My Order Is In!

[Mindings]

As a company car driver, I have a contract lease allowance but within that I have total freedom to select my car. As I have to select the car for a 3 year period, I guess I need to make a serious choice.

My present car (Lexus IS200 SE Automatic) is due to go back on 12th July so a few weeks ago I had to start considering a replacement. To be honest I had not even heard of the Prius until I started to examine all my motoring options.

I do not get a fuel allowance and my return journey to and fro work adds up to 50 miles. The present fuel consumption and my company car tax made me think very seriously about an alternative with better consumption and lower tax.

A number of my colleagues who had changed their car in the last year, had switched to diesel and for a while, I was considering this too. It was only when I started to read up on car options that I came across the Hybrid possibility.

I finally took myself off to my local Toyota Dealer to look at all the alternatives, including an Avensis Diesel and a Prius. Before seeing the car for myself, I was somewhat concerned about how much space was in the car. Whilst the sleek looks were very attractive, I was concerned that squezzing my big frame in, might be a problem, and if not for me, perhaps my rear seat passengers.

When the sales person rolled out the demonstrator my very first action was to sit in the drivers seat and slide the seat rearwards to the most comfortable position. In the Lexus, any passenger sitting behind me, other than the smallest ones, usually ends up with their knees pushed up against the seat. So once I had adjusted the seat I got out and immediately sat in the rear seat.

Two things impressed me. Firstly I had plenty of clearance in from of my knees, and secondly I had plenty of headroom. This was a secondary concern with the almost coupe shaped rear. The roominess of the prius is almost tardis like - it looks smaller from the outside than it really is.

From there on in I started to lose interest in the Avensis Diesel. The technology, the comfort, the economy - just about everything stacked up in favour.

Even the reports were incredible - Car of the Year! and the owners seem to love it. In fact the only real critics seemed to be the few boy racer commentators who have shown their love for gas guzzlers.

When I got back from the test drive, I sat down and worked out the sums! Even with the most conservative estimates of mileage, I was likely to halve my fuel consumption, a significant saving alone. As for tax! Well with the lexus rated at 33% and the Prius at 11%, my monthly tax saving is huge, and I mean huge! (I am a higher band tax payer so this is serious money)

I was quoted 2-3 weeks delivery, but as it is a contract hire I have to wait until the 12th July for hand over - this will seem an eternity!

By the way - apart from the cost of running it, I loved my lexus and it has given me good service. I have gone for the TSpirit simply because I wanted all the gadgets!

So now I have to wait before I can really comment any further, but will be back to let you know my thoughts once I am behind the wheel.

[Braindead]

Similar to my experience in Feb '04. I have a company car allowance and swapped from a Nissan Tino 2.2TD to the Prius. The dealer tried to sell me an Avensis TD but the technology, space, quietness etc etc of Prius won over.

The space is remarkable - I compared it with the Primera, Mazda 6 and Avensis and it won hands down. Having said that, the boot space is a lot smaller than the rep mobiles but what the heck.

I have found one downside, the mileage allowance I get from the company is a lot lower for a 1.5 than it was for a 2.2TD so I actually loose out on that front.

Been running it for 15 months now and just at 25k miles. Still as happy as the day I got it.

[KMO]

Well with the lexus rated at 33% and the Prius at 11%, my monthly tax saving is huge, and I mean huge! (I am a higher band tax payer so this is serious money)

Afraid I've got bad news - from this tax year the Prius is 12%.

Even with that, your not kidding about the savings. By my calculations, on our company car scheme, taking all leasing costs+tax/NI issues (for higher rate payers) into account, the net cost for a 4-year lease would have been:

Prius T-Spirit = £4034 a year

Lexus IS200 SE auto = £6370 a year

(that's on the quotes for when we ordered the car in September - the Lexus specs and pricing have changed a bit since then).

My mileage allowance is great too. In our case we get 12p/mile (because they treat it as a standard 1.5 litre petrol car), when petrol is only costing us 6p/mile.

[Mindings]

Well with the lexus rated at 33% and the Prius at 11%, my monthly tax saving is huge, and I mean huge! (I am a higher band tax payer so this is serious money)

Afraid I've got bad news - from this tax year the Prius is 12%.

Even with that, your not kidding about the savings. By my calculations, on our company car scheme, taking all leasing costs+tax/NI issues (for higher rate payers) into account, the net cost for a 4-year lease would have been:

Prius T-Spirit = £4034 a year

Lexus IS200 SE auto = £6370 a year

(that's on the quotes for when we ordered the car in September - the Lexus specs and pricing have changed a bit since then).

My mileage allowance is great too. In our case we get 12p/mile (because they treat it as a standard 1.5 litre petrol car), when petrol is only costing us 6p/mile.

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Absolutely right about increase to 12% but then the lexus is up to 34% and as you said the savings are awesome. I shall be driving around with a silly grin on my face!