What new car should I go for with bikes and dog carrying at weekend in mind? I'll be doing around 35,000 miles a year.
Mondeo estate
Passat estate
Octavia VRs estate
Superb estate
Mazdza 6 estate
or a little weird
Kia Sportage?
PS I realy want the new small range rover Evoque but I've no chance hence the Sportage
Strike the Mazda out and just choose straws for the winner or the best for tax purposes
Have a look at the Exeo estate as well. I got a Mondeo estate but it all depends how thie figures work for you. The Seat Exeo will be similar to the Passat but less money
Rob - My old firm runs Accords and Exeo's and I didn't like either, sorry.
Uplink - Why strike the new Mazda as it gets good reviews?
35,000 a YEAR?!
Why don't you look at this from a logical viewpoint. Not whats nice looking etc etc but what has the best seat and seating position.
Personally if I was doing 35,000 a year I'd post over on Pistonheads which car seats are the best places to be for mega-mileage a year.
For me test drives will never show you how your back etc will feel until you've been in a car on a longish journey.
have you got free choice?
Subaru Legacy Estate.
35,000 a YEAR?!
I have done 43,000 in my car and got it a year ago today!
My Mondeo estate is brilliant, but then I went for it as I got a whole load more for my money and good fuel economy! Thing the Mazda is a nicer looking car mind, but my mates got one and I get much better economy out of the mondeo! If work covers all your costs, I'd go for the one I like the look of most!
Llast time I was doing that kinda mileage I ran a Xantia TD.
Not sure what would be an equivilent now to provide stress-free comfort that the hydro-suspension and top seats provided?
We regularly fit 3 people + 3 bikes in our Passat estate and we have even had 2 adults + 2 kids + 4 bikes inside it, all fully dismantled.
Next week I'm swopping the old Passat B6 (07 plate) for a new B7 and my tax will drop by £135 a month because the new common-rail Passat is a much lower CO2 band than the old, which is very nice indeed! It's a nice comfortable smooth car, great on long trips and has been 100% reliable over the 4 years I've had it apart from one recent glitch with the clutch position sensor. The seats are comfortable and in 88,000 miles I've had no back problems.
Uplink - Why strike the new Mazda as it gets good reviews?
We have 4 or 5 of them and they seem to be never out of the garage with niggles, 1 is a pool car and is never first choice, most of the engineers will take the Insignia instead if it's available
not really sure what that tells you though TBH
Seat Exeo's are nice, but quite small (compared to Mondeo etc) Also, and not necesarily too bad a thing, they are based on the last generation Audi A4, so not the greatest drive. Other than that though, very nice cars!
Do not get a ford, our entire fleet has bee plagued by electrical issues and generaly look like they have been assembled by chimps on Pcp. It's a shame because when they actually work they're a good car, but you don't need to start each drive with a feeling of impending doom!
Passat is the same size as an A6. The A4 is a miserable small car for the executive who wants the Audi badge on his drive, the rear leg room is laughable.
I have been driving a Passat Estate for just over a year, doing about 25k per year. I can't remember the spec, but it is the business model with leather seats etc. All good so far. Comfy to drive long distances. Servicing comes around every 18k miles, which isn't too bad. Loads of space in the back and the boot.
This summer we drove none stop to the South of France with the car fully loaded, and three bikes on the roof plus a roof box. The car didn't miss a beat, and it was a fairly comfy car to spend that amount of time in, although mpg dropped a little on that trip.
The Superb looks like a great car for the money. When I got the Passat I did have a look at them, but there were no good deals around at the time.
If considering the Mazda, will it be through a lease company? If so not all of them want the Mazda's booked in for servicing with main dealers and this can have problems with the DPF system if one is fitted.
My choice would be the Mondeo or the Octavia, there seems to be a fair few minor niggles with the passats, I don't know an awful lot about the Kia and the Superb loses out to the excellent Octavia.
When I got the Passat I did look at the Mazda 6, for some reason lease and servicing costs on the Mazda seemed very expensive. That may not be an issue if you are getting it as a company car.
Thanks for your help.
Anyone got the new Insignia estate who can say yeh or nah?
I test rode the Kia Sportage today and I liked it but the rear seats don't fold flat and the rear space is less than the Passat but I like it's new look and how it drives.
If tax is a concern look at the Passat diesel Blue Motion engines; I'm moving over to one from a 2 litre Mondeo and saving £90 a month in tax, over the next few years the emissions portion of company car tax is going to get harsher so if you're keeping the car for 3 years it's worth taking into account
I was picked up in a Mondeo hatchback a few weeks back for the airport.
I cannot get over how big it was inside and the boot was huge.
The estate must be massive.
V70 Volvo for that mileage..
I recently got rid of a Saab 9-3 estate as I couldn't afford the cambelt change, regular service & 4 new tyres that all came due at the same time.
However, it was the most comfortable car I've ever had. If someone else was paying the service bills, I'd have another tomorrow.
V70V60 Drive e Volvo for that mileage..
FTFY
I've got an 18month old insignia estate, the ecoflex 160ps variant. Done 43k miles with no issues.
It's fast, smooth, quiet, great MPG (got 380 miles from a half tank today on a motorway run). I find it a pretty good place to spend long hours on the road. We took it to france fully loaded with a roof box earlier this year and got 700 miles from a tank of fuel at a pretty steady 82mph on the motorway.
However, the boot is not as big as you'd think, the tailgate is huge and does cut down on the space available. It's a great car but if you need a large boot then I'd go for something else. It does swallow a couple of bikes with wheels on without any problems.
I'm about to order a replacement for the insignia and am looking at estate versions of VW Passat, Merc 220, Audi A6 or BMW 5 series. Currently the blue motion Passat is winning on the list of choices, it's as much car as I need and pretty low tax.
The estate must be massive.
It is huge and not the easiest car to park in a multistorey; I'd advise parking sensors if you choose one
I had a Mazda 6 diesel estate - perfect lease car. I drove 130K in four years, the engine died a week later and they wrote it off. No penalty payments for all those kiddy dings and broken trim 
. To be honest, it was nice to drive but not particularly economical. Unless they've fixed the engine, I'd steer clear.
And for 35K I assume you're looking at diesels.
Saab 9-3 for the seats? Alfa 159 for the style?
The Insignia 'estate' has suffered from form over function. The tailgate is a huge beast and the boot has the deepest bumper I've ever seen, its not very dog friendly and would get scuffed very easily. The actual boot opening is quite restricted so not good for bulky things like bikes 
Are you able to consider the A6 or does company policy not allow? There were some amazing deals on them last month and I ordered an SLine SE for slightly less than any of the above (which all had been considerations)
I've had my mondeo estate for just over 3yrs, 85k on the clock and its been fantastic, going to miss it when it goes at end of month. Replacing it with a new passat, cheaper tax ( as mentioned above) and company have speced SE model with 2ltr bluemotion engine, looking forward to the new car but feel it may be a tad smaller than the mondeo.
+1 for parking probs with mondeo it big, parking sensors on the passat( which not happy about as they are speced by company but I pick up the P11D bik on it???
Quirrel are you a Munchkin? 
INRAT....but I would go for the Mondeo estate....good solid cars ...boring but good. Forget the VRs you'll just loose your license, I nearly did.
I've got an octavia vas and it is a brilliant car. and you get a lot more car than you do with a passat. thats my recommendation.
Cheers all.
With this
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cars/rule-changes.htm
I've scrubbed off the Kia and the A6 is too higher level of badge for my level of work
I've got the Octavia 4x4 and really like it. I would consider the Passat or if you can get one on your budget for distance comfort try a V70
Umm.. till I gave up a while back, i did 55k pa and found the Toyota Avensis estate a good car for that.. I only kept them for 2 years and had the job for 6 years..
With all those miles, the biggest thing that went wrong was a clutch, and the economy / tax was superb! First 2 were 2.0L d 130bhp and did 50mpg, the last was 2.2L 180bhp and did 55mpg!
I now have a V70 2.0L D that only gives 38mpg... not good... can't wait to give it back and get something really cheap!
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