Cheap Euro road trip car ideas - Corsa Sport - for Vauxhall and Opel Corsa B, Corsa C and Corsa D

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boylers11

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Registered: 27th Jul 06
Location: Shropshire
User status: Offline

15th Mar 16 at 20:48

Me and a few mates are thinking of doing a long weekend road trip late summer time, possibly with a lap or two of the Ring thrown in time permitting.
Instead of taking our dailies or project cars for various reasons, we are thinking of each buying a car for £300-£400 to sell on when we get back.
No major requirements really, other than cheap and nippy ie not a 1.0 Micra.
Ideas would be great

nibnob21

Premium Member

Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline

15th Mar 16 at 20:53

Haha I'm doing the exact same thing with mates in August. Was going to post up a similar thread, interested to hear suggestions.

MX5 Project Thread

Ian W

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Registered: 8th Nov 03
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
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15th Mar 16 at 20:57

Did it last year in a Volvo V70 which was great but at every point would have rather been in my TT. Unless there is a very strong reason why not to use your regular car just do that!

boylers11

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Registered: 27th Jul 06
Location: Shropshire
User status: Offline

15th Mar 16 at 20:59

quote:
Originally posted by nibnob21
Haha I'm doing the exact same thing with mates in August. Was going to post up a similar thread, interested to hear suggestions.

Are you going across to Amsterdam or down to France?

boylers11

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Registered: 27th Jul 06
Location: Shropshire
User status: Offline

15th Mar 16 at 21:01

quote:
Originally posted by Ian W
Did it last year in a Volvo V70 which was great but at every point would have rather been in my TT. Unless there is a very strong reason why not to use your regular car just do that!

Partly cos it's more of a challenge, partly cos we drive our dailies every day etc. we all have second cars too, but don't want to take them either for reliability or risk reasons.

nibnob21

Premium Member

Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline

15th Mar 16 at 21:04

quote:
Originally posted by boylers11

quote:
Originally posted by nibnob21
Haha I'm doing the exact same thing with mates in August. Was going to post up a similar thread, interested to hear suggestions.

Are you going across to Amsterdam or down to France?

Think we'll be heading to Southern France. Nothing fully set in stone yet.

MX5 Project Thread

pow

Premium Member

Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline

15th Mar 16 at 23:37

I have bought a 528i with this purpose in mind

Ian

Site Administrator

Registered: 28th Aug 99
Location: Liverpool
User status: Offline

16th Mar 16 at 01:04

Something big and comfortable.

I fully agree with Ian if you're driving, something like a TT can easily handle it but if you want a load of people in there then size has to matter.

My default answer is a Grand Espace 3 litre diesel auto but that might be over budget. Although you'll be able to sell on, might even turn a profit. A £400 car is just going to be a worry and give you hassle, you'd struggle to get a trustworthy Focus for that, never mind anything large or interesting.

Ian W

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Registered: 8th Nov 03
Location: Wirral, Merseyside
User status: Offline

16th Mar 16 at 08:50

Our Volvo was perfect, 2.5 td auto with plenty of space for the 4 of us in it, the problem is the roads are amazing and tootling along in a diesel that struggles to get to 85mph, handles like an oil tanker and stops like a train was a bit of a twat when we all have fast capable cars at home

Ours was for charity though so the banger was part of the deal.

Great experience and I 100% want to do a Euro trip again, but it will be in something more fun for the long winding mountain roads

boylers11

Member

Registered: 27th Jul 06
Location: Shropshire
User status: Offline

16th Mar 16 at 09:08

There are 3 or 4 of us going and we'd each be buying a car, then will probably end up taking the girls too. We're not overly bothered about vehicle size. I was looking at old Volvos, BMs and maybe even Hondas.
Has anyone ever driven over from Amsterdam as opposed to France? It'd work out a lot shorter for us.

DaveyLC

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Registered: 8th Oct 08
Location: Berkshire
User status: Offline

16th Mar 16 at 09:13

Any 270 engine Merc, they go forever, they are cheap and of course super comfortable.

E270 Estate on a ML270 would be my choice.

pow

Premium Member

Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline

16th Mar 16 at 10:26

If you get a BM make sure it's a manual, the engines last forever but the boxes (especially on the e39s) like to shit themselves when the milage is prefixed with a 1 (100k +)

Ojc

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Registered: 14th Nov 00
Location: Reading: Drives : Clio 197
User status: Offline

16th Mar 16 at 11:27

quote:
Originally posted by Ian W
Did it last year in a Volvo V70 which was great but at every point would have rather been in my TT. Unless there is a very strong reason why not to use your regular car just do that!

Agree 100%

tom_simes

Show Staff
Organiser: South Wales
Premium Member

Registered: 12th Jan 05
Location: Undy, Newport Drives: Skoda Octavia vRS estate
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16th Mar 16 at 11:33

I've done it 2 years running.

First year was 4 of us in a BMW M135 - did Eurotunnel to Calais, then Bruges for a night, Amsterdam for 2 nights, Nurburgring for 4 nights (where we hired Suzuki Swifts, which were great fun!) and then home with a night in Brussels to break up the journey back to Bristol.

Last year there were 3 of us, all in individual cars - BMW M135, my S2000 and a 3rd in an Audi RS6. Did Bruges for 1 night again, then 6 nights at the 'ring (taking in sme VLN racing too), followed by 4 nights at Spa Francorchamps for the World Endurance Championship (WEC). Absolutely loved the journey across in my S2000, roof down from Calais right across to the Nurburgring, and then a couple of laps of the Nordschleife and a session on the Nurburgring F1 circuit made it a perfect trip!

Kev_GSI

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Registered: 9th Oct 04
Location: C:\Uk\Chester_North West
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16th Mar 16 at 19:52

I do it every year a few times in my Daily cars

Astra mk3 gsi
Vectra C 1.9 cdti
Corsa D 1.3
Civic Type R Ep3

About to do it in my E91 325d in June to. I love it and cant get enough of it, hence my project ( astra estate ) ive added cruise etc to it for trips like this

nibnob21

Premium Member

Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline

16th May 16 at 19:52

How're you getting on with this? With my £300 budget I picked up a mid nineties V6 Audi A4 for £210 today

MX5 Project Thread

pow

Premium Member

Registered: 11th Sep 06
Location: Hazlemere, Buckinghamshire
User status: Offline

16th May 16 at 20:47

Show us Robin

Love a sub 500 shed

Generation

Member

Registered: 7th Jul 09
Location: Essex
User status: Offline

17th May 16 at 07:57

Seems strange to me. I kinda understand for you don't want to take your project car if there's a certain reason... But not taking a daily car you bought either, and now buying a third car. Wtf

3CorsaMeal

Member

Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline

17th May 16 at 08:22

Golf 7R, only £252 for a whole month

Generation

Member

Registered: 7th Jul 09
Location: Essex
User status: Offline

17th May 16 at 08:28

That would be too new.
Would need a trip car, instead of the new car, and a daily instead of the new car, and a project car to post online

spencer88

Member

Registered: 6th Oct 08
Location: cornwall
User status: Offline

17th May 16 at 15:05

Can highly recommend a fiat cinquecento 1.1.
4's up around Europe. Comfy and cheap.

3CorsaMeal

Member

Registered: 11th Apr 02
User status: Offline

17th May 16 at 15:26

Would rather do it in a decent car with 2 up, who wants to drive around europe, 4 up in some tiny little underpowered sweatbox.

I'm probably wrong, its probably the cool thing to do these days, gets just as many facebook likes as touring italy in a Laferrari

nibnob21

Premium Member

Registered: 16th May 10
Location: South Derbyshire
User status: Offline

17th May 16 at 16:11

There’re 13 of us going, split into 4 teams - 3x3 and 1x4. So the budget for the four cars is split between several people, not just coming out of my pocket.

Car - £210
Month’s tax - ~£20
Week’s insurance - ~£100

Then minus any resale or scrap value of the car. Divided by three people that’s not very much.

We’re doing it Top Gear-esque with various challenges along the way. It’s not really a lot of money. You can easily spend considerably more on flights than we’ll be spending on the tunnel and fuel. Plus we’re staying in campsites, not hotels.

Quite ironic: