Cheapest high CO2 car
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Discussion

simonrockman

Original Poster:

7,012 posts

272 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Through an odd set of circumstances I'm looking for a big car, five seats, preferably a hatch/estate which has depreciated badly. To that end I want something that in the £400/year tax bracket. I'm thinking Monaro/300C. What are the other options. I really want to spend around £6,000.

Simon

Fox-

13,447 posts

263 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Surely you cannot get either a Monaro or a 300C V8 worth buying for only £6k!

MarsellusWallace

1,180 posts

218 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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I had someone trying to trade in a 56 plate Chevrolet Tacuma 2.0 Auto yesterday,30000 miles.As well as being amazed at it's ugliness and blandness I noticed that it falls into the high level of tax and costs a whopping £425 per year to tax.I didn't realise at first and did a double take when I saw the tax disc.It's value in the trade-around £1750....

simonrockman

Original Poster:

7,012 posts

272 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
Fox- said:
Surely you cannot get either a Monaro or a 300C V8 worth buying for only £6k!
No I can't. I have to move a lot on price for that.

Simon

simonrockman

Original Poster:

7,012 posts

272 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
MarsellusWallace said:
I had someone trying to trade in a 56 plate Chevrolet Tacuma 2.0 Auto yesterday,30000 miles.As well as being amazed at it's ugliness and blandness I noticed that it falls into the high level of tax and costs a whopping £425 per year to tax.I didn't realise at first and did a double take when I saw the tax disc.It's value in the trade-around £1750....
Thanks! That's just the kind of niche thing I'm looking for. I'm being schizophrenic in this thread. What I want is something exciting and V8, what I need is to replace a Renault Scenic which was the worst car I've ever experienced. Not just dynamically poor but fantastically expensive to run. So another crap MPV might be just the thing. My wife gets disability allowance and so doesn't have to pay car tax.

Simon

Deano_BMW

430 posts

203 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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i bought a BMW 540 touring. Big engine, high CO2, decent economy (for what it is) and you can get them for pennies now. I paid 2k for one with 74k on the clock and a great options list.

Fox-

13,447 posts

263 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Why would you purposefully find something in the highest tax bracket, even if the tax was free? I wouldnt overlook a great car in the £245 bracket just because I could buy a crap one in the £445 bracket.

Infact with this sort of car tax doesn't really matter anyway as it's dwarfed by all the other costs - so I'd just shop as you would without the tax thing being an issue.

Remember that generally speaking the higher the tax bracket the more fuel it uses.

simonrockman

Original Poster:

7,012 posts

272 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
I take the point on not just buying a crap car because the tax is free, but my mileage is quite low so fuel economy isn't important and depreciation is. The tax thing drives the depreciation. Indeed poor fuel economy also drives the depreciation.

The Renault Scenic was 52k miles and 56 plate, I got paid out £5k by the insurance company when I put it into a fence. I'm not proud of that but nor am I sorry.

Looking at Chevrolet Tacumas that buys you an '08 with 20k miles.

A 540 would be nice but that means going a lot older, I suspect the sweet spot is something newer than March 06 with the vicious tax and our Pulp Fiction friend (god I lust after an NSX) may have found it already.

Simon

Edited by simonrockman on Tuesday 1st March 00:32

Fox-

13,447 posts

263 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
The tax thing doesn't drive the depreciation at all - the difference is 200 quid, which is nothing.

Big engined cars which have depreciated have done so because they are big engined cars not because they cost £445 to tax.

Otherwise all the 07 plate 335i's, which are taxed at £445, would be considerably cheaper than the 57 plate models, which are taxed at £245. This is not the case.

davepoth

29,395 posts

216 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Look at big Beemers, Mercs (watch for rust at that age!), or as a bit of a curve ball, the Rover 75 V8/ZT-T 260?

Synchromesh

2,428 posts

183 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Mr Rockman, how about an electric car? They're the next big thing y'know wink

Bungleaio

6,510 posts

219 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Fox- said:
The tax thing doesn't drive the depreciation at all - the difference is 200 quid, which is nothing.

Big engined cars which have depreciated have done so because they are big engined cars not because they cost £445 to tax.

Otherwise all the 07 plate 335i's, which are taxed at £445, would be considerably cheaper than the 57 plate models, which are taxed at £245. This is not the case.
I bet it will when these cars are worth sub £5k. That said I dread to think what the fuel cost will be by the time these cars have depreciated that far.

T16OLE

2,960 posts

208 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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Fox- said:
Why would you purposefully find something in the highest tax bracket, even if the tax was free? I wouldnt overlook a great car in the £245 bracket just because I could buy a crap one in the £445 bracket.

Infact with this sort of car tax doesn't really matter anyway as it's dwarfed by all the other costs - so I'd just shop as you would without the tax thing being an issue.

Remember that generally speaking the higher the tax bracket the more fuel it uses.
Agreed, flawed system in the first place, why follow it. Buy the car you want, why limit yourself?

simonrockman

Original Poster:

7,012 posts

272 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
Synchromesh said:
Mr Rockman, how about an electric car? They're the next big thing y'know wink
Because they are the 'next' big thing. 2016 they will be a reasonable proposition.

Simon

simonrockman

Original Poster:

7,012 posts

272 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
davepoth said:
Look at big Beemers, Mercs (watch for rust at that age!), or as a bit of a curve ball, the Rover 75 V8/ZT-T 260?
I looked at Rover 75 260s a while ago. I quite like the odd-ballness of them

Simon

T16OLE

2,960 posts

208 months

barky

480 posts

228 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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have spotted a few tacuma's on used car lots & wondered why they were so cheap

If its replacing a scenic & you like the mpv style + want something that's already depreciated quite a bit how about a 57 plate Ford C-Max 2.0 zetec auto?

otolith

62,347 posts

221 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
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I think anyone who owned a high CO2 car at the time the big tax bills were introduced will be painfully familiar with the effect it had on residuals - and that unfortunately the price adjustment on post 2006 cars trickled down into the older models. I had a 2005 RX-8 at the time, and although my tax only went up a bit compared to 2006 cars, everyone's residuals took a dive. The cost of taxing a car isn't a big part of the total cost of running it, but it is a psychologically significant lump sum. If we all paid it by monthly direct debit, it would probably have less effect.

Fox-

13,447 posts

263 months

Sunday 27th February 2011
quotequote all
Thats a good point - remember that ONLY high emissions cars registered AFTER March 2006 qualify for £445 tax. Any registered before then (Including my own) are capped at the £245 rate.

And how many 06 plate V8's are £6k?

Hardly any I would imagine?