Volkswagen Passat

A Passat has never been the cheapest car to buy in its class but you arguably get what you pay for and it’s a more prestigious and premium product than the Ford Mondeo or Vauxhall Insignia. Healthy residuals help whether you’re buying up front or leasing but you’ll need to spend some time crunching numbers to figure out the best deal. That applies to choosing which model to go for too. The cheapest diesel offers decent CO2 figures and good fuel efficiency too, suiting high-mileage drivers. But the GTE hybrid’s sub-50g/km CO2 and cheaper Benefit In Kind offer significant tax breaks for company drivers and might make it the better all-round deal, despite the fact it costs best part of a third more upfront and is considerably more expensive on finance. If you’ve got a short commute and are diligent about plugging it in you could spend most of your time on electric power in the hybrid but if you rack up motorway miles a regular petrol or diesel may actually work out better value. Short version? Do your homework and think carefully about how you’ll use the car before committing one way or the other.