Ford Mondeo

The Ford Mondeo was recognised as the Best Family and best Estate Car at the 2012 What Car? Awards. This is the second consecutive year that Ford has won these titles.

• The Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi 115PS Zetec won the Best Family award
• The Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi 140PS Zetec was voted the best Estate Car

The Zetec range is one of Ford’s best sellers accounting for 38 per cent of sales in the UK and the cars come with a great list of standard specification.

This includes 16-inch alloy wheels, advanced Bluetooth hands-free and voice control system, cruise control, adjustable speed limiter, Quick Clear heated windscreen, leather trimmed steering wheel and gear knob, electronic stability programme with traction control and Emergency Brake Assist, Thatcham alarm and electrically operating and heated door mirrors.

The Ford Mondeo 1.6 TDCi engine with auto start-stop as standard also returns over 65mpg and emits only 114g/km of CO2. If you prefer a petrol engine then the turbocharged 1.6-litre EcoBoost delivers 41.5 mpg and emits 149g/km of CO2.

Chas Hallet, editor of What Car? said,”The Ford Mondeo has plenty of fresh rivals, but it’s such a strong package that it picks up two more awards this year, for best estate car and top family car. Ford has worked hard to keep the Mondeo refreshed and it has succeeded: this is still a great all-round package, either as a hatchback or an estate”.

Contract hire offer

The Ford Fiesta is the nation’s favourite seller and we have contract hire prices for business leasing on the site from only £119.93+VAT. This rate is for the Ford Fiesta 1.25 Studio 3-door hatchback and is based on a three-year contract, 10,000 miles per annum, non-maintained, with a six rentals in advance payment, followed by 23 subsequent payments. 

If you are looking for affordable motoring then the Ford Fiesta 1.25 Studio returns 51.4 combined mpg and emits 127g/km of CO2, so it’s not only tax efficient but economical too. Other terms are available from our car finance partner so fill out a Contact Form today for more information.

New SEAT Ibiza 5-door

SEAT has released the details about the new SEAT Ibiza range, which has been updated for 2012 with a launch date expected in the spring of this year.  The SEAT Ibiza is one of the best-selling models for the sporty Spanish car manufacturer, with more than 500,000 models of the Ibiza sold since its original launch in 2008.

This new model features the new SEAT “face” and the bumpers at the front and rear have been completely re-designed as well. Inside the car has had a complete makeover, with the new instrument binnacle one example and the glove compartment has also been enlarged.

SEAT Ibiza ST

The new Ibiza comes in three bodystyles, three-door SC, five-door hatchback and the Ibiza ST (estate) and all feature a range of fuel efficient, low CO2, petrol and diesel engines. For example, the 1.2-litre TDI Ecomotive with start/stop emits 89g/km of CO2 and uses 3.4 litres of fuel per 62 miles. There are also more powerfuel engines for the top-of-the range sports versions with a 150PS 1.4 TSI petrol engine plus supercharger and turbocharger that propels the car from 0-62mph in just 7.8 seconds.

The model trims are Reference, Style and FR, with the new Cupra coming on board mid-summer and full new Ibiza UK pricing and specifications will be announced closer to the launch date.

Contract hire offer

The Volkswagen Golf recorded great sales in 2011 and is known as one of the UK’s most favourite diesel cars. We have a contract hire offer on the site for a Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDi S 3-door diesel hatchback from only £210.27+VAT per month on a two year deal. Terms are based on a non-maintenance business contract hire agreement, 24 months term, 10,000 miles per annum and six rentals in advance. Other terms are available on request.

The Volkswagen Golf 1.6 TDi S 3-door diesel hatchback provides a combined mpg of 62.8 and emits only 118g/km of CO2 making it an ideal family hatchback, as well as a tax efficient company car for any business fleet. More details can be obtained from our car finance partner by filling out a Contact Form.

Click for terms of the offer

If you are a private individual and you are thinking about getting a new car how about the Nissan Juke 1.6 Visia petrol hatchback which is on special offer on personal contract hire from only £177.78 per month (inclusive of VAT). This personal contract hire special offer is based over two years, 10,000 miles, fully maintained contract (includes routine servicing, mechanical breakdown,tyres, batteries and exhausts), with a 6 month initial rental, followed by 23 rentals.

The Nissan Juke 1.6 Visia petrol 5-door hatchback returns 47.1 combined mpg and emits 139g/km so is economical and an ideal family hatchback that stands out from the crowd. If you are interested in a contract hire arrangement for this vehicle just fill out the Contact Form.

CLICK for the Lease Shopper

If you have a monthly budget in mind, you know you want a saloon car for example, but you also want to get the best car you can for your money, then try our Vehicle Type Leasing Shopper. This unique vehicle lease quote engine allows you to choose your monthly rental, the type of bodystyle you are looking for i.e. saloon, hatchback,4×4, etc, and if you have a preference for petrol, diesel, CO2 emissions and even combined mpg.

One of the benefits of contract hire leasing is that sometimes a car that costs more to buy outright, can in fact have a lower monthly car lease rental than a cheaper car. This is due to several factors, but mainly it is due to the residual value (resale value) that the leasing company sets. Some car manufacturers hold their value more than others and this is why their rentals are less.

Our Vehicle Type Shopper compares the rentals from all our car finance partners, on a like-for-like basis, and shows you which company offers the best value for money by each model.

CLICK for more details of the offer

The Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCI (70hp) Style 5-door hatchback is on offer on the site on Ford business car leasing from only £130.19+VAT per month. The Ford Fiesta is one of the UK’s best selling cars and the Ford Fiesta Diesel Style offers a remarkable combined mpg of 68.9 and CO2 emissions of just 107g/km making it highly economical to run and tax efficient too.

The terms of the offer are based on a 4-year deal, non-maintained business car leasing, 10,000 miles per annum, payment profile of 6 initial rentals, followed by 47 payments, with other terms available on request from our finance partner. If you are interested in leasing a Ford Fiesta Diesel Style then Contact our finance partner today.

Nissan LEAF

The Nissan LEAF five-door hatchback has been awarded the title of “Electric Vehicle of the Year” at the 2011 GreenFleet Awards, sponsored by EDF Energy. The Nissan LEAF was judged the best performing electric vehicle in its class and comes with climate control, satellite navigation, rear-view parking camera, a quick charge socket and smart-phone connectivity.

Colin Boynton, GreenFleet Marketing Manager, said,”With the five-door practicality, a generous boot, a high level of spec, and most importantly, a 110 mile range, the Nissan LEAF is the resounding choice this year. Add to that the take-up in fleets, from all over the UK, and it certainly means the LEAF is now the market leader, and will continue to make in-roads into fleets looking to embrace EV technology”.

We currently have Nissan LEAF car leasing on the site from £319.81+VAT on a 4-year deal, 6+47 rental profile, non-maintained lease and at 10,000 miles per annum. Other terms are available if you prefer a shorter duration, or higher mileage, by re-quoting off our vehicle lease quote engines.

National Grid

National Grid has just taken delivery of 80 brand new Ford Fiesta Edge ECOnetic models which will be driven by the 2011 recruits to the National Grid’s engineering training programme, which combines academic study with on- and off-the-job instruction.

The ECOnectic Fiesta models have all been fitted with optional Quickclear front windscreens and Bluetooth connectivity and the trainees will use them to travel between university and college and the National Grid training centre at Eakring, near Newark in Nottinghamshire.

A vehicle tender process was undertaken citing value for money, low fuel consumption and emissions as the main selection criteria. National Grid fleet operations manager, David Morse, explained,”Our “user-chooser” company car scheme was not appropriate for such a large number of new, young engineers. Ford was successful in the tender process and the Fiesta ECOnetic fitted the bill perfectly”.

The Fiesta Edge ECOnetic 1.6 TDCi (95bhp) 3-door is on the site on Ford car leasing over three years/30,000 miles, 3+35 rental profile, non-maintained from £159+VAT per month. The car returns 78.5 combined mpg and emits only 95g/km of CO2 making it an extremely fuel-efficient and low CO2 car.

Kia Picanto petrol returns 67.3 combined mpg

If you are thinking of choosing business contract hire as the method of financing your next car (or van) the question arises whether you opt for petrol or diesel. Clearly diesel vehicles usually have better fuel consumption and lower CO2 emissions than most petrol cars. But great advancements have been made by car manufacturers in petrol combustion engines and the answer is not always as clear cut as this.

You also need to think about the contract hire monthly rental you will be paying, fuel costs, the mileage you will be travelling, insurance costs and your actual location in the country (prices do vary nationwide), before you make your final decision. According to petrolprices.com, the average price for unleaded petrol is around 135.76p per litre and for diesel around 139.76  – a difference of around 4p per litre.

An easy way to find the best cars (or vans) that fit your criteria for the least monthly contract hire rental, best fuel consumption and low CO2 emissions, is to try the Vehicle Type Leasing Shopper. For example just select the bodystyle of vehicle (i.e. hatchback) you are looking for, tick “all manufacturers”, choose the combined mpg for 60mpg upwards and let’s say choose CO2 emissions less than 100g/km. On this search criteria there are 139 hatchbacks that fit your requirements.

Once you have a set of results you can easily remove the car manufacturers you are not interested in by clicking the “REMOVE All” button against the manufacturer range. Interestingly, the top ten models out of the 139 hatchback results are all petrol models so why not give it a go?