Another "What car" Thread! Need to order a company car asap

thecolourbox

Hi all, hopefully I won't annoy everybody with another car thread, I'll try not to be annoying

I need to order a company car asap, I couldn't apply for one until I'd passed my 18 month review, and due to various delays (not mine) I'm already two months late. I've not had a car to use for site visits since December as my shared car with the Mrs (Fiat Panda) is now over 6 years old and therefore my company don't allow me to use it.

They have some rules that there's no point questioning as they just "are" - cannot be Italian, Japanese or Korean. No cabriolets (damn) and they need to have a back seat.

I was led to believe two weeks ago that they'd have spare cars in the fleet that I'd be able to get straight away if suitable however I've waited and now they've told me only a Seat Leon is available which is higher tax than I was looking at and larger than I need.

I have briefly been on comcar.co.uk and I'll be visiting it again in more detail to get the list prices and co2 numbers in order to work out tax etc, but it just gives me three million variants of every model with only subtle differences between them and I've no idea what's good or not as I'm not a car person.

Looking between £70 and £90 pet month on tax. Not allowed anything above £21k list price

My tentative shortlist so far is:
Audi A1 - seem decent and cheap on tax, but they do seem to get nicked a lot so wary of these considering it'll be on my drive most the time. I live in a nice area (Bournville) and four Audi's have been stolen this year from my little estate so it's a concern

Skoda Fabia - infinitely less likely to be stolen, but need to check which model I'd need for it to not be sluggish as I was told the cheaper ones are underpowred as they use a Citigo engine? Who knows?

VW Polo - believe the same as a Fabia but look smaller? Are VWs commonly stolen?

Ford Fiesta - the decent ones (comparable on paper to the Audi A1) are more expensive than the Audi and Skoda, and are just as commonly stolen. At present in Birmingham there are a lot of "car cannibal" thefts where they strip off all the parts to sell on, and it's often Fiestas and Corsas that are targeted as they are so common.

Citroen DS3 - I've always assumed French cars were crap but this one has had decent reviews?

I did consider a Mini but again, the theft thing but also ideally I'd like something a smidge bigger than my existing shared Panda.

Car allowance isn't an option so buying one myself is uneconomic.

I thank you in advance for any thoughts on the above or suggestions for others to consider! I'm going to be studying the comcar website to sort by emissions to see what models are lowest in the meantime but would appreciate any guidance.

Thanks
Matt

hywelg

thecolourbox said:

I'll try not to be annoying

Please do try not to be annoying......

Thanks

stickyfiddle

My instinct is Mazda MX5 but you need a back seat. My next thought would be a Fiesta ST but I note you're not a car person, so the "ST" bit would be wasted on you. Fabia and Polo have the same chassis but the Fabia is usually a little bigger and a little cheaper. Both good.

You'd probably just about get a Golf but it'll be a base model and hence a bit gutless power-wise. 

If it was me I'd go the best Fiesta of Fabia you can get, tbh. Shame you can't have an allowance and get a year-old Golf GTI...

thecolourbox

Mazda is a no no in any case as it's Japanese I believe.

It's the ST Fiestas that get stolen or cannibalised, but glad to see the Fabia is a potentially decent call. I think I'd rather a punchier smaller one than a gutless bigger one, so I'd ruled out the Golf already.

There's an Astra 1.0 turbo eco something or other though for about £70 per month, which sounds to my non-car brain to be underpowred considering my panda is a 1.2 and needs a push up hill, but assuming the turbo eco stuff compensates? 

strtdv

Fabia is a great little car. Engines are the same as the Polo but they're cheaper

revsorg

I am about to buy a Renault Zoe with an owned battery.

thecolourbox

revsorg said:

I am about to buy a Renault Zoe with an owned battery.

I forgot that rule, petrol or diesel only unfortunately

drofluf

strtdv said:

Fabia is a great little car. Engines are the same as the Polo but they're cheaper

This^. I’ve got a Fabia and am very happy with it. Bigger than it looks, nippy in town and a better spec than the similar level VW.  

SouthpawMark

Veloster. 

thecolourbox

drofluf said:

strtdv said:

Fabia is a great little car. Engines are the same as the Polo but they're cheaper

This^. I’ve got a Fabia and am very happy with it. Bigger than it looks, nippy in town and a better spec than the similar level VW.  

I see they do an automatic too.... Interesting

thumpingrug

I had a DS3 for three years,  really enjoyed it.  Nice car to drive (make sure you get the 110 engine and no the 86 which needs to be driven quite hard).   Does only have 2 doors though hence we swopped it.  Id have one again though in a few years if/when I don't have a grandchild to transport around on a regular basis.

ewal

I'm thinking about getting a new car in October. Need a bit of boot space for transporting camping gear or my bike - Ceed (my current car), Fabia and Octavia are on my short-list. My other requirement is an auto gearbox because my wife doesn't drive manuals. Finance seemed to jump up on the Fabia when I specified an auto box, however I haven't looked around too much - might just have been the site I was using.

thecolourbox

Yeah on the company car calculator thing the automatic seems to be about £20 more per month on the Fabia, so another £240 per year, not sure if I can justify it but will read some reviews of it.

Re the DS3, I shall keep it on the shortlist for my comparables - the two door thing is a bit of an uncertainty but as I'd be driving, it would be somebody else's problem haha and my mom used to have an old Peugot 106 when I was little with only two doors, and we were fine in that so hopefully wouldn't be that much of a problem (I've no kids yet but who knows over next few years)

guitarcookie1

I’d rather walk than make the choice you have..

thecolourbox

guitarcookie1 said:

I’d rather walk than make the choice you have..

Why's that?

thecolourbox

I've narrowed it down to two I think, both working out at £71 per month but for both I could pay a bit extra as follows and hey something better:

Skoda Fabia 110ps SE auto dsg, or I can pay an extra £9 per month to get the Monte Carlo trim (purely cosmetic though so I probably wouldn't bother)

Vauxhall Astra 1.0i eco 105ps turbo, or for an extra £10 per month I could get a 1.5 150ps turbo something or other which I assume would be rather faster.

 I notice nobody has said anything about the Astra, obviously it's bigger but seems decent value, or are they terrible like the Corsa and I should avoid at all costs?

sweepy

Why worry about how easy they are to steal ? that’s what insurance is for

drofluf

Based on driving my mother in law’s Astra a couple of time i found it sluggish compared to the Fabia and visibility not as good - the pillars seemed bigger/in the wrong place. 

stickyfiddle

I’ve had a few rental Astras. They’re fine, but extremely boring. 

I’d prefer the Fabia with DSG any day of the week. I have the same gearbox in my own Golf and it’s the easiest thing in the world to drive

strtdv

The dsg on the fabia is the dry clutch version not the wet clutch you get on the Octavia VRS for example but still works perfectly well

thecolourbox

sweepy said:

Why worry about how easy they are to steal ? that’s what insurance is for

I'd rather reliably have a car than always be wondering if it'll be there when I return. I also know what my company are like so claiming through their insurance wood be painful. Lastly, Birmingham is quite bad for car jackings, there's been two in my postcode in the last year that I know of where the driver was stabbed and insurance wouldn't really cover that

Although "boring" doesn't bother me that much (I'm quite boring myself and currently drive a Fiat so no problem with boring as such), it is looking like the auto Fabia is going to win. I just thought for an extra tenner a month for the 1.4 Astra I might have been getting more car for the money. I know Vauxhall's are ugly and not cool but 148bhp and low tax seemed a good alternative and a bit more future proof in case I need a bigger one in the next few years.

I will check the lead in times today as mauve that might help further, they've already delayed me 3 months signing off my 18 month review so I don't want to wait any longer than I need to.