My new Smart car

Birchall

Dick Chown Award 2016
Just been shocked by the new road tax bands.

I have been driving around in a 2010 Smart Fortwo as a temporary vehicle (now that I don’t have an A2).

It was pleasing to find that there is zero road tax on it.

Now I have bought a nearly new Smart Fortwo (4 months old) it was a shock to find that the road tax is £140 a year!!!!

Apparently they don’t want to encourage people to frive less polluting cars any more.
Any car even V8 juice guzzlers pay £140 a year as long as the list price is £49,000 or less.

Is it me or is that crazy?

Yet another reason to stick with your A2 Tdi !!!!

Steve B
 
Absolutely crazy! But what can you expect from a government that can't even organise a reliable railway? Not to mention Bre...!

There is an answer though - E-Up! Still free! A three/four-year old example will cost about the same as your Smart.

RAB
 
You can go out for a good meal and with wine, it can come to around £140 ..... It IS a one-off, but it still gets to people? I suppose that I do appreciate my diesel being as low as it is, though.

David
 
It all changed in 2017 when the tax was looked at by the government. The up! was the same - no engine changes and the naturally aspirated 1.0 was £30 previously, with new 2017 registrations coming in at £140. Even the TSI which I own is the same blanket £140. No sense to me either Steve - if it is about pollution, then how can a relatively new 3 pot petrol be more to tax than an older diesel.
 
The rules changed on 1st April 2017 when anything above 0g/km CO2 became chargeable at £140 (or £130 for hybrids). There was also a luxury vehicle tax of £310 for the first 5 years introduced.

This means that all of a sudden, something like a Q7 e-tron which was previously free of VED, became £440 a year for the first 5 years.

There's plenty of £0 VED cars around, but nothing new, unless it's electric only. Just another reason why the new car sales have dropped.
 
As another example, my A3 e-tron which currently costs £0 would now cost £130 a year to tax, despite only putting out 37g/km. However, my next car will be fully electric, so will be £0.
 
Absolutely crazy! But what can you expect from a government that can't even organise a reliable railway? Not to mention Bre...!

There is an answer though - E-Up! Still free! A three/four-year old example will cost about the same as your Smart.

RAB
Hi Rab agreed, but I have to park in the street next to the train station for my daily commute (which means I am suffering with the nightmare trains at the moment)
The streets I park in have very few gaps but the Smart enables me to park in some very tight spots. I also only ever like quirky cars, the quirkier the better and so the smart ticks so many boxes. The thing that would have put me off buying a Smart would be the dreadful gaps in between gear changes. But now they have a double clutch gearbox the change is instant. So now I can have a quirky car that changes gear without me head butting the dashboard on each gear change or getting to a roundabout, seeing a gap, pulling into that gap only to find that the gearbox decides to take a few seconds to give you the right gear. That can be scary.

So I am happy with my selection (but not for one minute saying that it is better than the A2, I am still a huge A2 fan, even though I am without one at the moment)

Steve B
 
All governments will prioritise tax revenues above the environment in our short termist world. Expect fully electric cars to attract road tax once road tax revenues begin to fall. It’s just maths.
 
All governments will prioritise tax revenues above the environment in our short termist world. Expect fully electric cars to attract road tax once road tax revenues begin to fall. It’s just maths.
They already do if costing more than £40k - they then qualify for £310 for the first 5 years.
 
I really, really, really want a Citroen C6 (I have a bit of a Citroen problem!), but the 2.7 HDi version is over £500 a year for road tax! It makes buying them cheap but running them painful ... Oddly, they are quite fuel efficient, given the aerodynamics etc., but a similar 3L Audi/BMW diesel engine is much cheaper to tax.
 
Oddly, they are quite fuel efficient, given the aerodynamics etc., but a similar 3L Audi/BMW diesel engine is much cheaper to tax.

They might be "quite fuel efficient" but clearly not as fuel efficient as the Audi/BMW 3L!

RAB
 
I really, really, really want a Citroen C6 (I have a bit of a Citroen problem!), but the 2.7 HDi version is over £500 a year for road tax! It makes buying them cheap but running them painful ... Oddly, they are quite fuel efficient, given the aerodynamics etc., but a similar 3L Audi/BMW diesel engine is much cheaper to tax.
Me too, the concave rear screen is just ace!
 
I really, really, really want a Citroen C6 (I have a bit of a Citroen problem!), but the 2.7 HDi version is over £500 a year for road tax! It makes buying them cheap but running them painful ... Oddly, they are quite fuel efficient, given the aerodynamics etc., but a similar 3L Audi/BMW diesel engine is much cheaper to tax.


Currently have a, a7 3.0 Bitdi , 320bhp and the tax is 190.00 , the car does mid 50 mpg , o-60 in less than 5 seconds amazing bit of kit , but sensible tax rate , agreed with you on the c6 2.7 really nice looking car and rather special
 
Currently have a, a7 3.0 Bitdi , 320bhp and the tax is 190.00 , the car does mid 50 mpg , o-60 in less than 5 seconds amazing bit of kit , but sensible tax rate , agreed with you on the c6 2.7 really nice looking car and rather special

By the my favourite engine really want one in a an a6


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