Company Car Choices

blairw

blairw

blairw

Soldato
Joined
19 Mar 2006
Posts
3,857
Location
Scotland, UK
Hello All,
Just looking for someone (Fox mainly) to double check my thinking.
I've recently changed jobs and need to select a new company car from a fairly wide range of options. I had narrowed it down to the below before going to look at them in person at some dealers today

BMW 520d M Sport
BMW 320d M Sport
Mercedes C Class 220d AMG
Audi A4 S Line (150bhp)
Audi A3 Saloon S Line (150bhp)

Decent enough range of cars that fit within my allowance with the required options ticket (colour other than recession white and Professional Media etc for the BMW's)

The five series to me was in a totally different class to the others in terms of interior, overall look and I presume long term comfort. Is there any reason not to go ahead with this? I see that it is to be replaced next year? Is this a facelift or are we looking at a fully new 5 series round the corner?

Proposed spec
520d M Sport

Space OR Mineral Grey
Oyster Dakota Leather
Automatic transmission with gearshift paddles
Reversing Assist camera (this required? Worth dumping for something else?)
Interior trim, Fine Brushed Aluminium (some guidance on the non cost trims please?)
Navigation system - BMW Professional Multimedia (seems a no brainer?)

Any other suggestions / input on what I should be looking at above base M Sport spec on the 5 Series, or indeed if it is the right one to go for? I can wait a bit longer if required before order if the new one is truly close - or is the reason this car is available to me (Audi / Merc equivalents aren't) due to the impending change over?

Cheers
 
Absolutely pick the 5 Series. It is replaced next year with an all-new car but IMHO it's still the best car in your list and worryingly for Mercedes, it managed to beat the new E Class in What Car?'s first group test :confused: It's simply a better car from a higher class than everything else on your list - the 3 Series, whilst nowhere near replacement, is of the same generation as the 5 Series sot here is really zero benefit of choosingi t.

There is an essential option everyone forgets that you really need to take my word on - Climate Control with Extended Features. This is standard fit on everything except the 520d and the 518d and people think it doesn't matter but it really does. Without it, the climate control loses various bits of minor functionality from the control panel but crucially it has no solar sensor.

This means when it's sunny outside you end up having to constantly fiddle with the climate in order to offset the effect of the sun through the class. My 530d has the proper climate, my Dad's 520d does not and the difference is stark. In my car, I set the temperature to 21c years ago and never touched it again. In his car, you are often fiddling about it with it. Why BMW do this is maddening.

I'd pick that over a camera every day of the week and yet I bet nobody else will even think of it.

On the 520d the paddles are fairly pointless as it isn't the full Sport Automatic Transmission with better shifter anymore, its just paddles on the wheel. You'll rarely use them.

Brushed Aluminum clashes very badly with the Oyster leather - you need Piano Black or wood trim with Oyster or it just looks weird. If you insist on aluminium trim, go for black leather.

Pro Media is indeed a no brainer.

Another reasonably cheap option to consider is Adaptive Headlights with High Beam Assist. Another option thats badly sold and badly explained - on the facelift 5 Series this actually gives you the dynamic high beam assist that alters the full beam around oncoming cars and vehicles in front rather than simply automatically dips the full beam. It's really, really good but ultra rare as nobody seems to know it does this.
 
5 series by a mile.

I looked at pretty much everything for my next company chariot, and in the mid exec sector, the 5 series is still pretty much the daddy. The only thing that was nicer was the XF, but thats not on your list! E class is a very nice car inside, but to drive the 5'er is by far the better car to drive.

I'd personally drop the rear view camera, ive had it on cars before, and it doesnt really offer anything much more than sensors.

I'd take the A4 over a 3 series (but not the 150bhp engine), had the C class not had a stupid tablet screen, it would be the daddy in the small exec sector.
 
The answer to every car question ever is 'The BMW 5 Series'.

At least this is the logic loop I've managed to get my brain trapped in, anyway.
 
Agree, although Scrutinize did he thought the old E class was better than the F10. He is a pipe and slippers kind of guy though :p
 
What is the infotainment system like on the new E Class? The WhatCar review said that handling dynamics aside, the E Class is almost a match for the F10.

I like the interior of the new E I sat in when in Berlin, the dash/ door cards were all leather which felt like a nice touch.
 
Sukh said:
What is the infotainment system like on the new E Class? The WhatCar review said that handling dynamics aside, the E Class is almost a match for the F10.

I like the interior of the new E I sat in when in Berlin, the dash/ door cards were all leather which felt like a nice touch.
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Which is great, but if the new E class is only just a match for the about to be replaced F10, that's not a good start for Mercedes and just seeks to highlight their completely obscure vehicle road map. For example, the S Class tech gets put into the C Class before the E Class which makes it virtually a decade out of date in terms of tech.

The "my first iPad" screen in the old E class was frankly awful. The new one is a lot better but now that that hand has already been played by Mercedes, you know that BMW will just better it.
 
It seems like you have a fairly decent allowance to allow you a 5 series with the spec you have posted.

A slight curve ball but what about a Skoda Superb? If you can get the 5 series you should be able to get top of range Superb with all the bells and whistles?

Appreciate it doesn't have the 'badge' however I have the previous gen as my work horse and it is a fantastic car...the new one is bloody lovely!
 
Django x2 said:
Which is great, but if the new E class is only just a match for the about to be replaced F10, that's not a good start for Mercedes and just seeks to highlight their completely obscure vehicle road map. For example, the S Class tech gets put into the C Class before the E Class which makes it virtually a decade out of date in terms of tech.
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Errr?

The current S class is 3, not 10, years old.

The "my first iPad" screen in the old E class was frankly awful.
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The old E Class had an integrated screen in the dash not an ipad style one?
 
The Skoda might have a few bells and whistles, but the interior is decidedly cheap feeling in the new model, it feels very austere. The old model was a better car inside.
 
I meant that as in, the graphics and clunky "vTech for kids" style approach to the entertainment system, and yes the current S class is not that old, but 3 years in technology is a lifetime and as a comparison, you put a 2009 E class next to an outgoing 2009 E60 and the iDrive was leagues ahead.
 
wohoo said:
The Skoda might have a few bells and whistles, but the interior is decidedly cheap feeling in the new model, it feels very austere. The old model was a better car inside.
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I'm not even sure what bells and whistles it will really have over a 520d M Sport in the specification the OP has selected anyway. Perhaps adaptive cruise?

But it's hardly the 'poverty spec BMW with cloth seats and a tape deck versus super luxury Skoda' it was perhaps being presented as :D
 
Maybe he was talking resolution? I certainly felt it was nowhere near as nice as the current 5 series screen.

I have had a look at the new E-Class. In the pictures it looks much better than the "stuck on iPad" of the lesser models. And like something you could live with. The screen resolution looks great and all that.

However, in real life, it feels like you have 2 to screens there. Rather than one big, nicely flowing screen. It's "almost" there, but really just falls down on the actual application. It's a shame, as there is some to like about the new E-Class. It's nowhere near as "showy" as the C for example. It actually feels like so,we here that could be a nice place to sit, rather than designed for footballers 17 year old son / daughter.

Back on point though. The 5 series is the pick of the bunch there OP. I like the reverse camera in mine, and use it daily. It really does help with things like knowing where your rear bumper sits in a space. There is not always something behind when reversing into a space, whether that be another parking bay, or a kerb or whatever, so sensors may not help in these cases. Although I do wish I had gone for surround view.

And as Fox said about the adaptive headlights. They aren't sold properly, so almost no-one specs them. But that is the one thing I am really upset about not speccing, because the dealer was clueless about what it actually did.
 
Django x2 said:
I meant that as in, the graphics and clunky "vTech for kids" style approach to the entertainment system, and yes the current S class is not that old, but 3 years in technology is a lifetime
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But the trouble is 3 years in car design lifecycles is absolutely not a lifetime. Every manufacturer is affected by this - in BMW they have this issue with the 3 Series and the X5. By the time the X5 appeared it was 5 years after the release of the F01 7 Series, the first F Series car.

Ditto 3 Series - came out 2 years after the 5 Series and almost 4 after the 7 yet is fundamentally a less good 5 Series with the same tech.

and as a comparison, you put a 2009 E class next to an outgoing 2009 E60 and the iDrive was leagues ahead.
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Put a 2009 E60 against a 2016 XE and the iDrive is leagues ahead :D
 
xs2man said:
And as Fox said about the adaptive headlights. They aren't sold properly, so almost no-one specs them. But that is the one thing I am really upset about not speccing, because the dealer was clueless about what it actually did.
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I discovered it entirely by accident as not even the website really explains them. I assumed, logically so, that it was exactly the same as the high beam assist on my pre facelift F10 and that you needed LED headlights for matrix-style beam shaping fun. Don't get me wrong, I like my high beam assist, it's useful. But I wouldn't pay money to spec it and I wouldn't get that upset if I didn't have it.

Imagine my surprise the first time I found myself driving an LCI 520d with high beam assist fitted at night :eek:
 
Exactly. No assumed it was the same as on my LCI E91, hence why I didn't put my own money into it when speccing up the 5. I even asked the sales guy if it was just the same.

Gutted when I was looking it up on the website, saw what it did, called my dealer to include it, and the car was already built. Salesmen really need better training.
 
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