As usual, we are constantly changing our plans, but we have come back to the idea of having a (relatively) compact 4x4 as our own vehicle to run when not in business mode. 11 year-old Fiat Pandas make cracking courtesy cars, but the fun wears thin on long motorway journeys and their ability to tow caravans is not legendary.

A review of our choices still favours a BMW X3, preferably in 3.0 diesel flavour.

Now, my criticisms of leasing - or more specifically the extortionate charges made by leasing companies on customers returning their vehicles - still stand, but I recently got an email offering a less-than-1-year-old ex-demo X3 (albeit a 2.0d) on a 4 year lease for £299 + VAT per month.

On the face of it, this does seem like a pretty good deal, though I haven't looked through the small print. Bearing in mind that I'm reasonably well placed to avoid end of lease charges unless something goes quite spectacularly wrong.

Where would forum people look for the best business lease deals so that I can seek a similarly excellent offer on a 3-litre model, and why would I not do this instead of spending £5k cash on a dodgy 2007 120k miler?

I would say it depends on the initial rental amount up front - 3, 6, 9 etc and the amount of mileage.

A quick search suggests £349 per month ex VAT for 8k per annum & 6 months up front for a new one in this link.

To be more specific the model is:

BMW X3 xDrive20d M Sport 5dr Step Auto

Whatever that means

Thanks Gunzi! That's about right for a 2 litre. 8k mileage per year would be ample for us (most of our miles will still be in the Pandas). I'll see if there's a 3 litre...

Jim - any reason why you’re after a 3 litre? I don’t know much about BMWs but we moved from a 3 litre W211 Merc to a 2.2 W212 (E320 to E250) and I was concerned about performance- especially towing. The reality was, whilst it didn’t quite have the punch through the rev range, performance was nearly as good and economy has 30-40% better. In fact the only disappointment was that the seats were really quite uncomfortable compared to the older Merc.

Rich, thanks for the reply.

The only reason for going for a 3-litre is a childish desire for a more powerful car. There's no reason that would stand up to scrutiny, not even the towing issue...

Very honest, Jim