Cheap 4x4?

[portseven]

A horse!

[Lockhouse]

How small a boat?

I used to have a Landie to tow a 27' Fjord which was fine, and I recently got rid of a disco 2 which is probably the ultimate tow vehicle - mine was a v8 petrol which was lovely to drive but only did 17 to the gallon but a mate bought it and it doubles up as a luxury business vehicle and a tractor on his other half's horsey place. Have pulled at least four tonnes of grapes with it and you'd hardly know that they were there but it's overkill if you are just pulling a little speedboat or a trailer sailer- maybe something like the Audi all-road for that? Or a Freelander will give reasonable economy and pull a couple of tonnes happily.

I'm looking at around a 21ft GRP inshore fishing boat. The Fjord is nice and I'd like to end up with something like that once I've got a bit more sea experience. Do you have a boat at the moment?

Do you definitely need a 4x4 for this? Are you thinking for the towing in general, or are you thinking about launching from beaches and other tricky places? I've seen people launch and tow boats using regular cars a lot.

I've also seen people get into all sorts of bother on seaweed covered slipways.

I am loving this here.

[Paddy]

I'm looking at around a 21ft GRP inshore fishing boat. The Fjord is nice and I'd like to end up with something like that once I've got a bit more sea experience. Do you have a boat at the moment?



I've also seen people get into all sorts of bother on seaweed covered slipways.

I am loving this here.

£3,995 for a reason; cost of parts like gear knob £1,000

[Lockhouse]

£3,995 for a reason; cost of parts like gear knob £1,000

Be mechanically minded, find a good indy plus eBay and they are not that expensive to run. Petrol costs don't bother me.

[DimPrawn]

Be mechanically minded, find a good indy plus eBay and they are not that expensive to run. Petrol costs don't bother me.

Those old ML tanks are complete garbage. And eye watering to repair if you need MB parts. And the petrol one will do about 6 MPG around town. And £500 per year road tax and to add to that they are terrible, unrefined, and crap off road. And crap on road.

BBC - Top Gear Survey 2004

Worst car of the year.

[The_Equalizer]

Be mechanically minded, find a good indy plus eBay and they are not that expensive to run. Petrol costs don't bother me.

Totally agree. I have just bought the wife a 2001 Benz CLK230 convertible for £1550. There's always a few bits'n'bobs to deal with so have given it a good service myself and got the indy to change the gearbox fluid and filter (doing on a drive was bit too much of an ask). I've also found that the exhaust manifold has a slight blow so have sourced a quality new one on eBay Germany. I'll have a bash at fitting it when I get a sunny day one weekend.

Bottom line I've bought a nice car which someone paid £45K-ish (in today's money) for under £3K with all things considered.

Coincidentally, a bloke stopped for a chat in a 2000 Merc S500. Lovely thing, with the only drawback being it needed a new key (about £200-ish) from Merc. With key, it has set him back £2K. Even if he only gets 12 months out of it it's got to be no more expensive than most normal moderns.

[DimPrawn]

What looks good towing a boat?

A convertible! Heading to the sea, sun shining, wind in your hair.

4x4, V8 power.

Audi S4 CABRIOLET 4.2 Quattro 2dr

What's not to like?

[DimPrawn]

Or, wait for it!

Buy a boat AND a Porsche!

Porsche Cayenne 4.5 S Tiptronic S AWD 5dr

"Shall we take the yacht down to the sea this weekend darling? I will get the Porsche cleaned by those frightfully good Romanians down the road."

[greenlake]

What looks good towing a boat?

Forget about towing. Just get a smaller boat and stick it in the boot....

[Lockhouse]

Those old ML tanks are complete garbage. And eye watering to repair if you need MB parts. And the petrol one will do about 6 MPG around town. And £500 per year road tax and to add to that they are terrible, unrefined, and crap off road.

Pre-2006 is max tax of £285 surely?