Decision time...

Have multiple sets of rims, relatively light alloys for day to day use, good looking ones for shows and ultra light magnesium's with semi slicks for track days.

Oh aye, at £17k oin top of the price of the car!

Well, I'm a big guy, so... For my job I'm either visiting clients with just myself so all I need is a seat, so the Astra and MINI fit the bill there. I sometimes need to carry boxes of equipment to jobs but I'm sending more and more of that stuff directly from the warehouse by courier, and then meeting it on site rather than delivering it myself so there's no real need for masses of space. With the Astra I can drop the seats if needs be and get decentish load space.

The Astra is big enough I reckon to take the three of us and luggage etc. if we're going away for a weekend or a couple of nights. If we're going anywhere for longer and need more space then I've still got the turbo'd up Zafira for that. I considered the Vectra SRi for a moment but they don't do it with the 197bhp turbo for some reason and the 170bhp version isn't going to set the world on fire performance-wise.

Work harder. ;)

Or try to jimmy Pitstop Developments along with there mini plans. (Smaller toothed pulleys and a few other bits that should see it nicely over 200bhp)

Just wait for the VXR ;)

Surely, if it's a company car, you want one with the lowest tax bill possible? - usually that means a diesel. I've researched this and found it to be the only sensible way - no point in paying as much in tax for a car as you could buy one for using a loan, IYSWIM.

What about a random Seat of Cupra persuasion?

Heh, i think they're all foul :)

Nah, everyone seems concerned with getting the company car tax as low as possible which IMHO is fine if you're not into cars and don't really care what you're driving. I could get a 1.7CDTi 80PS Astra or something and pay about £50 a month tax but who'd want to drive that? If I get the 197bhp turbo I'll be paying around £100 a month in tax which is still far, far cheaper than actually financing and insuring my own car, plus free servicing, tyres, parts, oil etc. etc.

Thought about that, and the lease company will let me have an Ibiza with some options too. Too many choices...

Sure about that tax bill?

Last time I looked, I'd have, for example, had to pay something like £250 / month on a 147 2lt TSpark, ffs!

The Ibiza Cupra R might be a good laugh...

explains all, and provides rough costings.

For a 147 2.0TS Selespeed Lusso (what my brother happens to have as a company car), the overall equivalent "cash cost" for the current tax year works out as £2128, or £3741 including a fuel card.

Or monthly, about £177 without / £312 with the fuel card.

Ok, the boot on a MINI is tiny, so I guess it's off the list...

Well, I used the Vauxhall online tax checker thing and it came back with just over £1250 a year:

I'm 'fortunate' (in this case) to just be in the 22% tax bracket. If I worked a little harder and snuck over into 40% then the tax would be £2307 a year!

I've just checked manually, and it works out that 22% of 31% of £18607 is £1269, or just over £100 a month.

I'd still be tempted to get the cheapest suitable car for work and keep something at home for the weekends.

It was tempted with that, and I'd probably go with it if I didn't do so many miles. But I do 2-3k miles a month and I'd just get pissed off spending that amount of time in a car I didn't really want, if you see what I mean.

Shame I can't just opt out. My company car is provided as a needs car i.e. I need it for my job, rather than a benefits car due to pay grade, so they won't let me take the cash option. Otherwise I'd get something six months old and a bit tastier all round...

I do 2k miles / month just commuting in my own car. You soon forget what you're driving and accept whatever feels 'ok', IYSWIM. Hence the Passat rather than my 75.

Not necesarily, there are some very clever buggys/pushchairs out there. I saw one a couple of years ago that folded down to a "tiny" size, the sales pitch was that the local Porche dealer recommended them to familymen/women who wanted a Porche :)

Very clever design, looked like it was designed by someone with a degree in engineering and origami. Wasn't cheap tho......