Reliable Workhorse
by Alan Douglas (27 Apr 07)

I’ve never been a travelling salesman. Much as I enjoy driving I have absolutely no desire to spend my time hammering up and down the motorway trying to flog things to people who probably don’t even want them but are too polite to reject the foot-in-the-door tactics.

But if I did lose my scribbling skills and had to take to the road as a master merchandiser then I know what I’d use as my trusty steed to ensure that I made it on time to every vital appointment.

It wouldn't be the expected Mondeo, even with a new model on the horizon. No, no, I would be very happy, delighted even, to spend endless hours behind the wheel of the much-underrated Vectra from Vauxhall. And to hell with the tax or emission issues - I'd demand that it was the 1.8 Sri. With a potential top speed of 131 mph and 0-60 mph in a tad over 10 seconds I could squeeze a lot of sales into every eight hour day.

As well as that, I could keep my sales manager happy - not just with all that extra business, but also with combined fuel economy of almost 40mpg, he wouldn't have to wade through tons of fuel receipts which would effectively wipe out those increased sales.

So that's settled then – it's a Vectra 1.8 Sri Nav Hatchback at £17,870 on the road. Not quite. If I'm going to have this car as my office, I want a few luxuries – sorry, essentials, to make me more efficient. The colour satnav is standard as is the sports suspension and seats and trip computer so I could keep my records up to date for the boss.

But I'd also like the £400 electronic stability and traction control system to keep me on the straight and narrow and as I’ll be putting in a lot of evening work, the £850 for adaptive forward lighting, xenon headlights and high pressure headlight washers, would be money well-spent. Another 300 quid and I'd have the Bluetooth phone system as well to keep the boss up to date with all my sales success. The final bill - £19,420.

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