has anyone switched from large tow car to smaller?

[Rokraider]

Keep the Isuzu anyway if it is only worth £700 and buy a cheap runabout for everyday stuff.

[chris.moody]

Thanks for all the advice.

I do run two cars already so that does keep the fuel bill down as the Isuzu is only used part time.

It is good to hear that people are getting 200k out of them

I think I will keep the Isuzu for now, and eventually replace it with a commercial vehicle (vw transporter, Isuzu twin cab, hilux twin cab) in a couple of years time. The point about boaty stuff not being kind to new cars is a good one

Thanks guys for helping me decide ( the power of ribnet).

--
Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

[lakelandterrier]

I've found with my X-trail, driving sensibly no hard acceleration / braking - and keeping to 65-70 on a motorway mans I average just under 40mpg.

It might seem boring, but driving that bit more carefully / economically saves me a lot of money

Changing the vehicle with a low residual value seems like a lot of expense.
difference between 28 & 40 mpg @ £6.25 / gallon = 6.7p/mile. So how many miles do you do / year?

You should also consider other cost - servicing, tyres. RFL to see if buying something newer would work - I'd guess you'd need to do a lot of miles to want the change the Trooper.

[mick]

Just keep changing the oil a pal of mine that lives in France has Peugeot 205 diesel it's done 700 thow on the same engine

[chris.moody]

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I will keep the Isuzu.

It gets a service and oil change every 6000 miles or 12 months whichever occurs first (I do 5 to 6 k a year in it).

--
Tigga - Avon SR4 Rescue with 40hp Yamaha 2 stroke

[Tim in Yorkshire]

Keeping the Isuzu seems sensible, but the tow abilities of small vehicles can be surprising.

I used to tow two motorbikes (~180-200 kgs each fuelled) on a trailer (at least 60 kgs if not more) behind a Pug 306 Gti - it was ace and would see silly speeds on the speedo. Later I used a Skoda Octavia Estate which wasn't as good, although you'd assume it would be. I think the issue with the Skoda was the distance of the tow bar from the rear wheels, where as on the Pug the towbar was only inches infront of the rear wheels, so had less leverage effect. No luanching to deal with though!