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I know there may be some moaning but I'm a bit of a car nut and I was wondering what people drive on cache hunts?

If they like their car and consider it useful for caching let me know - if you don't think it's suitable - why not?

 

I'll go first.

 

I have a 2000 Fiat Punto Sporting.

 

- Advantages:

 

- The 1.25 twin cam 16v engine produces over 80 bhp but around 45 mpg

- Comfortable seats

- Firm suspension, despite being 2.5 inches lower than standard model ensures that she does not bottom out when being off the beaten track

- You can wedge the GPS between windscreen and dashboard

- Electric Sunroof

- CD Changer

 

Disadvantages:

- Very hard shock absorbers ensure backpain after long drives

Edited by klaus23
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I've just bought a new Honda CR-V (Cache Retrieval Vehicle). It's only a week and 8 caches old but Daisy and I are very pleased with it. Only trouble is, we're still trying to avoid getting it dirty, which is not really the idea with a 4WD. :D

 

The Honda replaces a Volvo V70 which was just about the worst car I've ever had. Badly designed and badly made.

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I was (am) driving a BMW 320i that averages 25 MPG :) But I have just bought a Seat Alhambra 1.9TDi 110 bhp all singing and dancing (loads of toys :D :D ) that should be doing 40plus MPG when I pick it up in the morning :D

 

Looks like some longer distance caches will be in range soon :D

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I have a 1993 cavalier 1.7 turbo diesel.......50 odd mpg......it's what I like these days....mpg as opposed to mph! :D , though it can still tramp on, albeit with 120 odd thousand miles on the clock! And to make things better, i have just got an etex legend off ebay, so i will be back on the road next weekend :D

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A P registered RAV4 (Ruth's car) or my 100 year old Escort.

 

Advantages? Well the RAV4 is more comfortable and has air con, which we now look upon as essential.

 

Disadvantages? Well neither does more than a fwq miles to the gallon they're so knackered.

 

Nothing, but nothing beat the Reliant Robin we had 20 years ago - best car in the known universe.

Edited by Birders
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I think I have the best caching vehicle. An Autosleeper Rambler GL. Also a folding bicycle. I can find a camp site near to caches, a different venue each move on. Get out the bike and toddle off to a cache or two. One day , two days, who cares. On day trips out I have all mod cons. No B&B fees, BBQ whenever I fancy. Loo available for those needful moments. Laptop can run off the 12 volt. No long car journeys out and back to home. Bliss.

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Since September last year, we've been caching in Lil'

 

2048503_200.jpg

 

There are pros and cons. She's wonderful for parking without blocking gateways, but we've grounded her a couple of times - usually on horrible speed bumps, but once on a farm track.

 

She's also a travel bug. You can post a note if you meet her and get the number from her windscreen!

 

Cheers,

 

Stu

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Look left and you can see my Smart Passion Coupe (now called a Fortwo as they are to bring out a Forfour!). If you look at my profile you will see that I named this the cachemobile over two years ago. Great fun to drive and so easy to park near the cache though not so clever on rough tracks. Not sure if I will replace it with the Smart Roadster or get another Coupe but RHD this time. :D

But if I am planning to drive over 1,000 miles in the day I borrow my wife's Honda Stream even though that is the one which got broken into while I was at a cache! :D

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Here's our cachemobile...

 

4.0L V8 Landy Disco.

 

Pros: Very confortable, go almost anywhere (even places the infamous Blitzmobile wouldn't dare), never needs cleaning (hey, it's a Landrover, they're supposed to look dirty!), 7 seater so it's good for team caching, doesn't rust (aluminium body), AirCon, 4WD, etc...

 

Cons: MPG !!!

 

disco.jpg

 

Steve

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As has astounded many a cacher, I don't actually drive a Volvo at the moment (although I have one being restored one day and one as a donor).

 

We have just joined a very elite motoring club :D that being, people who have bought a 4x4 to SAVE on the MPG!!!!

 

The new caching machine is a Vauxhall Frontera 2.3 TD, that gets us 30-35 MPG, which is quite a difference to the 17MPG caching from our old Jaguar Series 3 XJ12 Sovereign (For Sale). Due to the milage, the jag was rarely used at weekends, relying instead on my company van.

 

Advantages of the Frontera:

Off Road Capability

Excellent Seating Position (was getting tired of looking at grass verges)

No more nerves about the £1000 policy excess on damage to the company vehicle

Load capacity

MPG

Perfect Dash for fitting all those equipment brackets

 

Disadvantages:

No Cupholders (yet)

Have to fight Volvo Jan for it during the week.

Having to listen to ex-landrover owners telling me "it's not a real offroader" My answer: at the rate I go caching, the extra fuel cost of a Landy for a year would make most third world countries grateful their debts are so low!

 

Just as a note to those "real offroaders" out there, one of the best off road vehicles you can get is a mini with fat tyres driven by a lunatic. (but nowhere to put your mountain bike)

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Caching vehicles

 

Fiat Doblo returns 50+mpg on a good run high 40s round the the town

Vauxhall Astra TD High 40s mpg

Piaggio Scooter 60mpg

Suzuki Bandit 30ish mpg

My Feet work in pints per mile. Consumtion varys wildly from copious amounts if I am on days off and dont need the car/bike/scoot.To a zero if I am driving/working etc etc.

 

I think I am going to start campaining to abolish road tax!! The goverment gets far to much of my cash these days!

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It's a sign of the times really - people always know their mpg now.

 

In terms of cool, I'd go for Volvo Man's Sovereign, although Team Paradises V8 Landie is very nice.

 

But, if I bought a cachemobile tomorrow morning, it would be a big oil burner - something like an 1990 E-Class Mercedes. They run to the ends of the earth. I know a guy in Germany who has his on 500K and is still on the same engine.

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Look left and you can see my Smart Passion Coupe (now called a Fortwo as they are to bring out a Forfour!).  If you look at my profile you will see that I named this the cachemobile over two years ago.  Great fun to drive and so easy to park near the cache though not so clever on rough tracks.  Not sure if I will replace it with the Smart Roadster or get another Coupe but RHD this time.  :lol:  :P

You forgot to mention John that when you're not driving it, others use it for a cache box

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Look left and you can see my Smart Passion Coupe (now called a Fortwo as they are to bring out a Forfour!).  If you look at my profile you will see that I named this the cachemobile over two years ago.  Great fun to drive and so easy to park near the cache though not so clever on rough tracks.  Not sure if I will replace it with the Smart Roadster or get another Coupe but RHD this time.  :lol:  :P

You forgot to mention John that when you're not driving it, others use it for a cache box

So thats what Kim and Alex were doing when I saw them when coming down fro Howley Hall.

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...our favoured caching transportation:

 

bikes.jpg

 

We only use the front bags when we go on long trips - not caching stuff. We have "done" most of the caches within straight biking distance (about 30 mile radius is our max).

 

Nowadays, we have to put the bikes on the back of the car and find a nice friendly supermarket part way to a cache to bring it into range. Do some shopping, dump the car and peddle off into the distance... Super!

Edited by Sue & Bernie
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If you cut me in half you'll find the four rings of Audi run right through me and being in the trade as it were I am making an informed choice :D

 

We have a pair of Audi's mine is a '94 2.0 A6 with 150k miles does about 32 mpg and gets a new dint whereever you park it its that big. I can get more gear in the saloon style boot as my mate can in his Mitsubishi Galant hatchback!

 

My wife, the lucky devil (she earns the money in this family since she isn't in the motor trade :) ) drives an '02 A2 1.4tdi. Very small and manouverable does (alledgedy) 70mpg on a run however has a dinky fuel tank so range is pretty short between fill-ups.

 

The Hokesters

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We have a Fiat Punto - don't know what the mpg is but it's fairly high :)

Best thing about it is the small tray/pocket in the dashboard which holds the GPS/PDA/Bluetooth/camera/map/drinks and swaps.

Oh yeah - never been grounded and it can do a three point turn, or less, anywhere :D

(and it's blue under the mud - is that technical enough!)

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Nothing flashy here.... a 4 x 2, 1988 Astra 1.3 hatchback. 135K on the clock, does about 35 to the gallon, will cruise all day on the motorway at 70-80mph when conditions allow. It uses a drop or two of oil now and the bodywork is a bit (well.... a lot) tatty but it doesn't owe me a penny!!!

Owned it for about 10 years; it used to belong to my wife when I had a beautiful, white Series III XJ6 (single figure petrol consumption around town but it was amusing to see the look on peoples faces when you pull up at the pumps, flip up both the big chrome filler caps and pour petrol into both side of the thing). Then my wife decided that she wanted a new car, so we sold the Jag, Hil had a new(ish) Cavalier and I got left with the ol' Astra.... good deal, huh :lol::D

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Just a Passat estate for most caches - loads of room for rucksacks etc and a muddy dog gets the back seat. Though sometimes parking near caches can get you some modifications to the original specification....

 

cf06b33f-3e43-40c9-a0d0-e495e68a8b19.jpg

 

For urban caches we use our smart car which has all the advantages of a mini - only its a lot cooler .......as its a convertable :D

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Yes Chris n Maria, I had a similar side window modification done to my Volvo S40 in Dorset. Should be looking to change the car soon. It belongs to Lloyds TSB, is 2 years old in June and is well on it's way to 79,000 miles (unsurprisingly I'm expecting it to be recalled in the near future!) No not all the mileage is Geocaching! I do a fair amount of business mileage. The fact that I do Geocaching whilst away on business bears no reflection! It's the 1.9TDi averaging between 45-50mpg.

 

The other cachemobile is the Kawasaki KLE500. Done a few caches green laning on it. Check out the picture on my website up at GCGZPA Victoria Cave on 13 Dec. My Suzuki 1200 Bandit counts as well as I gave it a run across to Liverpool on 7 Mar to do GC2E4D Alberts Famine. No problem parking!

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I own a few cars and a bike - a Honda VF500F2, if anyone cares. 500cc 16v V4 quad-ohc and totally invisible to Vauxhall Omega drivers, sadly. If you meet me, ask to see the scars.

 

CAR1.jpg

 

My '71 Bond Bug would make a perfect caching transport (100+mpg. Yes, really. Boot ideal for trinkets - and nowt else - and it's actually huge fun and easy to park/drive. Except while cornering fast in the wet, when it becomes firstly a 2-wheeled trike, then a ditch seeking missile. Not that I ever actually lost it, but there was more than one 'moment') but it hasn't been on the road for a while. However my Lotus 7 copy and Jaguar XJ6 have both been used for caching.

 

arch-kit.jpg

 

Kit Car Advantages:

- The 2ltr. Ford engine produces about 110 bhp but as the car weighs about half the Sierra it originally powered, it's 'sporty' (0-62 in 6ish) and gives around 40mpg if driven with a light foot. This is quite tricky. And the fuel gauge has never worked.

- Two newish comfortable OHM bucket seats

- Fresh air blowing through my hair(?)

- You can pretend to be Graham Hill, Stirling Moss OBE or similar. You do walk with a swagger after getting out of it, but that's due to the very firm suspension... :lol:

 

Disadvantages:

- Flies in teeth.

- 3.5" ground clearance under the sump, which makes off-roading rather hit and miss. Mostly hit.

- Not great in anything but perfect weather, as the hood takes 40 minutes to put up and makes the car impossible to get into when done.

- Nothing like a locking boot or even a glovebox. I take a rucksack :lol:

- Sunburned head/arms.

- No stereo. I listen to the exhaust note instead. Mmmm! It's music to my ears!

 

jagtop.jpg

 

Jaguar Advantages:

- 4ltr. 6cyl. 24v engine produces over 250 bhp...

- Stupidly comfortable leather, electric seats. I drove it to Scotland and back and it was like nipping to the shops, a**-wise.

- Good ground clearance and big tyres actually mean it's ok up some tracks, so long as they're not too narrow.

- You can wedge the GPS in the huge steering wheel

- Electric Sunroof. And everything else.

- Aircon, which has become vital thanks to cars like this causing Global Warming.

 

Disadvantages:

- 10mpg in anything vaguely urban. 20ish out of town. Averages around 16-17mpg for me. It also eats £90 tyres for breakfast.

- £400 to insure it, even though I have 10 years NCD. Gurr.

- It's not easy to park. I measured it against my 2 bed house and it's actually longer than the house is wide, meaning I can park outside my house, and both my neighbours houses at the same time. :rolleyes:

 

SP

 

P.S. I've set a cache by bicycle too. :blink:

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Big white UN style Landcruiser.  Cos it goes through puddles . . .

You don't need a landcruiser to go through there. We nearly made it...

 

sunken_car.jpg

I remember the kids trying to point something out to me as we drove through, I thought they were talking about the people waving to us from the bank!!! Sorry we couldn't stop to help . . . but you know what mums on school runs in 4x4's are like!

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Wow, just looking through Simply Paul's stats on the jaguar, and it looks like my old monster V12 is actually more economical!!! how's that work??

 

Returns about 12-15 urban, 22-25 open road at around 70 +10% +2.9MPH (home office guidelines on ticket threshold to alklow for speedo innacuracies)

 

Course, at that speed that monster of an enging is just ticking over. And just to make him even sicker, I've had it three years on one set of tyres.

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And just to make him even sicker, I've had it three years on one set of tyres.

Ah yes, but do you like powersliding?

 

Seriously, my dads old 5.3ltr. V12 XJS was more economical too. No idea why my XJ40 should give such poor figures. I'll have to get around to stripping the motor some time and rebuilding it.. Might add NOS too?.. Or at least giving it a good service. On the up-side, it's J reg, 128k miles, impresses the girls and is a WHOLE lot for car for the £500 I paid for it...

 

SP :rolleyes:

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Currently driving a 10 year old Astra Dies. estate. Not pleasant, not pretty, high mileage but gets me the kids and the dog there cheap.

 

Simply Paul, I know exactly what you mean about the bug. Great fun. That is till you spend six months restoring it, drive 2 miles ( mot and back). Then make the mistake of lending it to your parents who go on holiday to Wales and roll it down a hillside. Who then spend a week patching it together with Fibreglass. Unfortunatley that does not fix the holed and twisted chasis. :rolleyes:

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My wife, the lucky devil (she earns the money in this family since she isn't in the motor trade :lol: ) drives an '02 A2 1.4tdi. Very small and manouverable does (alledgedy) 70mpg on a run however has a dinky fuel tank so range is pretty short between fill-ups.

An A2 here as well. I bought a new Land Rover Discovery in May 2000 but at seventy five quid a week on diesel it was just too dear to run so I traded it in for an A2 that does twice as many miles to the gallon.

 

If I'd still had the Discovery we would never have started geocaching as every weekend we had to drive 150 miles to find caches as there were less than 50 in the UK in 2001.

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Suzuki SV1000s 1500 miles to a rear tyre?!!! How about a Suzuki GSF1200S Bandit 8000 miles to a rear tyre (and anyone who knows me will tell you that I don't potter around on it!). 15000 miles in it's first year I changed the rear tyre when it punctured at 3000 miles then changed the pair at 11000 miles as I had srubbed the tread off the left side of the front tyre breaking into roundabouts (my party piece).

 

As a qualified motorcycle instructor, a member of an advance motoring organisation (car member also) and a former advanced observer, without meaning to appear condesending please get in contact and hopefully I can give you some advice on riding technique that will save you a lot of money!

 

Please check out a serious motorcyclists website at:

www.Pyoung1s.co.uk

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