After alot of stress last week I have decided to take a lighter view on life. Today trying to sort a tax rebate over an hour and three fone calls (still have to have a callback on Monday, then a letter!) I kept a smile on my face imagining Gary Oldman in Leon saying 'i don't have time for this micky mouse bullshit', try doing it next time you up against a bureaucrat, it really helps. I managed not to say it out loud, no matter how much I wanted to And a couple of days ago after returning to my car after work I found a note on my windscreen saying the following Thanks for blocking me in !! I have a 4x4 which took me god knows how many attempts to maneuver out. Have some common sense next time you PARK !!! Made me piss myself, I had reversed between the warrior and a fence, very tight squeeze but parking is at a premium at HRI. I did check and the other driver (probably a woman) had three foot to the car on the otherside and more than a car length behind . My message to this driver is if you can't maneuver your vehicle with that much room DON'T DRIVE A 4X4 ! And you be more considerate when you park and not take up two spaces. Also luv if you reverse in you can drive straight out, oh I forgot, you can't reverse Haha
I had to tax my car this week. £93 for 6 months for a 1.2 Fiesta from 2002. I did not smile, nor will I in future. I just won't. No. Not doing it.
Loada bollocks isn't it? They claim they do it based on emissions but some cars seem to be exempt from it. My tiny little Micra cost something like £130 to tax for a year. There aren't many more economical cars...
Yep, it must be emissions because some people at my work have more powerful cars but less tax to pay. I can tell you now, I've made worse emissions INSIDE the car than what comes out that exhaust. Tax my arse DVLA, go on, do it!
There was a website I saw not that long ago that shows what tax you pay for a certain sized engine, or emissions, one of the two, so I think it's probably that.
It's supposed to be based on that kind of thing but as I said some cars are exempt from that. I think it's becase my car is too old and they can't be arsed to backdate to the mid 90s for every car since then so they just assume that all cars that old must be gas guzzlers.
Yeah, I think age has a lot to do with it. I've been meaning for ages to get a new motor, it probably is about time.
It's so expensive to drive in France, it cost me 7.50 euros for a 50 minute motorway journey last month. Imagine how fast that would accumulate and what you'd end up paying over a year, we get off lightly with road tax here.
Just seen for the first time the "tag cloud" at the bottom, it made me come back as I caught it just as I went back to the main forum. The tags were, driver, stupid women!
A tax on farting? Surprised the government haven't introduced that already. Instant fines for breaking wind in a low emission zone? bring it on. Next step: quotas on how much urine and excreta you can produce with penalties for going over the limits. You can chose to offset by selling/buying unused quotas to people who have too much or too little. it's boring at work today,
or do what a lot of the French do and drive on the perfectly good roads that are next to the autoroutes.
Just buy a car registered before 1972. My 2.0 Cortina could keep up with most things, was free to tax, cost £80 to insure and looked great. Now I have a thirsty 1972 Landrover that belches out all sorts of emissions and it's free.
There are far more economical and less polluting cars. I'd guess the 170bhp 2 litre TDI I'm driving now does far more mpg and kicks less co2 out into the atmosphere. Just because it's a small engine doesn't make it great on fuel or clean to the environment, as cars age they kick out loads more **** and make use of a lot less of the fuel being put into them essentially kicking loads of unburned fuel out the exhaust along with decades of soot build up and oil as your piston rings will no longer be tight fit, infact they will be nowhere near tight specially in those first 10 minutes it takes to warm up. My advice get a new car, and ffs not a Nissan micra!
I already know it's very cheap to run. I have no idea how you would check the emissions but it's been very well looked after over the years and even though it's old I'm sure it isn't as bad for emissions as a 4x4 or something.
Look at your emmisions test on your last mot, and being well looked after doesn't mean it will prevent years of general wear and tear. 90% of damage to engines is in that first 10 minutes of every journey it takes for your engine to warm up, you understand physics how things expand and shrink due to temperature. And yes your little car will be miles cleaner and more fuel friendly than those giant petrol guzzling 3 or 4 litre turbo engines All I'm saying is it will be nowhere near as clean or economic as you'd think for a little engine. For example the car I'm driving does 0-100 in around 13ish seconds but I bet it will outdo yours in mpg averaging over 50 when driven sensibly and spit out far less co2... The joys of diesel! But obviously petrol is miles better and miles more fun
I just noticed the tag thing too, so thought I'd add some key words to spread my experience and advice across the internet.
Go on then, based on my road tax costing £130 for a year, how would you expect the results of the emissions test to look? I'll check it in a minute.
