Manual diesel wagon as a company car.

"duurtlang" (duurtlang) 01/01/2015 at 13:00 • Filed to: None

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A Ford Focus no less. Time for a brief review.

After a lot of short term contracts my employer finally gave me a real contract. For my job I visit a lot of clients in the agricultural sector. A consequence of the contract was that I was forced to trade my lucrative mileage compensation for my private car for a company car. Sadly. I had the choice between 3 different cars, unused cars with 2 digits on the odometer that were over a year old. Black manual diesel Focus wagon, silver manual diesel Focus wagon or beige-ish grey manual diesel Focus wagon (dark mica stone). Because silver and black are too common I went for the latter, in Titanium trim. Behold, here it is:

As you can see it's a nicely practical transportation appliance. My bicycle could fit without removing a wheel and with the hatch closed.

So, as an appliance it's great. How's the rest?

Like:

Quiet. Less than 2000 rpm at highway speed (120 kmh) in 6th gear.

Lots of options.

Practical.

Dislike:

My 15 year old Peugeot 406 coupe is simply a better car. Faster, more comfortable, sportier, lower fuel costs (LPG fuel conversion) and probably more reliable too, given the 0 problems in the last almost 80k km. It's 15 years old. The Focus is newish and depreciates more in half a year than the whole 406 is worth. The Peugeot shouldn't win, but it does.

The seats. My god, the seats. I might be spoiled by my future classic Peugeots, but even in this luxury Titanium trim the Focus seats suck. Hard, unsupportive, not very adjustable and just not comfortable.

Ergonomy. The navigation controls are horrid, as is the rest of the entertainment system. With your elbow resting on the door you can't comfortably adjust the indicators stack and cruise control buttons, which is something I do all the time in the 406.

Odd options. Push button start, but what's the point when you have to physically lock and unlock the car? Powered and heated mirrors that don't fold automatically. Shitty and poorly adjustable seats, yet it can park itself.

I'm not a fan. New it was €27500. Had it been my money and had it cost 20% of that I still would've walked away. I'm not going to drive this Focus privately, as it's just not worth the cost. The 406 will stay daily driver, the Focus will be responsible for work related trips only.

The three vehicles I drive frequently, two Peugeots and the shitbox:

Odometer reading when I got it last week:

thebigbossyboss > duurtlang 04/01/2015 at 13:03

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Man. I want a job with a company car, getting paid to drive, as I almost never am would be fun!!

MonkeePuzzle > duurtlang 04/01/2015 at 13:03

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wow

duurtlang > thebigbossyboss 04/01/2015 at 13:08

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I don't disagree, but my previous situation was better. Spoiled even. I got to drive a car of my own choice, and was paid so much compensation per driven km that I saved about €0.22 a km ($0.38 a mile) after I paid for fuel. In addition to my normal salary. As a result I wasn't pleased I was forced into the company car, although I do fully understand it.

Klaus Schmoll > duurtlang 04/01/2015 at 13:38

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How come all 3 cars have been sitting around for over a year. That' s a lot of money wasted.

duurtlang > Klaus Schmoll 04/01/2015 at 13:51

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I'm employed by the government. Should I add more? Moreover, it weren't 3 cars. It were dozens of cars, some 'new' like mine, others gently used by people who retired or got another job. When I went to pick up my car there were 3 colleagues present picking up identical 'new' cars in the exact same color.

There is another reason though. If you choose to drive a company car privately the government sees it as income. Taxable income. The amount of tax you pay depends on the new value of the car and its CO2 emission class. Per 1-1-2014 the CO2 emission demands of these classes became more stringent on newly registered cars. My car was registered 11-2013 or 12-2013, so still using the old emission class. If I were to drive this car privately, which I won't, I'd have to add 14% of the new value (€27.5k) on top of my taxable income. Had the same car be registered in 2014 this would've been 20% as it couldn't make the new 14% bracket. The difference, 6%, is €1650 a year in extra taxable income. The top of my income is in the 42% income tax bracket, so I'd have to pay €693 a year extra in income tax to drive this car privately had it been registered in 2014 in stead of 2013.
This is all irrelevant to me though, as I'll only use it for work. I'll pay €0.

Klaus Schmoll > duurtlang 04/01/2015 at 15:43

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Taxation on company cars is pretty similar in Germany. I think I remember you saying that it had a data logger that prevents any creativity when when it comes to proving that you didn't use it privately, but since you don't seem to be too fond of it anyways you probably wouldn't want to do that anyway.

duurtlang > Klaus Schmoll 04/01/2015 at 15:56

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Well, it's a perfectly fine transportation appliance. It just doesn't create any warm feelings as I perceive it as totally lacking any charm or character and isn't really that fun to drive either, despite thecompetent chassis. It's a tool perfectly suited for the job it's meant to do.

The data logger keeps track of GPS location and odometer reading when I start and stop the engine/ignition. It does lend me a little creativity as the tax people don't have access to my appointments. I will try to keep the creativity to an absolute minimum though, because I don't want any problems. I do have a 500 km private use margin a year .

Klaus Schmoll > duurtlang 04/01/2015 at 16:31

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As I said, my stepdad has to keep a written driver's logbook that obviously allows for much more creativity, which he needs as it is his only car. It's good that you have at least a little wiggle room for that trip to Ikea or the garden center or whatever where you really need a wagon once or twice a year.

This is the frequency that I get bored with having a sedan instead of a wagon. It's not very often, but sometimes a little more versatility comes in handy.

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/02/2015 at 04:00

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my car last saw this low reading nearly 12 years ago.

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/02/2015 at 04:16

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Well, you're seeing my other two (registered/insured) cars in the picture I included. They saw this reading 15 and 27 years ago. The other two cars I own saw it 24 and 26 years ago. As you can see I'm not really into new cars.

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/02/2015 at 04:21

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do you have classic car registration in Europe?

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/02/2015 at 04:30

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Depends on the country. None of these cars are old enough yet. The 205 GTI is insured as a classic though, the insurance company recognizes it's not being used as a daily driver.

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/02/2015 at 04:45

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how old does it for classic status where you are?

it's 25 years here in Victoria Australia.

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/02/2015 at 04:55

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Depends on what you mean by 'classic status'. They only become tax free after 40 years. This is 30 years in most other European countries as far as I know.

It used to be 25 years here as well, but they changed it a few years ago as loads of people were importing 25+ year old Mercedes diesels for daily driver duty, clogging up highways. For reference: I pay about €95 in tax for the 406 and €20 (because light weight) for the 205. Per month .

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/02/2015 at 04:59

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OUCH!

i'd rather walk / cycle!

per month! NOPE!

makes my AUD$600/yr look reasonable.

duurtlang > pip bip - choose Corrour 04/02/2015 at 05:06

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Well, the 205 is only €240 a year, so as long as you've got a tiny car it's not so bad. 2015 Mercedes G350 diesel? €3100 a year. Partly due to weight, partly due to the diesel penalty.

This is the Netherlands only. Had I been living half an our to the east, in Germany, it would all be laughably cheap.

pip bip - choose Corrour > duurtlang 04/02/2015 at 05:23

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move?

8)