New car collected!

[LiE]

As some of you may have read, I've been waiting to collect my new car which I got through a scheme as described in this thread: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18590450

Here's a summary of the scheme:
- Car is ordered 6 months in advance.
- You keep the car for 6 months or 8,500 miles, after which you get your next car.
- Being a new car you don't have to worry about tax (it has 12 months), tyres, warranty or services/mots.
- It's only available through employees of VW group

For this car I pay £119/month.

It's a Seat Leon SC 1.8 TSI DSG FR in Lima Green with 180ps. It was specced with Technology pack by VW, I wasn't able to choose options, only my colour preference.

So here are some pics!









My next car in October is an Audi A1 Sportback 1.4 TFSI Black Edition 185 S tronic.

 

[LiE]

Wow that's a great perk! New Leon looks great too, interior looks to be a huge improvement over the previous one.

Yea interior is pretty good.

£119 per month for that must be a bargain. I do like the Leon FR's.

Having said that the only choice you had was the colour......

I think it looks good in this colour!

So all you get to pick is model and colour?

What about engine? Manual v auto?

I'm given a list, which contains cars from VW, Skoda, Seat and Audi. There will be various models/engines. The only option we get is the colour. I went for an Auto purely because it will be nicer on my commute in traffic.

 

[LiE]

Yep I'd certainly opt for the 18s personally

 

[LiE]

For the deal it's really impossible not to say that that's a cracking deal, and a great car for the price.

I'll give it a few months putting my thoughts together on the car.

I work for a big Logistics company and the contract I work on is for Bentley motors UK.
a LOT of people here (Bentley not my company) are on that scheme, my old boss (left to work at Bentley) is currently driving an S3, which he pays a bit of a premium for but loves it.

Question - do you have to pay your own insurance on top of that £119 or does that cover the lot ?

I think I need a job at VW

I have to pay insurance. I have a fuel card through work so I don't pay that so really all I'm paying is £119 + insurance.

My dad is driving an S3 on this scheme, although he lucked when getting that as it's not a choice on the list. Sometimes when both 1st and 2nd choice cars are denied they allow you to choose from the stock list which can contain more interesting cars

 

[LiE]

Yup! I think it suits the car very well.

 

[LiE]

I'm sure by the time the new car smell is getting low I'll have my next new car

 

[LiE]

Nice!

Another good thing about that scheme is you can have any colour you want, without having to think about resell value!

Almost I put in a 1st and 2nd choice for colour, they have to approve.

In the case of the Audi A1 I requested blue or silver and neither was accepted. They will likely give me the colour they choose.

 

[LiE]

The touch screen media centre is pretty great.

 

[LiE]

I'm on a similar scheme where I work (in fact part of my job is running the scheme, deciding which cars go on and at what price etc), and after 10 new cars in just over 3 years the novelty does begin to wear off. You start ordering cars you wouldn't normally choose just to have something different.

Not a bad position to be in.

 

[LiE]

Nice car, but that colour?

You had one chance to mess it up, and you did.

Someone has to choose the exciting, non-bland colours.

 

[LiE]

Gave the wheels a clean last night and a layer of FK1000P to keep them clean. They had already started to collect baked on dust.

It's taking a little getting used to not having the car instantly move off when pressing the accelerator, one of the quirks of an auto.

 

[LiE]

So 3 months in (and 3k miles) and absolutely loving this car, the DSG is fantastic. I'm also surprised at how quickly the car can accelerate considering it's only 180ps - I suspect the fast gear changes help massively in this area. Plenty of torque and grip.

Handling has been really good, the MQB platform is remarkably planted with the suspension setup on this model.

The synthetic engine noise is good, if not a little extreme when going flat out. Makes it sound like a straight 6 while on the outside it doesn't sound so great no doubt

Next car has been confirmed:

Audi A1 Sportback 1.4 TFSI Black Edition 185 S tronic in Scuba Blue. Monthly cost is the same I believe as the Seat.

 

[LiE]

You can unplug the synthetic SoundAKTOR if you don't like it, or wire it to a switch inside your bonnet so you could turn it off for long motorway trips.

As I don't own the car I think I'll pass on playing with it.

 

[LiE]

it's a meh spec'd Audi

MW

I'm pretty sure the black edition is well specced.

 

[LiE]

I can get a manual yea, but I chose DSG due to the type of driving I do and my preference.

 

[LiE]

I've seen a quite a few FR around lately and they can look quite ordinary in safer colours. I like the red and blue also. A1 will be nice in Scuba blue. This is the exact colour/model I'm getting:



Quicker than the FR too, not sure how handling will compare, the FR is pretty good in that regard.

 

[LiE]

Amazing deal!

What larger cars are on the list out of interest?

On the same list as the A1 I went with, there were quite a few to choose from. 2-3 pages for each Audi, Skoda, VW and Seat. Most are run of the mill cars, nothing special engine or spec wise. I did consider these though.

VW Passat CC R-Line 2.0 TDI 177ps DSG £162/month
A4 Avant 2.0 TDI quattro S Line 177ps S Tronic £187/month
Yeti Outdoor Elegance 2.0 TDI 177ps DSG £150/month

 

[LiE]

Yea it's possible, but I'm sure it will still be fun being small and having decent power.

 

[LiE]

So the Leon goes back on the 8th, and I pick up the A1 for the next 6 months. I have the list for the car I will be collecting in May 2015, and so far this is really taking my fancy.

Scirocco R-Line 2.0 TSI 220PS DSG £151/month

As a backup option:

Leon 5dr 2.0 TDI DSG FR 184 £133/month

I was very tempted by this, but the price and practicality aren't worth it.

New TT Coupe 2.0 TFSI quattro S line 230 S tronic £193/month

 

[LiE]

I dunno, considering it's only for 6 months i'd be very tempted by the new TT

I am still very tempted, just not sure even 6 months of reduced practically would work. I'll have to look at one over the weekend.

LiE do you work for group services or one of the brands up there?

I visit there once a week and the deals you get on cars are amazing. I'm jealous of the Audi salesman who has the RS7

I looked at the new TT when it was in the showroom up there and it's very impressive

I don't work for them, my younger brother is a master tech so gets 2 additional people onto this scheme. His choice list is much more impressive than the one I get, he'll be driving some serious machines when he hits 25.