Another company car challenge

Mrs Earlys company car is finally after 4 years up for renewal. Pick list has some tasty motors, new C-Class, Audi A5s, 190bhp TDI A6 Avants and Golf GTDs etc but she's decided she wants 4x4 after getting snowed in for 3 out of last 4 years.

There's a A3 2.0 TDI 184 Sport Quattro S tronic on the list but she doesn't want another A3 or automatic, no manual A3 Quattro is listed.

So until she changes her mind (again…) its down to a Audi Q3 2.0 TDI 150ps Quattro SE or a Mini Countryman Cooper ALL4 either 1.6D or 2.0D.

Q3 is new-ish face lifted model but is basically a fat A3 on stilts and looks like it.

The Mini is getting on a bit and replaced next year, Its so fulgly that its good looking like some girls are.

Or take the £ and run her own nearly new Focus/Astra and pocket @£5-7K at the end of 3 years.

Thoughts and suggestions welcome.

Forget a 4x4 if she wants to avoid getting stuck.  All you need is a set of winter tyres.  Had some this  winter on our old Ford Streetka, when we got the snow it ran rings round Discoveries, Evoques and Quattros.   Just need to make sure the lease company allows you to fit them, mine won't  let me buy some for my Lexus, but are happy if you can order them as an option like on BMWs.

The streetka has gone now so will definitely get another set if winter tyres later in the winter for one of our other cars.

I agree with Richard. I live on a hill, and we have even had Range Rovers slide down in the snow, because the driver assumes they have a 4x4 so must be OK    - but you still need the right tyres and the skill to drive in snow.

Quattro + winter tyres =    

Living in Austria, it's mandatory to have winter tyres anyway but we do know a little about how to handle a car on snow.

Not as much as the Swedes do though!  

Agree that tyres do make a hugh difference, I don't recall having too many probs back in the day when I had MK1 Jetta and Golf Drivers as dailys with 'normal' Goodyear GPS type tyres even in snow bound hilly East Lancs. A friend runs his old Metro on snow tyres in winter and gets around OK in Pennine Yorkshire but he also has a Series 3 Landrover for when it really does snow.

Nowadays heavy modern cars with fat tyres with tread that is essentially 3 or 4 concentric groves are utterly useless in snow. She had a MK6 Golf and it wouldn't even move forward on the flat in about 1 inch of snow. RWD BMW and Mercs would be unusable for weeks on end in the last few winters.

We live on an estate that has a couple of slight inclines before you get to the main road. The council don't grit the estate and won't even provide salt bins next to the slopes (I've asked). A-holes. So a 4x4 with just enough extra traction seems a good compromise, not planning on setting out whens its 3ft deep.

Would have to pay ourselves for any options like extra wheels/tyres so that's a non starter really.

The only non Diesel on the list is a CT 200h but discounted that as carting a ton of batteries/electric motors around doesn't seem like a good idea for fuel economy, and she's off automatics for some reason.

I run a range rover sport tdv8 with summer tyres all year round and I've never got stuck in the snow or mud and even when towing as it's all down to the driver IMO.

My work hack runs winter tyres all year round and that's fwd with a heavy load in the back so very little weight over the front again with no trouble.

I have a spare set of winter socks which are very very good, I couldn't get traction out of an estate so put them on and pulled out like it was a summers days. They must be removed when you get to Tarmac of they fall to bits. They take seconds to fit and remove, throw them in the boot for when they are needed.

I would suggest the socks as a solution and get the car she wants because for the few times it snows here it's not really that bad.

I should mention that if you want a really great set of all year round tyres, then you'd be hard pushed to beat Pirelli Ice &Snow! 

Have them on our 4x4.
They grip when dry, wet, ice and snow. 
Very quite and last forever. 

We did 68,000 Km's on one set and only had to change them because the outer wall on one was showing signs of deterioration.
 
I do look after tyres, that set however could have gone another 10-15k but I thought best to change now rather than regret later! 

Yes a good driver can make a 4x4 really work, but I even tried playing the fool with the winter tyres and really struggled yo get into trouble.  We had snow socks previously and I have them in my Lexus in case I get caught out somewhere, but to be honest they are a bit of a pain to fit and take off, especially if you are going to work.

They do work brilliantly when in though, last winter a freind couldn't get her BMW off her drive, no amount of pushing would work and the car had begun to bog down through the gravel, went along and put the socks on and it moved off with ease.

Back on to your question over the company car, the CT200h I have is an acquired taste, I love it and get real world 52mpg, previous manual diesels weren't much better.  If she hates autos then the CVT box in the Lexus IS its only poor feature very un-involving.

The friend who has the BMW is just changing h co car at moment and I am helping her choose, she has a limit around £35k, but what really is impressing at the moment is the Audi A3 saloon, well under allowance, looks brilliant -much better than the A4, and can't see why they called it the A3 as it seems to be in a different class to the hatch, good though that is.

Mrs Early wouldn't even know how to open the bonnet to top up the washer bottle so putting on winter tyre socks not going to happen  

Going to spend the morning looking at a few different dealerships but she seems to have set her heart on a Countryman.

Not considered A3 saloons but no quattros listed. Think there will be a new list to choose from in April so it might all change again.

There are a few VW Tiguans listed but the only 4x4 is a poverty spec. Quite like the look of them compared to the Q3, they do atleast look a bit ruffty-tuffy old school 4x4

Definitely agree with the comments about 4x4s and drivers but can also concur about winter tires.

My trusty old P38 range rover hasn't got stuck once despite the best Scotland can throw at it and that's on 18s with rubbish tires. You just have to have a gentle touch and let the drive train do the work, not your right foot!

That said, my works van, a VW transporter 4 motion on winter tires though is a totally different animal! You'd have to drive like a grade A pudding to get it out of shape, it's breath taking how good it is in the snow!

Mrs Earlys decided to stick with the company car scheme and ordered a Countryman D ALL4, media pack (snazzy colour screen, sat nav and bluetooth voice recognition) and chilli pack (climate control, auto lights/wipers, part leather) in coffee brown colour with white roof. Paying extra for a couple of upgrades inc heated front screen which I though only Ford had the patent for?

A local dealer had a 9,000mile used model with lots of options with a big discount on new which was very tempting, but issues with having another couple of months lease on current car made it awkward to commit.
 

Well 6 months later…. it finally arrived last week. Think it was sat somewhere for 2 months, Mrs Early had some emails back in July saying it had arrived and was ready but then she had to wait for the number plate change.

She loves it and esp the high tech stuff which apparently is based on the BMW iDrive so most things are accessed via a twiddly knob.

Think I'd have gone for the newer Q3 but every time I go out I see loads of those in silver or black. When was the last time you saw a brown mini?

Anyhow here it is in all its 70s-tastic brown glory;