Not a 'which banger to buy' post

Obviously neither of the top two are viable options if you actually have to drive it, not just point and laugh at it - remember you're keeping this one afterwards - Katie seems to be a woman of vague taste so I imagine you'll be leaving home if you present her with either of the top heaps of shit. And the Alfa, hmmm, out of manufacturer warranty - risky with your mileage? What about the little Jags - the Mondeo based ones? Don't they depreciate like a rock? Or even a Passat?

Just allow me to bask in the awesomeness of my chassis, I was able to accelerate at WOT, round a tight bend, in the torque band in 2nd gear today in pouring rain and the inside wheel barely twitched :-) I have almost as much grip in the wet as the dry hehe! Contintal Sport Contact 3 standard fitment tyres.

X-types depreciate quite badly nowadays.

I'm amused he'd consider a Wrectra, but not a Mondeo.

Oh, I wouldn't keep either of the above afterwards, I'd trade them for my next car, or just flog it and take the cash to opt back into the company scheme.

I looked at the top 2 because they're absolutely loaded with kit and both come with the Alfa / Fiat JTD engine.

The Vectra is significantly cheaper than the MkIII Mondeo and the MkIV isn't cheap enough yet.

As for the X-Type, they're not easy to find within budget with the 2.2 diesel and slushbox.

177bhp is nothing when the car weights over 1500kg, you'll only have about 110bhp/ton so it's not exactly going to be sporty. You may as well get the cheapest and most economical car for the company car and buy something interesting for a weekend car.

There already is something for the weekend. But I'm glad somebody is thinking along the same lines.

You don't have to search for the stuff.

Update your views or at least your knowledge...

Reams of paperwork? I thought your car was your office. Get a PDA with expenses software.

Erm, yes you do.

None of my local forecourts sell LPG. In fact, of the ones I regularly use, all over the country, only the ones on the motorway sell LPG.

That doesn't help, as I'd still have to transfer the figures over to paper copies every month, using the appropriate forms.

There's also the small matter of then having to put all the fuel costs on my personal credit card and claiming them back every month, which means my business expenses would start to approach more than a lot of people take home in a month....

If I stick with diesel, I keep a fuel card and the only paperwork I need do is a tax return and a private mileage form.

Sheesh. Perhaps I'm lucky but of my regular fuel stops, all apart from one stocks it. Now I'm adding "availability of LPG" to the list of "positive things about living in a city" then.

This can't be a difficult process and you may also be able to produce a template. It's not like you're covering a massive mileage either (somewhere between 35,000 to 40,000 business miles a year). Presumably you also have certain regular routes, too, which can cut down on the administration. It could be a small price to pay for something you'd want to drive and would find interesting.

I'm reading excuses but not reasons for an affulent petrolhead wanting something interesting for business use.

And yet...

If the money side of it were that important, get the cheapest to run with the essential boxes ticked (I'm guessing that this means diesel, automatic, air conditioning, cruise, hands free and maybe more); end of.

Whatever end is driven is going to be academic because it won't be as interesting as your weekend drive. Boring for the business miles. Interesting for the weekend. Surely whatever you end up for the business miles won't be as interesting as the

75, so why try?

I do take onboard the comfort / equipment thing. Comfort is in some way associated with equipment, but only in a little bit. Air conditioning is improved by semi-automatic climate, incrementally improved with climate, again with dual zone, heated and ventilated seats, so on and so forth - but it would all be a bit irrelevant if the seat / driving position isn't comfortable after an hour (take note Vauxhall and Citroen). With your sort of mileage, cruise control makes something far more comfortable. Having cupholder covers just doesn't matter...

It sounds like both a backwards company and part of the United Kingdom. I thought our own company car policy was screwed up (and it is) but it's more flexible than yours by a long shot.

I rarely do any 'regular' runs, every week is different.

Hands free isn't an issue if I tick a company box, as they'd fit the car. If I buy my own, I have a Parrot sunvisor kit, so that's not an issue either.

Whilst this is true, there is an appeal in a fully expensed 177bhp RWD diesel.

Well, the most economical option is such a pikey spec that I really wouldn't want it. The next most economical option is so low powered, I wouldn't want it, which puts me back with the A4, 320d and Passat Highline, all of which have at least 'adequate' power.

The alternatives I've looked at are all 150bhp, or more, with auto boxes. That's right in the 'sweet spot' for me.

The Vectra Elite comes with every toy you could ever want (including factory fitted Sat Nav, which cuts down on wires trailing around the cabin), the BLS isn't far behind.

Of course, the advantage of the BLS is that it will be different in the company car park - at the moment, everyone has a dark metallic Passat.

It's a lot more flexible than the domestic policy, where you get a Focus estate or Passat Estate depending on grade, with no flexibility to opt out.

As for the argument about the 1.9JTD derived lumps being 'potentially unreliable' - they're no more or less reliable than anything else that uses generic Bosch metering parts and pumps....

This being why many, many people have one as a company car.

And the Vectra has many disadvantages too. My 9-3 has the built-in nav and it's nifty.

So your current company car scheme is more flexible than another scheme at the same company - but less flexible than the messed up scheme of my organisation?

The later ones are much better than the earlier ones, which is a good thing, because the early 1.9 TiD Saab 9-3s, Vectra, Astras are sadly plagued with issues. That, as you know, is why I have the low pressure petrolturbo.

Too right, street lighting sucks. As does the securoty lighting and people who leave their house lights on unnecessarily...

There aren't many new shape Mondeos out there at all at the moment.

Even then, the Titanium doesn't come with as many toys as the Vectra Elite.

Sounds like pretty much all the large saloons. What everyone forgets is that the current Vectra / Mondeo / 159 / A4 etc. are all *bigger* than a mid-90s 'executive barge'.

So you can't really expect them to make the same kind of progress through the twisties as you could a MkI Mondeo / Alfa 156 etc.

Good idea, as is the closely related Fiat Croma, but they're rare as hen's teeth, especially as a 150bhp auto diesel in Elite trim....

You're right, the garage I got the Vectra from only has one in that spec, and it's silver...

How about this:

LPG POI map on the Satnav.

Yea it is only 110/bhp tonne, but that's a load better than the Audi would be, at least it'll be useabley powerful - enough to make it not a strain to overtake etc, like the Audi would be. It was more the niceness of the car for me anyway - it wasn't a huge amount of money to lose each month for a much nicer 'office' if you will :-)

But they come with enough, they have crap loads of toys, ok not as many but you're getting into the realms of pointless extras heh. The brand new Mondeo looks foul IMHO, I'd be aiming for a last of the last of the previous shape. Probably an ST TDCi because they look quite cool. In that blue they come in.

Well, I've looked at the Caddy in SE trim and the Vectra in SRI and Elite trim.

The Caddy is by far the better built of the cars.

Nice toy count in the Vectra, but the trim quality was absolutely shocking. Nice and creaky in there, even though it was only 10k miles old.... shame, as the build quality of the body is very good - nice heavy doors with a satisfying clunk.