You think we have it bad? Spare a thought for the French!
You think we have it bad? Spare a thought for the French!
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Discussion

lamduong

Original Poster:

101 posts

248 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Inspired by the £650 road tax thread down the page for new cars worth 40k or more or something like that.

We really don't have it that bad compared to our European friends across the channel. For a while, I always wondered why most cars in Paris and the surrounds are generally smaller and much more unexciting than what you will see in London. To be fair a smaller car IS the sensible choice to drive around the capital.

I lived in Paris for a year in 2022 and kept my UK S6 Avant and took it for its oil strainer recall in the city and thought I'd take a look at what they had in stock. They had a new RSQ3 for sale at about 110k EUR and I nearly fell over!

They have an emissions tax based on how much CO2 emissions are on new cars and at the time it was 40k EUR on top of the purchase price.

Seeing the thread above reminded me of it so I checked it again...the Malus is now up to 70k for the most polluting cars


CO₂ Emissions (g/km) Tax



113–119 50–190

120–129 210–450

130–149 540–3,119

150–174 3,119–22,380

175–189 22,380–58,134

190–192 61,245–67,467

193+ 70,000

There is also a weight tax too. I dread too think how much the all in price of an BMW X7M or GLC 63 AMG is rotate



Doofus

34,317 posts

202 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
€72.345,76 and €71.974.76 respectively, based upon registration in Charente.

lamduong

Original Poster:

101 posts

248 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Doofus said:
€72.345,76 and €71.974.76 respectively, based upon registration in Charente.
That price has got to be "just" the car before any taxes have been applied...as well as no options?

Imagine paying 145k EUR or 123k GBP for a GLC AMG lol

Doofus

34,317 posts

202 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
The price of the car is irrelevant. You could add €300k of extras and it wouldn't change the tax.

Juan B

658 posts

33 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Sacrebleu!

kurokawa

662 posts

137 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
lamduong said:
There is also a weight tax too. I dread too think how much the all in price of an BMW X7M or GLC 63 AMG is rotate
When I come to UK I am amazed how cheap motoring is

Like you in France we have weight tax for our car every year from 4th year.

Our road tax is based on engine displacement, a normal family 1.6-2.0l cost about £230 a year. Over 2L would be £3xx, over £4xx for 2.5l above, and going up the the larger the engine go

Most of our express way are tolled. Parking in city is ridiculously expensive

Most PH driver would hate that we have full out 30kmh limit in all residential areas

Muzzer79

13,042 posts

216 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
I have a lot of French colleagues and they are all astounded by how cheap cars are here.

I was given an example of an Audi S3 - circa EUR 45k for the car and another EUR 40k for the Malus tax.

A UK colleague has an old Porsche Cayenne - maybe £15k's worth. The French were astounded at how this car was affordable for someone other than a high level exec.

lamduong

Original Poster:

101 posts

248 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Doofus said:
The price of the car is irrelevant. You could add €300k of extras and it wouldn't change the tax.
YEs of course, but whatever the price of it is, its basically always going to be 70,000 EUR more expensive in France compared to the UK, regardless of spec. The tax alone would pay for a brand new Macan.

I suppose the tax works - more often than not, the cars on the road are smaller and less polluting.
.

croyde

26,320 posts

259 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Back in 2016 I bought a Mustang GT 5.0 new for £33k, same car in Holland was over £80k because of their tax system.

If you decided to be 'sensible' and go for the 2.3 ecoboost engine but ticked the automatic gearbox option, it put the car in a higher tax bracket.

£15k extra, if you didn't want to shift gears.


Batfoy

1,931 posts

35 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
I've heard horror stories about Denmark too, even used cars are apparently prohibitively expensive.

Muzzer79

13,042 posts

216 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Batfoy said:
I've heard horror stories about Denmark too, even used cars are apparently prohibitively expensive.
My first foreign business trip was to Denmark.

I remember travelling with my boss, who was Danish. He bought a Danish newspaper and on the back was an advertisement for a brand new Peugeot 206 for the equivalent of £22,000. This was in 2007..........a UK car of the same spec at the same time would have been less than £10k.

theicemario

1,563 posts

104 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
What do you mean have it bad? Nowhere in Europe has Pistonheads type cars as cheap and plentiful as in the UK. New or used.

Virtually no toll roads here either.

Shnozz

30,632 posts

300 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
Yep. My in laws are Danish and cannot believe how cheap we can buy half decent cars.

Likewise I spend a chunk of time in Spain and cars there are 3 x the price of the U.K. equivalent.

One thing to be grateful for in the U.K. as car people.

theicemario

1,563 posts

104 months

Tuesday 29th April 2025
quotequote all
BMW Netherlands configurator



BMW Portugal