So in their infinite wisdom, the high and the mighty at Westminster have given us a discount on the price of Road Tax if we buy a small, economical, GREEN (tm) car.
So what is this GREEN car ??
Well the official definition is less than 1100 cubic centimetres of capacity.
So your new 1.1 fiesta with catalytic converter you bought to cleanse your environmental conscience will be just fine then, won't it?
Well no, actually it's 1150cc, so it doesn't count.
In fact, less than 3 percent of the new car market is covered by this bizarre ruling. The politicians have once again pulled the ultimate master stroke, giving with one hand to the deserving (in this case small GREEN car drivers), whilst taking away with the other (all other car drivers with massive tax duty increases again). We have all got used to these budgets, give you some, take some off you. Only this time it's take a lot, whilst finding just the right spot so that it can give the very least away whilst being seen to be environmentally friendly.
And that's just what they are not being.
The vast majority of cars that will benefit from this perk, are old, possibly decrepit, and not the least bit environmentally friendly; the rusty old Mini 850, 1000, 1100s will all fit into the bracket.
All manufactures have now given up on air cooled motors because they can't fit into the latest legislation, they can't be made clean enough, but an air cooled 2CV gets a tax disc discount.
Two stroke Wartburg, no problem here's your cheap tax disc mate.
So once again they use the environment as a convenient excuse to raise taxes, whilst in reality doing absolutely nothing to try and improve it.
One bright spot appears on the horizon for those of us too tight pocketed to pay for a full tax disc:
Mazda may be preparing to bring its RX7 coupe back to market. Twin rotor twin turbo Wankel 240+ bhp of noxious Wankel Rotary engine, with a true swept volume of under 1000 cc. Hmmm the best tax dodge since the Reliant Robin?