What Car? Best Company Cars 1991 - Which would you pick?

[Cento16v]

25 minutes ago, Ian_Fearn said:

If the ecotec 16v was your benchmark then I totally get why you’d think that! I had the 2.0 16v ecotec Cavalier (not the red top) and it was about as average as average gets. I was so disappointed with it after my 8v experiences. Give me a 2.0 8v or even a 1.6 8v anyday.

It was slower than the Escort 1.8 16v that preceded it for sure.

 

[Ian_Fearn]

4 minutes ago, Cento16v said:

It was slower than the Escort 1.8 16v that preceded it for sure.

 

The Zetec kicked the ecotecs ass!

[Six-cylinder]

What really happened in 1991

Working in the motor industry I had at least 3 brand new company cars a year, In 1991 I had been working for a Volvo dealer on their used site driving any used car I picked for myself from stock for personal use.

Then in April I returned to new car sales and was given a almost new Volvo 460 GLEi in Peacock green. In July I changed jobs and got a Cavalier 2.0 SRi having told my new boss I was not excepting the position if it only came with a 1600cc car as being offered!   

The next was a Cavalier 2.0i CD in Westminster blue met, chosen for me by my boss. Then I was given a free reign to choose my own car within reason, bearing in mind I was working for a Vauxhall dealer and only directors were allowed over 2.0 cars. I choose another Cavalier 2.0i CD this time Bordeaux red met, that saw me though the rest of 1991.

My "What Car" choices are:

Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Citroen AX

Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Peugeot 205 XR

Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Vauxhall Astra 1.4 LX

Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Vauxhall Cavalier SRi

Up to 2000cc, under £15k - BMW 318i

Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Alfa 164

Over 2000cc, under £25k - Jaguar XJ6 3.2

Over 2000cc, under £29k - Jaguar XJ6 4.0 

[Ian_Fearn]

1 hour ago, NorfolkNWeigh said:

the only BX I’ve ever seen with aircon.

This was rare but not that* rare. I’ve seen many 16v models with it over the years. I’ve also seen quite a few GTi and TZI models with it. I’ve never seen a factory fit diesel with it but @mat_the_cathas a TZD that I think he retrofitted AC to from a donor car. Someone once gave me what they said was a full AC kit from a diesel but it turned out to be missing many parts.
I have a friend with a TZI and 16v both with factory AC (neither work!). 

[mat_the_cat]

55 minutes ago, Ian_Fearn said:

I’ve never seen a factory fit diesel with it but @mat_the_cathas a TZD that I think he retrofitted AC to from a donor car.

In 2005 I was at a local Citroen specialist in Gloucester when he mentioned he had a spares turbodiesel BX I might be interested in. £100 was more than I wanted to spend, but when I realised it had factory AC all my thoughts of haggling went out the window, and I nearly offered him double!

[wuvvum]

Obviously there's only one answer to this question.

A Maestro.  Diesel.  Clubman.

[GeorgeB]

What a year! If those were the best on offer I'd have walked.

[Mr Laurence]

39 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Obviously there's only one answer to this question.

A Maestro.  Diesel.  Clubman.

I’m astonished it took this long

[Fumbler]

I do wonder whether the turbo diesel would be any better- certainly would give it a bit more shove I'd imagine. 90 or something BHP?

[Noel Tidybeard]

My choices are:

Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Clito 1.2 RL

Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - Clito 1.4 RT

Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Chavalier

Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Chavalier

Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Montego 2.0 GSi ftmfw

Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Carlton

Over 2000cc, under £25k - Carlton again!!

Over 2000cc, under £29k - Carlton GSi

[Noel Tidybeard]

i say old fuity pages 20 & 21 are missing

[New POD]

My dad had the Sierra 1.8 LX sapphire in red.  

Followed by a 2.0 ghia Sierra estate, and then a mundano 1.8. 

That was the 90s for him. 3 company cars paid for by the tax payer (NHS) 

Since he retired n 2001 he's onto his third Focus estate. 

[NorfolkNWeigh]

7 hours ago, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

1991, I recall around that time my old man was getting Peugeot 309's on a 3year 100k miles which ever came first. 

Have a few dodgy AF pictures ofours close to that period for legitimacy.  We kept getting 309s ( always GLD's) up till M reg when we got a 1.9 (non turbo) Style estate.   We had a J reg dark red one too, sadly no pictures of that one.  All kept beyond 100k miles because reasons  after this we got a P reg hatchback 306 L non TD, my old man adored this car.  then a 306 LX estate non TD.  Just before he retired he got a 02 307 HDi 1.4 he hated

 

 

When I started a new job in 1986, I was given a 309 GL that was on long term demo from Peugeot, to use .  After2 days the Transport Manager took pity on me and let me use a battered A reg Cavalier SRi saloon with a burnt door pocket where somebody had used it for an ashtray! I was very happy , how Peugeot expected to sell any cars into companies based on that 309, I’ll never know. It had to jump started when the driver collected it 2 months later- nobody would drive it.  Luckily the 405 came along and was the most popular mid level car on the firm.

[JimH]

Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Uno 45

Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - AX GT

Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Rover 214S

Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Pug 405 GL

Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Cavalier SRi

Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Tough choice between the Alfa 164 and the Rover 820Si. Would probably go for the Rover.

Under 2000cc, under £25k - Tougher choice between the XM V6 and the 827Si. As above.

Over 2000cc, under £29k - Cosworth (but would probably change my order very late in the day to the Carlton.)

 

At about the same time my old man chose a car in the up to 2000 under £15,000 class. He went for a BX GTi.

[anonymous user]

Well I chose a Peugeot 205 1.4 CJ,

Not one of my better decisions, but at least it was an open top. 1994 saw it replaced by a Fiesta 1.8 diesel.

These were leased by my employer, you could choose whatever you wanted, but if you went above your allowance you had to pay the extra. I was too mean to pay more.

 

[warch]

I should start by saying that I took this much more seriously than it probably merited. Jolly good fun though.

Up to 1400cc, under £7k - (around 15k in todays monies) Slim pickings, considered the Nova, the 205 was a strong contender but went for the AX instead.

Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - (19.5k today) Went for the tinfoil AX GT, because moor performance.

Up to 1800cc, under £10k - Astra (have a soft spot for the Mk 2) or the Rover 214

Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Rover 416 was tempting but I liked the 2.0L Cavalier

Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - (41.5k today) Alfa 164 

Over 2000cc, under £25k - Beemer 525. Was tempted by the Scorpio though.

Over 2000cc, under £29k - (63k grand today!) Sierra Cosworth or more realistically Carlton GSI

 

[task]

Up to 1400cc, under £7k - Fiat Uno

Up to 1400xcc, under £9k - AX GT

Up to 1800cc, under £10k - VW Golf

Up to 1800cc, over £10k - Rover 416

Up to 2000cc, under £15k - Montego

Up to 2000cc, under £19.25k - Merc 190

Under 2000cc, under £25k - Volvo 940

Over 2000cc, under £29k - RRC or Cosworth (or both!)

Actually found this harder than expected!

I learnt to drive in an AX and the old man  had both a Montego and a Volvo when I was growing up...

[sierraman]

Can’t imagine many jobs warrant a company car these days? There’s few true travelling salesmen left, the guy travelling the motorway network plying his carpet samples or photocopiers is now gone in a sense. You don’t really need to drive to Southampton and back in a day to pitch some industrial packaging machines to a firm. 

[Shite Ron]

25 minutes ago, sierraman said:

Can’t imagine many jobs warrant a company car these days? There’s few true travelling salesmen left, the guy travelling the motorway network plying his carpet samples or photocopiers is now gone in a sense. You don’t really need to drive to Southampton and back in a day to pitch some industrial packaging machines to a firm. 

If only this was true, in my current job I have to have a company car, we are not allowed to opt out. Tax on company cars has increased so much in the last couple of years that I now have a pikey truck(no electric or hybrid cars allowed)It is no wonder there are so many pickups on the road, not great on fuel but less tax deducted from wages. In my last job you could opt out which I did from day one, I was told I had to have a modern car and could not use my Cortina. The allowance covered the cost of a second hand Mondeo from the auctions which was far more cost effective than the Range Rovers, Mercedes and BMW’s my colleagues drove, also more reliable but very boring to drive.

[sierraman]

The issue was that car allowance used to get exploited by employers giving something like a farting £200 and then imposing silly rules like it’s got to be less than 4 years old and a premium model. 

[Timewaster]

10 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

i say old fuity pages 20 & 21 are missing

Stuck together? 🍾

[martc]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Can’t imagine many jobs warrant a company car these days? There’s few true travelling salesmen left, the guy travelling the motorway network plying his carpet samples or photocopiers is now gone in a sense. You don’t really need to drive to Southampton and back in a day to pitch some industrial packaging machines to a firm. 

I work in manufacturing, and up until last year, we got regular visits from travellers representing various lab supply houses. Usually ones we already use, but they like to be seen and keep the personal touch; I'm sure it's the same in other walks of life, it certainly is for other departments on site.

We also have lots of sophisticated analytical instruments which require regular engineer visits, they all have company cars (mainly estates).

[sierraman]

42 minutes ago, martc said:

I work in manufacturing, and up until last year, we got regular visits from travellers representing various lab supply houses. Usually ones we already use, but they like to be seen and keep the personal touch; I'm sure it's the same in other walks of life, it certainly is for other departments on site.

We also have lots of sophisticated analytical instruments which require regular engineer visits, they all have company cars (mainly estates).

Surely they get taxed on a company car, a van IIRC isn’t a taxable benefit? 

[martc]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

Surely they get taxed on a company car, a van IIRC isn’t a taxable benefit? 

Don't know about the tax side, but they all have cars/estates. Scientific instrument manufacturers don't run fleets of vans, it's quite a niche business, small volumes, enormous prices!

[New POD]

When i started work at Lucas my manager had a mk3 cavalier Sri without sunroof.  Chosen because he was 6 foot 4 inches and the seat was also.height adjustable.  

3 lads got promoted to junior manager level and one got a 309 1.9 GTI.  One a 205 1.9 GTI and one a Rover 420 GSI 

The rover was rear ended 3 days after he got it.  (And fixed) 

The 205 had a puncture on the German autobahn the second weekend he had it, because he decided to go on a long weekend skiing.  Putting the expences claim for a tyre bought at midnight near Stuttgart was interesting. 

The 309 was stolen 3 months after he got it, from a petrol station. When he left the keys in the ignition. Lucky he was still in the union, because the company wanted him to pay for a new car, and they stood up for him. 

My boss replaced the cavalier with a 405 TDi estate because he got cash back for choosing diesel, if it were a level lower than his entitlement.  Gicen that his previous car to the cavalier was a maxi, you can see why he liked having a company car. 

[New POD]

16 minutes ago, martc said:

Don't know about the tax side, but they all have cars/estates. Scientific instrument manufacturers don't run fleets of vans, it's quite a niche business, small volumes, enormous prices!

Tax wise, the van/cab crew pick up works because only £3000 is taxable benefit whereas with cars, it's all about the list price and CO rating. And more complex.  

Unless it's a pool car. 

 

[406V6]

In Feb 1991 I had to choose a company car. As always there were rules. In this case you could choose any car up to an on the road price (not list price) which somehow depended on your salary. I forget how it was calculated. Anyway, I was allowed a car up to £14k. I could go up to £14,500 if I paid the extra myself. My choice was a Calibra 8V (couldn’t afford the 16V) with no options in plain white which cost somewhere around £14300 via a broker.

It was a good car apart from the headlights which were shite. Not particularly accelerative but a good cruiser.  The only problem I had was various scrotes trying to nick it although they didn’t succeed. I had a crooklock type thing on steering wheel and brake which actually did its job. Temporary car before the Calibra was ready was a Rover 214 GSI saloon which was perfectly OK apart from being a bit undergeared.

[chaseracer]

On 05/01/2021 at 12:19, Ian_Fearn said:

 

@Cavcraft you must have bought/sold/scrapped a billion of these things?

FTFY

😉

[chaseracer]

19 hours ago, wuvvum said:

Obviously there's only one answer to this question.

A Maestro.  Diesel.  Clubman.

[Timewaster]

2 hours ago, New POD said:

Tax wise, the van/cab crew pick up works because only £3000 is taxable benefit whereas with cars, it's all about the list price and CO rating. And more complex.  

Unless it's a pool car. 

 

And unless there is a cash alternative, in which case you will now be taxed on whichever is the greater amount. 

Hence my Ranger being respectfully returned.