I am a couple of months away from replacing my company car and was curious as to anyones suggestions and experiences.
A couple of guidelines which I have to work within. The car needs to be a four door saloon, needs to be a diesel and has to be a booted saloon (no hatch backs or estates). I average about 50,000 miles a year and cover the whole of UK with work. Regular 150-mile plus trips are the norm & the longest drive I have done in any given day was Glasgow to Bristol.
My current car is a Honda Accord iDtec 2200cc turbo diesel. This is a very capable car, top spec with the sat-nav, multi changer and Bluetooth/iphone connectivity (both of which must be in the new car). Its a hard car to criticise and the local dealer support has been extremely good. I only have two minor grumbles with it. One is the company car tax, where a number of its competition beat it and could therefore save me money. But is that money saving worth the hassle? The second is the tyres, which are 19 low profiles and nearly £300 a corner (which annoys me as they need changing every 20,000 although my local tyre fitter now sends me Christmas cards). The Honda is a 6-sp manual which I like but I wouldnt rule out an auto.
Ive got around £26-£30k to play with (although the less I spend, the more that goes back into my annual bonus). Current likely contenders are the Audi A4/5, BMW 325 and potentially an entry-level Merc E class. I havent looked at the VW/Skoda or Nissan as I dont think they could cope with the mileage as well as the Honda (I had a Passat a few years ago and wasnt especially impressed with build quality. Same with a Nissan).
And dont even waste your breath suggesting anything French. Much as I love France, they really ought to stick to wine & philosophy and leave car-building to the grown-ups.
So, your thoughts and experience please? Especially any dealing you have had with Audi, BMW & Merc dealers.
Cheers, Taff
A couple of guidelines which I have to work within. The car needs to be a four door saloon, needs to be a diesel and has to be a booted saloon (no hatch backs or estates). I average about 50,000 miles a year and cover the whole of UK with work. Regular 150-mile plus trips are the norm & the longest drive I have done in any given day was Glasgow to Bristol.
My current car is a Honda Accord iDtec 2200cc turbo diesel. This is a very capable car, top spec with the sat-nav, multi changer and Bluetooth/iphone connectivity (both of which must be in the new car). Its a hard car to criticise and the local dealer support has been extremely good. I only have two minor grumbles with it. One is the company car tax, where a number of its competition beat it and could therefore save me money. But is that money saving worth the hassle? The second is the tyres, which are 19 low profiles and nearly £300 a corner (which annoys me as they need changing every 20,000 although my local tyre fitter now sends me Christmas cards). The Honda is a 6-sp manual which I like but I wouldnt rule out an auto.
Ive got around £26-£30k to play with (although the less I spend, the more that goes back into my annual bonus). Current likely contenders are the Audi A4/5, BMW 325 and potentially an entry-level Merc E class. I havent looked at the VW/Skoda or Nissan as I dont think they could cope with the mileage as well as the Honda (I had a Passat a few years ago and wasnt especially impressed with build quality. Same with a Nissan).
And dont even waste your breath suggesting anything French. Much as I love France, they really ought to stick to wine & philosophy and leave car-building to the grown-ups.
So, your thoughts and experience please? Especially any dealing you have had with Audi, BMW & Merc dealers.
Cheers, Taff
