CHALLENGE... Help me to decide my next tow car

[Terry Everall]

So what are you diving Ash?

[maurici]

A one off tuareg, with 3 times much moving bits than your average daily car...

Nothing special to be honest...race kids are swapping engines in a daily basis

[maurici]

Guys... any of you has had one of this lexust that we was talking about, with the 6 lindres and the semi auto gearbox???

How is the gearbox?

I quite fancie an IS300 SportCross. Is cheap, looks like a reliable work horse. Has the Exotic plus of the lexus, and its got a lot of outdated toys... for a bit less than £2,5K in a dealer with full service including cam-belt at the point of sale... But to be honest, I don't have any way to test the gearbox prior purchasing as the car is literally at the other side of the country.

Any experiences on this??

 

And related to above... someone living near weston super mare to make a pre-chek for me???

[Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO]

Can't comment on the gearbox but I've got an Is200 sportcross and I absolutely love it. Very comfy machine. It's a little under powered but still fun in the higher rev ranges. 6 pot too so still sounds lovely. One option if you preferred a manual one could be to go for the 200 and pick up a supercharger kit for it. They actually seem pretty reasonably valued tbh. You'd easily pick up a car and the kit for 2.5 - 3k. 

Worth considering though, lexus never sold a tow bar for the sportcross in the UK. It was available in Europe though and can be bought second hand online, but I don't know if there are any implications with regards to fitting one in the UK. 

Also, one other side note - if you like carrying stuff on the roof, finding a mounting kit for a sportcross is hard work. Thule have stopped making them so you need to keep an eye out for one second hand. I got one eventually but it took me a while. 

[maurici]

Thanks Andy.

all very usefull information that sadly discards the model for me...

I've got some information and apparently the model wasnt homologated for towing straight away in UK... despite some Atezza imported models were...

Also the roof thing. I do carry a roof box 90% of the time, therefore... is a non going for me...

Sad day, as I had my mind decided already, and I'm In the start line again.

[Andrew O Byrne White - Ireland AO]

Ah that's a shame. It's a great car other than the tow bar bit! The roof mounts are possible to get, it just takes a little while to find some. 

[maurici]

Well. Finally mooved forward on my bussines.

The result will surprise most (even to me)

I sold the subaru a week ago. Apparently someone was willing to give me 500 bucks for it and took it away.

Been hunting any sort of cars last week. Bmw states, sedans, petrol, diesels, some other subarus...

Finally got myself a ****ter.

Nissan terrano2 2.7 diesel from 2005. Seven seater.

Paid for it £1900 witch i still thing was a bit expensive, but most of it works well and will be an experience... so the all "change your tow car experience" is costed me 1400 quid.

 Never had a propper all terrain  before, and that one was convenient, being literaly down the road from mines (about 5 minutes from my house, gone to pick it up walking). 

Cheaper to insure and tax than the subaru. It came with towing gear already. And with some new bits from the last MOT.

isnt too rusty, underneath and driving it ia actually an experience. Will.tow nicely (now i have to slightly downplate my trailer, but not the end of the world).

Thanks for all the ones that participated in the show, that ended with an unexpected outcome.

[Kit Car Electronics]

1 hour ago, maurici said:

that ended with an unexpected outcome.

No it didn't, it ran exactly to form - nobody ever buys a recommended car on here