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We have an A4 N reg 1.8petrol estate, the boot is quite big but you lose a lot of room due to wheel arches, and the back of the car tapers towards the roof which takes away more room. We bought an halfords exodus 360ltr roofbx and a set of second hand roofbars of ebay. Roofboxes are great and waterproof, but reading a lot of peoples suggestions on here I'd say a trailer would be a better bet - some people even put a roof box on top of the trailer. I have a friend with a renault laguna estate and he wears by it for camping trips, he takes a lot of gear for the scouts also.

I'll add a vote for the Honda CRV (mark 2) - not the newest model.

The diesel gets 40mpg and pulls strongly.

It has big estate car space (approx 450ltr I think) along with loads of rear leg room but the rear seats can slide forward to give up to 640ltrs with still enough leg room to get by. Figures are from  my memory and up to top of seat back so you can get more in- the rear window opens separately from the tailgate for ease of 'shoehorning' if required.

4WD for muddy fields

Extremely reliable (IMHO)

And the picnic table is pretty good quality too!! (serves as boot floor when not in use as table)

Well we absolutly love our Volvo V70 (check my gallery pics). Don't bother looking at the smaller Volvo estates like the V40 & V50 because they are mid sized estates so load space isn't big for an estate car. The V70 is cavernous, they are such solid, powerful, comfortable long distance cruisers. Ours also has the 7 seat conversion too, 2 seats pop up out of the boot floor when you need them (excellent bit of kit) this was essential as we often have a car full (our car before was a Galaxy people carrier and we weren't prepared to loose 2 seats) but it is soooo much nicer, luxurious than the Galaxy.

However now we have a smallish! doggy who rides in the boot, we need to utilise the towbar and pack our camping gear in a trailer. Tows effortlesly though.

Only down side is the petrol's are a bit thirsty. Diesel's aren't though.

Correction - CRV boot size (min) is 556litres

(compare with Mondeo estate at 542litres and V70 at 575litres (but cant slide rear seats to gain more space in either)

PS We used to have a Volvo 850 estate (similar boot space to V70) but our camp kit outgrew it!

Quote: Originally posted by Victor Khyam on 28/8/2007

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Quote: Originally posted by snowy747 on 27/8/2007

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 I can't work out why they are not more popular.

Ali

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Er...possibly because you have to have a tow bar?

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Yes but lots of people have tow bars on their vehicles and if you are considering a trailer you'd need a tow bar too!  Therefore I think it is a more practical choice as you are not limited speedwise.

Ali

We have a vauxhall zafira and a roof box and footwells and underseats and behind back but lol we manage to get it all in and hubby can still just about see thru back window.

But seriously very happy with boot space on Zaf

Lynles

Quote: Originally posted by snowy747 on 28/8/2007

Yes but lots of people have tow bars on their vehicles and if you are considering a trailer you'd need a tow bar too! Therefore I think it is a more practical choice as you are not limited speedwise.

Get a DOKA or full size vanagon :-)

http://www.busman.be/pagina2.html

Hi,

We have an Xsara HDI Estate, Roof box, Trailer and Bike rack.  Just about the right amount of storage space. 

Howie

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a254/hjd10/DSCI0345_2560x1920.jpg

I brought the Honda Accorde Tourer 2003 model for the big boot. I started looking at Volvos and the boots are definately getting smaller. The Honda has the biggest boot in it's class. Since a newer model has come out the prices have dropped a lot.

We had a Mondeo up until earlier this year.  We camped last year, bit of a squeeze getting everything but we managed.  Husband is in the process of changing his company car (to a new mondeo) so we had a hire car for the holiday this year, we asked for an estate, we got a VW Passat estate, we couldn't fit half of what we had in the mondeo last year!!!  So we had to pack light and manage, leaving stuff behind etc etc.  I would stick to the Mondeo and get a roof rack, top box.  I've already told other half we won't be camping without it next year, it was much too stressful packing!  It's cheaper than changing the car aswell, so you can go out and buy more camping gear!

Quinnys

Quote: Originally posted by MJ68 on 30/8/2007

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Whenever discussion of Estate cars or people carriers comes up people always forget the most practical cars for hauling potentially muddy or wet gear around. They are cheap, roomy, you can sweep them out and they will take the lot without resort to a roofbox. They are...Renault Kangoo, Citroen Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Fiat Doblo. If you go to France, Spain or Italy you do not see as many expensive 4x4's or premium People Carriers because people are much less snobbish about cars and are happy to drive a battered workhorse...look at the number of Renault 4's still doing their job in France. I have a Kangoo and it is brilliantly ugly but brilliantly practical...if you want a camping car look no further and no-one will want to nick it!

 

It isn't ugly - its lovely - I miss mine so much and want an automatic one now.

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