Audi A4 Avant or BMW 3 series Touring?

Carnmore

I'm thinking of getting a 2009 to 2013 one of these cars. I fancy the A4 Allroad too.

I want an economical and practical car which would be used for work, towing a trailer and bikes in the back et al.

Which would be the best all-round choice considering handling, insurance/tax, servicing costs, owning and reliability?

There's obviously more choice, superior spec and condition and lower prices in the UK.

Is it still viable to import a used diesel car now with the NOx charge? It seems even a Which? certified "extremely low" NOx emission level would be a minimum of €900 payable in addition to VRT.

Is there a site to accurately assess the NOx and CO2 emissions of a particular car, which Revenue will accept?

Thanks in advance

Casati

Carnmore wrote: »

I'm thinking of getting a 2009 to 2013 one of these cars. I fancy the A4 Allroad too.

I want an economical and practical car which would be used for work, towing a trailer and bikes in the back et al.

Which would be the best all-round choice considering handling, insurance/tax, servicing costs, owning and reliability?

There's obviously more choice, superior spec and condition and lower prices in the UK.

Is it still viable to import a used diesel car now with the NOx charge? It seems even a Which? certified "extremely low" NOx emission level would be a minimum of €900 payable in addition to VRT.

Is there a site to accurately assess the NOx and CO2 emissions of a particular car, which Revenue will accept?

Thanks in advance

Cartel have a calculator to estimate Nox charge. You need to get the exact Nox for the cars you are looking at and this can vary by exact model/ year etc so you really need the exact one

https://www.cartell.ie/nox/


The newer you go the lower but some 2009 could be prohibitively expensive to import now

bazz26

Don't waste your time. Neither of those models in those years your looking at, are worth importing because the Nox charge on pre Euro6 diesel engines are high making them too expensive to import.

Carnmore

bazz26 wrote: »

Don't waste your time. Neither of those models in those years your looking at, are worth importing because the Nox charge on pre Euro6 diesel engines are high making them too expensive to import.

I don't think the Allroad will be an option due to the NOx charge.

The BMW 3 series NOx figures are much lower though?

Could you provide a link to a site for definitive NOx emission figures?

Heres Johnny

If you're looking 09 end of your budget you're going to get way better value in Ireland than importing. Even at 13 end I'd say its still better value in Ireland

ATC110

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Carnmore

Heres Johnny wrote: »

If you're looking 09 end of your budget you're going to get way better value in Ireland than importing. Even at 13 end I'd say its still better value in Ireland

Because of the NOx charge? One Revenue calculation was less than €500 on a BMW 3 series touring

Mad_Mike

Carnmore wrote: »

Because of the NOx charge? One Revenue calculation was less than €500 on a BMW 3 series touring

€500? Is that just the VRT charge?
The NOx charge could be about 2k more for a 2 litre diesel from 2009, up to 3k for 2008, so make sure to check your figures

Try this site to find the NOx value of whatever you plan to buy, but as the guys are saying, anything of that era is certainly going to be a non-runner I reckon

Heres Johnny

Carnmore wrote: »

Because of the NOx charge? One Revenue calculation was less than €500 on a BMW 3 series touring

Because a 09 A4 or 3 series will be going for comparative peanuts in Ireland. Once you start adding in travel costs over and back , vrt, nox and purchase price you'd probably want to get the car for free in the UK to make it viable.
13 car might, just might, make sense but I doubt it.
Nice cars though so I'm not trying to turn you off buying either but do your maths diligently.