MAN Magazine Summer 2019

Pick-ups mega-test
Buying and
owning
Costs, equipment,
reliability, safety
and security
RUNNING A PICK-UPmakes most
sense if it’s your company car. For
standard cars, you are charged
a benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax rate
that’s dependent on the CO 2
emissions of the vehicle and its
P11D value. For pick-ups, however,
because they have a payload of
at least 1000kg, they are classed
as light commercial vehicles, so
you are instead charged a flat rate,
regardless of which model, engine
or trim you choose. This is the case
even if you do personal miles in it.
That means, for the 2018-2019
tax year, BIK for pick-ups is fixed
at £3350. If you’re in the 20% tax
bracket, a pick-up will therefore
cost you just £56 a month, while
40% tax payers will be charged
£112 a month. Compare this with,
say, a Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost
125 Titanium X with a manual
gearbox and a pick-up will cost
you almost half as much. It’s also
worth remembering that if you
only do business miles, apart from
“insignificant private journeys”,
you don’t have to pay BIK at all.
Some small businesses might
choose to buy a pick-up outright.
This means that if it will be used
for work purposes and meets the
necessary requirements, it can be
purchased excluding VAT and is
tax deductible.
In terms of list price, the Musso
is the cheapest car here, but
private buyers should remember
that, unless they truly need the
practical use of a pick-up, for
£28,000 you could get a more
mainstream SUV that would be
better in every department.
If you choose to lease your pickup,
the X-Class is far too expensive
to recommend and the Musso is
also surprisingly costly, but the
L200 is a bargain. The latter is
also the cheapest to insure; all the
others sit in high insurance groups
that cost almost double what
you’ll pay for the L200.
Servicing costs don’t differ
drastically over three years, while
Toyota and Mitsubishi performed
most impressively in the latest
What Car? Reliability Survey, so
there’s a good chance you’ll have
to visit the garage less in the
Hilux and L200 than you would
in the other pick-ups. The Musso,
meanwhile, comes with the
longest warranty, which covers it
for seven years or 150,000 miles.
8
7
6
SAYS
While we weren’t exactly
bowled over by the Hilux and
L200 on the road, we can see
why they’ve attracted such a
strong following over the years.
Indeed, if you simply want a
solid workhorse that won’t let
you down, the Hilux, with its
impressive reliability record
and off-road prowess, would
be a trusty companion, while
Fiat Fullback Cross
For Decent kit;
locking rear diff
standard; relatively
punchy engine; lots
of rear leg room
Against Atrocious
ride; vague
steering; poor
head room; one of
the least practical
load bays
Recommended
options Tow bar
(£262)
Mitsubishi L200
For Bargain to
lease; cheap to
insure; torquey
engine
Against Locking
rear diff not
available; awful
driving position;
poor refinement
Recommended
options Lined load
bed (£219), tow
bar (£341)
Toyota Hilux
For The most
accomplished off
road; impressive
reliability; practical
and well laid out
load bay
Against Least
powerful; bouncy
ride with empty
load bed; poor
infotainment
Recommended
options Parking
Pack (£483), tow
bar (£200)
the L200 – and the closely
related Fullback – offer decent
performance and a long
equipment list.
However, you can no longer
get away with excelling in just
a couple of areas – a lesson
whatcar.com
whatcar.com December 2018 | 71