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Vanny
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New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 10 Nov 2014

So one way or another I'll be choosing a new car in April, and i'm really struggling to decide.

The budgets are mixed, if it's a company car then something around £25k OTR and less than 135kg/km C02 are the targets to beat. If it's not a company car then the budget is around £5k. In both cases it needs to be big enough to get the pram in, 5 door, and capable of doing at least 25k miles a year. Oh and ideally have ISO fix in both cases.

If its a non company car then something exciting is a must, even if i can only afford the fuel for two years!

So with all this in mind, I've been trying out just about all of the Citroen options, with tediously predictable results
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This is the Citroen DS4 I had a few months back, a demonstrator from Citroen. A fantastic purple colour, not bad on fuel, and easy on the eye, well in my mind at least. Not some dreary Golf box with 'same as the last one styling', although I do find the latest rendition of VW's flag ship much more 'finished'

The problems start when you get in. Comfort is either an added extra or deleted on this model, no matter how i adjusted the seat, it was still uncomfortable. It's quite a French looking interior with perhaps more nods to Peugeot than Citroen, I could certainly entertain a few hours behind the wheel. The buttons are int he right places, its functional but not as bland as some of Volvo's recent offerings. I'm not a fan of the big chunky steering wheel, but the buttons are nice to use and in the right sort of places.
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And then, inevitably, you have to drive it. Well from the outside it does look like a C4 on stilts and it does very much handle like one. I mean there are worse cars for body roll, the 2CV for a start, but it is by far the worst handling from a modern car that i have experienced.

All rather predictable i'm afraid. It definitely has something to it that appeals, engine is fine if a little drony and uninspiring, but it just falls apart when you consider anything related to the chassis. I must admit, I was very happy to be back in the Seat Leon at the end of the demo. Bland and slow it might be, but at least it can drive through a curve.
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mat_the_cat
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mat_the_cat » 10 Nov 2014

Sorry, nothing to add seeing as I've got bugger all experience with this new fangled stuff. But interested to see what you end up with!
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Father Ted
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Father Ted » 10 Nov 2014

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mickey taker
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mickey taker » 11 Nov 2014

seat exeo if you need an estate or ford focus tdci sport is worth a look or a skoda vrs
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Vanny
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 11 Nov 2014

Ah Mick, you clearly think more like me than i thought.

Exeo is out as a new new car as they dont make them any more (the Loen SW replaces it).

I don't need an estate, and frankly i'm yet to find an estate that rides and handles like its hatch/saloon stable mate, but the Focus is scarily high on the list of possibles (new and old, although the new one is ugly as).

And the Skoda, a VRS ticks so many boxes, but doesn't meet the criteria for a new new car. Second hand ones seem like quite good value, but i suspect they're a bit like valvers ie every one has been spanked!

Mat, you have plenty to add to the older car debate! A J-reg Range Rover has been top of the list for a long time, despite the welding factory that would be needed. For example.

Marty, you are a sick sick man. As good as the C8 is, i never never want a soccer mum wagon, ever. I'd rather have a transit Torneo before lowering myself to that level (someone will likely dig this thread out in 3 years time to my shame.

Glad no one mentioned the shit heap that is the picasso. They are within the top ten of my all time worst cars.
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mat_the_cat
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mat_the_cat » 11 Nov 2014

Didn't realise a RR would be a contender as a daily drive! Prices on the up, so better scratch that itch sooner rather than later. Would you really consider 25k a year in one though?
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Vanny
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 11 Nov 2014

Not since i found out i'd be pushing it to get 20mpg!

That said there is a very lovely 1983 Montiverde on eBay at the moment for sub £500!!
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Father Ted
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Father Ted » 12 Nov 2014

Its not the C8, its a Berlingo.
I love them, all the car anyone even needs. The ride OK, loads of room inside and sliding doors FTW.

Alternatively a 16 year old Nissan Micra which got compliments in the car park at Asda the other day... Also FTW. If I had the money and was buying new, I would buy a Note. They too handle pretty well, but then I like boxy cars....
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Philhod » 13 Nov 2014

Yeah, but Ted. He wants a car that he can shove all his stuff in + the nipper, then it has to drive like an R8. [chin] [no]

Test drive a New C4 Picasso. 115 Exclusive, fitz yer stuff in, 117mph, 0-60 10, 25 quid tax and 60mpg. :D

The Disco rusts less than the RR
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mickey taker » 13 Nov 2014

how much are the new land rover discovery sports ?
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 13 Nov 2014

mickey taker wrote:how much are the new land rover discovery sports ?
Stupid money! Somewhere around the £35k mark. On the company scheme they are more expensive that a Range Rover Sport which is 15 to 20k more expensive at the dealer.
Philhod wrote:then it has to drive like an R8
Oh hell no, it has to commute, more or a GT than a road legal race car. Actually the BMW GT5 is a lovely lovely car, again £38k new, but effectively a roomier 7 series. But flawed by the fact that its a BMW and i dont want to have to lower my driving skills to that level.
Father Ted wrote:Its not the C8, its a Berlingo.
Wow thems are bigger than i thought. Berlingos are shit and have no street cred, but second hand they are cheap as chips and proper work wagons. Arguably the closest thing Citroen have to the BX at the moment. And less offensive than a Picasso. Hmmm scarily i might have to give that some more thought.

I quite like the latest note (mum has one) but i find them a bit lacking, in everything. They're not bad cars, the styling is good, but, meh. Better than a bloody QashCow, the mobility drivers car of choice these days.

In the ten year old car category i'd be tempted by an old C-class or even an E-Class, but i think they're just a bit too big. The latest B-class is a horrendous car, unless you get the AMG version which is amazing, over priced and likely to end in a multi year driving ban.
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mat_the_cat
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mat_the_cat » 13 Nov 2014

Vanny wrote:Hmmm scarily i might have to give that some more thought.
If you're considering a Blingo you may as well just buy a Kangoo... [coat]
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mat_the_cat
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mat_the_cat » 13 Nov 2014

Actually, I was joking there but thinking about it, the new shape one might be an option. Supposedly a lot better quality feel inside (not too difficult!) and more car-like handling as it's based on the (I think) Megane platform. Would have thought they'd be WELL under £25k too, and if you don't own it then Renault electrics will be someone else's problem...
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 14 Nov 2014

To my knowledge we can't have Renaults on the company car policy as they are too expensive due to an absence of reliability, yet they allow Citroens, Peugeots and Land Rovers . . .

Kangoos are shit though, and i doubt the latest offerings are any different. They are for Europeans that simply don't care about how they get from a to b. And i have bought and driven one in the past, though only for my grandparents who think its amazing, but they use it as a van with extra windows. I wouldn't want to be in a crash in one that's for sure. There is a reason the Berlingos of a same age are considerably more expensive. Soul less flimsy pieces of crap. I'd rather have a half rusted out C15 over a Kangoo.
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mickey taker » 14 Nov 2014

1.6 diesel citreon cactus.

skoda octavia scout. Or even the yeti 4x4
loads of room for all your climbing/ canoeing/baby stuff and four wheel drive.

I know you dont like the quasqai but not adverse to a note so what about the Xtrail or if you want a car the infinity Q50 2.2d
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mat_the_cat » 15 Nov 2014

Vanny wrote:They are for Europeans that simply don't care about how they get from a to b.
Or for people who don't car what others think of their car?
Vanny wrote:I wouldn't want to be in a crash in one that's for sure. There is a reason the Berlingos of a same age are considerably more expensive.
Image probably, as the Euro NCAP rating at least is pretty similar :P
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/citroen_b ... 5/234.aspx
http://www.euroncap.com/tests/renault_k ... 3/179.aspx

But fair enough, it's not for you and that's the main thing. Just didn't know whether the current one was different enough to be on your radar.
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 15 Nov 2014

Your doing a politicians leap there Matt, I did not compare crash qualities of the kangoo against the berlingo.

If I'm honest I dislike renaults on the grounds that Louis Renault was anti Semitic and turned the Renault factories into German munition factories the day they turned up in France. And this is the reason Renault still exist. Problem is of course that Renault do make so cracking cars.

Not seen the latest offering, but we can't have Renaults as company cars, so I would be stuck with your age of kangoo, and I'm just not ready for that, certainly not for 2 hours a day on the m6, mostly at idle.

I guess I really want someone to just drive me there and back, that would be quite good. I bet it would cost £50 each way in a taxi . . . Hmmm maybe not
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Re: New Car Options

Post by mat_the_cat » 16 Nov 2014

Vanny wrote:Your doing a politicians leap there Matt, I did not compare crash qualities of the kangoo against the berlingo.
Sorry, misunderstood there then :oops: TBH I wouldn't suggest mine as a motorway vehicle, even at 1st gear speeds. And not sure if image (i.e. visiting customers) is important, in which case I'm not 100% sure that a ancient design of van with windows projects quite the right sort of image...

There was a company a while back who completely restored and modernised old Jags (80s/90s) for people to use as company cars...think the loophole was that you got taxed on the initial purchase price rather than the cost to purchase after restoration. I could see you in one of those, but you're buggered by the C02 limits. That's if such a thing still exists.
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Re: New Car Options

Post by Vanny » 24 Nov 2014

Hmmm, for 5k I'm becoming tempted by a newer c5 like the next door neighbour has. That or for a little bit more a c6 could be a laugh. It's that or a 2006 seat Leon fr, or a Subaru impreza or . . .
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Re: New Car Options

Post by jayw » 24 Nov 2014

'06/'07 A4 Avant? Plenty under 5k. 2ltr petrol turbo's got 200bhp... or the 2.5td...
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