With the ski and snowboard season in full swing, thousands of Britons are preparing to get away to the slopes. And while package deals with flights - or even the snow train - are still popular options, more and more of us are looking to drive to our mountain destinations, including a winter road trip with the family as part and parcel of the holiday.
I’ll be one of them. This half term, I’ll be packing the kids into the car and driving over to the French Alps for a week in the snow. It’s a great way to get there: not only is the journey an adventure for the little ones, but having your own car with you in the resort can be an enormous benefit. For one thing, it allows you to book cheaper accommodation further out, if you need to save a few pennies. It can also work out much more affordable if you plan to take your own skiing gear.
Shod with a set of all-season- or winter tyres, any car is perfectly capable of getting you to a mountain ski resort for your holidays. But some models make the journey just that little bit less stressful than others. And you don’t even have to spend a bunch of money, either.
Take the Lexus RX400h I turned up for just £3,975, a whopping £2,189 less than its CarGurus Instant Market Value (IMV).
The second-generation RX has an impeccable reliability record, meaning even this 19-year-old example should prove dependable, especially with just 72,000 miles on the clock.
With winter tyres fitted, the four-wheel drive system in the RX should be able to scale even snow-covered roads with relative ease. Meanwhile, the motorway section of the trip should be a joy thanks to the RX’s well-appointed and extremely comfortable interior, not to mention its smooth, quiet way of eating up the miles.
If you’ve got a bit more money to spend on something newer, though, how about a Honda CR-V? The CR-V is one of the roomiest SUVs of its type, and its simply vast boot should swallow the whole family’s luggage, and plenty of skiing gear, too.
How about a 2017 1.6 i-DTEC EX AWD, the top of the range model with all the toys and a frugal diesel engine? This one’s done a very reasonable 98,000 miles, backed up by a full Honda history, and it’s stickered at just £8,495, just £1,417 below the market value.
OK, so the CR-V isn’t all that exciting to drive, but it is comfortable, and should prove endlessly dependable, too, all of which should make it a reassuring companion on a run to the Alps.
If you’ve got a bit more spare cash to play with, I reckon you could do far worse than to look to the Volkswagen Passat Estate. It’s terrifically comfy and has a huge boot, which is why it’s a perennial favourite among families needing alpine transportation.
Frankly, a normal two-wheel-drive model with a good set of winter tyres will probably do the job, but if you want to be absolutely certain that you’ll be able to get around whatever the weather, fit said tyres to the four-wheel-drive example I found. It’s a 2020, with the rare, and deliciously potent, 2.0-litre twin-turbo diesel, and it’s in R-Line form, so it looks the part, too.
With 76,000 miles, it’s likely done plenty of motorway work already, but that will have kept the diesel engine in fine fettle, and it’s offered at just £18,475, a very tidy £1,495 saving over its IMV.
But what if your budget will run to something a little more invigorating than a diesel estate? Well, I think the 2020 Porsche Cayenne I came across is a strong contender. A 2020 example, it’s done a very reasonable 47,000 miles. But despite this it’s on for just £38,489: a whopping £4,721 saving on its IMV. How’s that for a discount?
Powered by the 3.0-litre V6 engine, this piste-ready Porsche offers a brilliant blend of low-down grunt and reasonable fuel efficiency, and it’ll make you feel like a king as you smear along the autoroute within the confines of its beautifully finished cockpit. Yes, you could spend more on a ski-trip motor, but when this one fits the bill so perfectly, why bother?