Bonding with a BMW 1 Series Diesel

"365Daytonafan" (365daytonafan01) 03/23/2014 at 12:23 • Filed to: BMW, Diesel, Company car

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My remuneration package from work includes a company car, which recently came up for renewal. Choosing a company car requires a rather different mindset than choosing a car to buy with my own money. Firstly the list is rather limited; we can pick from a list of approved manufacturers, currently BMW, Mercedes, Peugeot, Citroen, Vauxhall and Mini in the case of my company. From this list the chief objective is to get the most car for the least taxable benefit within the given lease allowance. This makes it a rather more rational choice than the man maths employed when choosing a car to buy with my own money! Performance is a consideration but as the company has mandated a maximum of 140 g/km of CO2 on its company cars, none are absolute road burners. More on that later.

My previous company car was an Alfa Romeo Mito. This worked well for me because at the time I was living in London and a nippy little city car was ideal for commuting to work and easy to park in the crowded city. However as I moved to the country last year, the Mito's awful ride and gutless engine became something of a pain on the M25 commute and I needed something bigger and more powerful for my next car.

The lease on the Mito ended in September and for reasons too boring to explain here there was a delay in ordering new company cars. Rather than let the company suffer the cost of continuing the Mito's lease I enquired with the fleet manager as to whether there were any unallocated cars currently on lease, as happens occasionally when people leave the business and the vacancy is not filled straight away. It turned out there were three such cars and the fleet manager was more than happy for me to take one of them while I waited to order my new car. The car I choose was a late 2011 BMW 120d M Sport coupé.

Read the rest on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

jkm7680 > 365Daytonafan 03/23/2014 at 12:25

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Good selection! Where I work, you get whatever is in the lot. Chevrolet Impala, Chevy Uplander, Chevrolet Captiva, Dodge Avenger. Not many good choices.

duurtlang > 365Daytonafan 03/23/2014 at 12:41

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You did well I imagine. I personally don't really like modern BMWs, but I make an exception for these 1 series coupes. The design doesn't really work, but it does give it character. Which is rare today. They're also far less common than 1-series hatches, which increases the appeal of the coupe to me.

thebigbossyboss > 365Daytonafan 03/23/2014 at 13:42

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Nice!! Where I work, we don't get company cars. I am not much for BMW's but I would take one to try out on a company lease for sure!