What do you drive??

[Unkraut]

Ford Galaxy 2.0 diesel (thanks to the company!!). Big and comfy, and reasonably economical for such a tank of a car (6.5/100 km - no idea what that is in MPG).

Recently just managed to get 120 MPH out of it for a short stretch.

 

[Fnaar]

A 2001 Fiat Ulysse (aka the Fiat Useless)
If you take all the seats out, you can fit 5 bikes in the back.
It can also carry 3 bikes + driver + 3 passengers quite comfortably. So not quite so useless.

 

[gary r]

a 2004 Seat Arosa or a "Seat Arousa" its only 100cc but returns 300miles from £25 of petrol!!! Mrs R has a Citroen Zsara Picasso that we have had from new (7 years old) the Seat is great for me to run to work & back i dont need anything bigger/powerful.

 

[andylaw79]

06 Skoda Fabia Estate 1.2. Cheap to run (nearly 50 to the gallon), cheap to insure and plenty of room for the family.

 

[Black Sheep]

For those amongst us that dont have cars (and are old enough to drive) like Longers and ColinJ.......

I am curious what your situations are; are you single? do you live in major cities? what jobs do you do? do you rely on bike and public transport etc

Promise I am not intending on stalking you , I just want to understand how you can get by without using a tin box at least a few times a week/month.

i kind of fall into this category, as i said my car is waiting for repair. both me and Millie are students. I bike the mile into uni and bike everywhere else. Then i met Millie. she has her mum's car so that she can get to placements etc as she's a child nursing student who has to get to various hospitals for her placements at awkward times such as 6.30am when busses aren't running where they need to be.

we normally just walk or bike places but do the occasional tesco trip in 'suzie' or if its bad weather. most of coventry is easy to walk or bike in, but the outlying regions can be a pain without a car.

during the summer it starts to become impossible to get a summer job without a car to the extent that one agency refused to forward me for a job because i had said i would be happy to bike there, there reason being they and the employer wouldn't want that responsibility and what would happen if the bike broke or i came off,

my answer was simple, fix it / lock to lamp post and hop on bus, similar to if my car broke. I even offered to walk with the bike whenever on the employers property and pointed out that it was my risk when out of the gate. they still refused.

ah well, need a real job now cos i'm graduating. i plan to bike if its possible, if not i'll have to use the car / train.

 

[John Ponting]

MG TF and a Triumph Tiger . Four seats spread across six seats. Both fun.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Volvo V70 - big, comfy and courtesy of the company!

 

[very-near]

Ford Galaxy 2.0 diesel (thanks to the company!!). Big and comfy, and reasonably economical for such a tank of a car (6.5/100 km - no idea what that is in MPG).

Recently just managed to get 120 MPH out of it for a short stretch.

[MrP] Don't you know that it is always safer to go slower than faster. You are irresponsible and a danger to others. You are a dangerous driver[/MrP]

 

[ColinJ]

For those amongst us that dont have cars (and are old enough to drive) like Longers and ColinJ.......

I am curious what your situations are; are you single? do you live in major cities? what jobs do you do? do you rely on bike and public transport etc

Promise I am not intending on stalking you , I just want to understand how you can get by without using a tin box at least a few times a week/month.

Okay, that's a fair question...

Family

I am single, but when I wasn't, my later-to-be-ex didn't drive either. She has a daughter who walked and caught the bus to school. She used to walk to friends' houses. Day trips were by bus and/or train. There was no 'school run' for us. When step-sprog was young, her mum started university (travelling by train). I used to walk down to the school to meet her. I changed my working hours to be able to do that.

I walked to school as a child or travelled by bus and I can't see why children shouldn't do it now.

Shopping

I live in Hebden Bridge which is a small town (it's about a 10-15 minute walk from one side to the other). It has a decent selection of shops for everyday goods and food, so I walk to the shops and the local market. I usually buy bigger or more unusual items online and have them delivered. I don't need to drive to go shopping.

Travel

To go abroad, I use Manchester airport or I could use Leeds/Bradford. I've gone to the airports by bus, train, in somebody else's car and by taxi. I haven't needed to drive to get to an airport.

I travel by train to visit family in the midlands. Hebden Bridge station is less than 10 minutes walk from here and has direct rail links to Leeds, Manchester and Preston, with connections from those stations to the rest of the UK. I don't need to drive to get anywhere.

We had one holiday in the hamlet of Keld in the Yorkshire Dales. We caught a train to Kirkby Stephen and a taxi from there to Keld. While we were there, we walked to the Tan Hill Tavern for a pub lunch with step-sprog and her school-mate. That's about an 8 mile round trip with about 700 ft of ascent. It was snowing. The kids were 9 or 10 and they loved it. Another time, we walked to Muker, home of the only shop for miles around. We loaded up with food supplies and walked back to our caravan. We'd gone out over the hills, but it started snowing again so we decided to walk back on the road.

No car needed.

Work

I went to university in Manchester (I walked 35-40 miles a week getting to the university and back to my flat). When I was about to graduate, I spotted an ad for a job in Hebden Bridge. I got the job, so I moved here.

The day after I started work, it was announced that we'd been bought out by a company in Burnley (15 miles away). So much for walking to work... For the first 'transition' year, the company laid on a coach to take us to work. When that service stopped, I used the train and walked to and from the stations. Eventually, somebody from Hebden Bridge offered me a lift and we split the petrol costs.

In the summer, I'd sometimes commute by bike.

Nowadays, I'm trying to earn a living online. I can do that anywhere that I have mains power and a decent internet connection.

I don't need a car to get to work.

Leisure

I don't go around looking at historical ruins or museums. I don't go to concerts. I don't like going to big cities, so I tend not to. My main leisure activity is cycling so I'm travelling by bike.

From time to time, I like to cycle away from this area. I've had lifts with my bike to other places. I've flown my bike to Spain. I've taken my bike on the train. I posted a bike to Cornwall for a holiday last year and travelled down on the train.



There have been just a few occasions when I wanted to drive. The most notable time was when I left my Christmas shopping until midday on Christmas Eve. I caught a bus to Halifax and wandered round the shops. Eventually, I ended up carrying a 14" colour TV, a large whiteboard and a host of other stuff. Then the blizzard started... I couldn't find an available taxi and some buses were cancelled. Standing shivering, with backache, and wondering if I'd ever get home wasn't nice. But I don't need a car to avoid that feeling - I just need to get organised and not shop on Christmas Eve (I'd do it online now anyway).


99% of all humans who ever lived never had cars and they seemed to manage okay. If all adults in the world were to get cars, think what a nightmare it would be! Even if the ultimate solar-powered 'green' electric car was developed, you'd still need to cover half the world's surface in roads and carparks. Ultimately we need to have a different way of getting about. How about bikes?

 

[Wigsie]

Great answer Colin! I applaud you and your efforts, online shopping at christmas is probably a good idea.

Nice one though, bet you save shed loads of money not having a car.

 

[yello]

Yamaha YZF600R

The misses has a car, a Citroen Berlingo. I'm allowed to use it if I'm good.

When we lived in London, we didn't have a car. No need of one. I could walk to work, the misses cycled. A car would have been more of a pain than it was worth. We used to hire a car maybe 2 or 3 times a year.

 

[mickle]

16v Corrado.

 

[hackbike 666]

No car,not interested in cars,ever.

 

[Fab Foodie]

Good to see so many Skoda's in the list. Had 2 Octavia estates (Diesel) and they were fab cars.
We needed something bigger and traded one Octavia and an old Peugeot 406 in for one Citroen C8. It's big bulky and does typically 37 mpg pootling around and about 42 on a long run. Compared to the Skoda's old 52 mpg it's a bit crippling at the pumps. But, having only one car to run has many savings.

Once the kids have gone, it'll be back to Skoda again for something smaller.

I'm still hankering after an old Vespa.

 

[asterix]

blimey that must shift how about doing a bank job?

Best done from the inside it would seem. You don't need a getaway vehicle, you just retire gracefully.