Vet vehicle?

pbthevet

Just wondering what kinda vehicles vets are using these days.

Paye so cant reclaim vat + need a bitta height as laneways bad enough. 3.0L thirsty yokes not an option either to be honest.

Here lots of people going for the kuga. Just curious to get vets views on the subject.
I personally think the 4wd toyota rav4 is a good option. Seats go flat, no doe €280 tax 45mpg

Foxhole Norman

Sugar Forester/Legacy?

pbthevet

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Sugar Forester/Legacy?

Ye good machine. I see the emergency services are using them now

Tails142

Where I work provides Kuga's to people needing something with a bit of ground clearance and room in the back for tools etc if that's any help - I'm guessing someone did the maths =P

curiousb

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

Sugar Forester/Legacy?

Don't forget the Outback also, higher ground clearance than the Legacy, also 4wd.

bazz26

Alot use the Landcruiser for offroad accessibility but it doesn't fit your criteria.

Special Circumstances

bazz26 wrote: »

Landcruiser

I always assumed this was the default vet jeep. Real vets like, not small animals only vets. Unless the guy had some particular fetish for land rovers.

bazz26

Yep Landcruiser seems to be default choice down my way. Seem to have replaced the old Trooper or Pajero as the vet's trusted mud pluger.

pbthevet

bazz26 wrote: »

Yep Landcruiser seems to be default choice down my way. Seem to have replaced the old Trooper or Pajero as the vet's trusted mud pluger.

Landcruiser would cost me €200 a week on diesel. Getting away with €120 at mo in a santa fe 2.2L

TrailerBob

What sort of mileage are you doing? A cruiser driven right will do 32mpg.. that's 500 miles for less than 90 quid at the minute. Not cheap, but incredibly capable.

Otherwise a 4x4 Kuga isn't a bad option, but the boot is quite small, and a bit more electrickery to worry about. The wife's blew an alternator at 60k

Bigus

A cheap new 4x4 Dacia Duster ?
they're now building the RHD ones back in Romania after quality problems with the early Indian built ones, and a nice secondhand coupé or convertible for the weekends, to go with it !

At the price of the dusters you could almost treat it as disposable, but they're holding values well making them very cheap proposition.
There's great comfort in having a cheap car you don't care about and both you the animals, the farmers and the fields can throw all sorts of abuse at a cheap Duster.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93585390&utm_source=notification&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=notification#post93585390

pbthevet

Looking at say a soft roader

Mitsubishi outlander comm = €28k

Tax €330

Toyota 4x4 luna passanger = €32k

Tax €280

Both 40+ mpg. Not regged for vat do thinking of buying rav. Seats go flat and in 3 years will still be worth a few bob. Also no doe.

Commercial be worthless nearly. No market for the 2L comms second hand. Plus doe every year

Old diesel

Our vets use Landcruisers - they can get cabinets fitted to the back of them (commercial) to keep all their stuff neat and tidy.

The 4 x 4 thing with vets is a relatively new thing - 20 years ago they were using the likes of 205/Golf vans before the 4 x 4 thing started kicking off.

Soft roader should be capable enough

BUT

Our main vet had a Mk 1 Santa Fe (soft roader) at one point - he NOW runs Landcruisers - its all very well to say the soft roader will be better on fuel - but its not just about that - if your going out to farms all the time and stuff - you need something that can take a bit of hardship - imo.

In saying that the vet he employed recently is running a Peugeot Expert/Citroen Dispatch van* (normal van 2wd) - but shes only starting out - give it time and im sure she will realise a 4 x 4 is the chap for the job

*Dispatch and expert are the same van just different badges - didn't see the badge lol

Old diesel

Oh and as for using a car version....

When our Vet had the Santa Fe - it had to get repairs done at the Hyundai dealers - his Santa Fe was a commercial but they gave him a Hyundai hatchback CAR as a courtesy car.

Everything was messed up in the back of the car - I know he only had it for the day - so stuff just got thrown in.

We use a car Hyundai Santa Fe around the farm here and stuff ends up in around the back seat.

pbthevet

Old diesel wrote: »

Our vets use Landcruisers - they can get cabinets fitted to the back of them (commercial) to keep all their stuff neat and tidy.

The 4 x 4 thing with vets is a relatively new thing - 20 years ago they were using the likes of 205/Golf vans before the 4 x 4 thing started kicking off.

Soft roader should be capable enough

BUT

Our main vet had a Mk 1 Santa Fe (soft roader) at one point - he NOW runs Landcruisers - its all very well to say the soft roader will be better on fuel - but its not just about that - if your going out to farms all the time and stuff - you need something that can take a bit of hardship - imo.

In saying that the vet he employed recently is running a Peugeot Expert/Citroen Dispatch van* (normal van 2wd) - but shes only starting out - give it time and im sure she will realise a 4 x 4 is the chap for the job

*Dispatch and expert are the same van just different badges - didn't see the badge lol

Im coming round to same opinion. My santa fe here just had engine replaced. Now its looking like suspendion in bother too, tho not too expensive to fix. 2 cv joints and a few bushions will get her going again. Landcruiser suspension id say a lot tougher and can handle the laneways better.

TrailerBob

They simply don't get any tougher than the LC. I'm heading for 1/4 million miles and I only just replaced front shocks.. they're worth the extra bit that they cost. That's why they cost extra!

gctest50

theres a site for dat

http://vetcar.ie



http://vetcar.ie/2014/07/05/vw-caddy-maxi-4-motion-more-space-and-grip-from-vws-popular-panel-van/

pbthevet

Id buy a landcruiser in a second only new rules etc and being paye i cant work the vat. €42k for a landcruiser unfortunatly not an option on a vet assistant salary

TrailerBob

Why do you have to buy new? Plenty of good ones for half that

pbthevet

TrailerBob wrote: »

Why do you have to buy new? Plenty of good ones for half that

With 100k miles on them tho. I put up 35-40k miles a year