Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

saw this nice little company car in the pub car park earlier

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company car if you work for Fuck Yeah PLC Corporation Inc of course

Looks like fun! In the late 80s we had two special company cars, a 635csi for top salesman and an orange diesel Lada estate for the filthiest company car. The competition for one was more intense than the other. Our company cars were very clean.

Recommendations for a cheap family car, and how best to buy one? Family circumstances mean it's likely to be cheaper to buy a car (my first) rather than continue renting when I need one. Typical usage will be semi-local family trips at weekends, and occasional 250-mile round-trips to see family with 2 adults, 2 kids, and some luggage. Total yearly mileage would be about 5K miles. Bonus points if I can fit bikes in the back for Audax etc. Budget is £3-4K; if necessary I can stretch that by a grand or two if it's likely to mean a lower TCO over the next couple of years. I don't care about cool or the driving experience as long as it's not utterly miserable. I guess I don't want a diesel from an emissions perspective?

If you take the car, you'll still pay tax on the benefit in kind. I have no idea how they'll calculate that, but they will. How the nickel and dimes play out will likely only make a difference if you take the cash and then buy a cheap shit box to run around in. If the two are anywhere near similar (company car vs what you would buy out of your own money/allowance) then there's probably not much in it beyond how restricted you are by what car they offer.

I (for some reason) have a £433 a month (net) car allowance in my payslip that was negotiated when my last company got acquired. If I had funneled that straight into a car fund, I wouldn't be driving a 2007 C Max.......

Good call, the 2008 was a retrograde step.

You jest, but 2007 was when the first facelift of the C Max was introduced and it was no longer referred to as the "Focus C Max" and became just the "C Max". Yet, despite being FUCKING COMPLETELY different to the initial model, it still was still labelled as a MkI. Bigger changes came in 2010 with the MkII, but the pre and post "facelift" MkI C Max cars still had enough differences to mean that a lot of parts were not interchangeable. So just knowing your C Max was registered in 2007 is not enough to know which parts you might need.

Guess who got really fucked off trying to find a replacement parcel shelf and now knows too much about 2007 Ford C Maxes?

C Maxii? Who cares....

I care, I feel your pain (in the arse). I have lived the life where dealerships snigger and suggest trying scrap merchants.

Toyota Auris

If you take the company car, you pay benefit in kind tax based on the list price of the car and a multiplier related to the CO2 output of the model of car.

Quite a few calculators around, like this one:

https://comcar.co.uk/companycar/tax/select/

Obvs if you take the cash, it is taxed as salary.

Any recommended go to places other than local dealerships for business contract hire cars? Have seen Select online, any experiences?

We’re looking at getting a car through my partners company. Local mini place was great, really helpful. The others have not been. Bath/Bristol based if that makes a difference.

@BRM - take the money, get what you want, not what they’ll give you.

^yup. Or spend it on sweets.

Cheers.

The difference over 4 years is huge - £27k Vs £16. If the choice of car was more suitable, id consider it.

£27k to own a cooking spec mhev golf v £16k to keep the waftobarge (interestingly, which is about what it costs to run*)

*I don't count the mileage I get reimbursed, as that is the secret mgb/hifi/guitar fund

VW beach buggy in orange sparkle finish for the company car win

Yeah

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Yeah the spaceship type? Will be a face lift at that age. Watch for it being mini cabbed.
2.0 barely uses any more fuel than the 1.4/1.6 and can move out if its own shadow. Smaller engines ok for city, but out on normal roads kinda struggle.
The diesels are great, quite loud compared to others that are newer but generally work very well, defo better than vag diesels of that age.
On diesels with a manual check for clutch slip, need to be open road in 5 or 6th, let off then full throttle. It'll either be fine or it will slip, they might have solved this by the face lift.
The estate/aerodeck version was made around then, super handy car but rare

Honda Jazz and get a cat lock fitted.

When you take into account BIK for me the only company cars that make sense are either full electric (low bik) or a pickup\van with a 1 tonne payload (tax on a fixed rate)

Apply a wrap to a single spoke on each wheel. An accent colour subtle as hell that just catches the eyes and says something about this car is different.

Saw this and thought of @Dammit

"happy juice here" also seems a little LLL

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Happy juice from huffing petrol?

That reminds me of Janis porsche (which i absolutely love btw)

That the original painted car or the repainted?

Hmm i was not aware there was a repainted one so hard for me to say but it certainly looks like the one she had.

I just grabbed a pic of the web. But the original pic that got my attention was this one some time back, just love everything about it including the dog .)

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