New Diesel Car Roadtax exempt.

[F Body]

Not really a VW fan but the new Polo Bluemotion will be road tax exempt when it goes on sale in the UK this October, because the diesel hatch only emits 99g/km CO2.

I've mentioned this because it pokes all the Toyota Prius owners in the eye

That makes it cleaner than any other car currently on sale - hybrids included - and puts it in the lowest 'band A' tax category. The Bluemotion achieves these lowly carbon emissions using an ultra-efficient 1.4 diesel engine and trick aerodynamics to reduce drag. It returns an exceptional 74.3mpg.

But as usual there's a catch ?

Well how does £11,995 sound for a stripped out very basic spec ( non aircon, electric windows or CD etc - to save weight )

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: F Body

trick aerodynamics to reduce drag

I didnt realise that kind of thing mattered when judging emissions, i figured they put the pipe in the zaust and told you how much to pay...

Quoting: F Body

non aircon, electric windows or CD etc - to save weigh

Which makes this bit sound really lame..  Talk about going backwards!!    Technically you should be able to have the heaviest motorhome in the world with tvs, air con etc etc...  but with an effecient engine, and pay no tax..

[Fieldy]

If it will be CC Exempt it will sell well in this area regardless of price....

[EDGE]

that needs to be cheaper then that... or that price with ALL the optoins...

[EDGE]

it also needs to have some kind of gurantee from the government to make sure it stays tax free for at least 5 years....

saves them moving the goal posts to 80/kg... bastids

[F Body]

Quoting: EDGE

that needs to be cheaper then that... or that price with ALL the optoins...

They are doing a full fat upmarket model called Bluemotion 2.
Whilst this version is still very clean, the Bluemotion 2 comes with some weight-adding extras, so it uses more fuel and emits 104g/km - meaning owners will still have to pay £35 road tax the same as our Panda ( 114 g/km )

It costs a mere £12,845

Quoting: EDGE

saves them moving the goal posts to 80/kg... bastids

Well they will have us driving electric cars until we run out of electricity

NB :  Thing is the current Polo is bigger than a Mk2 Golf , so if you put the same engine in a smaller lighter car you could still have all the options

[HardRockCamaro]

12 grand for a Polo with nothing in it?

Sod the road tax, I'd rather pay that and pay less for a car with more stuff!

End result:  costs the same over 3 years and I don't have to have keep fit windows...

There's one born every minute...

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

12 grand for a Polo with nothing in it?

I think a mint polo would be a better investment..

[Cunning Plan]

.. forgot ..  

[philoldsmobile]

i reckon they are gonna sell millions of them

as car wnthusiasts we forget there are many people that really do want a car to be as clean as possible, hence the reason the prius has been a hit..

to be fair, for the school run or tesco run, the polo will suffice, and althoug the saving on road tax is small, and the polo itself is quite expensive, calculated against the saving from the remarkable fuel economy, its not that expensive..

i can see them commanding VERY strong trade in values too

it is also proof that we dont need silly hybrid cars, with these things running on biodiesel, its quite concievably renewable transport.

[HardRockCamaro]

Oh come on, how much difference is not having a CD player going to make to  the actual fuel consumption of this thing?
They removed all that stuff so that they could just about squeeze it under the emissions barrier for PR purposes.

It's a PR angle, free road tax and less emissions than a Prius.

While some people do care about the environment I bet they care more about saving money on petrol. Free road tax will give those car hating penny pinchers a complete **** on.

While it does make more sense than a Prius (and is less offensive looking) and is probably more enviromentally friendly due to the lack of toxic batteries and a lifespan longer than 100,000 miles (well it is a diesel) it's still not for me.
Small cars with small engines are just not pleasant at the best of times and taking aircon away and replacing it with keep fit windows is just plain unacceptable.  And no CD player?  Fine, but at least give me 2 speakers and an amp and an iPod dock...

And the lack of "stuff" in the car should result in a lower price.  I fail to see why such a small car with no stuff in it with a fairly unremarkable disesel engine should cost so much.  It negates the fuel and tax savings but of course Joe Average Idiot won't take that into consideration...

It's a lot more enviromentally friendly to keep your old car for longer anyway...

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: F Body

so it uses more fuel and emits 104g/km

So are they measuring the CO/2 whilst driving and not stationary like in a MOT station?

Quoting: HardRockCamaro

how much difference is not having a CD player going to make to the actual fuel consumption of this thing?

Yeah!

[HardRockCamaro]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

So are they measuring the CO/2 whilst driving and not stationary like in a MOT station?  

Correct.

That's how all cars are now rated for tax, how many grams per km you drive (based on some particualry pattern of driving probably).  The MOT is about percentage of the exhaust emissions iirc which is less realistic.
Think about it...
It a 5L engine has an MOT score of 3%, and a 2.5L engine has a score of 5% the 5L engine is polluting more than the 2.5L engine becuase 3% of the emissions of a 5L engine amounts to more than 3% of the emissions of a 2.5L engine becuase there's more stuff gas coming out of the exhaust to begin with.  So 3% of something big can be more than 5% of something small.

How many actual grams of bad stuff you produce, irrespecitve of enigne size, is a fairer way to do it.

[philoldsmobile]

meh, a CD player is £39 in motorworld....

but by offering it as a dealer fit option, it wont affect the tax band as its not part of the car, rather an after market item..

i'm guessing there is little or no soundproofing, no floormats and very thin carpets and glass... its going to take planing every component down to its bare minimum to get into the tax bracket the weight of one individual item may not be significant, but the weight of all of them combined is..

[Cunning Plan]

[ianjpage]

[Pod]

I think that last picture was about the "polo".

[Cunning Plan]