Surf cars

Good topic mate.

HiLux Dual Cab Ute with roofracks sounds like the best option. Or a VW Transporter - again, with racks though you might be able to get the 9'2 inside depending on the seating arrangement.

I'd love to find out more about key options too. Hiring cars over the years has shown this to be somewhat of a nightmare, and it's definitely a consideration at my end for if/when I purchase a new car.

Go the daggy family van! We had an Urvan when I was growing up and it was the best. You could spin the middle seat around to face the back seat and cause all kinds of mayhem when poor old mum was trying to drive us around. Really quick to lay the seats down and slide boards in. I'd imagine newer family vans are much better on fuel and handling too.

VW Crewman. Its a LWB or SWB transporter with rear seats/seat belts. The rear seat is designed to be folded down and/or quickly removed all together if required. Downsides are initial purchase price, finding one thats been looked after and servicing costs (servicing cannot be ignored). Diesel or petrol but the deisels are very economical. They drive like a sedan or wagon.

Slight OT, but the ABC just published this article showing car brands in the country. Toyota leading the pack with a long throw to second place Holden, then Ford.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-13/toyota-lead-blows-out-as-holden-fo...

I've owed a few Toyotas and they are bullet proof, but boring to drive. Old mate drove one to 350,000+ kms with little servicing. The HiAce van is based on body engineering that must be decades old now. Lots of Toyotas are driven by retirees and then there are the twin-cab tradies that are to be avoided by all other road users.

Cant go past a toyota tarago,drives like a car and well thought out interior and cheaper than most to service.........

I'd hate to be a car salesman in your neck of the woods. ...
I'd go with the Patrol. Ditch the stick figure vans.

I've had three Jeep Grand Cherokees in a row and despite reports to the contrary each one has been better than the last. They (apart from the SRT and Trackhawk) will go ANYWHERE and tow pretty much anything. Downside is no spare fuel tank. do have full size spares. I've stopped going offroad so confess to now having the SRT.... but great luggage/boot space and with a roof rack have loads of room. Key lock - the issue that took me longest to solve.... the keys come with a removable metal door key - take that in a leash pocket/boardshort pocket. Put the electronic fob either in a foil lined container or buy a pouch off ebay for about $10 that blocks all emissions and just leave it in the car!

Few years ago I owned a Jeep Cherokee and had a horrid time with it. I'd go into detail here except there's a risk it'll sound like the whole episode was my fault, which it wasn't. Really.

Anyway, the saga ended with the car wrapped around a power pole outside Cronulla Leagues Club.

All's well that ends well!

Very happy Everest owner here. Upgraded from 05 R51 Pathfinder a little under a year ago. But you would want to be needing a serious 4x4 and any board over 6'4"ish would need to go on the roof.
Ps I've carried 3 boards on the 40 side of the 60/40 split, would fit 4 suitably lengthed boards perfect. And I got the base model with only 5 seats. Hard to get a 5 seater these days, frees up additional storage under the rear floor.

In the 2nd hand market the Disco 3. Seating arrangement is very good with kids and boards. Still need roof bars for the longboard and it's tall so side steps are in order. The petrol is thirsty around town but the cheapest to buy. At 30k per year the diesel is probably your best option.

I just miss the 80s and 90s when beach carparks were just full of old shitty cars of all makes and colours all unlocked, often windows down, dogs just left to run around free.

Now carparks are full of black, white, silver brand new cars, all locked up dogs left at home.

I think surfing is losing and has lost much of it's culture :(

Don't worry ID, I'm carrying the torch.

Good on you Stu. I traded in my 20 year old Commodore Wagon on a Toyota RAV a few months ago. Still miss it! Indo what gets up my nose more than the cars is the conversation about real estate values and stock market prices in the line up and the barely competent ranting about their trip to the "Ments".

Indo D I agree about the dogs running around down the back beaches. I miss that too.
Parks Vic are a pain in the a-hole

I'm sure the hooded plovers don't mind after all its a national park.

My dog loves hooded plovers

Ah I remember the good old days of leaving your car unlocked , windows down , etc. Though 'back then' we didn't have mobile phones and GPS units to steal..perhaps half a block of wax and enough change for a pie and a chocolate milk , and that change would've had to of been excavated from the sand/wax/mars bar wrapper laden console. Not an easy task.

Hooded plovers the sooner these little shits become extinct the better.

Actually although I'm whinging, a few local guys still drive older cars and leave their windows down, all unlocked keys in ignition etc even in summer.

I know local arty farty tripper and kneeboarder Dak does at-least.

Stealing from cripples is pretty low. Dak probably knows this.

ha ha

@ thermalben re photo.

"Take me back, carry me back to the gasoline alley . . ."

Not sure what that guy 2nd from left is doing , perhaps Gary G could shed some light on the subject.

@indo, there was a time down your way at dusk the sky would turn black with shearwaters returning home to their nests, 10s of thousands and you couldn't walk anywhere in any of those dunes without falling through .... and that rock pool between YCW & Smiths had metre wide octopus living in it during summer. Snakes everywhere under houses and the dunes.

It would be interesting to know if shearwater numbers have changed that much here, for sure they have been pushed away from the built up areas as a kid we had hundreds of holes on our block that was very close to the dunes.

But realistically humans here don't kill many just a few hit by cars, domestic dogs would kill very few, the biggest problem has been foxes and feral cats and now we are totally free of foxes.

Id expect any change in numbers would be influenced more from where they fly too in Asia.

Might have to look into that for interest sake.

Mitsi Pajero
Isuzu M-UX
The new petrol Patrol
Prado/landcruiser/fortuner ($$$)

I chose the Pajero, has the 7 seats if I need it, decent 4wd system for the off-road beaches we go to, roof racks on top and we fit the boards in a 3/4 surfboard bag on one side of the roof racks with our swags on the other side. Works well and during the week it’s good on fuel. Also those on the list are probably most reliable in comparison to the new Holden trailblazers, ford Everest’s etc even though they are getting better

Your raise some good points, that whole back beach area with dunes from Woolies to YCW was Shearwater nests and unless there are 10's of thousands in the sky at dusk in summer numbers have fallen. As you say the built up areas would have taken a lot. The great pity for the Island is it wasn't declared a national park very early, the great advantage islands have is they can be predator free.

I think they migrate to islands off the coast of Alaska.

Pajero
Spanish slang word meaning 'He who fiddles with himself for sexual gratification'.
Unknowingly used by a major automobile manufacturer who took the more academic translation of the word to mean 'Straw Dealer'

RE Pajero 4WDs. Many years ago I had a mate from Peru stay with me a while. Took him down the coast surfing and in the space of five minutes he saw a Prado, that was his surname, which made him chuckle. And then a Pajero, which elicited gales of laughter.

'Wanker' written in big letters across the back of a car? Crazy country...

There branded "Montero" in SA, although I have seen a Pajero driving around when I was there once, someone must have brought it down from NA.

Always wanted one of these. 

2017 Range Rover Sport . Not really a surf wagon but I had to make some sorta sacrifice. LOL

Christ knows how this discussion got so far without mentioning the Landcruiser Troopcarrier.

Best surf wagon possible. The fucker will go anywhere with everything you will ever need for ever more .

( touch wood )

Half the country was built using them. Cannot possibly go wrong.

Amen

Cannot possibly go wrong... Missus doesn't drive manual, want to quickly crush 700km to get to favourite surfing digs in something approaching modern comfort (and have 4wd once there). I think that's why everyone drives 200's :-)
Edit: reply to Blowin ;-)

200s is the star on the belly of the Geographe Bay surf Sneech.

Good luck fitting a five board quiver , fridge , bed and all your belongings inside .

PS Ever wondered why you don’t see too many 200s doing the long haul surf mission ? Cause the owners all have to scurry back to work to meet the repayments on their vehicles.

Like - that's why I bought an Everest ;-)
Cars are a very personal choice. But bro had a Pajero, did tranny and engine. Not putting down reliability, I think sister in law was a bit heavy footed with it in particular when cold. Tactful education on handling a diesel goes a long way imo ;-)

Paul G,
re Surf car
For what it's worth take a tape measure and start measuring the interior of vehicles.
Might seem weird to them, but the first thing you must do is check to see what size board you can fit in the vehicle*
whilst checking that make sure the back seats can *fully* fold down creating a large flat area.
Close the back and measure, for me it has to read over six feet. Not sure how tall you are ?( this way i know i can actually sleep properly when on remote surf missions.)

Next thing you should do is get a 4x4. Lots of mud and water to go through to find great waves.
Going out on a limb here- pending on how surf orientated you are. SUV
reason- you can fit more people comfortably which is a must when you have a family.
Suv are a one unit so unlike utes/ 4x4's with canopies. Suv's won't leak.(yes canopies leak especially in winter.)Utes and canopy 4x4 limit you ability to carry boards over 6 feet. ( my vehicle can fit a 9' 6" rhino.)
Suv's are also warmer in winter which really helps when you go on a surf adventure to somewhere far remote without hotels or camping.
The next thing is to decide unleaded vs diesel, you decide. both have meritts i think.
Sit in the thing , sit in the back. Are you comfortable? sit in traffic. (luckily i don't have to do that). You might have to ?
I rarely put surfboards on roof racks(get them anyway if they are available) it's problematic and time consuming. so make sure the back seats fold down in two pieces or what i do is run a strap between the two arm rests(above windows) in the back and hang my boards inside the vehicle. this way they are out of the way and you never have to worry about theft and excessive heat.
Use a board bag(re excessive heat and damage), a bucket for wetsuits, leashes, fins and wax. Nothing better than driving around in the heat of the day smelling you piss soaked wetsuit.
Enjoy.
No surf stickers either- that way people think you are hiking and you wont give away the good ol secret spots!

@GuySmiley

Yes your are correct some islands off Alaska, not sure why but I've always thought it was somewhere in Asia.

I will have to down a sit and watch them come in one hot summer night and see how many there is, its been a while since I've done that.

How does a query about surf cars end up unloading on the poor old Hooded Plover?
Sounds like nature is pretty cool..... as long it doesn't get in my or the dogs way.

Thinking that fuel is probably the most expensive cost for many surfers an old Ford Falcon wagon with the factory fitted gas fuelled engine (green rocker cover) is a good pick. Comfortable, plenty of room for groms and boards, cheap to buy and run. The last of those Fords were very good cars given the incremental improvements made year in year out. Only downside I can think of is they didn't like dirt /muddy roads too much. Same with the Commodore but I don't think they had a factory fitted gas fuelled engine so more expensive to run.

@Paul G
"look there is a man outside putting a surfboard in all our cars on display. nothing weird there, carry on."
do you just walk into the car yard with your surfboard? that's epic!

Yep take a board to measure inside, I could fit a 9'1 inside a 1990 AE90 Corolla hatch! Hatches can be a surprisingly good choice for younger surfers in urban areas...
Hatch/wagon/suv body (2box) way more useful.
Dual cabs can't store boards >6ft6 without massive disruption to seating.
Many new cars are completely compromised by electronic keys. Often the base model is the only one with a physical key and is thus the best for surf wagon.

For cheap surf wagon, 2003 VY Commodore wagon with old reliable iron block V6 is the way to go. Mum will give me the one Dad bought new, mint original condition, 97,000km - so nice! I will treasure it. (After VY, their alloy motors began to eat their timing chains.) You will fit 9'10" longboards inside. Massive room with rear seats down. Very smooth to drive around town, nice torquey motor.

Falcon wagon, AUII-BFIII - unbustable Aussie inline 6. 500,000km easy. Cheap parts, easy to fix. Huge internal space. We run a AWD Territory which has the same durable drivetrain, a key/valuables locking tray under the drivers' seat, and is capable of tackling bonnet high snow drifts on the Alpine roads with distinction, while being comfortable and handling very well. You can fit 7'5 diagonally with rear seats down, about 7' length ways, 9'8 longboard down the middle inside, and 5'10 diagonally with the rear seats up and 5 passengers.

The VY/Falcon wagons today are what the legendary Kingswoods were when I was a grom.

Never been a huge VW Kombi/Transporter fan, but they do have a lot of space and you can live in them if housing gets to 10x average salary.

And for 4x4 it's Toyota/Nissan all the way. My particular preference is older petrol auto LC100/Prado 120 - cheap as no one wants petrol, a hoot driving on sand with lots of grunt, and no diesel problems like $1K per injector or DPF filters or adblue. And they hold their value like nothing else. New Patrol might be sand king now with its massive V8...

& Yes you take your boards into the car dealer. They know you are serious then :)

What about a stretched Hummer ?..After reading this thread I,m glad I don't own a board over 6'8".

Skoda wagons apparently are very roomy inside and should be able to hold quite a few boards. I think the Superb is bigger then the octavia but i could be wrong and they come with a 5 year warranty too.

My van has died and now I'd like something that can carry boards inside as well as two passengers and where all the seats fold flat so my 192cm length can sleep. 4wd.
I'm not after another van though because I'd like something more comfortable and that's 4wd.

I've got my eye on a Ford Territory, it ticks the above boxes, plenty of room for boards without having to move the front passenger seat forward.

It got me thinking... what is your favourite vehicle for surf trips?

Missed it by thaaaat much

https://www.shannons.com.au/auctions/2018-shannons-melbourne-winter-clas...