List of older cars in £30 tax bracket

[AlVal]

I devised this list while working out the cheapest overall total cost of ownership, for a commuter car, to allow more change to spend on the weekend toy

criteria:

should be well rated on reliability indexes
should be less than ten years old (again, reliability)
should be less than 50,000 miles (reliability, residual value)
should be cheap on insurance
should be cheap on road tax
should be cheap on fuel
should be <£4k to buy

I'm pretty sure all the above factors are requirements to have a good chance of returning the lowest total cost of ownership.


So, it's interesting that it's almost impossible to find a list on the net of older cars (2001-2007) that fall into the £30 tax bracket, took me a lot of effort to work out the list below.

Any time you try and google for low tax cars (and I'm adept at choosing keywords wisely etc), you just continuously get thrown at marketing for new cars.

I've excluded the smart car (but not the smart roadster)

I chose the 120g/km co2 tax bracket (£30 or less per year road tax) because once you go over that, it jumps suddenly to £90 (see http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/OwningAVehicl... )

so, I built my own database from the government data available here http://carfueldata.direct.gov.uk/downloads/default... to get the proper full list of used cars that fall into this tax bracket, which are available in years from 2001-2006

I've simplified the list (in some cases exact variants of the model are required to meet the criteria, so always check), but this is basically it:

audi a2 1.4 tdi
citroen c1 1.0
citroen c1 1.4 hdi
citroen C2 1.4 hdi
citroen c3 1.4 hdi
citroen xsara 1.4 hdi
diahatsu charade 1.0 efi
diahatsu sirion 1.0
fiat panda 1.3 16v multijet
fiat punto 1.3 16v multijet (auto available)
ford fiesta 1.8 TDdi
ford fiesta 1.4 tdci (auto available)
ford fusion 1.4 tdci (auto available)
honda civic ima executive
honda insight
hyundai getz 1.5 crtd
kia picanto 1.1
mazda2 1.4 td (auto available)
mercedes a160cdi
nissan micra 1.5
peugeot 1007 1.4 hdi
peugeot 107 1.0 (auto available)
peugeot 206 1.4 hdi
peugeot 206 2.0 hdi
peugeot 206 sw 1.4 hdi
peugeot 307 1.4 hdi
renault clio 1.5 dci
renault megane 1.5 dci
renault modus 1.5 dci
seat arosa 1.4 tdi
suzuki alto 1.1
smart roadster
suzuki alto 1.1
toyota aygo 1.0 (auto available)
toyota aygo 1.4 d4d (auto available)
toyota prius (cvt available)
toyota yaris 1.4 d-4d (auto available)
vauxhall astra ECO4 LS 1.7 DTi 5 Door Hatch
vauxhall corsa 1.0 Eco
vauxhall corsa 1.3 cdti
volkswagen lupo 1.4 tdi
volkswagen lupo 1.7 diesel
volkswagen polo 1.4 tdi


aygo, yaris or fiesta it is then. (they're most reliable, and available with auto and aircon)

thought someone else might appreciate the list.

And no, this doesn't mean I'm some green eco-hippy or that I don't enjoy or don't have access to some cars with all the opposite traits to the above, so don't be too judgemental unless you know me...

Edited by AlVal on Tuesday 31st May 10:04

[LayZ]

Good effort. Mind if I use this as base for a blog post?

[TheStig44]

After spunking £118 for 6 months tax just this morning, the cars on this list are looking mighty appealing!

Good bit of research though, some very useful information there!

[AlVal]

LayZ said:

Good effort. Mind if I use this as base for a blog post?

not at all, maybe a link to the thread or something would be cool.

I'm working on building a .net based simple public website to allow people to fully browse/filter/sort the database as they wish, by everything from year to engine size/transmission/tax and all the other columns rather than be forced to use the crippling filter methods placed on the official government website, which doesn't let you browse/filter as you wish.

[Swoxy]

Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDI?

[AlVal]

Swoxy said:

Skoda Fabia 1.4 TDI?

was only excluded because outside the 2001-2006 timeframe, but a very good option, and glad you mentioned it.

when I get the full website up, you'll be able to widen and narrow all kinds of search parameters

[vladcjelli]

Keep us posted.

I want to recreate all those classic Data Dad from Top Gear magazine moments.

"Which car can I fit 5 people and their drum kits in, while accelerating from 0-60 in no more than 8.5 secs, and using no less than 42mpg?"

Dark stat side showing through.

[Andrew[MG]]

Good work and I look forward to seeing the website!

[R500POP]

Most interesting car on that list is the Insight, if you get a 2001 or newer it's actually free tax. May struggle on the price though.

[AlVal]

R500POP said:

Most interesting car on that list is the Insight, if you get a 2001 or newer it's actually free tax. May struggle on the price though.

I REALLY wanted one, it's a masterpiece of a car, and a piece of automotive history. the only thing which is terribly unfortunate is the insurance which makes it less viable an option than it should be. the insurance cost is primarily down to it being fully aluminium, and apparantly it's a specialist job to repair any damage to it because of that. same goes for the A2.

I guess third party insurance could make it a more viable option?

I'm perhaps mildly cautious of taking the plunge and going hybrid, and having to deal with battery packs from 2001 that are probably on the way out, and all the other complications and potential heavy bills that hybrid might bring, I'm not sure whether its an enthusiast category. charging the batteries overnight at home in the garage for an insight owner apparantly brings its running cost down even further.

I can't make my mind up about lpg conversions either. lpg converted smart car available for about £4k is another "interesting" option. again, I'd hear a little voice in the back of my head screaming if i actually went as far as being about to hand over cash for one.

There's something to be said for mainstream petrol or diesel in terms of resale value and ease of getting servicing etc, and avoiding any potential big problems that the hybrids/lpgs etc might encounter. probably unfair of me to scaremonger against these technologies, but when we're talking used cars here where you never fully know history, I'm not sure I'd go for the additional risk

[AlVal]

vladcjelli said:

Keep us posted.



"Which car can I fit 5 people and their drum kits in, while accelerating from 0-60 in no more than 8.5 secs, and using no less than 42mpg?"

SAAB 9-5 Series 5 Door Estate 2.3 HOT 250hp B235R 'Aero' ImperialExtraUrban=42.2 MPG 0-60=8.1S



or a mercedes cls 320cdi if you're not serious about the drumkits...

[R500POP]

I'm on my second Insight, my first one did some decent mileage & was 100% reliable, this one is a little refurb project picked up for a measly £1000, I recon it'll be £2500 all in for the full refurb, which includes loads of cosmetic work due to me being a fussy bugger.

The insurance is only £20ish a year more than my 1.2 Fiat 500, the batteries can be rebuilt these days, there is a guy in the USA who makes new stick for them, with warranty, it's only an assembly of screw top high capacity 'D' cells into sticks that makes the battery packs, they are pretty easy to replace at home.

[shoestring7]

R500POP said:

I'm on my second Insight, my first one did some decent mileage & was 100% reliable, this one is a little refurb project picked up for a measly £1000, I recon it'll be £2500 all in for the full refurb, which includes loads of cosmetic work due to me being a fussy bugger.

The insurance is only £20ish a year more than my 1.2 Fiat 500, the batteries can be rebuilt these days, there is a guy in the USA who makes new stick for them, with warranty, it's only an assembly of screw top high capacity 'D' cells into sticks that makes the battery packs, they are pretty easy to replace at home.

But can you find a <50k one for ~£4k?

SS7

[R500POP]

shoestring7 said:

But can you find a <50k one for ~£4k?

SS7

If you look hard, and have patience, I expect so.

[iva cosworth]

That list is full of dullness,the only slightly interesting car is the Smart

[greathorwood]

I've got an '03 plate Daihatsu Charade SL - perfectly decent little car for the station run. Sips petrol, comfy and surprisingly practical. Driveshafts tend to go on them so if you fancy one make sure you get it on full lock both ways on the test drive. 'Click-click-click' means money to negotiate off...

[Bungleaio]

TheStig44 said:

After spunking £118 for 6 months tax just this morning, the cars on this list are looking mighty appealing!

Good bit of research though, some very useful information there!

I am about to throw £260 at taxing my impreza, the only thing that takes the edge off is that if the car had been 1st registered 10 days later the bill would be £460.

Paying road tax is always painful, I will be looking at these sorts of costs a lot more closely on my next purchase.

[J4CKO]

I will take a pushbike, with a hedgehog seat cover in preference to that lot !

[XitUp]

Bungleaio said:

Paying road tax is always painful, I will be looking at these sorts of costs a lot more closely on my next purchase.

Car tax. Not road tax.

J4CKO said:

I will take a pushbike, with a hedgehog seat cover in preference to that lot !

I went to look at a mk1 Insight yesterday, very interesting little cars.

[martyn...]

The smart is not in the £30 a year tax band, well at least mine isn't.