Cheap/fun clean air zone hack advice needed

[Nick-4i09l]

Apologies, if this has been asked elsewhere

I live near Manchester but work in Birmingham where a CAZ is being introduced this year. I typically commute down once a week and stay for 5 days. Unless I use a vehicle that is exempt from the charge, it's going to cost me £40 a week / £2k per year.

My "modern" cars are a 96 MX5, a 2014 VW T5 camper and a 93 LR Defender. None of these are exempt! I also have a 73 Alfa and a 66 Mustang which guzzle fuel and emit Satan's envirojizz. These are both exempt...I don't really want to daily (weekly?) the classics so something has to give.

Options

1. Sell the MX5 and buy something compliant, fun and not crazy expensive: shopping list - GT86
2. Leave the fleet as is and buy the cheapest, funnest car that is compliant and reliable. Also happy to go shed.

What would you do?

[ZX10R NIN]

Sell the MX5 & get the GT86 it'll be a nice addition.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202010175...

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202101137...

[itz_baseline]

Not what you after, but I was surprised to see my C63 AMG is CAZ compliant in Birmingham!

The mind boggles.

[samoht]

Any petrol car from 2006 onwards will do, and many models that straddled that date were already Euro 4 compliant from the start of production. So changing your MX-5 for an NC model would also be an option.

350Z, TT Mk2, Z4, SLK Mk2, also possibilities.

It appears that at least the later MR2s ('05 on?) are also eligible, although this isn't 100% clear.

[Jag_NE]

Take the train, it’s 90 minutes each way.