A long goodbye...

Well, after some time thinking about it (and 7 months after starting a new job with big business mileage) I have given in to the work lease car option.

My S3 Sportback has been a great companion since the change of situation earlier this year. Although it's not every day that I travel by car, my usual round trips are 250-500 miles long - and as the summer has changed to autumn it's been great to have leather, Bose, heated seats, xenons and so on. I've even been getting 35mpg if I take it easy.

I've come to realise, though, that I've been appreciating the easy performance and comforts of my S3 more than its charms as a performance car. Yes, I can cover ground quickly if I want to, but I do so at risk of my license and getting home safely to my young family. It was also a small shock to realise that I really will be paying for the impending service, tyres, increased insurance premiums etc - and that my pence-per-mile mileage payments only just cover the costs.

So, I have ordered a new car through the work lease car scheme.

I looked very hard at the Audi options, as I really have become a fan over the last 5 years of owning firstly an A3 2.0T quattro and now my S3. Two things conspired against me though: 1) the non-availability of the A3 Sportback in high power diesel spec for at least 6-9 months and 2) Co2-based benefit in kind tax.

The front runner for a long time was a high-spec A4 Avant S-Line, although only the 2.0 177 TDI or lower-power 3.0 204 TDI were in contention for tax reasons.

I know none of you will understand / forgive me, but in the end my choice was a Volvo V60 D5. It was the most characterful car I could think of - it has a 215bhp / 332 lb.ft, 2.4 litre, twin turbo, 5-cylinder lump for starters; this should reduce the pain of switching to a low-Co2 diesel. I've ordered it in blue with SE Lux spec and the Dolby audio package:



The interior is also very distinctive and almost at Audi levels - I've made a slightly risky spec choice by going for the Beechwood leather:



I've also gone for the integrated rear booster seats for my little kids:



Finally, it's about £2k per year cheaper to run a brand new V60 D5 compared to my current 2.5 year old S3; £2k cheaper per year than even a 2.0 TDI A4 and about £3.5k cheaper than what I think it would cost to run an 8V S3 (when that's available).

I like this forum a lot and would no doubt have replaced my S3 with another Audi was it not for the work mileage and savings on offer through the work lease car scheme!

The 2.4 D5 Volvo lump is not the same as the 2.4 JTD as used in Alfa Romeos, despite both being 5-cylinder and having the same displacement. Both sound lovely though...for a diesel.

Just had a supermarket home delivery - and the guy was complimenting the S3 and commiserating me on the move to a Volvo! I didn't get around to explaining the charms of a D5, but he had a point!

My family and extended family have long had Volvos, so I do "get" them - although, as Warren says, it's another step owning one. If it's all a mistake, then I have a 3-year prison sentence - albeit in a very family-friendly and cost effective car, at a time when our kids are young and I don't have too much time to worry about it!!

I did do some calculations to see whether it would be possible to run a second car. In this situation, I would have been doing most of my miles in a really, really dreary car (Pious, Golf Bluemotion, Polo TDi etc) but still with most of the costs of the S3 and hardly getting any use from it.

I could have gone to a lower power diesel A4. While I'd have retained some of the style of my S3, it would have had much less of the performance and cost a fair bit more than the Volvo. C'est la vie!