Porsche is a luxury manufacturer of German cars most of which are high performance. Founded in 1931 by Ferdinand Porsche who was born in Maffersdorf which was then Austria-Hungary and is today named Czech Republic.

Porsche only produce 4 models at the moment the Boxster, Caymen, Cayenne and the 911. Although Porsche will start producing a 4 door saloon called the Panamera in late 2009.
Even older 911′s still demand a high price such as a 3.3 litre 964 turbo will still be on a dealership forecourt for around £30,000.

Porsche RS Spyders

Porsche is highly successful in racing most commonly people will see the Porsche Design Cup which is usually a warm up event before such events as a Formula 1 race.
Porsche is the largest manufacturer of race cars, back in 2006 195 cars where build such as 911 GT3 Cup’s, RS Spyders and 911 GT3-RSR’s.

How do you say Porsche well it’s pronounced as “Porsh-eh” as German words do not have a silent e on the end so if you’ve been pronouncing it “Porsh” for years you’ve been saying it wrong.

The Porsche logo is an concept from two other logos. The prancing horse which is the coat of arms of Stuttgart and the red and black stripes are from the Free People’s State of Württemberg. This has Stuttgart as its capital.

Porsche Logo

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Audi a German car manufacturer has been producing cars since 1899. Audi has been using the four ring emblem ever since Audi joined partnership with DKW, Horch and Wanderer. Each ring represents each name mentioned.

Audi have a proven record with high performance cars and motorsport and quite often items from there motorsport division will fall into the modern road going cars.
Back in the 1980’s Audi Released Quattro which is their trade mark four wheel drive system and helped them win the 1983, 1984 driver’s titles and 1982 and 1984 for manufactures title, in the WRC.

The Audi Quattro has recently seen fame again starring in the first and second series of the BBC’s hit series Ashes To Ashes staring Philip Glenister.
Audi’s are a great purchase for anyone looking to purchasing a car on Contract hire or Lease, as they hold their second hand and trade in value very well.

Choosing your optional extras wisely will also make your car more desirable, so things like Cruise control and the Bang + Olufsen  advance sound system will also appeal to people and keep your Audi’s Trade valve high when your Contract or lease ends.

Audi Logo

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The Audi Q7 hasn’t been out that long, and already Audi have made some important and clever revisions to the Q7.
You still get three diesel engine choices a 3.0 litre V6, 4.2 litre V8 and a 6 litre V12 and your petrol options are 3.6 litre V6 and the 4.2 litre V8.
Audi have introduced a new 3.0 litre diesel engine, which they label TDI clean diesel, that’s even more efficient than the older diesel engines.
The new 3.0 litre diesel is claimed to reach 31.7MPG which is aided by some great Audi technology like a higher performance exhaust that recirculates through a special Catalytic converter which also adds an additive to the emissions to lower them even more which is called AdBlue .

All the engines are now more efficient thanks to Audis Brake Energy Recovery System, which converts braking energy in to electrical energy. Very much like how the KER’s system works in F1 except you don’t get a power boost in the terms of BHP. Audi is claiming this cuts emissions by 5G/KM which isn’t much but if it keeps you in a lower tax band then you’re saving money.

The revised Q7 will also sport four new colours, Ibis White, Graphite Grey, Teak Brown and Orca Black. Black will be the most popular by far and we can decide we you would want a brown Audi.

The instrument panel inside the Q7’s cabin has also been redesigned with extra lighting and more chrome.

You can order the revised Q7 now but expect to be driving it in July. The 6.0 V12 TDI is the most expensive Q7 that you can buy costing a staggering £94,850 and your basic model costing only £38,575 want the clean Diesel to claim your doing your part for a greener environment then expect your wallet to be hit again for £1500 for the 3.0 Litre cleaner diesel.

Audi Q7

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This is Aston Martins new 4 door coupe that is set to rock Bentley’s boat. Keeping the same shape as all the other recent Aston martins with the huge front grill and the lovely tapered rear.
The Rapide will go into the same market place as Porsches Panamera when its released and Bentleys Flying Spur which are all four door supercoupes.

It will have the same engine 6 litre engine that is in the Aston Martin DB9 which produces 470BHP pushing it to 60MPH in under 5 seconds. The car will use the same basic chassis as the DB( only it will be slightly extended, The Rapide is built in Aston Martins new Magna Steyr factory in Austria.

Expected prices are to start at £100,000 and should be ready for delivery 2010

Aston Martin Rapide

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Looking for a Smart car with a bit more power, then you want the Smart Fortwo Cabrio Brabus.
Brabus are a Germany tuning company that only tune Mercedes Benz cars so since Smart are a Mercedes subsidiary Brabus have worked there magic on some of the Smart range.
The turbo charged engine that is in the Smart Fortwo Cabrio Brabus is tuned to 74BHP which converts to a 0-62MPH time of 12.3 seconds and will only be in Brabus branded Smarts. The exhaust definitely sounds meatier and definitely has more torque when you need it for overtaking.
Featuring a F1 style paddle shift the smart is a hoot to drive and if you forget to shift up then the Automatic gearbox will shift up or down for you. The Brabus will easily sit at 70MPH all day but the road and engine noise becomes a little tiring and is rather hard to blank out.

The ride is very firm which is ok for back roads but due to the Smarts shorter wheel base speed bumps can be bit of a pain as you tend to drop off them rather than going over them. Electric power steering is an optional extra on the Brabus which is a bit shocking in these modern times.

The Smart is mainly designed for town driving as it can be parked in the smallest of spaces and manoeuvring is made easy due to its short length.

Smart ForTwo Cabrio Brabus

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You don’t see many BMW X6’s on the road at the moment due to the rising costs of diesel and petrol, and the new C02 based emission car taxing brackets would leave the X6 in the top brackets making it costly to tax.
 Also the X6 isn’t cheap starting at £42,000 for the basic model, although when you come to re sell or trade your X6 in you’ll be surprised to find out that its held its value well and not lost a lot of its value making it an ideal lease or contract hire car

You’ll get the choice between 5 engine 2 petrol’s a 3.5 litre and a 5 litre and 2 diesels a 3.0litre and 3.5. BMW have also introduced a Hybrid engine no news on the hybrid yet but it’s due soon.
Also the X6 has been given the M Sport badge which will give it a 547BHP engine.

The X6 comes full of security and safety device such as side, front and curtain airbags. The BMW 4 wheel drive system is great and gives the X6 stacks of grip through the corners and in slippery conditions so you should never be caught out.

Inside your pretty much looking at the same dash that is in the X5 4X4 that BMW produce. It will take you a while to get use to the BMW controls and features if this is your first BMW but fear not as you soon pick up all the short cuts.

The X6 is wider than the X5 that is based on, but the sloping rear clearly gives less head room but leg and other areas are fine.
 
You’ll get 19” alloys and sports suspension as standard but expect to pay for sat nav, digital TV and Head up display.

BMW X6 4X4

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The Ford Sport Ka SE was released back in 2003, and it had received a new 1.6 litre engine, which gives it up to 30BHP over the standard 1.3 litre Ka taking the total BHP to 95. The Sport SE comes packed full of features like heated front mirrors and a Quick Clear windscreen which has only recently become a standard feature and was a £250 optional extra.

The Sport SE features lowered suspension and a wider front track enabling better cornering. This little Ka really is a hoot to drive on the back roads and down country lanes it really is where the Sport Ka is at home.  The gearbox is made by Getrag which features shorter gear ratios and a more solid feel to the gear change which does make it feel somewhat sportier. It really could do with an extra 10-20 BHP which would just help it coming out of corners with a bit more speed and aid its straight line speed.

The MPG isn’t that great at around 25-30mpg and a full tank will go in around 210miles. The interior is somewhat plastic hell but it doesn’t feel like a cheap plastic.
Both driver and passenger have airbags and opting for a reflex optional extra package you will receive side airbags that are in the sides of the leather seats. After 1 hour the seats become a bit doe start to become a bit of a pain as they aren’t that comfy and don’t offer much in the way of support.

One of the most common colours for the Sport ka is Blue there for you get a blue interior. but they do a really nice non metallic blue and a other range colours that rarely get used

Ford Sport Ka SE Red

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When companies are purchasing new fleet vehicles, they very rarely use traditional methods that may of been used in the past such as buying the car out right from a dealership which can be an expensive and risky way to purchase a new vehicle or Hire purchase which is how most people tend to acquire a car. 

Most companies will now make use of the great deals and low monthly repayments that car leasing company’s can offer. Leasing a car or van usually has a 2 or 4 year contract although shorter contracts can be agreed you might pay slighter more on your monthly repayments.

There are many options for a company wishing to lease a car that will need to be made and these choices will also reflect in the monthly repayment.
Contract Hire without maintenance which is the most common option that leaves you servicing the vehicle and making sure it is safe to drive. 
With the rising costs of servicing cars a few companies are taking the option of contract hire with maintenance this gives the company an accurate fixed monthly repayment and leaves them free to walk away at the end of the lease contract.

Contract purchase is where the company will pay the car over a period of time i.e. the lease period.  You can often agree lower monthly repayments and then pay of the outstanding value at the end of your contract but you’ll end up paying slightly more interest this way.

New Car Dealership

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Nissan 370Z Coupe

The 370Z is certainly worthy of the Z badge featuring a 3.7 litre V6 engine propelling you to 60MPH in under 5.5 seconds with all the power coming through the rear wheels Gear box wise you will get 2 options a six speed manual or a 7 speed auto with paddle shifters more commonly referred to as flappy paddles. Your peak power band doesn’t come until the top end of the rev range so you need to drive the Nissan 370Z hard to get the most from it, although low and mid range the performance is still staggering.

The V6 has an awesome sound track when you’re pushing it but it will settle back down to a gentle roar when you drop of the power. Wind noise isn’t an issue when the car is kept within the UK speed limits but road noise on rough roads is rather irritating.

The 370Z comes packed with safety features, Side front and curtain airbags are all there in case you need them.  The brakes and stability control on the Nissan are second to none and stop you quickly and safely. Deadlocks and locking wheel nuts and a stunning alarm make it hard to pinch or steal the 18” or 19” alloys.

The ride is firm with the 370Z, this makes it great fun on twisty back roads and the taut chassis really does offer stack of grip and you’ll get a great feeling from the steering. Manual cars will have a limited slip differential (LSD) which is only an optional extra on the 7 speed automatic.

The Nissan 370Z is well priced within the market place with a basic entry level model expected to cost around £28,000. A high demand and limited supply in the economic state should keep a resale value high for a good period of time which would make this an ideal car for lease hire or contract hire on a 1 year or 2 year contract. With a 2 year contract you might need to tax it again which will be costly and the MPG isn’t great so we’d look at a short term contract.

Nissan 370Z

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When BMW say that there releasing a new motorsport version of one of their cars you know to expect a high BHP around the 300 mark, big wheel and a large engine size, and it will be based on one of their saloon cars and will have rear wheel drive. Well this is all about to change, Today BMW have announced that they are going to make a M Sport version of the X5 and X6. These will be the first models that will be 4 wheel drive and non saloon body style to be branded with the M Sport badge and technology.

Both the X5 and X6 will be powered by a twin turbo charged 4.4 litre v8 that produces 547BHP, pushing both models to 60MPH in less than 5 seconds with a high top speed of 151mph but that is limited. This limit is increased if you add the optional extra that is the M drivers pack but expect to pay a high price for this.

Looking at the cars they have larger front air intakes, gills on the front wings and four exhaust pipes.  Your Interior will have leather sports seats and an M branded steering wheel.  Both models will feature DPC (Dynamic Performance Control) which will vary the power between the front and rear wheels which will aid better acceleration and handling.
Both BMW SUVs will get around 20.3MPG which isn’t great but you are driving a 4.4 litre engine producing 547BHP.

BMW Logo

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