Suggest a 640d alternative

[Curran]

They aren't for everyone but I'd like to take one for a drive to see how they get down the road as I like how they look!

Alfa Giulia!!?

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sal...ciale/24161604

Cant find a nice looking Petrol on sale at the moment but they are 200bhp and 280 annually for the disc!

[Obriener2054]

Then don't buy a diesel man. Life is too short and all that Modern 2l petrols are relatively cheap to tax. Z4, golf R, maybe even latest gen. TT should be within that budget.

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Feck that.... get a classic petrol..

[dergside]

On the assumption that a 640d represents the limit of what you want to pay for road-tax (so, 155g/km is your CO2 limit) and with your budget, your choices are actually quite limited. I would add another criteria, EU6 compliance (on the assumption that pre-EU6 will be hammered progressively in the coming few years, and diesel even more than petrol). On the additional assumption that a final choice could be imported, then the NOx levy means that a pre-EU6 diesel is probably a non-runner, so you are limited to a 2015 onward diesel, or petrol from EU5 on if you're prepared to take the chance that they continue to tilt tax policy towards the existing CO2 categories rather than EU standard compliance.

I hear what you said about an F30, so I'm not sure that an F32 of F36 will do it for you, but a 430i auto could be a decent choice. Reasonable horse power and lighter 4 pot should make them a decent steer. A nicely spec'd M-Sport from the UK should make it inside your budget as VRT is relatively light (~10% less than a much lower CO2 2016 420d auto). Another decent value choice from the UK would be a Merc e350 diesel coupe (assuming you'd take the risk for the future of going diesel rather than petrol, even at EU6 compliance). A left-field choice would be a late VW Scirocco with the Golf GTI 217bhp engine. They might be a little bit long in the tooth, but they were regarded as a more than decent handling well equipped car and you'd have a reasonable amount of your budget left to do something else with.

[kdevitt]

They aren't for everyone but I'd like to take one for a drive to see how they get down the road as I like how they look!

Alfa Giulia!!?

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sal...ciale/24161604

Cant find a nice looking Petrol on sale at the moment but they are 200bhp and 280 annually for the disc!

I was looking at them briefly earlier, but they're appalling quality from what I was told. A local Fiat garage apparently had to have engineers flown over to fix 3 out of the 4 they sold new due to electrical issues.

[kdevitt]

On the assumption that a 640d represents the limit of what you want to pay for road-tax (so, 155g/km is your CO2 limit) and with your budget, your choices are actually quite limited. I would add another criteria, EU6 compliance (on the assumption that pre-EU6 will be hammered progressively in the coming few years, and diesel even more than petrol). On the additional assumption that a final choice could be imported, then the NOx levy means that a pre-EU6 diesel is probably a non-runner, so you are limited to a 2015 onward diesel, or petrol from EU5 on if you're prepared to take the chance that they continue to tilt tax policy towards the existing CO2 categories rather than EU standard compliance.

I hear what you said about an F30, so I'm not sure that an F32 of F36 will do it for you, but a 430i auto could be a decent choice. Reasonable horse power and lighter 4 pot should make them a decent steer. A nicely spec'd M-Sport from the UK should make it inside your budget as VRT is relatively light (~10% less than a much lower CO2 2016 420d auto). Another decent value choice from the UK would be a Merc e350 diesel coupe (assuming you'd take the risk for the future of going diesel rather than petrol, even at EU6 compliance). A left-field choice would be a late VW Scirocco with the Golf GTI 217bhp engine. They might be a little bit long in the tooth, but they were regarded as a more than decent handling well equipped car and you'd have a reasonable amount of your budget left to do something else with.

Might have a play around with the VRT calculator and see what it throws up. The NoX levy really adds a whopping amount to a lot of cars.

Had two MkV GTi's before, and they're fine - but not sure I'd be tempted by anything similar ta the moment. My alternative is to just skip buying anything and hold on until 2022 or something.

[318 iS Cosmos]

What about an S3? Probably rare enough on our shores but the engine seems punchy enough. Still think I would prefer the 640d

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...levance&page=1

[dergside]

The NoX levy really adds a whopping amount to a lot of cars......

.....My alternative is to just skip buying anything and hold on until 2022 or something.

NOx levy is why I focused on EU6. Even with diesels, the NOx values are mostly in mid double figures, so its not a big number. EU5, and earlier, can be a very different story.

As a slight aside, BMW effectively offered EU6 compliance as an option on some models right back to around 2012 with the BluePerformance option, even though it wasn't mandatory until late 2015. On a car like an F30 330d it gives the benefit of lower NOx, drops a level on VRT and road-tax and uses a more customer friendly Depreciation Group for VRT versus an standard EU6 compliant car, and a significant NOx difference for a non-optioned car. They made some cars EU6 compliant much earlier than the required date, e.g. F10 530d was compliant from LCI in mid 2013 I believe, whereas 520d was only compliant from the introduction of the B47 in 2014 and the 320d didn't get that until early 2015 iirc. I've yet to find information that says the F01 730d was ever EU6 compliant without the BP option as the cutover to the G model more or less coincided with the mandatory date for EU6 compliance.

Re. waiting until later, one thing to consider is whether the sorts of car you might want are likely to be swimmers, especially if you were of a mind to source it yourself. Brexit is going to add cost and throw a spanner in the works, for a while at least, from the end of the year.

[kdevitt]

Re. waiting until later, one thing to consider is whether the sorts of car you might want are likely to be swimmers, especially if you were of a mind to source it yourself. Brexit is going to add cost and throw a spanner in the works, for a while at least, from the end of the year.

I had intended on an i8 truth be told, but the projects are eating up a substantial amount of cash so I'm not willing to put to much into a car at the moment. That situation obviously changes once the projects are out of the way. (although I'm potentially kidding myself thinking they will ever be out of the way).

In terms of Brexit, I'm led to believe there won't be an issue with VAT or duty, so putting off a purchase doesn't concern me as much as it would have a few months back. Interesting to read that about the Blueperformance - I always wondered what the story was with those, definitely opens up few options.

[dergside]

Interesting to read that about the Blueperformance - I always wondered what the story was with those, definitely opens up few options.

Tread carefully, as its a term that gets misused and a lot of 2nd and 3rd owners may not be aware whether its fitted or not. Always get details from the V5 directly. Also, it was only available on some models, e.g. 530d but not 535d, etc.

Also, if an i8 was on your list, hang on for that. My brother in law has one. There are faster cars, but its a technical treat as far as I'm concerned.

[hooch]

I had intended on an i8 truth be told, but the projects are eating up a substantial amount of cash so I'm not willing to put to much into a car at the moment. That situation obviously changes once the projects are out of the way. (although I'm potentially kidding myself thinking they will ever be out of the way).

In terms of Brexit, I'm led to believe there won't be an issue with VAT or duty, so putting off a purchase doesn't concern me as much as it would have a few months back. Interesting to read that about the Blueperformance - I always wondered what the story was with those, definitely opens up few options.

I don't know about that, I watched a revenue presentation yesterday and it seemed be confirm the contrary. Vat and duty will be due on cars from UK at the point of entry.

https://youtu.be/O_936g_Pgw8


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