New company car

[Poached]

Can you opt out?

[corgi]

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!

The g/f has a 320d M-Sport Touring. It is a worthy, if slightly dull car, handles quite well. The Sport-Auto box is excellent. The engine is OK, a little dull... not as good as the engine in the GTD... but not far off - it's more old school diesel.

If it were me, I'd pay a little more income tax and go for the 330i, on our scheme there's barely any difference in monthly lease cost. Yes, you'll lose out a bit on fuel consumption but performance and a petrol engine, for me, would make it worthwhile. BTW, I know it is expensive but the M-Sport + pack really is the way to go. Forget the frivolous options like keyless and reversing cameras... The M-Sport + pack has pretty mucg everything you need to make the car as it should be.

As for the Merc 350e, on our scheme, for some reason, it is almost 50% more than the BMW 330i... and on our scheme I'd have to pay that... and the tax saving won't offset that.

I'm not due to change mine for another couple of years... And it is difficult as the tax regime is likely to change to penalise the latest "bad thing"... They've done it before. Who knows, in 2 years there may be plug-in hybrids with decent range...

Talking of plug-in hybrids, they work quite well if you live in a city. A colleague has had his Golf GTE for a few months. He reckons that he's only filled it up with petrol a couple of times... He just swans around London on e-power and then charges it up overnight for the next day... But for me it would be useless, I rarely do journeys of less than 100 miles when I'm traveling for work.

[CarbonGTD]

You do know that BMW have just launched their 3 Series hybrid (the 330e) which is essentially near identical in terms of set-up and performance to the Merc C Class hybrid?  The 5% bik rate (of both cars) is very compelling if you are going to stay in a company car scheme (particularly with the extension of the 3% diesel supplement announced yesterday by the Chancellor).  I have driven the Merc and whilst the petrol engine certainly is not the finest, in conjunction with the electric motor in Sport Plus mode it certainly has considerable performance off the line.  I suspect the hybrid 3 series BMW will be better to drive again.

[fredgroves]

The thing with plug in hybrids "being good in the city"... unless you are super rich, you probably don't have a drive or a garage to park your car and plug it in...

I used to live in London, my parking place was a permit valid for several streets around and most evenings I was parked several streets over. Even if I could park outside my house, I don't think trailing an extension lead from my letterbox to the car across the pavement would be viewed very well!

[fredgroves]

You do know that BMW have just launched their 3 Series hybrid (the 330e)

Shame BMW only offer it as a saloon... not sure that will cut it with the OP's child carrying requirements... probably needs to be a hatch at the very least, if not an estate.

Merc offer their's as an estate. They also make a PHEV SUV too if you want want a Chelsea tractor.

[CarbonGTD]

Agreed - particularly as the batteries eat into the boot space (giving raised floor) - if you need litres load capacity that may rule out the saloon only BMW.  Is worth bearing in mind also that split rear seats are not standard fit in the BMW...

[Adam]

Audi A3 e-tron? Low BIK and relatively quick.

[itavaltalainen]

A3 e-tron is pretty hefty, similarly the GTE.
I had a look at both and they are well out of my personal allowance a month - so would have to pay up but lower BIK would cover most of that over the lease period.

Guessing the OP has a slightly higher allowance than me (I could get an R though but not with same spec as my current GT spec diesel estate) so might be different for him.

Other issue with all these hybrids is the range, they are advertised at xxx mpg but in reality you go to the pumps every other day if you drive a fair lot! My colleage has a Outlander PHEV, he manages to get a whole NINENTY less than the japs claim.... at the pump every 300 to 400 miles and he doesn't even drive it fast.

[fredgroves]

Audi e-tron is 150PS and expensive to boot.

The other thing I've thought about today with BMW and Merc PHEV's is that they are auto boxes... a BMW or Merc auto is the last thing you need if you are a business user who has to drive through whatever weather.

They fill the ditches and central reservations the second there is a drop of snow.

[remlapeel]

Thanks for the responses guys. I don't have an allowance as such. I'm the director of the company so I can have pretty much whatever I want, but I'm not a greedy. Plus the more money I spend on a car the less profit I make.

A saloon is fine as long as the litre capacity is a decent amount. I did look at the new A4 but it has a £20k options list!