Our fleet: Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCi Zetec AWD - November 2013

"The worst winter in decades,” warned one national newspaper  this week and “Arctic blast to hit Britain” predicted another.

But as the headline writers attempt to cause cold weather panic among the masses, I felt remarkably calm in the face of such meteorological scaremongering.

The reason why? Well, if we do succumb to another ice age, at least I will be able to navigate the frozen tundra in our all-wheel drive (AWD) Ford Kuga.

Traditionally, many fleets have employed a blanket ban on having four-wheel drive vehicles on their company car choice lists.

However, a few have softened their stance in recent years after heavy snowfall made some roads difficult to navigate in a two-wheel drive car.

The offer of improved driver safety through greater grip in an AWD car clearly has its advantages.

But fleets should consider the flipside in terms of fuel usage, emissions, tax and ultimately cost, as we did before choosing this version.

For starters, our AWD Ford Kuga 2.0 TDCi Zetec has CO2 of 154g/km compared to the 139g/km offered by the 2WD variant.

The impact on benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax is stark. Our AWD model is in the 35% BIK tax band compared to 22% for the 2WD, while it also has a higher P11D price.

In fact, VED, fuel costs, depreciation and SMR are also dearer for the AWD model.

It all adds up to total running costs for the AWD version of £29,544, not including Class 1A NIC, VED or insurance, for an operating cycle of 48 months/80,000 miles and £27,280 for the 2WD model.