Quote Originally Posted by dergside View Post
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.