Cheapest car that passes the ULEZ?

[UTH]

I'm not much of a whizz at searching for cars, so not sure what criteria I'd need to filter to get the cheapest car I can that passes ULEZ

We currently have a diesel MINI which doesn't pass, and although we live just outside the ULEZ zone, my daughter's nursery is inside. At the moment I'm going to drive, park up and walk last bit. But in the pouring rain carrying a baby etc this is going to be a nightmare, so I'm thinking if we can sell the MINI for at least some money and then buy the cheapest ULEZ compliant car then life might be a bit easier.

Any ideas what sort of thing I can be looking at which is at the bottom of the ££ scale. I don't care how reliable it is, it'll only be doing a few miles per day.

[p1stonhead]

My money would (and actually might) be going on a Mk1 Focus Petrol for about £1500.

[Mammasaid]

Here you go, just add 'ULEZ' as a keyword to your search.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertisin...

[UTH]

p1stonhead said:

My money would (and actually might) be going on a Mk1 Focus Petrol for about £1500.

I did actually just read somewhere that EVERY petrol model of a Focus passes?? Can that be true, even one from 1998??

[bearman68]

I'd find a 4 door Yaris, of pretty much any age with 12m MOT.
Reliable, bomb proof, solid sound little cars. If the Mini is cutting the mustard, the Yaris will be big enough.

[UTH]

Mammasaid said:

Here you go, just add 'ULEZ' as a keyword to your search.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertisin...

Ahhhh as simple as that? Thank you!

[mersontheperson]

I bought a 2002 Audi A4 2.0 petrol, 1500

[UTH]

mersontheperson said:

I bought a 2002 Audi A4 2.0 petrol, 1500

Good to know thanks, sounds like a no brainer to go down this route then. Wish I'd thought of it sooner TBH, didn't really occur to me I'd get a car that does the job for relatively small ££

[p1stonhead]

UTH said:

p1stonhead said:

My money would (and actually might) be going on a Mk1 Focus Petrol for about £1500.

I did actually just read somewhere that EVERY petrol model of a Focus passes?? Can that be true, even one from 1998??

I haven’t tried a 1998 but have my eye on a 2001 1.8 petrol and it’s compliant. So I’d imagine so.

Baffling how much the ULEZ is weighted against diesel. Pretty much every petrol I’ve tried complies.

I could sell my 3.6TDV8 Range Rover which obviously doesn’t comply, and buy the 5.0 petrol supercharged which does!

[Mark V GTD]

How does ULEZ work in practice - do I need to register my car with the scheme?

[Mammasaid]

Mark V GTD said:

How does ULEZ work in practice - do I need to register my car with the scheme?

https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/en...

[braddo]

You need to buy a petrol car that is Euro IV - roughly 2004 onwards.

Otherwise, for an older car you need to prove to TFL that the car is compliant. To do this you will need to obtain a certificate of conformity from the car manufacturer (which shows NOx emissions less than the Euro IV limit) and email it to TFL. Then TFL will add your car to their database.

For a simple life, just buy a 2005 petrol supermini. Like a Mini!

[macron]

Mammasaid said:

Here you go, just add 'ULEZ' as a keyword to your search.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertisin...

Terrible idea.

Only catches adverts where it is stated. Tens if not hundreds of thousands of cars are ULEZ compliant and are silent on it.

Whole marques are missing from your results.

It's harder than this, thanks to AT having removed their previous ULEZ filter, even then you have to manually check to be sure. And that's before errors in the data...

[p1stonhead]

braddo said:

You need to buy a petrol car that is Euro IV - roughly 2004 onwards.

Otherwise, for an older car you need to prove to TFL that the car is compliant. To do this you will need to obtain a certificate of conformity from the car manufacturer (which shows NOx emissions less than the Euro IV limit) and email it to TFL. Then TFL will add your car to their database.

For a simple life, just buy a 2005 petrol supermini. Like a Mini!

Is that really the case? First I’ve heard.

I had my eye on a 2002 focus and the official TFL website says it’s fine?

[UTH]

p1stonhead said:

Is that really the case? First I’ve heard.

I had my eye on a 2002 focus and the official TFL website says it’s fine?

Every petrol Focus is compliant apparently?!

https://www.cargurus.co.uk/Cars/articles/best-ulez...

[colin_p]

The MK1 and MK1.5 (facelift) Foci are indeed fantastic cars, except they rust and rust badly. Quite a risky punt because of that.

[TriumphStag3.0V8]

p1stonhead said:

braddo said:

You need to buy a petrol car that is Euro IV - roughly 2004 onwards.

Otherwise, for an older car you need to prove to TFL that the car is compliant. To do this you will need to obtain a certificate of conformity from the car manufacturer (which shows NOx emissions less than the Euro IV limit) and email it to TFL. Then TFL will add your car to their database.

For a simple life, just buy a 2005 petrol supermini. Like a Mini!

Is that really the case? First I’ve heard.

I had my eye on a 2002 focus and the official TFL website says it’s fine?

I have a 2002 5.0 V8 Mercedes SL..... It is compliant. Find a cheap petrol car from 2000 onwards and put the reg in the checker.

[p1stonhead]

colin_p said:

The MK1 and MK1.5 (facelift) Foci are indeed fantastic cars, except they rust and rust badly. Quite a risky punt because of that.

They really are great. I had one years ago and loved it.

At £1500 how wrong can I go?

My Range Rover throws bills that big fortnightly it seems at the moment!

[anonymous-user]

macron said:

Mammasaid said:

Here you go, just add 'ULEZ' as a keyword to your search.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?advertisin...

Terrible idea.

Not really, if used wisely. It can be useful to throw up a few cars you might not have thought of, once you know they're UEZ compliant you can do a model specific search.

[colin_p]

p1stonhead said:

colin_p said:

The MK1 and MK1.5 (facelift) Foci are indeed fantastic cars, except they rust and rust badly. Quite a risky punt because of that.

They really are great. I had one years ago and loved it.

At £1500 how wrong can I go?

My Range Rover throws bills that big fortnightly it seems at the moment!

I had a 'V' reg (1999) MK1 shed bought in 2009, so ten years old at the time and the passenger side sill was rotten. The MK1 had plastic sill covers so it was unseen. The MK1.5's don't have the sill covers so any rust should be obvious. If the car you are looking at has survived this long, it'll probably be fine, just wear some scruffs so you can get on the floor and have a good look at it.

Some more info on the petrols;

The 1.4 and 1.6's are Yamaha derived engines, which are fantastic.

The 1.8 and 2.0 are Ford engines, derived from the original Zetec engines and are also fantastic.

The ST170 and RS are also Ford engines but these won't be an affordable U-LEZZERS

The 1.4, 1.6 and 1.8 use the IB5 gearbox whilst the 2.0 uses the much stronger MTX gearbox.

The 1.6 is what I'd go for, but I'd also have a 2.0!

Did I mention rust?