[Closed] Which company car to choose?

Mondeo or the Passat, if you ask me.

Both are excellently made, with great engines. Mondeo boot is, IIRC, a little bigger than the Passat, which may count when it comes to getting bikes in there!

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/reviews/honda/accord-tourer-2008.aspx

The Accord estate is one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. It makes me wince when I see it, and I think my Prius looks good!

1 Create list of wants.
2 Check for cheapest cost to you (tax, personal fuel vs fully expensed)

Last time I did this:
1 Auto, petrol, 4/5 doors, cruise control
2 Vectra 2.2sri petrol auto - about £15k

And to put it in perspective my 'base' car was a 530i, and I got money back if I took a lower cost option.

But tbh the tax on that meant that next time I bought my own, and was better off again.

The mondeo. Really nice cars, great to drive, very comfy.
Passat's are great too and possibly better build quality, but I prefer the Mondeo myself. You couldn't go wrong with either but personally I'd got for the mondeo.

Very happy with our Mazda 6. Good value and I can't find a bad thing to say about it. Also avoids being a Mondeo man.
Passat is nice but costs more so maybe there is a tax implication...

[i]I think my Prius looks good![/i]

LOL. You'll have to be more subtle than that when you're trolling.

Ford S-Max. Drives well, looks OK and doubles as a bike van.

I got a Mondeo and wish I'd gone S-Max. I had one for two weeks and it was spot on.

The Accord estate is one of the ugliest cars I have ever seen. It makes me wince when I see it, and I think my Prius looks good!

eh?

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Not many cars look good to me, just transport. 25 k gets you pretty much the top accord and dealers and the trade love them.

Ive driven one, quiet, comfortable and excellent seats if you do mileage that stuff counts.

Isn't the Mazda the same chassis as the Mondeo?

If it was me I would go for the Mondeo though , it just looks the best of the three. I do like the Vectra from the back but the rest of it is a mess. And I am an Accord lover style-wise. I looked enviously at one this morning before getting into my new style TT 🙂

I looked enviously at one this morning before getting into my new style TT

How was the drive to the salon? Busy day? Lots of highlights to do?

😉

ladies!
distinct lack of froggy options in there

Laguna Sport tourer, or the citroen c5 tourer
3L HDi with 240 bhp and more torque than you know what to do with.
mmmmmm

FWIW, my boss has a Mazda 6, and its just gone in for its FIRST works, which is changing the brake pads for the first time (and rotors)
90k on the clock.

i'm avoiding Fords next time round at their CO2 ratings and list prices are excessive compared to their rivals

How was the drive to the salon? Busy day? Lots of highlights to do?

My neighbor has a TT. She's an air [s]head[/s] hostess.
Ginger, but an ample bosom to compensate. The neighbor that is, not the car.

Monedo and Passats are easier to find tyres for, compared to 6's c5's and Lagunas.
In a round about way I work in the tyre department for a lease company or 2

No idea how much they are, but has anyone looked at a skoda superb estate...?

Prius is the cheapest car tax wise that you can easily get bikes in the back of. Loaded with toys and much better to drive than you'd imagine. And yes, I think mine looks nice too.

can i suggest the 2.0L volvo V50

Bol - new 2009 onwards Prius or old 2003 onwards one?

And that Accord pic is the only angle from where it looks merely ugly.. when approaching one on a motorway they are truly gopping.

I know you said no BMWs, but I was in a similar situation and when all things considered, tax, fuel etc I only have to pay £2 per month more to have a touring 320d se! The 318d is13% tax.

Another thought is go for a top spec A3 sportback with a tow bar or roof mounted bikes, the 2.0tdi is 13% tax! You'll save around £60 a month in tax!

I created a geeky spreadsheet, I'll email it if you want.

One other thing, the tax set up changes again next year.... Check out the AA website, it is quite handy to see what you'll pay now and next year.

Molgrips - 2009. Only it's own mother could love the previous one.

When you've worked out your shortlist, the benefit in kind tax calculator [url= http://www.comcar.co.uk/newcar/companycar/taxcalc/g1select.cfm ]here[/url] can be useful...

OP, you've got 25k. Isn't there anything else you can choose from? Those three are 'ok' if you do alittle minicabbing on the side 😕

Come on, what else is on the list? 🙂

159 estate is meant to be great, but it does depend what you want out of a car

have you actually got 25k to spend, or is it a lease, and the cars you've looked at are around that value? if the latter, its worth noting that due to better residuals you can normally get a more expensive bimmer or audi for the same monthly cost as a ford\vauxhall etc - ie £25k of mondeo costs the same as 30k of bmw

We've got a Mazda 6 and it's great, but if I was in your possition I'd probably be looking at the Alpha 159 Sportback and remember that as a company car it's not your pocket that gets emptied if it goes wrong! 😉

159 estate

Nissan Navara Tekna Connect - No company car tax as its classed as a van, leather interior all the gadgets you could want and one of the best satnav systems.

as a company car it's not your pocket that gets emptied if it goes wrong!

No, but it's you who ends up stuck by the roadside... 🙂

One of my mates has an Alfa as his company car - he says that the best way to drive a Fiat is to buy an Alfa - his Alfa is in the garage more than it's working so he's almost permanently driving the courtesy car which is a Fiat...

FWIW, I've been looking at similar (second hand, 1 year old) cars and for me it was an easy choice to go for the Mondeo - drives well, good customer feedback and has loads of space (even in the hatchback version I'm getting. Plus (though of less interest for you as it's a company car), they're typically cheap to maintain as parts are cheap.

Here we go....

Funnily there was an article on toyota's recent woes in InGear last weekend....it pointed out that you never hear the press going on about various VAG ECU failures over the past 10yrs.

Bol, what MPG do you get?

b r has it dead right, the cost of the car to you in tax varies enormously so you really should be taking this into account. I'm with Bobalong on the spreadsheet approach, makes the decision making a bit more rational. Adding the toys you really want to a lower spec car can also open things up.

And, for what it's worth, go test drive them! Last time I had to choose I looked at the Mondeo and was impressed by all the gadgets in a Titanium X for the money, until I drove it and compared it to a 320, no comparison, it's okay but a bit spongey and relatively noisy. Have a think about the "No BMWs or Audi" idea when you've had a few test drives..

No BMWs or Audi as I'm not paying top wack for a badge and basic spec

shame that as they have some of the lowest co2 emmisions and therefore company car tax, and my old BM had top spec for not much more than the Mondeo equivalent
My company has just switched exclusively to 'premium' brands from Ford, Vauxhaul for company cars for this very reason
..although I opted out and am now about £280 better off a month in tax

25k is ALOT of money for a rep-mobile mondeo or passat. Think I'd rather go for a lesser specced bm for that dosh.

though if your list isn't dictated by the company and you're free to choose...

Subaru Legacy diesel.

Passat would be my choice out of that list although the latest BMW 320d ED (I think) has stupidly low emissions and plenty of poke - drives nicely too.

109g/km, around 60mpg yet 163bhp and 60 in 8 seconds - that really is quite incredible. List price is a bit silly (£27.5k for the base spec saloon) but it'll hold it's value and be cheap to run.

I'd rather have a better specced Passat/Mondy. Who cares about firm handling and driveability when you're in a traffic jam on the M25? Equipment matters to me.

Try a test drive of one of these and prepare to be amazed.
[IMG] [/IMG]

Benho, back to basics (IMO).

What aspects do you like in a car?

Is that the latest Superb estate? The Octavia estate beats it hands down on looks IMO.

[url= http://www.samuri.co.uk/car-hire-review/ ]If you care, my hire car review is back online[/url].
Mondeo and Passat are both in there. Which reminds me, the switch gear inside the Mondeo's is crazy, like it was designed by a blind man. It seems to have come from three different switch gear manufacturers.

I'd rather have a better specced Passat/Mondy. Who cares about firm handling and driveability when you're in a traffic jam on the M25? Equipment matters to me.

LOL! I am the total opposite although mine came pretty specced to the eyeballs anyway (the huge sunroof is the best thing ever!) - but then I live in Cornwall so jams are rare unless you are daft and drive to crowded tourist spots.

I'd go for the Passat then -nice(ish) engine, comfy, well specced, looks nice, fairly "classy."

Superb is very good indeed but the badge puts many off. HUGE spec for the money.

I opted out of the car scheme and took the cash
Went from a fully specced BM and bought a 9 month old 8.5k mile ex garage demo Hyundai i30
£11k top of range (was originally still ony about £18k)
better spec than the BM (full leather etc), feels better built, drives almost as well, is nice and solid,
5 year unlimited milage warranty means only pay for wear and tear, things go wrong, not my wallet that gets hit
Now circa £300 a month better off in tax, the car costs me bugger all a month so I have money left from my allowance after I pay the loan back, the loan is over 2.5yrs and I will keep the car for 4 so soon I will have all the allowance money to save for the next car so the higher depreciation shouldnt be too big an issue
Costs me about 15p a mile all in to run (excl insurance & tax) and I have just whacked a claim into HMRC for the difference upto 40p a mile from my company fuel allowance (11p a mile) so thats more cash in my pocket eventually

Im quids in, still have a nice car all be it without the fancy badge and I now have my own insurance history

I did the sums and company cars didnt work for me anymore the tax was just too crippling

I'm also the opposite. I never use a/c (ever- even on the hottest days), prefer the windows down, electric sunroof on my current car- it works. I tried it once. Electric windows are also lost on me. The drivers window failed on my last car and I drove round for 8months with a piece of wood and a ziptie holding the glass up inside.

For me, its about getting me somewhere with zero chance of breaking down and safely.

Same here (with tax) - we run a small company and realised years ago that "car" and "business" are two words that when placed in the same sentence equal "muchos tax" in a big way.

So we just claim mileage - although 40p per mile is about 5 years out of date for current fuel costs.

Iain - surely a "fully specced" BM would have leather?! Assume it was a 1 series if you changed to an i30?

Hora - you'll struggle to find any car without A/C and electric windows these days!