Citroen Van Site
Vans are proving to be the best choices for a motor vehicle, especially for those having an expanding or a huge family. They can also be beneficial for those having a number of items for carting around regularly. Used Citroen vans are especially popular amongst companies wanting a pre-decided monthly expenditure, as against those needing big one-off payments to 'Part With'.
The most economical option
Van leasing has been looked upon as a superb option for the people feeling that need of van is urgent for them, for commercial or personal use. Van leasing implies the company or individual renting van for some predefined time period for a monthly payment which is already set. This continues till the expiry of the lease. There are a number of advantages of van leasing. At the same time, there are also some disadvantages. These need to be taken into consideration prior to deciding on leasing of van.
Advantages
Amongst the greatest advantages of van leasing traces the fact that no huge payment is due initially, i.e. at the starting of leasing period. At the starting, only deposit is due. However, this payment is usually small. It sums up to around 1, 2, or 3 of monthly payments during lease period. Monthly installments relating to van leasing have also been quite less as compared to those involved in buying of a new van. This system not only saves a lot of money of individual or the company involved in van leasing but can make leasing pleasurable in terms of driving van of individual's choice. Of Course, this applies for a short-term only.
Van leasing permits the individual of giving up the van after having driven it for around 2 years. In such cases, the individual is likely to consider his van outdated or might just not wish to continue with the van which has been used day in day out. Once the period of leasing gets completed, the van can simply be returned by the individual to leasing company. He can then make an entry into new lease, towards a fresh van.
Disadvantages
Having discussed all the advantages, it's imperative to discuss the disadvantages of van leasing as well. The greatest one amongst those states that the individual never gets to own the van by this way. It remains the leasing company's property-always! The other disadvantage of van leasing states that calculating annual mileage, along with other charges can prove to be difficult. Any of the leased vans are bound to have pre-decided miles which can be gathered on them. If the 'Number of Miles' tends to exceed this number, charges can go upwards to a great extent. For averting this, it's essential to carry out the calculation of mileage accurately. Miscalculating might result into paying heavy charges. These charges can be beyond the imaginations of company or individual.
Other charges likely to be included through a lease are the damages caused to the van. Though these expenses are generally incurred by the owner, minor damages have to be repaired by the individual only.
By Raven Smith.
Visit the Blog about c4 citroen coupeCitro‘n C5
My eyes donÕt work any more. When I dial a number on my mobile, itÕs only through sheer blind luck that I get through to the right person. And as for texts Š forget it. Then thereÕs the bothersome business of going out to eat. Most restaurants provide mood lighting, which is wonderful if you are dining with a moose but not so wonderful if Š as is normal Š the menu is printed in the sort of typeface thatÕs usually seen on microdots. Mostly, I just point and hope that IÕve managed to miss the marzipan pie with grated butter beans.
Of course, I should go to the opticians but IÕm afraid this isnÕt possible because, before giving me a pair of spectacles, they will look into my eyes with machinery . . . and here we hit on the problem.
IÕm not a squeamish man. I am never unduly troubled by scenes on the news that the BBCÕs editorial policy unit has deemed worthy of a warning about Ņgraphic violence and bloodshedÓ. I can kill a chicken. I could amputate a gangrenous leg. I can even graze the internet and not be constantly fearful that IÕm going to be so revolted by something that pops onto the screen that IÕll vomit into the keyboard.
But eyes? No. I canÕt even think about them without going queasy. When my daughter needed an operation to correct a squint, the doctor explained the procedure to me, after which I had to be brought round with smelling salts. I have to fast-forward Ņthat bitÓ in Kill Bill 2, and I have never once used eyedrops. It would be impossible.
As a result of all this, I buy my reading glasses from the only shops I ever visit, which are in airport departure lounges. This is not easy because the instructions you have to follow before deciding what sort of lens you need are printed in a typeface smaller than most bacteria.
Consequently, I usually end up with a pair of specs that require me to position a book six seats in front of where IÕm sitting on the plane. Or so close to my face that it actually squashes my nose.
And hereÕs the really bad bit. The glasses you buy over the counter are a big joke Š one thatÕs being played by the Chinese, I expect. They are held together with nuts and bolts so small that when they come undone Š and they do, all the time Š you need a carbon nanotube to do them up again. And of course you donÕt have a carbon nanotube with you because youÕre on a plane, and such things Š along with shampoo and tennis rackets Š arenÕt allowed on planes. WhatÕs more, you donÕt even have your reading glasses because theyÕre in four pieces on your left knee.
I wouldnÕt mind, but even if you are not squeamish about eyes, and you make regular trips to the opticians and have a pair of lenses that are perfectly suited to your particular condition, you will look like an ocean-going idiot.
Everyone chooses their specs to make a statement Š to make them look interesting or sexy or wise Š whereas in fact all spectacles do is tell the world that your body doesnÕt work properly. Choosing purple frames merely highlights that fact. ItÕs like being diagnosed with erectile dysfunction and then buying trousers that have no fly.
So maybe the only solution is that we do without glasses and spend the rest of our lives with a headache from the strain, eating marzipan and butter beans. Or that the worlds of industry and catering accept that half of their customers struggle with anything smaller than 72-point bold type, and that they reprint their instructions and menus to suit.
This brings me nicely to the dashboard of the new Citro‘n C5. My demonstrator had a 7in 16:9 television screen with a built-in GSM telephone, a radio, a CD player, iPod connectivity, a 10GB hard drive to store music and GPS navigation with traffic alerts and a birdÕs-eye-view map.
In addition, there was an electronic parking brake (complete with a system that prevents the car rolling back on hill starts), cruise control and an adjustable speed limiter. And then, in no particular order, I had parking sensors, electrically adjusted seats that vibrate if you stray out of your lane, directional headlamps, switchable suspension, ride-height adjustment, traction control, a dual-zone air-conditioning system, hazard warning lights that come on when you brake hard, an electronic stability program, an electrochrome rear-view mirror, rain-sensing wipers, dark-sensing headlamps, a trip computer, a tyre-pressure monitor . . .
This car made a Mercedes S-class look like the back end of a Cornish cave, and while thatÕs wonderful, unfortunately all of these things have to be operated with buttons that are mostly the size of pinheads because thatÕs the only way they can get them all in. It is therefore impossible to find them and even more impossible to read what any of them do, at least not without reaching for your reading glasses, which is tricky when youÕre on the move.
Honestly, in a whole week I was unable to activate the sat nav, and any attempt to set the cruise control usually resulted in Ken Bruce being replaced by traction control. To operate the horn you ideally need a head torch and a cocktail stick.
However, I could clearly see that the new C5 was a very handsome car. It sits among other four-door saloons Š from BMW, Audi, Ford, Honda and so on Š looking much like Angelina Jolie would while sitting in a Wakefield bus queue.
WhatÕs more, we are told itÕs no longer built by uninterested Algerians in a factory made from straw, and that as a result it is somehow German. Obviously thereÕs no way of knowing at this stage whether any of this is true, but I doubt that it is. The French have never been able to make a car that lasts, any more than the Germans have been able to make a soufflˇ.
What is certain is that the C5 is more comfortable than any German rival. My test car had hydropneumatic suspension, which really does isolate you from the pain of a badly made road. It also means it handles like a blancmange, although to get round that problem you can reach for the ŅsportÓ button Š which turns on the CD player.
I liked driving this car. I liked looking at it. I liked the sheer surprise of pressing a button and then trying to work out what IÕd done. ThereÕs one obstacle, however, that IÕd have to jump before I signed on the dotted line.
In the past few years Citro‘n has struggled to make its products popular in Britain. Or indeed anywhere where people walk on their back legs. So, to get round that, itÕs indulged in a business strategy that most experts would call Ņa bit daftÓ.
First, it has offered its cars at enticingly low prices and then garnished them with cashbacks, 0% finance and the promise of a Thai massage for everyone buying one before the end of May. I sometimes get the impression there are so many incentives on a Citro‘n C3, for example, that if you buy one the dealer will give you £40. And some of his daughters.
Of course, this policy doesnÕt really work for you because if you can buy a Citro‘n new for minus £40, whatÕs it going to be worth when you want to sell? And obviously it doesnÕt work for Citro‘n either, but that hasnÕt stopped the company. In about five minutes I found a Citro‘n dealer willing to offer me a new C5 with well over a thousand quid knocked off its list price.
By Jeremy Clarkson.
