The Kia and Hyundai tend to rust underneath more rapidly than most but I’m assuming it wont be kept past 6/7yrs old where this will become an issue anyway.

So you keep telling us but there are plenty of ancient Kia's around these parts with excellent bodywork. There is a 12 year old Rio just down from us that looks factory fresh.

They also come with a 12 year warranty providing its checked every year (it may be 2 years now) by a Kia dealer so on recent cars there is nothing at all to be concerned about.

At 5 years old our Ceed was fine underneath and the paint was pretty much perfect. Only seen it once since we moved it on and at 12 years old it looked pretty much as it did 7 years earlier.

They are just as good as any brand but some people still insist on remembering what they were like 30 years ago and thinking its not changed.

Out of your own suggestions, the Lexus would be the most reliable. But it isn't exactly spacious, not sure about inside the cabin, but the figures I have say the boot is smaller than that of the Arona. Out of the remaining two, the Tuscon has the bigger boot, but again not sure about inside the cabin.

I'd be looking at a RAV4 myself though.

Sadly the British built Qashqai has a reputation for fragility so I’d leave it out, otherwise it’s just a case of test drive them and see which you prefer. The Kia and Hyundai tend to rust underneath more rapidly than most but I’m assuming it wont be kept past 6/7yrs old where this will become an issue anyway.

According to a Which? report I read in mid-2023, the latest Qashqai is supposedly a lot better on the reliability front than previous versions. Hard to tell really, given the car was first sold from 2021. Maybe if it does well in the reliability survey for 2024 I might be more convinced.

It might be worth considering an estate car, which should be suitable for the dogs to ride in and often has a lower boot lip than some SUVs / crossovers. Whether they give sufficient leg room inside for the driver and passengers probably varies quite a bit.

Agreed, estate cars are great if you have dogs.

Strange this thread has worried about rust - usually not an issue with any company car as usually most cars are fairly young.

Having had company cars I still say the BIK is really important as sometimes the tax can be way more than you would have paid if you simply bought the car yourself if you pick the wrong one.

Edited by Big John on 19/01/2024 at 20:23

Thanks for the replies..

Just to clarify. It will be an auto and as it will be less than 2yrs old and probably only for 2 maybe 3 years I don't think rust is an issue

Ideally plugin petrol hybrid as that maximises the saving on company car tax and fuel costs

Went to see a qashqai e-power today. Nice design, lovely interior , ok boot but only hybrid and 50mpg so quite a hit on tax. Next we went to see the cupra for mentor but it was more like a large hatchback than SUV. Finally went to see the plugin hybrid Hyundai Tucson. Ticked all the boxes in terms of size , plugin hybrid. Not the best looking car but over £40k new and the dealer said he's only had two uses ones in 2 years.

Thanks