Thanks - The engine is graduallt freeing up but was tight as a...... (insert your own joke). But with nearly 20,000 miles it is getting a lot better throught the range.

The lower portion of the dash plastics aren't great - but that said no rattles or squeaks.

It is a company car and to be honest I don't know exactly what they paid as it is fully expensed (servicing, tyres etc) but it fell within budget after a bit of haggling betweeen lex and the supplying dealer.

Rumour has it Mazda are set to release a 180 bhp oil burner to compete with BMW, VW, Audi etc due mid next year by all accounts.

My main considerations after a bad experience with a Passat were:

1. Reliability
2. MPG - averaging about 41mpg at the moment and getting better
3. Toys - which it has plenty of
4. Tax - I didn't want hammering on company car tax
5. Space - lots of
6. Ride, handling and comfort - all round it is pretty good, superb handling! Comfort wise I regularily do 4 hrs plus and feel fresh afterwards.

All in all a pretty good package, yes I would like a bit more power and it would be great if the plastics were on a par with Audi but ultimately it is a good place to be.

So far dealer service has been great!

Cheers

GB

 

Volvo is a good car too, a colleague used to have a V50 2.0d se sport lux........ I think that was the model. Anyway, the thing handled very, very well - it had a huge strut brace under the bonnet which no doubt helped.

Good luck whatever you decide.

GB

 

Gingerboy - definitely keeping my eyes open for the 180bhp diesel then!
I'd struggle with anything slower than the Astra - it's hardly a rip roarer but it managed the 60 dash in mid 8s and is quite pokey - that Mazda with that engine could be spot on.

 

Thats exactly what I thought... why get the car and end up redundant anyway... Just take the money and leave the country.

 

Sorry CT, I lied On closer inspection, the savings are more like £6.2k.

I wasn't comparing like with like - I was comparing fully loaded cars with expesnive options like sat nav, to cars without.

However, there are plenty advertised at £19.5k with 100 miles or less, ie they've just been driven from VW HQ to the dealer. See the VW site, or Top Marques, or Vcars. I'm sure there's more to come off those prices for cash. I know for fact that £500 has already been lopped off the advertsied prices of five local cars as I was told they were coming and given the expected prices before they arrived. Now they're here, prices are already lower. Probably the last R32 Golfs ever to be made - there is no R32 in the new shape.

I'm looking at two year old R32s which are widely advertised under £15k with 10-15k miles, which is at least £12k off new list. And many of these do have loads of extras like sat nav, sun roof, parking sensors, cruise etc.

I will also say that on the VW site I started watching about a month ago, the number of cars listed under my search criteria has gone up from 282 to 307 yesterday. Most of the new additions appear to be new, and most of those are still at fankly daft prices, like £23-25k. But the downward trend is clear, and still moving in that direction. Only one of the cars I've been watching looks to have been sold in the last few days.

Richard.

 

PM me where the R32 with £6200 off it is, because I'm after one for my mate. I guarantee it will be sold today if those figures are correct!

 

Just google it. It's no secret and they're not hard to find. Try Cooks of Peterborough. Biggest discounts are obviously on loaded cars, with Recaros etc.

 

They're ex demo, pre registered!

I work at VW, so I thought it wasn't quite right!

 

What isn't quite right? It's excatly as I said. At the dealer I quoted, and at others if you look for them. Cars that list from £25k to £27k, advertised from £19.5k upwards?

These cars are as 'new' as you can get an R32 today. They are not ex-demo. I said they were pre-registered, and I said they had delivery mileage of 100-ish miles.

I'm surprised you didn't know that, since you work for VW, but had to post ficticious questions about your mate to find it out What's the problem?

BR,

Richard.

 

BMW 123d - Stunning engine and fantastic drive !!

 

I've bought pre-reg before, you get a brand new car for thousands less. Only difference being you are the second name on the V5 and the warranty starts from the original registration date.

Cheers
Lee

 

try the Legacy diesel mate. Great car.

Lee

 

I've got a cracking deal on a Legacy 2.0L D REn. Only issue is if I can blag that with the P11D Value.

If I can then that's what I'll be having.

If I cant then it's looking like a Mondeo Titanium.

 

I had a v50 sport with most of the options list,and a very nice place to be it was too, ultimatley with company cars its not so much about the 0 to 60 and the top end as it is about the level of refinement, the astra and the mondeo my be faster than alot of other cars but theres no one that would choose one over one of the more prestigious brands given the choice,now im no brand snob but there is no substitute for quality and comfort when it comes to company cars, and that comes from 22 years in company cars regularly doing over 1000 miles a week.

 

@ Daz -- if you go for a Mondeo, you might be able to squeeze in the new 2.2 175bhp diesel to your budget.

If not, the 2.0 is still pretty swift in all conditions. If you do go the 2.0 route, have a very good look at the Zetec spec as it's MUCH cheaper than the TitX, and it doesn't miss much that matters.

I went for the Zetec over the TitX, and just specified the Sony 6CD stereo as an option, this saved me over 3K on P11D value

 

Quite interested in the D5 V50...
Disagree with you on the above point though. A "prestige" brand model (A4 Avant, Passat Estate, Saab 9-3, etc, etc) has no more spec than our Astra, is slower and not better in any way apart from to these odd bods with brand blindness. Tell me how an Audi A4 (for example) Avant 2.0TDi is better than a 1.9CDTi Astra Estate for example. No quieter, no better on emissions, worse handling, worse brakes, worse spec, worse emissions, etc, etc yet about £5k more - now if the A4 (for example) had a much better USP, I'd have got one. As it is I just cannot see paying so much more to be any advantage. It gets even worse with Saabs and Alfa - basically rebadged Astras and Vectras yet a LOT more pricey.
Alfa 159 Sportwagon 1.9 diesel 150 and Saab TiD 9-3 - about £4-5k more. And the advantages are...?!



At least the D5 Volvo IS a lot more powerful and quicker - that's why I am quite keen on one! And of course a BMW equivalent IS genuinely better because it handles better and is a bit quicker.

 

[QUOTE=Matteeboy;8277546]Quite interested in the D5 V50...



I did say i was'nt a brand snob! BUT the v50 had every concievable extra and was just a much nicer place to be than in a Astra, i should know as i have had enough of them,
Come on be really honest when your at the lights there is only so much satisfaction that can be drawn from knowing your car is faster and handles better which only matters if the guy in the merc wants to race you, which he won't do because he has nothing to prove, he's made it!
Same with the guy in the lambo you will own him in a 500bhp scoob but he's in a lambo, where would you rather be ..

 

In the Astra or the powerful Scoob.

I see a guy in a base spec Merc or BMW - I think, you t1t, you could have had a decent Focus, Astra or Mondeo. Base spec "prestige" brands are the most insipid vehicles on the road and in 99% of cases, driven by utter muppets.

Sorry but badges don't do it for me one bit. It's about how good the car is.
And the V50 looks quite good. Brochure on the way.

 

Prob a bit late but if 4 seats is ok how about a Passat Coupe 2.0 Gt TDI?

VW Passat CC GT review | New Car Reviews - Times Online

 

i think im gona have to dissagree with the idea that a fully spec-ed astra is better than an Audi or Bmw.

no matter how many extras you chuck on it at the end of the day its still a vauxhall. however i am a brand snob.

 

But you drive a Subaru?!! Hardly a top "brand" is it?! Unless you like being labelled a chav?

I agree that most Vauxhalls are pretty cr4p, whereas most Fords are quite good. But the Astra shines from the Vx range .

So you'd rather have a 1.6 A3 with no spec than a VXR or top end 150bhp diesel Astra with all the toys?! Or a base spec 318d than a top end Mondeo Titanium X?! Oh well, brand snobbery is a funny old thing. I used to have it a little bit but since mainstream brands have moved on, I have left it behind. I laugh at brand snobs now. I laugh at their loaned up crap-mobiles that can't accelerate up hills. I laugh at the illusion of wealth they think they have. I laugh at the way base spec Audis and BMWs are the worst driven cars on the road.

Yes - top end Audis and BMWs are great. But base spec ones have ruined both brands.

 

i have a company car which is an a3, i thought we were talking about say for example the same engine/spec-ed car in the equivilant brands, not a fully spec-ed vxr and a bog standard a3 lol

when it comes down to it though the base model with for example the audis is still a very well made smart car.

 

A Clarks shoes is well made - but that doesn't make it worth having.
Let's compare a "similar" model then:

Astra 1.9CDTi 150PS hatch SRi:
0-60 in 8.3, handles well (thanks Lotus), all the toys, fresh looking, slightly cr4p interior (it annoys me a bit), decent seats, about £18k list but you can easily bargain that down £3k (we did with ours - 1.9CDTi 150PS Design Estate - the top end diesel with everything you can think of).

Audi A3 2.0TDi - 0-60 in about 9.3, dull handling, grabby brakes, looking tired, good interior, spec it with all the toys, the "badge" if such things interest you - about £22k.

Now tell me what that badge is getting you? Audis are now no more reliable than most Vauxhalls - if that really concerns you then get a Jap car. The finish "looks" better but take a door card off either and you'll find the same fixings, the same amount of work (I know - I changed the speakers on my "top of the range Golf R32 - fab looking interior but very rattly - went back in several times. Never had a squeak in the Astra).
Seems to me that the extra outlay just gets you a lighter wallet and a bit more respect amoung those dullards that judge on such things. The sort of people that make me want to run a mile (usually have TAG watch, spikey bleached hair, designer sunglasses and are about 2 stone overweight).

I'm testing a V50 D5 shortly - NOT for the badge or the "prestige" but because it looks like a decent car for the money.
I tried a 3.0TDI Audi A4 Avant - yes it's quick in the straight line but it's SO heavy and about as nimble as a blue whale. Fun to drive? No.

 

You talking about me?

 

[QUOTE=Matteeboy;8285856]
Let's compare a "similar" model then:

Astra 1.9CDTi 150PS hatch SRi:
all the toys, slightly cr4p interior (it annoys me a bit),

Audi A3 2.0TDi -, good interior, spec it with all the toys, .
Like i said it,s a nicer place to be, so you do basicly agree


I'm testing a V50 D5 shortly -
The volvo is actually a ford focus, with the d5 engine it should be right up your street but make sure you get the sport