New company car

[remlapeel]

I'm looking at getting a new company car, although I love the R, there are a few approaching problems. First off Im doing 20K + a year, I have a 3 door and have a second child on the way and for the same reason the boot space is a bit cramped.

I'm undecided if I will keep the R as a toy or not and get a cheap work car, or chop it in and get a better balance.

I have been looking at a few different things

Lexus IS300h - hybrid so good BIL, good MPG and lots of space but looks dated inside and isn't particularly quick and has a CVT gearbox

A3 (184) diesel - A good cheap work horse but boring as sin!

320d - As above

335d Xdrive - more fun and a better comprise but not great MPG or BIK

My favourite spec wise I found last night. I have never been a fanboy of Merc but the stats speak for themselves

C350e - 300bhp, 0-60 under 6seconds, lowest BIK of the lot, plug in hybrid petrol. High spec.


Anyone got any suggestions or have any experience with any of the above?

[ffrank]

How about a 2014 5dr GTD with DTUK, in Night Blue with one previous owner? 

For new, might be worth driving the new Jag XE too? Drove one of the petrols and they are very composed.

[remlapeel]

How about a 2014 5dr GTD with DTUK, in Night Blue with one previous owner? 

For new, might be worth driving the new Jag XE too? Drove one of the petrols and they are very composed.

Lol I have had a GTI (night blue) and an R in the mk7 range. I want something different this time round. I did look at the Jags briefly but they seem a lot more expensive than the competition for the same specs

[fredgroves]

Don't you ideally want an oil burner for the combination of low BIK and mileage?

The hybrid's do give you a low BIK, but after 30 ish miles you are left with a 1.nothing petrol engine hauling a massive car around - that won't be fun at all.

The secret to low company costs is:

1) Good depreciation to keep lease costs down

2) Low CO2

3) Low list price (its the list you are taxed on, not the actual purchase price) which usually means trying to avoid "needing" optional extras.

Other than the obviously fantastic Golf GTD which you don't want...

Audi is a poor choice - same car, higher list price, less toys. Pointless. If its the sportback you are thinking gives you more baby space, get a GTD estate instead.

BMW can be cheap to lease, they do have some low CO2 oil burners, but not the powerful ones. By the time you get to the powerful ones that you need to haul the heavier car around, you might as well have a smaller petrol turbo.

Lexus, always hated them, bland Toyota barges for people in beige slacks.

Merc, again not my thing really. I've never played golf, well, apart from VW Golf. Have a nast rep for poor build quality.

Jag - heard nasty things about the latest designs. Poor build quality and nasty plastics.

Considered a Volvo at all? Might be a bit of a left field choice, but...

[JBirchy]

From the list you've chosen, personally I'd be going for a 3-Series but not the 320d or 335d X-Drive. I'd stick with rear wheel drive and either go 330d if you want the economy, or the new 330i. It's a 250bhp 4-Pot Turbo Petrol so at least the engine will be nicer than a 4-pot diesel. Granted, the 6-pot oil burner in the 330d is a superb bit of kit but I still think the petrol would be a nicer choice for a petrolhead.

Spec wise, this is where the BMW falls a little short, you have to tick many boxes in order to make it the luxury car it should be.

M-Sport Plus pack gets you LED headlights, Tinted Glass, Larger Brakes and the Essential HK sound system (standard BMW speakers are shockingly bad), the Pro Nav is mega, and you need to add things like Heated Seats, Parking Sensors, Reversing Cam and Keyless Entry, all costly options.

That's where the BIK will kill you.

How about a Golf R Estate? Mega spec, 4WD, cracking motor. Just a shame the wagon doesn't look as good as the hatch (IMO of course).

[remlapeel]

I Keep going round in circle with my choices. I looked at petrol but the CO2 emissions causes a BIK issues. Hybrids have a massive advantage on BIK, the Merc for instance has a 240bhp petrol engine and a 60bhp electric engine. So even after the depleted electric motor I still have a 240bhp car with a BIK of 5% which saves me around £750 (higher rate tax) a year over an oil burner with the same power, my problem is.....it's a Merc lol.

BMW specs are so low, I would be taking a step backward compared to the R without ticking every box, which will ruin the lease price.

Volvo I haven't looked at, but I will do now

[fredgroves]

The Merc sort of interested me after you mentioned it (I need to start considering my next car about now...)

I found this talking about both MPG and what the thing is like minus the extra battery boost:

http://mbworld.org/forums/c-class-w205/579936-realistic-c350e-mpg.html

And I read this:

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/mercedes/c-class/90861/mercedes-c350-plug-in-hybrid-review

Air suspension?

Citreon anyone?

And this article suggests that despite the impressive BHP figure, the petrol engine is a bit meh:

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/mercedes-benz/c350e

I totally get trying to game BIK, I really do, but I draw the line somewhere and I think the Merc is probably it!

[JBirchy]

Reading that Autocar article, the C350e is also only available in 'Sport' trim (not AMG Line) so it's going to look very dull with furniture castors for wheels. Other than the large capacity AMG models, their petrol motors are nothing to write home about.

Have you driven a 320d? I think you might be surprised in that the motor is very strong. Might not be the most exciting but I suppose that's the compromise. If you want BIK and MPG at the top of the priority list, excitement will automatically fall down the ladder.

At least with the BMW you'll get the balance of a rwd chassis, the 320d is certainly powerful enough to adjust the cornering attitude on the throttle. You'll not be pulling big drifts but certainly a little shimmer on a wet roundabout makes things a bit more fun!

Next year BMW will introduce a petrol/electric hybrid so that might be worth waiting for.

[kodkod.84]

Have you thought about the new A4- it looks to have a decent basic spec in s-line and the new virtual cockpit as an option looks the business

I do like the new c-class too esp the C450 AMG- might be a bit silly as a company car haha

[fredgroves]

I tell you what I have noticed looking at this question... the manufacturers are all introducing hybrid technology which quite frankly doesn't actually help much because of its short range... the only reason for this is that the short range is all that is needed to get through the emissions test...

Hence a 240bhp petrol engine gets a CO2 figure of 48g/km - which incidentally is pretty much the figure that all of the hybrids quote...

Now if only they made it possible for an owner to dump the extra 100kg if you wanted to Removable batteries you know ;-)