Nick L

Sorry to say that the Scoob is going in 6 months or so - and is unlikely to replaced with another because of the company car tax changes.
So far I am looking at (and have test drives booked) the Golf PD150 and Civic Type R. I have been keeping a close eye on the comments on each - looks like the Civic is coming up trumps and will be able to give the quality of handling i am looking for.
Has anyone got any other NEW cars that I should be considering (bearing in mind emissions and keeping the price down). Someone mentionned the 140bhp Celica - any thoughts or ideas appreciated.

Cheers

Nick

12LEE

Lotus Elise. Bargain.

Scumbag

Do you get the choice of a car allowance...

I am Sooooooooooooooooooo much better off now I've opted out

SB

carl

What about a van -- IIRC there's a flat rate £500 tax bill for a van. Something like the Holden HSV Maloo would do (and the company could claim the VAT back...)

6.2 Corvette LS6 engine, mmmmm

http://www.hsv.com.au/

Swift Nick

I'm with Carl

That is so cooool

47 NAT

Lol

I wish I had the option of taking an allowance instead of the french shed I've got


Nath

PS: The van would make a great comp car

Reffro

The van is absolutely no good, unless you can prove its suitable for your line of work. If you are a builder, plumber etc etc you'll only pay 500 quid. If you can't prove when asked that this vehicle is necessary for your occupation, then its taxed just like a normal company car, and if a 5.7 v8 has emissions under 300g/km I'll eat my hat.

If you give me a better idea what the likely purchase price for your company car must be, I can get a list of likely candidates for you. But as a rule of thumb, turbo diesel will win tax wise pretty much every time, unless you can offset the higher tax band of a petrol car against a lower purchase price, as diesels are usually more expensive than their petrol equivalent.

Nick L

Sorry, I was a bit vague.
I get an allowance of just over £4k per year. I don't have any limitation on what car I can get - although I have to pay 100% of the cost over the allowance. E.g. Scooby is £130 extra per month plus tax.
I don't really have any great requirements for space - although a 2 seater is out for sheer impracticality as much as I would love one(someone mentionned the Elise above - over 200 quid contribution for this car though)
I am looking into sourcing an import at the minute and Fleet have said they might be prepared to look into this for me. Also an ex demo if less than 6 months old and 6k on the clock. Need something as fun and as capable as the Scoob in an ideal world. About 20k max unless the tax (emissions)is really low.
As for the van - very tasty but not really for me - sorry

Cheers

Nick

Nick L

Oh - forgot to say, I do get a choice of the cash (which will be taxed of course)

Spoons

Nick,

I was in the same dilemor as you. A budget of around £375/month to lease a company car for 18K miles/year, or opt out.

In the end I narrowed it down to either leasing a 320D SE compact (150 bhp with emissions of around 148 if my memory is accurate) or buying a more sporty car myself.

In the end I decided to but my own CTR and have ordered a Euro import. I was thinking of a WRX or even an STI but fuel consumption and overall running costs swung it in favour of the Civic.

2 very useful sites to compare costs (both sites have very competitive prices:

Leasing = www.tuskerdirect.com
Buying an import = www.micronetshowroom.com


The 320D SE was just under £400/month based on 17.5K miles
The civic was £14300 inc A/C and metallic
BTW, the civic was very cheap to lease at Tusker!

Hope that helps

Spoons

JayBee

Ok

I have run a Civic Type R now for 6000 miles as a company car.

First and foremost I badly miss the MY98 I had before, the exhaust not, the wet handling etc

The Civic:
Fantastic grip in the Dry (cannot tell the difference)- wheel spin in the wet.
Will scare the hell out of a new WRX in the dry.
Great fuel consumption - average 30/gallon.
Enjoyable crazy experience revving to over 8000.
Wicked gearchange.
Seem to be fewer around than the old scoob.
VERY tuneable - good power from better intake and exhaust (20-30 bhp).
Not exactly a Q car but does not seem to draw much unwanted attention.
Like the interior.
So far, I have been treated better at the Honda dealers than at the Scooby dealers I frequented.

Last but not least - FAR FAR cheaper to run.

Hope this helps.

JayBee

dewi

I've just gone for the other extreme and ordered a Volvo S80 D5 SE! I reasoned that since none of the cars I test drove (Audi A4 1.9 TDI, BMW 320d, Volvo S60 D5) came anywhere near the Impreza in terms of handling or performance, it made more sense to go for a car that had a completely different set of priorities. I was sold on the Volvo S80 when I test drove one. It's spacious, comfortable, quiet, relaxing to drive, loaded with extras, is moderately quick (163 bhp and 340 Nm), low in emissions (171 g/km) and economical (43.5 mpg combined). In fact, a car this big has no right to go as fast as it does and still return such exceptional fuel economy. Most importantly, it should share the Impreza's ability to cover long distances safely in all weather conditions, which is very important to me given the number of business miles that I cover.