Choice of Company Car

keio

Hi, just wondering if anyone out there has any views on which company car i should choose.

I have been given the choice of the following cars: Ford Focus, VW Golf, VW Jetta, Toyota Corolla and a Skoda Octavia. The only other criteria being that the car must have a diesel engine, be a saloon and cost a maximum of 28,500.

I myself seem to favour the Jetta however for the price allowed it is a fairly basic model while the focus would be a fiarly top of the range model like the 1.8 Ghia.

Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions as to car would be the best choice.

optiplexgx270

Id say you could get a dealer to go 28500 fot this http://carzone.ie/newcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=Details&vehicle_id=51170420060831&strSpecs=SSCIRL2002 if you told him look company only prepaired to pay that for it otherwise im going to ford.

Builds should be fairly similar with the VW having a slight advantage but engine in focus is a stronger one. I'd recomend heading out next weekend and test driving both of them to see which you like more.

Looking at carzone you could even look at the mondeo:http://carzone.ie/newcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=search&searchtype=advanced&make=&xMake=&Body=SA&xBody=SA&xModel=&doors=0&enginemin=0&Seats=0&enginemax=999&gearbox=Any&fuel=D&pricemin=0&showphoto=Yes&pricemax=29000

Sandwich

Depends what you want:
- the Skoda unless the badge devalues it for you, but gives the best balance and value
- the Jetta is a nice car but as you say little in the way of extras if you want them
- the Golf, if you want to get a good trim and dont need the space of the two above
- Carolla good also but anonymous
- Focus, bit like the carolla. Nothing wrong with it and you could get a well specd one, but smaller than the Jetta.

You need to explain your requirements.

Henry Ford III

Sandwich wrote:

Depends what you want:
- the Skoda unless the badge devalues it for you, but gives the best balance and value
- the Jetta is a nice car but as you say little in the way of extras if you want them
- the Golf, if you want to get a good trim and dont need the space of the two above
- Carolla good also but anonymous
- Focus, bit like the carolla. Nothing wrong with it and you could get a well specd one, but smaller than the Jetta.

You need to explain your requirements.

The Focus and the Corolla are worlds apart.

colm_mcm

Henry Ford III wrote:

The Focus and the Corolla are worlds apart.

Yeah in fairness, the Focus is getting on a bit now.

To be fair, even a top spec Corolla D-4D is gonna be well shy of 28500. I'd go with the Jetta with a 1.9 TDI (contraversially)

keio

Sandwich wrote:

Depends what you want:
- the Skoda unless the badge devalues it for you, but gives the best balance and value
- the Jetta is a nice car but as you say little in the way of extras if you want them
- the Golf, if you want to get a good trim and dont need the space of the two above
- Carolla good also but anonymous
- Focus, bit like the carolla. Nothing wrong with it and you could get a well specd one, but smaller than the Jetta.

You need to explain your requirements.

What i'm looking for is the car which will be the most comfortable to drive as possible from the list above as I'll be doing over 30,000 miles a year.

Additionally, I am looking for a spacious car and am well aware that the Octavia is by far the most spacious and the biggest boot space. However, I don't think it looks anywhere as nice as the Focus or the Jetta. Although I have not drove one yet but will take one for a test drive, maybe I'll be pleasantly suprised!

colm_mcm

Don't know how comfortable the new Corolla is. I'll tell you when mine comes in!



Anyone else think there's hints of the Lexus IS in there?

bazz26

Henry Ford III wrote:

The Focus and the Corolla are worlds apart.

The Focus might be a better driver's car but "worlds apart" is not true. Both cars have forgetable styling inside and out, just as practical, economical and comfortable. How the Focus handles will not make it worlds apart.

colm_mcm

All this without even driving the new Corolla!

bazz26

To the OP.

VW Jetta/Golf : The Jetta is just an expensive Golf with a boot and both arevery mean on standard equipment. 1.9 TDi was a good engine but these days it is very old. There are much better similar diesel cars out there. Styling inside and out is bland.

Skoda Octavia: Basically the same car as the Golf/Jetta but has lots of space. I would opt for the 2.0 TDi Ambiente at €27,500 over the 1.9 TDi. Again styling is bland but good value for money.

Ford Focus: The 1.8 TDCi is a good unit and has plenty of poke but has been around a few years too. It is also a good driver's car but the styling is very conservative. The interior is very dull also which is something to take note of when doing 30k miles a year. If choosing a Focus I would opt for the cheaper 1.6 litre diesel Zetec Connection over the Ghia. Add a few options on this model and it makes the Ghia look expensive.

Toyota Corolla: The new Corolla has just launched so it is the freshest model of the bunch. Still conservatively styled inside and out but no worse than the others on your list. The Corolla only has one diesel engine though in Ireland which is the 1.4 D4-D with 90bhp but even the top Luna model comes in way less than your budget of €28,500.