New Company Car Choices

v0n said:
Maybe with exception of bizarrely antiquated and yankee-like service of dialling a call centre for directions.
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I used it the other night for directions - so much better than trying to find a POI on a sat nav screen, or finding the postcode on a smart phone and then typing it in. The difference is, you can do it while driving....

Plus, OnStar is much more than that (4G Wifi, smartphone app, diagnostics email, emergency response, stolen vehicle service i.e. can disable the ignition if stolen). None of the other mainstream manufacturers have anything like it.

It's not antiquated at all. It's very modern.
 
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Joe T said:
I used it the other night for directions - so much better than trying to find a POI on a sat nav screen, or finding the postcode on a smart phone and then typing it in. The difference is, you can do it while driving....
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I don't know if I misunderstood the above or I'm just that hard to impress, but I can voice command, search and dictate new targets to navigation in a 2009 Skoda Octavia, Ford Sync is also - what - 5/6 years old? That stuff is everywhere, without calling out for help plus voice searches are also function of every smart phone these days. Why would we be dialling for someone else to find directions and upload them back, like it was a decade old Merc with a Nokia cradle? This is some sort of yankee madness.

Plus, OnStar is much more than that (4G Wifi, smartphone app, diagnostics email, emergency response, stolen vehicle service i.e. can disable the ignition if stolen). None of the other mainstream manufacturers have anything like it.

It's not antiquated at all. It's very modern.
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Doesn't every modern family car under the sun have assisted services these days - you know from Beemers iDrive/ConnectedDrive all the way to the KIA UVO?
 
I think we should let the OP make up his mind with a test drive of each of the vehicles, rather than let other's prejudice affect his decision. :)
 
I have a 15 plate Astra atm and the new Astra is a lot nicer place to be . But it drives the same and we have a 14 plate focus and 2 x 15 plate fiestas and there just better cars.. Go drive them all then decide but the Focus would be my choice
 
bigdunc said:
Ford Focus Titanium 1.5T EcoBoost 150PS with Sat Nav option
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One of my friends has one of these but with a manual. Very nice car and very nice place to be.

Personally, it's the one I'd pick from the three, but that's more based on history than having read recent reviews of the new Astra.
 
Snaggle said:
I have a 15 plate Astra atm and the new Astra is a lot nicer place to be . But it drives the same and we have a 14 plate focus and 2 x 15 plate fiestas and there just better cars.. Go drive them all then decide but the Focus would be my choice
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The new Astra does not drive anything like the same as the old one. Losing up to 200kg of weight makes a huge difference. :)
 
Go and drive them all, see how they feel. Ive always struggled in VX's due to the poor seats the ordinary models have, i struggle in the audi a4 for anything over 2 hours, due to the ofset pedals, with a company car, if you are going to be doing any significant miles, then its important you drive the cars to get a good feel.
 
The outgoing Astra seemed quite poorly equipped in my experience - it didn't seem like it was available with things like climate control and xenons, which seem to be widely available with its competitors. But the new one does seem like an improvement in this respect. And the outgoing model that I had a year or so ago did drive quite well (naturally aspirated 1.4 petrol engine aside) even if it was sparsely equipped. I really hate a lot of the older Vauxhalls (the Vectra and Corsa and previous Astras are really horrible things to sit in, operate, and drive IMHO) but they do seem to be upping their game.




Acme said:
You can be such a moron sometimes...
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Is there any need for that? His point is that whilst a 150bhp turbocharged petrol engine will be fairly pokey, it's not the sort of car most people will buy if they want a B-road blaster is it?
 
Yes I feel there was a need for that. I'm tired of Fox trying to make me look like an idiot with some sarcastic comment with very little relevance to what I actually said.

Lots of people would like a 150HP car which handles nicely on the back roads. It may not be their primary concern, but I didn't say it would be.
 
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I've noticed certain posters do seem to like descending into petty personal insults pretty quickly.... Kind of sad really, this forum used to be fairly mature (relatively speaking!)

But yeah, 150bhp in a modern fairly heavy hatch is not powerful. It's adequate.
 
Acme said:
Yes I feel there was a need for that. I'm tired of Fox trying to make me look like an idiot with some sarcastic comment with very little relevance to what I actually said.
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You give yourself a little too much credit if you think I seek out your posts to 'make you look like an idiot'. That isn't the case, the fact it happens frequently is more because you are in every thread lately not some sort of strange vendetta so don't worry about that.

My point was clear and on topic - you replied to me, I replied back. That's all there is to it. I didn't seek you out - you replied to me! You implied that a 'lot of people' would care about the handling on a car of this type, I disagree with that view. Very few people will care. If we were discussing ST v GTI v VXR then its a different matter entirely.

These are not performance cars, hot hatchbacks or enthusiast trim levels. They are regular cars for regular usage and in this respect I'm not so sure that the Focus superior driving dynamics are enough to save it given it's a fairly mediocre package in other areas. It's a car that's further through its life cycle than either of its major competitors and it's beginning to show.
 
I didn't say you sought out my posts... And its interesting that you think you are entitled to your subjective opinion, but I'm not to mine. That much is clear from tge sarcastic remark following my post which disagreed with yours...

Anyway, I digress.
 
Acme said:
And its interesting that you think you are entitled to your subjective opinion, but I'm not to mine.
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It would be interesting, if anyone other than you had said that. I don't believe I've said you are not entitled to your opinion. Heck, I didn't even report your insult because I beleive you are entitled to that opinion, too :p
 
The moron comment wasn't 100% serious, if I could rephrase it I would say that you sound like a moron sometimes, but then again I'm conscious that I do too... So this to and fro is all rather pointless.

Get the Focus :p
 
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