After all the threads about company cars lately whats your firm give you ? and tech specs pls
Mines a merc sprinter216 in silver/black and is proven to be faster than any other vehicle on the road. as well as having right of way at any junction/roundabout
features are standard Sprinter with the stock stereo etc along with some snazzy lining in the back she also has a heated windscreen and some snazzy park distance sensors
Known top speed is cough 70 cough( although did a gps indicated 115 on private test track
and 0-60 is faster than any vehicle on the planet.
Now nothing but I have had a long list of random cars over the years, basically what ever the boss last had:
Volvo 940 : Big, slow, soft auto handy but also too woolly.
Merc SLK 230: his wife's old car, actually not bad had all the trim but no room in the boot with the roof up things defiantly got worse if you put it down.
Merc SL500 mid 90's style: again fully trimmed but it was a bag of nails best guess is he'd done something to the auto box.
Impreza turbo estate: this had been played with before it entered the company, so had around 300bhp, a light fly wheel and racing clutch. Very quick in a line but the steering is over assisted for my taste (much like a punto) you can chuck it into corners at any (er legal) speed you like and it grips but you don't know it's going to from the wheel.
Alfa 164 cloverleaf: It's Italian and the electrics tried to kill me but I can forgive it almost anything when you start up that V6 (even if it's only
230bhp), it's also one of the best handling FWD cars I have driven.
Lotus Elise (49): I'm taller than 6 foot and also fat, with the roof on this is the most embarrassing thing on earth to get into or out of unless you are an accomplished contortionist but the interior is waterproof and I'm not a southerner so who needs the roof even in the rain? Now this has to be the most fun you can have with 118bhp the only problem is it was so impractical I couldn't keep it.
Just a matter of technique for getting in and out. Certainly not the same as a normal car. In is head into passenger area followed by torso then feet into footwell. Slide into seat to finish. Getting out is the reverse. This approach works for my GTM which is like an elise only smaller :-) Mechanically, identical though. K series and box behind me.
Not quite high enough for my own company car yet, but i'm working on it :)
Although working for a public transport company means they dont like giving out snazzy cars, especially if you cant justify having one ie you only drive to work and back
Are company cars actually worth the hassle these days anyway?
More and more companies are asking the same question. The salespeople that visit our office may live anywhere - Manchester, Peterborough, whatever. More and more are starting to use public transport (flying, trains) but a few stubbornly stick to their cars.
No - not in my opinion. As I've said elsewhere, my net gain for getting rid of the Passat 4motion is £410 a month. That's between tax saved and expenses now paid.
I'm now smoking around in a 50mpg Audi 80 with 136,000 on the clock. Does most of what the passat did - only for 400 quid, not 19 grand.
Infact, what's "company" about stumping up £410 a month ? That's a *LOT* more than I spend on my cars ! So I'd be paying *more* money than now, if my company decided to "give" me a company car !
Infact, when it's such a vast monthly cost as that, what exactly is the attraction ? I mean, why does "the company car" even exist at all ??
Aye, I get to drive my nice 406 Coupe V6, for a damn sight less than £410 a month. Unless I was getting an M3 or something for my £410, then, er, why I ever want to do it ?
I think you have to factor in the actual value of the car as well.
Driveing a car you can't afford to buy outright? Plus you get to change it every so often, the company then usually either gives your old car to some one lower down the ladder or sells it on. They are just fringe benifits/perks of the job, cheaper than replaceing your car every 2-3 years when the warentee/guarentee ends. Company cars appeal to certain people more than others I think.
You get pretty much everything paid for on a company car and sometimes fuel as well if your job requires extensive travel. My brother took his vectra in for a service, one of the grease monkeys broke/left something off and 400 miles later it blew up and it didn't cost him a penny due to the fact the companies legal department handled the situation and costs.
Heh - guy i know took his Saxo VTS to Citroen after the cambelt snapped - he had just bought it from them and it hadn't been done. Not only did they try and not pay for that, one of the mechanics put his hand in the fan and broke it, and they tried to charge him for a new fan as well. I think he sent his mum in in the end - and it was all sorted :)
Depression? You're strange, you are. Most of the time you don't spell words properly that should be spelt properly, and when someone's username deliberately *isn't* spelt wrongly (for reasons of being unique, or whatever), then you spell it properly. :-)
There are so many negatives in there it's almost painful to read. ;) The one S comes from where I was first using the name only allowing 9 letters so one of the Ss seemed to be the best one to drop.
The whole attraction of a company car, is that it's a free car :) If you're paying the whole of it's value, then, er, why do it ?
But a £20,000 car only costs £361 a month
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Bob's Passat was costing him much more than that.
Er, I already do all that with my private cars.
The benefits of that are zero. Buying new privately, gives you a 3-year all inclusive warranty anyway. Or 5 years if you buy a Hyundai. The fuel issue is a none-starter, because work will pay for your work-fuel, company car or otherwise. If a garage blows up your car, then said garage fixes your car.
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