OUR FAMILY CAR TAX IS GOING UP..TO £300. The new Car Tax is based on grams of CO2 per kilometer produced by your vehicle. But what I can't understand is this; most Superbikes only do 30-35 mpg and carry at the most 2 people, whereas most big-enginned diesel 'people carriers' will seat 7 and still turn in 35-plus mpg. Surely the carbon emissions should be calculated to take into account the number of people transported? We have a Kia Sedona, and 3 kids, and we need a large vehicle. As an ordinary family we are penalised for having the big vehicle we need, despite the fact that it is actually brilliant for fuel economy. It seems depressingly unfair - our car is used to take the children on camping holidays in Britain, because of course we can't afford to go abroad with 3 kids (and anyway, we produce less of a carbon footprint than if flying!!), we contribute to the local economy and British tourist industry, yet we will soon be unable to afford to tax the very vehicle that makes this possible. We bought the Kia because IT IS NOT A GAS GUZZLER!!! WHY DO WE HAVE TO SUFFER?
It's Not All About Size...
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24-03-07 19:31Try Owing A Integra Type R Dude Its About 400 Smakers.!!! And Hey All They'll Say Is, "well You Bought The Car" As They Do -
26-03-07 18:04Having 3 kids doesn't mean you 'need' a big car - you need a car that holds 5 people - that's all
there are plenty of those about that are cheaper to run than yours -
Guestsparklelard26-03-07 21:41I get three kids in the back of a Fiesta with no problem. The boot is quite large and I get 45 to the gallon.
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16-04-07 19:40It's never nice to have to pay more for what you've already got but put it into perspective: £300 per year is really very little indeed compared to what you'll pay for fuel (if you've chosen a car with high emmissions, because that's usually a consequence of poor fuel economy) or even depreciation.
And besides, there's no point in moaning about how the government tax us because if they don't tax our cars they'll get the money some other way because our country always has bills to pay. -
17-04-07 06:45buy an old rotary engined import
My rotary engined 1988 Rx7 is 340 hp and when driven hard does 9 mpg.and has no catylytic converter.Totally environment un friendly!
but the "road fund license" is £60.50 for six months.see when it was imported i dont think they could equate the engine size.
as usual the government are hit and miss with their taxes.one rule for one
i know lets blame everything on global warming ho ho ho.Are we still a democratic nation or communist?Being ruled by fear or what?. -
17-04-07 20:01
I didn't really understand the link between you paying £60.15 for 6 months tax and the UK being a communist state. Could you explain? -
18-04-07 07:15It was a sarcastic comment regarding the government being unfair almost always.democratic means we can vote,i think with communist you are ordered to comply.
hope you understand sarcastic.
peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeenaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa as -
18-04-07 12:45
"Dictatorship" is probably the word you are looking for, communism is a political ideology rather than a form of government. And although we do indeed live in a democracy, we only get to vote on who makes makes the decisions on our behalf, we've never had the opportunity to vote on the individual issues themselves, except the very important ones like national sovereignty. If you think its unfair that you only pay £60 for your road tax and you want the government to do something about you should write to your MP, assuming that he's not already a member of this fine forum and aware that you're one of his constituents. ;) -
18-04-07 20:11Nothing to say,in case you reply again! as one of my glass eyes nearly fell asleep.:rolleyes:
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27-04-07 13:33Road tax?
And what would be the sense in writing to an MP about Road Tax; it was abolished in 1936! -
01-05-07 16:39Back to the original question ...
I'm not sure where you get MPG for the motorbikes but you'd have to work hard to get it that low - except in town where a car's consumtion will suffer proportionally. I get around 25mpg out of my VFR on a track-day, 35mpg around town, and 45mpg in general riding, when I run with a topbox (not very aerodynamic). Compare that with my Mondeo ... no track-day comparison but that does 22mpg around town and 35mpg in general use. I admit that I can, with delicate use of the throttle on a long motorway journey hit 44mpg, two up.
But then there's other factors. How much more latent energy is there in a car than a motorbike? I understand that it takes around five times as much energy to build a car. The bike uses far less road-space and is less damaging to the roads surface due to its lower weight. Parking is less of an issue with bikes, too.
Mind - we probably use more Ambulance fuel per collision :( -
10-05-07 12:56Road Tax
No, it isn't anything to do with roads (hasn't been since 1936, so I can't believe anyone calls it that). The highly expensive circle of paper you stick in your windscreen every year is VEHICLE EXCISE DUTY. Try reading the form next time it arrives!:D -
28-06-07 11:35i disagree
i'm in a similar possition but have 2 kids - hence have a "standard" 5 seat car (well, the wife does - i earn and pay for my Civic 'Toy'!!!). We've got a Renault Megan Scenic DCi - supposedly because Diesel cars are better on ecconomy and because we needed something big enough to carry all the kids, their associated 'cr@p' and (yes MR Clarkson i know it's not a fashionable idea but SOD YOU, YOU HEATHEN!!) to tow the caravan that we bought to be able to take the kids 2 hours down the road once a year for a fortnight in Cornwall!
This is a common and fairly standard 'family' car, yet returns only a (rather poor) average of 33.6mpg on the fuel computer - not the most ecconomical or giving the best 'green' carbon footprint but rated low for tax!
can anyone give me a sensible explanation why i should pay so much more than a slightly larger vehicle that carries 2 MORE passengers AND is MORE ecconomical??:confused:
A question for the new Chancellor maybe?:confused:
