Boring NCD

menamestom

I've done high miles in the past and never had an issue with Fords for comfort.  The Insignia I had absolutely killed my back.  Then back to Ford's and not an issue.  I've just driven from Manchester to Malaga in a Cmax, 1000 miles a week for 3 weeks and didn't get a single pain.  Maybe some people just fair better on certain manufacturers seats?  As for reliability I had 2 Mondeo's over  5 years, 1 had a fairly significant steering issue, the other was fine, the Insignia had just a boot lock issue in 3 years.  My colleague got a Passat and had a complete engine failure at just under 3 years.  

I ended up coming off company car allowance when I wass told the option was a 1.6 100bhp Passat Estate, you know when the car you offer has it's 0-60 time measured in minutes rather than seconds it's time to bail! 

Sporky

menamestom said:

Maybe some people just fair better on certain manufacturers seats?

Well, yes. We're all different shapes.

menamestom said:

I ended up coming off company car allowance when I wass told the option was a 1.6 100bhp Passat Estate, you know when the car you offer has it's 0-60 time measured in minutes rather than seconds it's time to bail! 

I had one of those as my last hire car - 1.6 diesel.

It wasn't quick, but it kept up with motorway traffic just fine, and it was a vastly better car than the Mondeo. No reflective dashboard, the electronic parking brake worked better and more reliably, it didn't dive for every camber and rut... I'd swap back right now.

Snap

Sporky that all sounds like a real pain and hassle. Interested to see how it pans out. Some people in positions of authority seem to go loopy when it comes to designing company car schemes. Surely its not difficult? As in, just talk to the people who have company cars, get a concensus and err, put that in place???

stickyfiddle

I'm finding this thread fascinating, both from car-ergonomics and HR/company-car-bullshit angles! 

FWIW I hired a Focus for a few days the other week and the headrests in that were not great. Didn't cause my pain, but certainly less comfortable than my Golf. I understand the Focus is quite well thought of among journalists, but why you'd buy one over the Golf I honestly don't know.

Sporky

As I understand it the idea was to pick a car that was available worldwide, so the Mundano and S-Max are the options, with the Mundano either as a 2-litre auto or a 1.6 manual. No choice of colour (which is mildly irksome as silver costs more so increases the tax), no ability to add options.

My issue with company car schemes is that they're run and administered by people who don't have to live with them. The dealers don't much care, you've got little option to vote with your feet and choice is important.

The OH report goes to HR today. My manager has said that this will be sorted out, no question, and the VP we both report to is adamant that this cannot continue so at least I know I'm backed up. I don't think HR are likely to object either - they always come across a bit scary but I think it's the wording of emails - they're in English, but with Dutch grammar and syntax. The HR director has said that they don't want me to be uncomfortable (and certainly not in pain) so I'm confident it'll get sorted.

Sporky

stickyfiddle said:

FWIW I hired a Focus for a few days the other week and the headrests in that were not great. Didn't cause my pain, but certainly less comfortable than my Golf. I understand the Focus is quite well thought of among journalists, but why you'd buy one over the Golf I honestly don't know.

My mum had a first generation Focus, and I honestly thought my Fabia was better to be in and to drive. I think the car journos mistake grip for handling, or they're drifting family hatchbacks (at which point the Focus may well be better).

The Mondeo has awful handling. It's very grippy and will go round corners faster than I need to, but there's absolutely no feel to any of it and it veers alarmingly at the slightest hint of camber, truck ruts or resurfaced trenches in the road. I don't need a work car to be as chatty as an Elise but some notion of it having wheels and tyres and being on a road is nice.

randella

stickyfiddle said:

but why you'd buy one over the Golf I honestly don't know.

Second-hand, the Golf will run you 1.5x the cost of the Focus for a similarly-specced and aged car.  Even given the posher interior plastics and the 'right' badge, the Golf isn't, by any stretch, 1.5x the car a Focus is.  Seats are a bit of a YMMV thing - I've always rated Ford seats the least likely to bollix my spine, and I've driven a fairly representative selection of marques down the years.

New, on the other hand, I'd have the Golf.  Ford's face-melting depreciation and work-of-fiction list prices make them a used bargain, but new - not so clever.

Anecdotally, I can't think of a single person who had anything other than contempt for their VW dealership, so I wouldn't relish the buying of said motor.

stickyfiddle

randella said:

stickyfiddle said:

but why you'd buy one over the Golf I honestly don't know.

Second-hand, the Golf will run you 1.5x the cost of the Focus for a similarly-specced and aged car.  Even given the posher interior plastics and the 'right' badge, the Golf isn't, by any stretch, 1.5x the car a Focus is.  Seats are a bit of a YMMV thing - I've always rated Ford seats the least likely to bollix my spine, and I've driven a fairly representative selection of marques down the years.

New, on the other hand, I'd have the Golf.  Ford's face-melting depreciation and work-of-fiction list prices make them a used bargain, but new - not so clever.

Anecdotally, I can't think of a single person who had anything other than contempt for their VW dealership, so I wouldn't relish the buying of said motor.

Ok, second-hand I'm with you. But new, it's a bit baffling. 

Sporky

randella said:

Anecdotally, I can't think of a single person who had anything other than contempt for their VW dealership, so I wouldn't relish the buying of said motor.

That's a fair point. My experience of the two local VW dealers is that they are perhaps a hair less abysmal than the two local Ford dealers, but there's naff all in it down there at the bottom of the barrel.

The Skoda, Jaguar, Porsche, Infiniti and Mercedes dealers have all been good though.

Stevepage

I've got a Mk4 estate titanium x with windsor leather seats. I could sleep in it as it's so comfy. 

The only problem bugging me is I think there's a problem with an injector or injectors. Once in a while the car will 'hunt' while idling at traffic lights. Sorts itself out after a couple of minutes. Very strange but aside from that, love it. The available room is just enormous.

I managed to fit all my gear nicely in the boot without having to fold down seats and could still see out the back window as if nothing was in there.

Sporky

I had a Mk4 as a hire car. It was a bit scruffy (it had had a short but hard life by the looks of it) but I don't remember any issues with the seats or diving for cambers.

The mk5 is a peculiarly disappointing vehicle. I assume they don't allow test drives as no-one who'd test driven one would buy it.

menamestom

Sporky said:

 

I had one of those as my last hire car - 1.6 diesel.

It wasn't quick, but it kept up with motorway traffic just fine, and it was a vastly better car than the Mondeo. No reflective dashboard, the electronic parking brake worked better and more reliably, it didn't dive for every camber and rut... I'd swap back right now.

I've not driven the new Mondeo, mine was the last shape, which were supposed to be better.  Still, I've no doubt that the VW would have been a step up in quality, I just didn't want the fugly estate and I wanted 2l. But to be fair, I was looking about 18 months ago and having just looked I think the Passat 1.6 is now 120bhp, which would be less painful.

Stevepage

Sporky said:

I had a Mk4 as a hire car. It was a bit scruffy (it had had a short but hard life by the looks of it) but I don't remember any issues with the seats or diving for cambers.

The mk5 is a peculiarly disappointing vehicle. I assume they don't allow test drives as no-one who'd test driven one would buy it.

Having spoken to a few people who've had experience with the mk5, they didn't like it as much as the mk4. Even watching youtube reviews, seems disappointing. Shame really as they look much nicer.

Sporky

My boss likes his mk5 a lot more than the mk4, others are less convinced.

HR have had the report from occupational health and are looking into solutions. Come on, car allowance...

Sporky

I got an update from my boss.

HR initially considered (and got costs for) recalling the entire European car fleet and replacing them all with something else. They are a bit black-and-white about such things.

As a consequence this went past my boss's boss - unfortunately, there's only one person past him, and that person owns the company. Apparently he felt that HR's proposed plan lacked finesse and presented considerably more complexity than was required to solve the problem, along with unacceptable risk (fer instance, what if someone who is currently happy with a Mondeo finds the replacement uncomfortable?)

The upshot is that they are probably going to give me a car allowance - with a different company car as an outside possibility. Two VPs and my boss are pushing HR to go car allowance.

chrispy108

Your HR appear to be doing fantastic work demonstrating the logical and balanced thinking HR are well known for.

Sporky

I was going to suggest to them that the simplest (from their point of view) solution would be to recategorise me as an office worker, at a new office (which happens to be my house), and to give me a pay rise equivalent to a car allowance in recognition of my promotion to regional VP.

I actually think that would have appealed to their logic.

Next job is to select a suitable vehicle.

Paul_C

I hear Mondeos are very good.

Sporky

Good call - I'll see if I can sort out a test drive.

viz

Sporky said:

Probably!

The last few cars I've had have had USB or SD slots which seems less faffy to me. I actually found it bizarre that it's got a CD player!

Our car still has a record player.