VOLKSWAGEN GOLF GTE

For company car buyers who love their commute, is this the Golf to have?

- WILL RIMELL

WHY WE'RE RUNNING IT To see if the latest hot PHEV Golf is truly a wallet-friendly alternative to the beloved GTI.

New cars just keep getting more expensive. That's why many drivers take advantage of company car and salary sacrifice schemes offered by their employers. The latter especially can be quite the money saver, because the car payments come out pretax.

Of course, there are caveats. You will never actually own the car outright, and you must pay benefit-in-kind tax. But when compared with PCP, HP or private leasing, these schemes can be vastly cheaper. That's why last year more than a million new cars sold in the UK went through them.

It's therefore a no-brainer for car makers to ensure certain models fit into that space. Electric cars are by far the most advantageous, incurring just 3% BIK tax, but for those who can't or don't want to make the switch, there are now some plugin hybrids with very low official emissions, not to mention official MPG figures that look like typos (yes, 850mpg is correct).