ideas? workhorse car for business use

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rjk

rjk

rjk

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Hello Motors

The Mrs is a photographer for our local newspaper and the company have essentially canned off their pool cars.

This means they are offering a fairly generous car allowance. She doesn't want to use her MX5 for it and the business miles is around 40-60 a day. mileage is paid separately to the allowance.

She is currently liking the Mazda 2 but I have suggested a very high specification, unique vehicle which I will not mention on here for a bit.

I should mention that She has an MX5 and I have an S2000 and whilst a driveway with a pair of two seater sports cars is nice, we have both drawn the conclusion that if we are having a 3rd car, then it may as well be practical.

The budget is around 5k and essentially it needs to be reliable and cheap to run whilst being easy to drive and have a few nice features.

Obviously, things like fiestas and things are coming up but none of them are outspeccing the car that I am suggesting.

OcUK, 5K, what are you saying?
 
Get a Mondeo.

With a Mondy and an MX5 on the drive you'll have the answer to every question that could possibly be asked. In fact you may as well get rid of the S2K
 
If she likes the Mazda 2, how about the Mazda 3? Better spec, more kit, far more comfortable and much more versatile.
 
My mrs has a 5 door ibiza sport on an 09 plate, very comfy but i only have my celica to compare it, great on fuel and she uses it a lot around town for work, surprisingly roomy inside with decent boot space, decentish kit with aux and mp3, looks nice. Shes had it two years ish with no issues to speak of

She complains about the performance though but then i rub it in that i wanted her to get a yaris 1.8 sr which she didn't like the look of
 
A Mini Dooper? I don't like the styling, but women seem to. And my wife's old Cooper S was a hoot to drive. Put the back seats down and use it like a 2-seater estate.
 
no, the car fund is a contribution from them to the employees, there are no specifics such as age/warranty etc so its pretty much free choice.
 
Ok, so the current options are:

£2.5k budget and just use the first years payment to pay for a car. Under this category we have
- Honda Jazz
- BMW Mini One

£5k budget get something that will easily last a few years, have warranty
- Fiesta 1.4
- Fiat 500 1.4
- Seat Ibiza 1.4


and then my choice :cool:
- Nissan Cube
 
Don't really see the point. These cars are no bigger than the MX5 other than offering 2 extra seats in the back.

The MX5 is hardly a prestigious car to warrant keeping the miles off it either. Just use the MX5 and go on an awesome holiday?
 
rossk26 said:
Don't really see the point. These cars are no bigger than the MX5 other than offering 2 extra seats in the back.

The MX5 is hardly a prestigious car to warrant keeping the miles off it either. Just use the MX5 and go on an awesome holiday?
Click to expand...

she isnt going to sell the mx5. but the mx5 isnt going to do better than 30mpg doing short journey town driving on a daily basis.

its not my call to make. If it were me in that position, i would sell the sports car and get a nice daily to save hassle on two car running costs. im guessing she will find herself not using the mx5 and ultimately finding it an unnecessary luxury but i could be wrong. time will tell on that one.
 
MPG will be negligible and fuel is paid for anyway? Most cars don't have great city MPG unless you're driving a 600cc Kei car or similar.

The point of owning an MX5 is that it's an everyday sports car. It'll fit all her kit, can have a hard top in winter and she can save contributions from the paper for herself.

Also, the Nissan Cube is massive. Awesome and oddball car, but not really viable as a city car.
 
Getting a second car is a waste of money. The 10mpg or so saving she'll get over the Mx-5 over 15k miles equates to about £1000 and from that she'll have to pay additional VED, insurance, maintenance & depreciation as well as the opportunity cost lost from the money paid for the car.

Considering she'll be getting a car allowance & mileage she'll effectively be getting paid to drive around in a car she loves if she uses the MX-5 - it makes the most amount of sense.
 
rjkoneill said:
she isnt going to sell the mx5. but the mx5 isnt going to do better than 30mpg doing short journey town driving on a daily basis.

its not my call to make. If it were me in that position, i would sell the sports car and get a nice daily to save hassle on two car running costs. im guessing she will find herself not using the mx5 and ultimately finding it an unnecessary luxury but i could be wrong. time will tell on that one.
Click to expand...

Nor are any of the other cars going to do much better than 30mpg either then...

I used to the ST for business use back when I worked for the NHS and got 45p per mile, I just about broke even on fuel costs. But I never considered getting a second car for that kind of mileage. False economy

In that case you need to talk some sense into the woman! Sell MX-5 and upgrade if necessary to something that meets both needs of work and pleasure.
 
Dup said:
Nissan Cube is massive
Click to expand...

Cube
Length: 3980 mm
Width: 1695 mm

Corsa
Length: 3999 mm
Width: 1944 mm

:cool:


Im sort of in agreement though. using the MX5 as the daily for a few months is probably going to be the way to go. see how running costs actually are.

or she can just sell it and buy a cube like i want her to
 
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