Hi all,
I was talking to my Dad about his company car over the weekend, and he asked me to post his question on here as he knows that i use this site and would welcome as many opinions as possible before he makes a decision.
Currently he has the ubiquitous Mondeo TDCi Ghia as a company car, which is coming up to replacement time. As myself and my two brothers all now drive, there is no longer such a need for him to have a Mondeo-sized car in which to cram belongings for family holidays and uni runs etc.
He has worked out that it would be slightly cheaper for him to run his own car, bought 6months-2years old, than it would be to continue with a new company Mondeo.
The replacement car would likely be Focus-sized, with decent bootspace still important, but cabinspace not so much.
It must be diesel (for driving preference) and have not dissimilar performance to his current 130bhp diesel.
He's not really fussed about image - good value is more important.
So far the ideas have been:
New Model Focus TDCi (either 1.6 110bhp or 2.0 136bhp)
Skoda Octavia TDi 140bhp
Mazda 3 Diesel (engine variant?)
Thanks in advance for your opinions
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Isn't an Octavia rather large? I.e. - Mondeo sized?
You know what I'm going to say so I won't! ;-)
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The Octavia is based on the Golf floorplan so is not huge.
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"The Octavia is based on the Golf floorplan so is not huge."
True, but unlike the Golf, the boot overhangs the rear axle enough to give Mondeo-sized load capacity. Which suggests a TDI model might suit the OPs needs well...
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If it is value for money over image (and I'm with him 100%) then the Citroen C4 HDI needs mentioning. The Corolla D4D will give peace of mind and the new Civic with the 2.2 diesel will give performance at a surprisingly (for Honda) competetive price.
Must admit my first test drive would be the Skoda.
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Focus tdi or Golf TDi
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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I had a Focus 1.6 TDCi as a hire car a few months back and was very impressed.
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Time to get on with some work
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Why not pop down to your nearest supermarket and try a few for size. They should have loads of focus/ astra type cars, and it would also give you a good idea as what offers best value. I am not sure sure where you live, but near me 'available car' has a good choice of well presented and clean cars on offer.
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If decent bootspace is important, he may need a saloon or estate rather than hatchback.
For some reason, cars of the Mondeo/Avensis size seem to be made with the saloon and hatchback of equal lengths, giving similar sized boots.
But if you go down a size, the hatchbacks are shorter than the saloons. I dunno why they did it that way, but a Focus saloon has a much bigger boot than the hatch. Same with Golf/Bora, Almera saloon/hatch etc.
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Thanks for the responses thus far.
Regarding bootspace, he'll still need to get rubbish bags etc into the boot for trips to the tip, and the occasional kitchen appliance pickup etc., therefore the large opening of a hatchback is required. Don't think i'd be able to convince my Dad otherwise.
I hadn't thought of suggesting the Citroen C4, i'll definitely mention that.
I want to get him to check out the Seat Leon too, although he claims he sat in one once and thought the build quality was poor.
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Leon boot is on the small side, although a 130 TDI about twelve months old (old model) would be a bargain. Slightly bigger boot i think as well. Good drive, loads of kit. recommended: I had one.
Mazda 3 diesel is merely average performance with another small boot. Saw an Astra estate the other day, nice car and their new diesel lumps are available in 120 and 150 bhp form.
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Any 1.9 TDi VAG engined car is going to feel a bit rough after the Mondeo and IME the 2.0 TDi is not a massive improvement. However I would consider a 2.0 TDi Golf alongside a 2.0 TDCi Focus. Also the older though very refined 115ps 1.8 TDCi is now avaialble in the Focus, could be a good compromise between the 1.6 and 2.0, only a little bit more powerful that the 1.6 though also more torquey. So as to save a few quid a late old Focus Ghia 1.8 TDCi is a great car. Otherwise a Megane with the 1.9 DCi had sprightly performance and this engine does compare with the Mondeo for refinement, Meganes are good value and well equiped, handle well and have some character.
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Surprised no one has yet asked what is happening to his current Mondeo? Does he have an option of buying it? Or know what auction it is going in to?
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Interesting question Bobby.
I seem to remember him asking his company in the past about buying his company car, with a previous one he had, but the price he was quoted was well above book.
However if he could find out which auction it was going to, he likes the car and as far as i know it has had no faults at all since new, so if the price was right it could be a good buy.
The Megane is another option that i hadn't thought of, but i'm not sure he'd trust the reliability of a french car...
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I bought my Mondeo from my employer as part of a redundancy settlement, they had the car financed over four years and I bought it at 20 months. However where as real life depreciation is front ended, i.e. the depreciatiation curve is steep in the first few months then levels off over time, the financial depreciation is linear so the car was on the company books for £4k more that the book value( the curves would have crossed at three to four years), they realised that they had to write this off though many companies would do their best to get the best price so as to minimise their loss.
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The Megane is another option that i hadn't thought of, but i'm not sure he'd trust the reliability of a french car...
The C4 is French.
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True.
Might have a bit of trouble convincing him there as well.
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If I understand correctly, his preference is to opt out of the company car scheme to make modest cost savings?
Unless a Mondeo is the only option for a company car, why not downsize but still within the company car scheme.
The P11D value for any of your suggested replacements are all less than a Mondeo and will reduce his BIK.
My suggestion would be a Toyota Prius, I appreciate it's not diesel and doesn't have the outright performance of a 130bhp diesel but it's very kind to the pocket as regards BIK.
Reasonable residuals and has the JH seal of approval.
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