........

Thought about a VW campervan but these are pretty highly priced and would still leave me waiting for the my turn to be towed out of the field on winter days.

I do cycle to work a few days a week so this would help with the fuel and driving costs (14 miles each way).

Currently I'm not into off road but I think it is something that I could take up given the chance to do it, but being realistic 90% of the time it would only have road use (are there forms of off road that involve going fast?)

I guess things making me think twice are maintainence involved on the vehicle (I can do it myself if needs be) and the noise and slowness of them, however maybe the fact your left with a fully useable proper multi purpose vehicle maybe out weighs this? Also despite my best efforts as I get older I seem to have less and less time to do outdoor leisure pursuits so maybe its an extravagance I could/should live without.

Am I being completely stupid? And should I just buy a vw passat estate and a tent or maybe put the money saved in fuel to putting us up in a b&b (probably the wife's preference)

Any thoughts welcomed?

Thanks Ryan

strugrat said:

Am I mad?

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Yep...... you are mad not to go for it, and mad to do it against the wifes wishes. Welcome to the mad house

may sound mad but - id buy a low milage berlingo or partner car and a tent with that money .....

3/4k wont get you alot of defender for everyday driving unless you enjoy being under it alot come mot time

I have a partner van for going to mtb races and driving to work - and my 90 is for winter and offroading + learning mechanics / welding !

but if you want one - i presume you have had a test drive in a few

i do want a 110 weekend truck as you describe but id spend a bit more than 4k i think or - less and stick a galvy chassis and bulkhead in it

Or go the other way and try and get a 110 for about £2k and spend the rest improveing it.

Err I've been in a few but I have not test driven any yet to keep the temptation away.

This wont be the families only vehicle so will pretty much be a weekend truck and commuter when I lose motivation for the Boardman road bike.

What would 3.5k get me then? Approx how much do you think I need to start with for a decent reliable usuable weekend truck?

Also any ideas on how much things like roof tents, fridges and cooker units cost?

Thanks for the advice, and I'm glad to have joined the madhouse!

Of course your mad, we're all mad, BUT DO NOT let it put you off, you crack on and fill your boots, as has been said though you may need to up your budget a little bit, but you won't regret it. You may swear and curse occasionally, you may lose some skin off your knuckles while fixing her, BUT you will have a daft grin on your face when driving and YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT. :welcome2: to the madhouse BAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!

strugrat said:

Err I've been in a few but I have not test driven any yet to keep the temptation away.

This wont be the families only vehicle so will pretty much be a weekend truck and commuter when I lose motivation for the Boardman road bike.

What would 3.5k get me then? Approx how much do you think I need to start with for a decent reliable usuable weekend truck?

Also any ideas on how much things like roof tents, fridges and cooker units cost?

Thanks for the advice, and I'm glad to have joined the madhouse!

Click to expand...

£3.5k will get you an 110 SW that needs a bit of TLC. Do it Nothing represents camping and adventure more than a defender with a roof tent Roof tent would be extra, £1k if you want a decent one. Fridges are cheap from almost anywhere selling camping stuff unless you want a posh engel one. Camping stoves anywhere between £10 and £100. £40 will get you a decent 2 burner with grill. Spend £3.5-4k on a SW and spend a grand putting everything right and use a normal tent until you can afford a posh roof one

What he said ^^^

Only other thing I would say is that even on LPG, the V8 is still going to cost you more to run than a Tdi 110.

On Petrol, best you can hope for is about 12mpg, on LPG that drops to about 10-11mpg. Even with LPG being only 80p a litre, it's still cheaper to run a Tdi which will achieve ~30mpg.

Oh and welcome by the way

Oh yeah, and don't forget to go and look before you bid if you are buying on ebay. Look out for bulkhead rust and chassis rust. Loads of info if you use the search function, also then people won't get frustrated with you asking the same questions as any other bugger does

:welcome2: