Mongol Rally - Car Selection...few Opinions

[johnhenry 20]

Evening all

 

been at uni for aaages, still am, but have found a bunch of foolhardy fels who are up for doing the mongol rally, 10000 miles to mongolia in a granny car (1.2 or less)

the car selection is a pretty big deal - as its gotta be a good strong beast to hold out!

 

obviously i know the individual car's history is far more relevant than a specific make or model. but here are my limitations for some awesome suggestions from you guys

rally rules:

1) 10 years or younger, anything past a 2002 is good to go!

2) 1.2 or less

personal ideas (these can be shot down by yourselves)

1) single cam, the last thing needed is a more complicated engine.

2) something that is going to be more frequently seen in the eastern block countries (opel/vauxhaul??? skoda??)

3) piss easy to fix (know my way round a TU engine from a pug, so a pug 106 1.1 or something would seem the logical choice on this front.

 

the floor is open to suggestions

John

[gruffa 7]

I would have a look for an old Lada, they are quite reliable and easy to fix, if you can find a Riva 4x4 they are good and wont let you down..... hopefully.

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lada-Niva-4x4-offroader-/280784847165?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item416014c13d

 

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1996-LADA-HUSSAR-WHITE-/220906369944?pt=Automobiles_UK&hash=item336f0bb398

[Tom Fenton 1,541]

Not sure how late they made them, but if you can get one that is a 2002, I would go for a bubble shape Micra.

 

A few years ago I was involved with a team that rallied these, yes you may think an unlikely rally car, but the things were really pretty bombproof, in 1300cc guise, but the 1000cc are also the same.

 

We used to use standard 1300cc engines with a set of rod bolts in to survive 8000rpm with a set of cams in, never EVER blew one up.

 

The only weak points really are, rot to the sills, and the throttle body/air flow meter can be prone to failing, but recon units are cheap enough not to worry (although worth you getting one probably).

[205007 12]

Ive done a bit of research on this:

 

You dont need to worry too much on engine failures - its more to do with how many tyres you can carry and uprating the suspension etc to cope

 

Apparently the daihatsu sirion has the best finishing record of recent times and Micras highly regarded -

 

Nobody recommends the suzuki Jimny 4x4 or anything similar which is tall sided as they are not proper 4wd tough and topple easily

 

Old ladas are obviously not new enough to enter by the way

 

 

Id suggest you look for a cat c or d writeoff as most teams tend to go this route for costs

 

Might see you on the road - best way to waste 4000 quid i can think of

[BlueBolt 156]

10,000 miles sounds like a long way to be travelling in a granny car to me... How long do you estimate this will take you to do??

As for car choice, what durv lumps are there under 1.2??

[brumster 135 1 Cars]

I like the Niva (I presume a typo?) suggestion; those things apparently just keep going and going, like the fecking energiser bunny - and they still sell them today!

 

 

Shame the engine is too big

Edited December 5, 2011 by brumster

[Fox 3]

A friend of mine is taking part in a Vauxhall Agila, looks like a good candidate to me, roomy enough to seat four although I'd be worried about parts availability.

 

How much do you have to spend?

[Chris_Mi 6]

I've got a couple of mates that live in Mongolia - I can ask them what the locals use, if you want (finding a mechanic out/parts there is pretty tricky for "western cars" I believe). Anything ex soviet block should be stocked as you get further east.

 

Also, you have got to consider the Octane rating - I'm told that some of the fuel in places like Mongolia, Kazakstan etc has a lesser octane rating than a drunkards piss!

[welshpug 1,657]

shame you can't go for a 1.9 XUD, bosch pump and veg oil off you go.

[yippeekayay 18 1 Cars]

I looked at doing this last year for this year but its never come to fruition as normal... I am with Tom as the micras are bomb proof and you can get good suspension for them as the f1000 boys have made it a popular car with tuners, though most of the suspension set ups are for broken tarmac i have seen them take poundings with not a lot wrong other than afms. A skidded exhaust modded suspension a nut and bolt check overhaul roof rack and boot wheel mount will be pretty much all you need with as many tubes and m+s tyres as you can carry, oh and a starter motor....Would seem to be the cheapest route to me though via the salvage auctions... or a yaris or C1/2 if you have considerably more money.... dont you have to donate the car at the other end???

[205007 12]

Yep you hand the car to the locals at the end - its the main reason they let you across the border

 

Dont think vaux parts are easy to get once you get off the beaten track - Jap stuff is better according to the blogs i read

 

Dont forget you have to raise 1k in sponsorship before you even start

[muddatrucker 125]

I have done the Mongol Rally in an Ambulance, I'd suggest a Nissan Micra or Suzuki Swift, they seemed to be the best cars for it.

[arwel 43 2 Cars]

A group of us did a few endurance races on a rough field this year. We did 4 races 3 in 1.0 litre Micra's which were brilliant. Took a hammering all day and even survived rolling over. Only problems we had were gearbox mounts failing resulting in the box dropping and no more gears... and one of them lost its whole rear wheel assembley as there was a fair bit of rot in the rear beam. We used a Metro for the last event which was equally impressive. In the end we destroyed the sump and it lost all its oil... it did run for over an hour with no oil in it before it finally threw a rod out the block

 

I'd go with a Micra though.

[muddatrucker 125]

 

Don't get caught up on reliability, anything is possible!

[BlueBolt 156]

That's a brilliant picture!!!

[muddatrucker 125]

It barely fit on the back, it was even less stable with 4 of us sat in the back...although the cheap and nasty russian beer made everything seem smoother. That took us across half of the Gobi Desert in the end and the lack or road got worse and worse it probably nearly toppled over a few times or at least felt like it...oh well it worked!

[ORB 227 1 Cars]

panda ??

[johnhenry 20]

I've got a couple of mates that live in Mongolia - I can ask them what the locals use, if you want (finding a mechanic out/parts there is pretty tricky for "western cars" I believe). Anything ex soviet block should be stocked as you get further east.

 

Also, you have got to consider the Octane rating - I'm told that some of the fuel in places like Mongolia, Kazakstan etc has a lesser octane rating than a drunkards piss!

 

 

would you mind please mate?? would be great thanks!

 

micra's do seem to come with a good recommendation! may well happen.

 

looking to spend as little as possible! its about £750 per team to enter, charity money, car (looking around the sub £1K mark), parts and prep (sand ladders, run flat foam, parts) Then travelling money - aiming to do this again super cheap - would be good to find a rough figure as to how much this costs - muddatrucker how much did it set you back??

Cheers

John

[muddatrucker 125]

I took 2k of spending money although I could of done less, we took the southern route through Iran - as for everything else including equipment etc? who knows.

 

All the cars in civilised Mongolia are Japanese imports or Russian 4x4's do not worry about going 'eastern block', outside of the city its pretty much just horses and lorries.

 

Romania - full of dacia logans

Iran - full of Peugeot 405s

Kazahkstan - full of Lada Nivas and Japanese imports

Russia - Mercedes and western cars

[JoshGti 8]

Why not try to find a fiat punto sporting, they did a 1.2 with a 6 speed gearbox, so if you worried about cost and take advantage of the 6th gear then thats always a help!

[JRL 14 1 Cars]

smart for two cheap economical and reliable they have never let me down.

[205007 12]

Yeah all the accounts i read say its easily 2500 per person without buying the car or visas (based on a 4 man team)