What have been your best/worst company cars?
Discussion
Sorry to exclude non-company car drivers. I don't have a company car but used to sell cars between 2002 and 2007. Here's my best and worst (I sold Mercedes, MG Rover, Suzuki and VW).
Worst:
Rover 25 Automatic - Hated the CVT box and mine had the company's name plastered down the side which didn't help but in all fairness, it was quite quick for what it was and lift-off oversteered on wet roundabouts, which was quite fun!
Suzuki Jimny O2 Softop - Laughably bad, very jiggly ride and at 60mph couldn't hear the radio even with the roof up as it flapped around so much. Only had it for one weekend though and took it to the beach, so didn't hate it that much!
VW Polo Dune 1.2 - Quite a cool-looking little car and quite well specced up but the buzzy 1.2 engine made it the noisiest, slowest car I have ever driven other than a Type 2 Camper! Also had a couple of these with the 1.4 TDI engine which were fine.
But the worst by far (and I didn't think it was possible to get a bad company car working at Mercedes) were these:
Mercedes-Benz A140 Auto - The only car that I have driven where I didn't feel in control. The position of my right foot had no bearing on my speed, it just seemed to go at the speed it wanted to go!
Mercedes-Benz Vaneo - This was slightly better, 1.6 petrol engine and longer wheelbase meant a smoother ride but the clutchless manual gearbox was just weird and probably one of the ugliest cars ever made!
My sales manager told me that in the 80s/90s before Mercedes nrought out the A-Class, they all used to have VW Golfs as company cars, which would have been infinitely preferable!
How about the good ones?
MG ZR - My first decent company car. Handled well and looked great (17" alloys, front fogs, sideskirts). Looked like a 160 but in fact was a 1.4, so not that quick and build quality a bit suspect. Loved it at 24 years old though and was disappointed when I returned from holiday and my colleague had sold it!
After being at VW for a couple of years, my boss trusted me enough to give me some decent company cars. The MkV Golfs were the nicest. Drove well for what they were and comfy long-distance cars.
Had this Golf GT TDI with the 2.0 140bhp engine for about 6 months and loved it. Diesel was good because I was commuting 60 miles per day and as quick as my Corrado VR6 toy in "normal" driving. Had all the options I would have specified as well: climate control, cruise, heated seats and a dash-mounted CD changer.
Had a black Golf 1.9 TDI Match for a while afterwards as well which was pretty nice and a fully loaded TDI 4Motion in blue with beige leather, which was awesome!
My favourite company car would have to be one of these though. Technically it wasn't "my" company car but looked after it for a week whilst my colleague was on holiday. The diesel Golfs were good to drive but the GTI was an entirely different animal. Much faster and sharper to drive. Not that powerful by todays standards but at the time pretty quick. Still one of, if not the best all-rounder I have ever driven. I preferred the manual version but the DSG was pretty good also. I liked my Impreza WRX too as an all-rounder but much heavier on fuel than the Golf. I would be tempted to own a Mk5/6/7 Golf GTI at some point but since owning the Impreza my preference is 4WD/AWD and I would like to try RWD again.
So what have been your best and worst company cars?
Worst:
Rover 25 Automatic - Hated the CVT box and mine had the company's name plastered down the side which didn't help but in all fairness, it was quite quick for what it was and lift-off oversteered on wet roundabouts, which was quite fun!
Suzuki Jimny O2 Softop - Laughably bad, very jiggly ride and at 60mph couldn't hear the radio even with the roof up as it flapped around so much. Only had it for one weekend though and took it to the beach, so didn't hate it that much!
VW Polo Dune 1.2 - Quite a cool-looking little car and quite well specced up but the buzzy 1.2 engine made it the noisiest, slowest car I have ever driven other than a Type 2 Camper! Also had a couple of these with the 1.4 TDI engine which were fine.
But the worst by far (and I didn't think it was possible to get a bad company car working at Mercedes) were these:
Mercedes-Benz A140 Auto - The only car that I have driven where I didn't feel in control. The position of my right foot had no bearing on my speed, it just seemed to go at the speed it wanted to go!
Mercedes-Benz Vaneo - This was slightly better, 1.6 petrol engine and longer wheelbase meant a smoother ride but the clutchless manual gearbox was just weird and probably one of the ugliest cars ever made!
My sales manager told me that in the 80s/90s before Mercedes nrought out the A-Class, they all used to have VW Golfs as company cars, which would have been infinitely preferable!
How about the good ones?
MG ZR - My first decent company car. Handled well and looked great (17" alloys, front fogs, sideskirts). Looked like a 160 but in fact was a 1.4, so not that quick and build quality a bit suspect. Loved it at 24 years old though and was disappointed when I returned from holiday and my colleague had sold it!
After being at VW for a couple of years, my boss trusted me enough to give me some decent company cars. The MkV Golfs were the nicest. Drove well for what they were and comfy long-distance cars.
Had this Golf GT TDI with the 2.0 140bhp engine for about 6 months and loved it. Diesel was good because I was commuting 60 miles per day and as quick as my Corrado VR6 toy in "normal" driving. Had all the options I would have specified as well: climate control, cruise, heated seats and a dash-mounted CD changer.
Had a black Golf 1.9 TDI Match for a while afterwards as well which was pretty nice and a fully loaded TDI 4Motion in blue with beige leather, which was awesome!
My favourite company car would have to be one of these though. Technically it wasn't "my" company car but looked after it for a week whilst my colleague was on holiday. The diesel Golfs were good to drive but the GTI was an entirely different animal. Much faster and sharper to drive. Not that powerful by todays standards but at the time pretty quick. Still one of, if not the best all-rounder I have ever driven. I preferred the manual version but the DSG was pretty good also. I liked my Impreza WRX too as an all-rounder but much heavier on fuel than the Golf. I would be tempted to own a Mk5/6/7 Golf GTI at some point but since owning the Impreza my preference is 4WD/AWD and I would like to try RWD again.
So what have been your best and worst company cars?
Worst: Datsun Cherry by Nissan 
XGE 127W from memory. (Well I was 20 at the time, and it was an old trade in, but I still loved it in a strange way)
Best: 306 Rallye T374 NCS - Bought it when I left the Company Car scheme, a long time ago, and then ran it till 110,000 miles. Brilliant car!
XGE 127W from memory. (Well I was 20 at the time, and it was an old trade in, but I still loved it in a strange way)Best: 306 Rallye T374 NCS - Bought it when I left the Company Car scheme, a long time ago, and then ran it till 110,000 miles. Brilliant car!
Worst: a Mk3 Golf GTI, under-powered and a sloppy drive, but worst of all was the reliability - it was broken more than it was running, and company fleet co. took it back after 12 months or so of the two-year lease.
Best: any from a number of Jag XJ8 4 litre V8s - we got to change them every 5K miles, so I had 4 or 5 in a row, and they were brilliant to drive, and if specced with the right wheels and colour combo were one of the best looking cars on the road - all totally reliable, too.
Best: any from a number of Jag XJ8 4 litre V8s - we got to change them every 5K miles, so I had 4 or 5 in a row, and they were brilliant to drive, and if specced with the right wheels and colour combo were one of the best looking cars on the road - all totally reliable, too.
Worst a Sierra 2.3 non turbo diesel Estate. I lost a wheel trim trying and succeeding to take it flat* through Eau Rouge when that was still on the public road network.
Skoda Superb V6 estate dsg 4x4. Best.
Chevy Suburban in Washington DC. Like a parting of the waves. Nobody gave us any s
t. Also quite good but dynamically a pos.
Just fyi have referenced vehicles driven regularly rather than occasional drives in pool cars and the like. If that's included then there has to be a Prius in there thatseemed to have a ppermanently flat battery so wouldn't start and actually managed to get stuck in snow going downhill. Something to do with the power control anti spin system being hopeless in forward. In reverse it wasn't an issue. So when we got stuck going downhill we just stuck it in reverse and backed up the hill, turned it round and got through in reverse.
- *still not very fast.
Skoda Superb V6 estate dsg 4x4. Best.
Chevy Suburban in Washington DC. Like a parting of the waves. Nobody gave us any s
t. Also quite good but dynamically a pos.Just fyi have referenced vehicles driven regularly rather than occasional drives in pool cars and the like. If that's included then there has to be a Prius in there thatseemed to have a ppermanently flat battery so wouldn't start and actually managed to get stuck in snow going downhill. Something to do with the power control anti spin system being hopeless in forward. In reverse it wasn't an issue. So when we got stuck going downhill we just stuck it in reverse and backed up the hill, turned it round and got through in reverse.
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