Chancellor Of The Duchy Of Besses O' Th' Barn And

The Reids <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
    > prestwich tesco
    >
    > >Yup, and Martin's suggestion for the Nissan Micra is a good one too.
    > >I've driven a really small auto Vauxhall (GM affiliate) too, but forget
    > >the name.
    >
    > If hes touring with luggage I think its a bit too small.

How much luggage to you think he'll have? You can fit a large suitcase
in the back- two normal ones in fact- and if it's only two of them,
there will be more room in the back seats too.

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.net
usenet (at) davidhorne (dot) co (dot) uk

Martin

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:32:53 +0100, [email protected]
(chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and prestwich tesco)
wrote:

    >The Reids <[email protected]> wrote:
    >> Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
    >> prestwich tesco
    >>
    >> >Yup, and Martin's suggestion for the Nissan Micra is a good one too.
    >> >I've driven a really small auto Vauxhall (GM affiliate) too, but forget
    >> >the name.

Opel Corsa? A horrid little car IMHO :-)

    >>
    >> If hes touring with luggage I think its a bit too small.
    >How much luggage to you think he'll have? You can fit a large suitcase
    >in the back- two normal ones in fact- and if it's only two of them,
    >there will be more room in the back seats too.

The rear seat back rest folds down too.
--
Martin

Martin

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:28:17 +0100, The Reids
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Following up to Ken Blake
    >>> How about an automatic Nissan Micra?
    >>Never heard of it. What can you tell me about it?
    >Its a small Japanese car. Too small for touring with luggage.

Depends on whether you and your wife travel with the kitchen sink.

Our Micra is adequate for us.
--
Martin

Martin

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 09:28:39 +0100, The Reids
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
    >prestwich tesco
    >>Yup, and Martin's suggestion for the Nissan Micra is a good one too.
    >>I've driven a really small auto Vauxhall (GM affiliate) too, but forget
    >>the name.
    >If hes touring with luggage I think its a bit too small.

Exactly how much luggage do you tour with?
For two people the space available for luggage is more than adequate.
--
Martin

The Reids

Following up to Martin

    >>Its a small Japanese car. Too small for touring with luggage.
    >Depends on whether you and your wife travel with the kitchen sink.

most people travel with a suitcase each, if they are other than
the smaller sizes you would have to fold the seat down in
something like a Micra, as I have had to do with the smallest in
the range type cars. If the OP chooses to tour quite a lot a
bigger car will be more relaxing. Even a BMW 3 series can
struggle with two cases if they are too deep (there's still space
free but the cases wont fit on top of each other in the vertical
dimension of the boot).
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

The Reids

Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
prestwich tesco

    >> If hes touring with luggage I think its a bit too small.
    >How much luggage to you think he'll have? You can fit a large suitcase
    >in the back- two normal ones in fact- and if it's only two of them,
    >there will be more room in the back seats too.

I wouldn't want to tour with the luggage on display in the back
seats for security reasons. I've never loaded suitcases into the
current Micra, only driven one, not an enjoyable experience but
it was a courtesy car so may have been abused. If it was typical
I wouldn't want to tour in one.
My experience has been that two normal suitcases will not always
fit into the smallest cars boot.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

The Reids

Following up to Martin

    >>If hes touring with luggage I think its a bit too small.
    >Exactly how much luggage do you tour with?
    >For two people the space available for luggage is more than adequate.

Depends what I'm doing. Typically a suitcase and a
suitcarrier/suitcase (not large ones) plus a rucksack with
cameras and outdoor gear in. I don't find the luggage space in
the smallest cars "more than adequate".
As I have said if I overload two cases they will not fit in 3
series on top of each other, if the OP brings large cases they
probably wont fit in a Micra class car.
--
Mike Reid
Walk-eat-UK "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" <-- you can email us@ this site
Walk-eat-Spain "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk" <-- dontuse@ all, it's a spamtrap
Photos of both "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Martin

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:56:42 +0100, The Reids
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Following up to Martin
    >>>Its a small Japanese car. Too small for touring with luggage.
    >>Depends on whether you and your wife travel with the kitchen sink.
    >most people travel with a suitcase each, if they are other than
    >the smaller sizes you would have to fold the seat down in
    >something like a Micra, as I have had to do with the smallest in
    >the range type cars. If the OP chooses to tour quite a lot a
    >bigger car will be more relaxing. Even a BMW 3 series can
    >struggle with two cases if they are too deep (there's still space
    >free but the cases wont fit on top of each other in the vertical
    >dimension of the boot).

He asked for a small car. We travel with soft luggage, it takes up
less space. Judging from what's in airport arrivals halls many others
use soft luggage too.

--
Martin

Martin

On Wed, 20 Jul 2005 10:56:43 +0100, The Reids
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Following up to chancellor of the duchy of besses o' th' barn and
    >prestwich tesco
    >>> If hes touring with luggage I think its a bit too small.
    >>How much luggage to you think he'll have? You can fit a large suitcase
    >>in the back- two normal ones in fact- and if it's only two of them,
    >>there will be more room in the back seats too.
    >I wouldn't want to tour with the luggage on display in the back
    >seats for security reasons. I've never loaded suitcases into the
    >current Micra, only driven one, not an enjoyable experience but
    >it was a courtesy car so may have been abused. If it was typical
    >I wouldn't want to tour in one.
    >My experience has been that two normal suitcases will not always
    >fit into the smallest cars boot.

My wife moved a cupboard, not Mixi's, from Liege to NL in the back of
her Micra. On another trip she transported 4 full size metal garden
chairs in her car. We haven't tried carrying a Laser dinghy on the
roof like we did with her old Fiesta.
--
Martin

Alan S

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 23:19:13 -0400, Don Wiss
<donwiss@no_spam.com> wrote:

    >>They tend to be more expensive, but not substantially, and you certainly
    >>can get smaller models. Last car I hire in the UK was an auto Renault
    >>Clio which was quite small.
    >Oh, I liked my Clio. Though it was on Martinique and had a stick shift.
    >Nice little car.

Magic little car. And I'm 6' tall. I had one via Eurodrive
for 9 weeks and 11000km through the EU and Czech in 2003. It
was the 1.5 turbo diesel, lots of go up the Riviera hills,
small enough for those same twisty roads, with enough room
in the boot for two fairly decent suitcases. If I could have
swapped it to right-hand drive and sorted out the customs
problems I would have brought it home.

I'll be trying to get the same model for 6 weeks next year,
but it seems to be replaced by something called a Modus.

I got used to changing gears on the wrong side quite
quickly; the biggest problem was the tendency to drive with
the passenger's wheels in the gutter - your brain has a
position that it feels comfortable in when aligning the
drivers seat and the lane markings. I wiped out the
passenger's mirror a couple of times:-)

Oh, and be careful when turning at intersections - that's
when you're most likely to suddenly find yourself heading up
the wrong side of the road.


Cheers, Alan, Australia

Ken Blake

In news:[email protected],
Martin Rich <[email protected]> typed:

    > On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 14:22:05 -0700, "Ken Blake"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:

    >>>>> Hire an automatic---------problem solved :-)
    >>>> Of course, but the substantially higher price will probably
    >>>> rule
    >>>> that out as an alternative--at least for me.
    > As others have said, do shop around and do consider what the
    > higher
    > price would be in terms of the cost of the trip as a whole,
    > especially
    > if you are only having a car for some of the time.
    >>>> I also assume that automatics are harder to come by, and
    >>>> much
    >>>> more likely to be larger. The greater size is something else
    >>>> I
    >>>> wouldn't want.
    >>> How about an automatic Nissan Micra?
    >> Never heard of it. What can you tell me about it?
    > It's Nissan's small car, made in the North East of England - go
    > to
    > http://www.nissan.co.uk/ and browse. The point is that there
    > are a
    > lot of small automatics around, and with some searching you
    > should be
    > able to rent one. The Renault Clio mentioned elsewhere in the
    > thread
    > is the same size. Both are around 3.8 metres (between 12 and
    > 13 feet)
    > long. There are a lot of cars of this size on the market, most
    > of
    > them are available as automatics, and at least some rental
    > companies
    > will offer them


Thanks, Martin.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Ken Blake

In news:[email protected],
Martin <[email protected]> typed:

    > On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 14:22:05 -0700, "Ken Blake"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>> How about an automatic Nissan Micra?
    >> Never heard of it. What can you tell me about it?
    > It's small and my wife has one and airco is standard.


Thanks, Martin.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Ken Blake

In news:[email protected],
The Reids <[email protected]> typed:

    > Following up to Ken Blake
    >>> How about an automatic Nissan Micra?
    >> Never heard of it. What can you tell me about it?
    > Its a small Japanese car. Too small for touring with luggage.


Thanks, Mike


--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Ken Blake

In news:[email protected],
The Reids <[email protected]> typed:

    > Following up to Martin
    >>> Its a small Japanese car. Too small for touring with luggage.
    >> Depends on whether you and your wife travel with the kitchen
    >> sink.
    > most people travel with a suitcase each, if they are other than
    > the smaller sizes you would have to fold the seat down in
    > something like a Micra, as I have had to do with the smallest
    > in
    > the range type cars.


We travel very light--with one carry-on bag each--so this is
unlikely to be an issue for us.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

Gg

"Martin Rich" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    > On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 14:22:05 -0700, "Ken Blake"
    > <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>In news:[email protected],
    >>Martin <[email protected]> typed:
    >>> On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 14:04:43 -0700, "Ken Blake"
    >>> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>> In news:[email protected],
    >>>> Elizabeth <[email protected]> typed:
    >>>>> On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 12:14:54 -0700, "Ken Blake"
    >>>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
    >>>>>> Thanks. Another problem, pointed out to me by a dinner
    >>>>>> companion
    >>>>>> last night, is that you have to shift gears with the left
    >>>>>> hand.
    >>>>>> For someone as strongly right-handed as I am, this may rule
    >>>>>> out
    >>>>>> the choice entirely. I'm having a hard time even imagining
    >>>>>> doing
    >>>>>> this.
    > I guess it's partly what you're used to; I'm right-handed but it feels
    > odd to me that I need to keep taking my right hand off the steering
    > wheel to change gear on a left-hand drive car.
    >>>>> Hire an automatic---------problem solved :-)
    >>>> Of course, but the substantially higher price will probably
    >>>> rule
    >>>> that out as an alternative--at least for me.
    > As others have said, do shop around and do consider what the higher
    > price would be in terms of the cost of the trip as a whole, especially
    > if you are only having a car for some of the time.
    >>>> I also assume that automatics are harder to come by, and much
    >>>> more likely to be larger. The greater size is something else I
    >>>> wouldn't want.
    >>> How about an automatic Nissan Micra?
    >>Never heard of it. What can you tell me about it?
    > It's Nissan's small car, made in the North East of England - go to
    > http://www.nissan.co.uk/ and browse. The point is that there are a
    > lot of small automatics around, and with some searching you should be
    > able to rent one. The Renault Clio mentioned elsewhere in the thread
    > is the same size. Both are around 3.8 metres (between 12 and 13 feet)
    > long. There are a lot of cars of this size on the market, most of
    > them are available as automatics, and at least some rental companies
    > will offer them
    > Martin

Some years ago we rented an automatic Renault Clio from Avis (through
AutoEurope). It was a great little car for our purposes of touring the Lake
District. My husband did all the driving and did fine. Although I lived in
England and drove there (with manual transmission) for several years, I
never became really relaxed about driving there. I found driving stressful
and tiring due to the feeling of awkwardness from sitting on the "wrong"
side of the car, driving on the "wrong" side of the road, shifting with the
"wrong" hand, figuring out the roundabout and right of way issues, etc. If
you can structure your itinerary to be able to pick up a car at a rail
station in a smaller town, use it to tour an area, then return it again to a
station, you will not have to deal with driving in areas where you don't
need a car. Most rental agencies have 3-day minimum rentals for their best
rates, and I can certainly recommend AutoEurope.

GG