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The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:08 am
by polarstorm
In the market for some wheels.. here is a hodgepodge of questions..

Need to do distance to get to the sweet spots, am in the great lakes region.

If you bought a car with kitesurfing as a factor, what car did you end up buying, and are you happy with it? Would you change anything..

One of my considerations is a regular (not wagon) VW Golf TDI for its stick + fuel economy + hatch feature, whats the maximum size surfboard that I can fit in that without portruding into the front cabin and preventing me from shifting gears? If would seem to me that even with a wagon, you still loose the two rear seats. Are there wagons where you can fit a surfboard inside and not lose rear seating?

Thanks in advance,

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:20 am
by Vin Stefanelli
there is a 'most ultimate car for getting to the beach' thread around here somewhere

i think vans won

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:27 am
by C Johnson
I'm pretty happy with my rig

4wd. decent mileage. easy to get around town with. reliable. kinda cool in a quirky way.

I looked at Sprinter Vans and Vanagons before finally deciding on the Element.

The reliability of a Honda and ease of getting a loan for a newer used car was what finally did it for me.

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 6:56 am
by Vin Stefanelli
my best kiteboarding bud drives an AWD stickshifter element!

I use a gmc safari awd(like an astro)

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:33 am
by rightguard
Too bad they stopped making the element.

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:45 am
by Hawaiis
Ford Mustang GT 400 horses with a keypad. Never drop your keys in the ocean again.

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 9:52 am
by Tiago1973
when my son was born i had an excuse to get a new car, i pick it up base on price, fuel consumption and boot size

the winner was the skoda superb greenline (wagon)

permanently inside the boot, not visible from the outside:
1 skim board
1 TT with boots on
3 or 4 kites
harness, wetsuit, etc

as my missus use to say - ´you did bought a car for the family, but the kite family - the 7, the 10, the 11, the 13..." :-)

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 2:52 pm
by TheJoe
F150 with a 6'6" foot bed. I wanted to buy a used van to use just for kiting but my 8yr old car was starting to burn oil so I just bought a new truck instead. I still need to put in neoprene seat covers and weatherproof floor mats. It's nice having a bed to keep everything in so the cab does not end up smelling. I all so installed an onboard air compressor so nice when pumping up a kite.

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:24 pm
by mike dubs
I used to have a VW golf and by dropping back seats and reclining front one i used to get 3 surfboards in no problem, 4 kites and the all the bits.

I exchanged it for a new VW Amarok pickup and everything now goes in the back. its a 2 litre turbo diesel which gets about 28/30 mpg, which is OK, and the inside gets to stay all clean.

lift up hard top at the back also protects from rain and wind while changing.

mike

Re: The best wheels for kitesurfing?

Posted: Tue Nov 13, 2012 3:41 pm
by ben newman
you can use this kind of transportation-
It's very fuel efficient, fast and i'm pretty sure you can carry all of your gear.

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