The Ultimate Upgrade?

As followers of the Stone174 blog will know, this is a long-term project - very much a 'save a bit, spend a bit' approach - and whilst the quality and attitude is that of 'no compromise' this is certainly no 'open chequebook' project.

Followers will also be all too aware that money seems to be getting tighter; diesel costs are going ever upward, insurance has almost doubled in the last two years, and road tax simply never gets cheaper.

So after much debating and looking over our current funds (including a savings account devoted to buying, painting and fitting a pop-top roof) we've decided to go for the ultimate upgrade...

'What is this miracle?' you ask.

Well, it will increase the life of the van.

Cut our weekly fuel bill.

Halve our van insurance costs.

Guessed what it is yet?

Yep, it's another vehicle!

A ten year old, 1.4 Lupo with 72k on the clock, pretty spotless in Soft Blue; cheap to tax, insure and run. It seemed crazy to keep commuting in the van; sat in traffic, drinking diesel, making little use of the 174 engine (and as I've said before - who's rushing to get to work?!). We've been searching on and off since last October and then finally, after test-driving a few others, the right car came along.

Having a second vehicle and switching the van insurance to the Camping & Caravanning Club's insurance has literally halved the price we were paying with Adrian Flux. There's even a section on there to say it's a self-converted motorhome - with an agreed valuation of like-for-like replacement should the inevitable happen.

Our journey to work gives us little opportunity to hit 60mph, so the smaller petrol engine is fine.

And road tax is £125 for the year - that's a few night's out on the beer that we need to cut back and it's paid for!

Finally, regular readers will also know that it probably won't be staying stock for long - coilovers and some retro rims could well be on the cards in the not too distant future, maybe a mini-blog of it's own...
What was that about trying to save money again?

UPDATE: Rather than fill this blog with Lupo stuff when you're here to read about the T5, I've started another little blog here.