The 8" dob is the best bang for your buck if you can transport it.
You're not far from Kulnura, I strongly suggest you try to get to Kulnura this weekend for our monthly new moon observing session, where there's experienced and newbies alike with lots of different types of telescopes to see and look through. There'll most likely be an 8" dob there too, so you'll get to see for yourself how big it is and what you're likely to see with it.
The dob mount is very easy for the newbie to "drive" and for the price it's a great scope, heaps of mods can be done to it if you want to go down that path.
The OTA is fairly robust and as long as you secure it properly, it could lay across the back seat, across the front seat laid down, through the boot into the back seat, whowever you can squeeze it in. The base can sit on your front seat or squeezed into somewhere else. Then you just need a case or two for your eyepiece and accessories, and off you go!
btw
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