Most Powerful cars by VRT bands......

R.O.R

People are often complaining that the VRT system rules out more powerful cars due to stupid taxation, so I thought I’d have a look at the max power that is available in each band (for new cars only).

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong…..

Cat A – 14% VRT - €160 road tax (currently)
Volvo S80 D5 (manual) – 215ps (MY13 – about to be released)

Cat B – 16% VRT - €225 road tax (currently)
BMW 530d (Auto) – 258ps

Cat C – 20% VRT - €330 road tax (currently)
BMW 535d/640d/740d – 313ps

Cat D – 24% VRT - €481 road tax (currently)
Audi A6/A7 3.0Tdi Bi-Turbo / X3 35d – 313ps (dissapointing there is nothing higher than the same as Band C)

Cat E – 28% VRT - €677 road tax (currently)
Audi S5 – 333ps

Cat F – 32%VRT - €1,129 road tax (currently)
Merc CLS 500 – 408ps
Or – BMW 650i Gran Coupe. New Car sales guide and Carzone are listing this at 450ps, but it isn’t on the BMW Configurator.

Cat G is open ended, so the world is your lobster – Veyron probably.

Good to see that there is powerful stuff available for very little tax, and while it’s dominated by the German’s those plucky Swede’s (with Chinese assistance) are getting in on the act.

IrishZeus

Quite interesting actually as was thinking about this the other day. Personal opinion there would be the BMW 330d would be the best bang for buck there.

All diesels up until the last Audi S.... :eek:

Alanstrainor

Realising I'm paying almost the same tax as a new 650i makes me :mad::(

Victor Meldrew

R.O.R wrote: »

People are often complaining that the VRT system rules out more powerful cars due to stupid taxation, so I thought I’d have a look at the max power that is available in each band (for new cars only)

A few points.

1. The shape of the torque curve is more important than max power in terms of driveablilty / fun

2. Power/max torque to weight ratio is also very important.

3. The Co2 rating is a complete fudge, like fuel consumption it is barely useful for comparative purpose.

4. Road tax was supposed to reflect damage doe to road (function of vehicle's weight. the bands below, in some cases, mock that principle.

Useful exercise though

Stainless_Steel

€330 tax for a BMW 740d.....hope the tax doesn't go up too much....will take one of them in 5 years thanks very much!

Low tax, relatively good mpg, most of the depreciation gone, luxury saloon - you'd be mad to buy a new opel corsa or the like!!

sean1141

Alanstrainor wrote: »

Realising I'm paying almost the same tax as a new 650i makes me :mad::(

Im paying pretty much the same tax as someone with an s5 and I have 200ps less:mad:

Victor Meldrew

And you can buy a Volvo s80 with a 115bhp 1.6 Diesel motor...

An affront to driving, although at ~ 38K you could at least hire someone else to drive it...

Mycroft H

Whats the tax on Cat G?

IrishZeus

I'm paying just over the Cat F level for an IS250 with 204ps.

Depressing... could have the Merc 500 power for that

leeroybrown

BX 19 wrote: »

Whats the tax on Cat G?

€2,258.

Mycroft H

leeroybrown wrote: »

€2,258.

Ohhhhhh. Thats a kick in the balls :eek:

500 quid dearer then the top bracket in the old system.

leeroybrown

...and likely to change again soon. I'm sure it's been discussed to death here on Motors but the government are mid-review on motor tax and are likely to change the system again before too long.

pred racer

And im paying the same as an audi 3.0tdi for my miserable 1.9jtdm:eek: and im on the bloody new system!

skyhighflyer

Stainless_Steel wrote: »

€330 tax for a BMW 740d.....hope the tax doesn't go up too much....will take one of them in 5 years thanks very much!

Low tax, relatively good mpg, most of the depreciation gone, luxury saloon - you'd be mad to buy a new opel corsa or the like!!

If the €330 tax stays the same or a only a bit higher then they won't depreciate anywhere near as much as the equivalent 7 series has.

Also, there might be 20(?) of these registered in Ireland this year, if that. Low tax band and limited supply will mean they'll hold their value a lot more than you'd expect.

pcardin

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

4. Road tax was supposed to reflect damage doe to road (function of vehicle's weight. the bands below, in some cases, mock that principle.

but it's not a road tax. it's called Motor Tax and is to do with emissions not weight.

Victor Meldrew

pcardin wrote: »

but it's not a road tax. it's called Motor Tax and is to do with emissions not weight.

Originally it was based on motor size and (roughly) the weight of the vehicle. and was supposed to reflect the damage inflicted on roads..

leeroybrown

Victor Meldrew wrote: »

4. Road tax was supposed to reflect damage doe to road (function of vehicle's weight. the bands below, in some cases, mock that principle.

Originally, yes but it's been a been a general purpose "local government fund" tax for many years at this stage with payment for local roads just being one of the main costs it covers. For example, in 1997 domestic rates were abolished and motor tax was increased (I think it was by £40/year) to bring in this money in an alternate way.

It's tax. They'll tax how ever much they can through whatever means they can.

Sobanek

R.O.R wrote: »

Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong…..

Cat C – 20% VRT - €330 road tax (currently)
BMW 535d/640d/740d – 313ps
Good to see that there is powerful stuff available for very little tax, and while it’s dominated by the German’s those plucky Swede’s (with Chinese assistance) are getting in on the act.

The 740d is actually €677 to tax. It's not only engine that matters but the weight as well.

S5 actually is rated at 224 g/km - so it's €2k+ tax.

And the 650i is 245 g/km... Where did you get your info? I'm actually going to check all of them right now.

Sobanek

Cat A – 14% VRT - €160 road tax (currently)
Volvo S80 D5 (manual) – 215ps (MY13 – about to be released)
Didn't find any info on it, so I'll leave it as it is.

Cat B – 16% VRT - €225 road tax (currently)
BMW 530d (Auto) – 258ps - Wrong, it produces 142 g/km which makes it Cat C.

Cat C – 20% VRT - €330 road tax (currently)
BMW 535d/640d/740d – 313ps - the 740d produces 181 g/km which makes it Cat E.

Cat D – 24% VRT - €481 road tax (currently)
Audi A6/A7 3.0Tdi Bi-Turbo / X3 35d – 313ps (dissapointing there is nothing higher than the same as Band C)
The Audi Bi-Turbo 3.0 TDI produces 169 g/km in both A6 and A7.

Cat E – 28% VRT - €677 road tax (currently)
Audi S5 – 333ps - Very wrong, it's 226 g/km - it's €2258 tax.

Cat F – 32%VRT - €1,129 road tax (currently)
Merc CLS 500 – 408ps
Or – BMW 650i Gran Coupe - No. It produces 245 g/km - once again it's €2258.

My bad, it's actually correct.
There, corrected for you

rocky

This needs separate petrol and diesel categories

leeroybrown

Sobanek wrote: »

Cat B – 16% VRT - €225 road tax (currently)
BMW 530d (Auto) – 258ps - Wrong, it produces 142 g/km which makes it Cat C.

I'm pretty sure that the 530d (auto) that BMW Ireland are supplying new an engine map to produce 139 g/km to get it under the 140 g/km limit that's being used.

Leonard Hofstadter

leeroybrown wrote: »

I'm pretty sure that the 530d (auto) that BMW Ireland are supplying new an engine map to produce 139 g/km to get it under the 140 g/km limit that's being used.

R.O.R is dead right when he says that the 530d is €225 to tax - but only if it's the auto in SE spec.

M Sport (manual or auto) just tips it over into band C. SE manual is also band C, which means that the automatic is bascially the same price as the manual new!

The Audi S5 is in the band ROR said as well now that it's been facelifted.

The forthcoming S80 D5 is interesting though - that really is amazing if true. No doubt all the Paddys buying a new one will still go for the poverty spec 1.6 diesel with its 108 bhp :rolleyes:.

Eric Cartman

everything up to cat E is a reasonable price for some of the cars you can get in it. The 740d cpuld easily become a daily driver with the consumption / tax band.


Whats the most powerful petrol car / biggest 4x4 you can get in cat E & F?

Sobanek

captainspeed wrote: »

R.O.R is dead right when he says that the 530d is €225 to tax - but only if it's the auto in SE spec.

M Sport (manual or auto) just tips it over into band C.

The Audi S5 is in the band ROR said as well now that it's been facelifted.

The S80 D5 is interesting though - that really is amazing if true.

The S5 isn't. I checked the manufacturer data.
CO2-Emissionen 224 g/km
Leergewicht 1755 kg

leeroybrown

Sobanek wrote: »

The S5 isn't. I checked the manufacturer data.
CO2-Emissionen 224 g/km
Leergewicht 1755 kg

Those are the wrong numbers wherever you got them from. The Irish spec S5 has combined CO2 emissions of 190 g/km (coupe) and 1999 g/km (cabriolet).

Edit: http://www.audi.ie/etc/medialib/ngw/ie/brochures.Par.0018.File.pdf/a5_s5_coupe_cabrio.pdf (the official brochure with specs)

Sobanek

Oh, ok. It was for the 2011 model. Once again, mea culpa.

Leonard Hofstadter

The S80 D5 will only be in band A if you order it with a manual gearbox - in fact ALL S80 diesel manuals will be in band A from next year onwards.

Unfortunately, the D5 auto will still be in band D!

The D3 (136 bhp) and D4 (163 bhp) 2.0 diesel autos are in band C (148 g/km), so unfortunately the S80 is still not going to be competitive with the Germans if you order it with the gearbox the most buyers in this class want.

mickdw

Ok, old thread but might be more suitable than starting a new one seeing as alot of the info re car models is here already.
Im looking to change car to roughly a 2012 and Im restricted to band C due to self employed tax claim. That being the case, Im looking for as much power as possible and looking at maybe spending 30k total.

Any ideas.

R.O.R

mickdw wrote: »

Ok, old thread but might be more suitable than starting a new one seeing as alot of the info re car models is here already.
Im looking to change car to roughly a 2012 and Im restricted to band C due to self employed tax claim. That being the case, Im looking for as much power as possible and looking at maybe spending 30k total.

Any ideas.

A6 FWD multitronic. 204ps 3.0Tdi V6, is the first thing that springs to mind.