Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

Hive mind advice pls!

After a used ULEZ-compliant 4-door small family car. Keen to have something fun to drive with a bit of grunt so Mini Clubman Cooper S?
Budget 15k - Any other suggestions?

My wife thinks so ;)
It is a diesel so needs driving - it would be sitting for quite long periods.

Sell it while you can. It’ll only become a more pendulous, more pungent albatross round your neck over time; the days of diesel private transport in cities are numbered.

I’d go as far as to say you should feel thankful that someone’s legislating for cleaner air where you live…

Mk7 Golf GTI c.2015/2016

P.s this is not my car and I don't know seller or garage

Example:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202208279195134?body-type=Hatchback&make=Volkswagen&radius=1500&include-delivery-option=on&aggregatedTrim=GTI&model=Golf&year-to=2017&year-from=2014&postcode=se193jj&advertising-location=at_cars&onesearchad=New&onesearchad=Nearly%20New&onesearchad=Used&price-to=16000&sort=distance&page=2&percentVehiclePriceDeposit=true

Just to be clear - because, obviously, I don’t know -
If you drive anywhere you must pay someone £12.50 because you are inside some limit?
You could get transport which means you do not have to pay someone and therefore it is free?

Yes, Low Emissions Zone. I have to pay £12.50 to drive 5 mins to the tip and back. Or I could drive my van all day and night for £12.50.

I don't use my van as much as I used to but I do pass on the £12.50 to customers when I have to pay it as part of a job.

If the van was 6 months younger it would be compliant with the emissions standards but changing to a similar compliant van would cost quite a bit of money.

There are lots of other types of transport that are compliant and I have a choice of 3 or 4 different types depending. I only use the van when I need the capacity.

That’s expensive! I read they moved the limit recently - stealth tax doesn’t come close!

I'm on board with the cleaner air. I'm lucky on one hand to have a decent low mileage van but I bought it thinking it would work for me until I stop working. Now I'll probably change when electric vans become affordable for the kind of use I need (if that ever happens).

It has been an annoyance though.

We priced an electric Merc van in work. Year old - £75000! Isn’t happening now 😀😀 The range was 75 miles and we don’t have enough chargers here for it with work!

That’s expensive!

That’s the idea, is it was £5 a day / £100 a month a lot of people would ignore it.

£12.50 stings.

It’s not a stealth tax, they tell you about it, but it’s not really a fair one either as it arguably disproportionately punishes people who can’t afford to upgrade their car / van.

My 996 passed the emissions tests- but I can’t prove that because Porsche GB won’t provide the test results for an SA car.

I was ~100m outside the ULEZ, now I’m miles inside it.

Dibs

It’s stealthy if you aren’t expecting it. £87.50 a week is an unreal amount of money. Add fuel. Insurance. Tax. Other running costs. That’s scarey

It's hardly a surprise?

£350 a month would be a surprise to me and not a good one - my pockets wouldn’t hold out to that!

Wait til you hear about mortgage rates.

Would you be surprised if it rained?

People have been talking about emissions zones coming into force since at least 2010. If you live near a large city in Europe you should expect to be within an emissions zone at some point in the next 5yrs paying a charge similar to the inflation linked cost of the original congestion charge fee.

I’m in Northern Ireland. No word of them here - yet. We don’t have the infrastructure for electric cars here as yet either. I’m in a town of around 50,000 people and there are about six public charging points - and that’s a lot compared to other places.

I wouldn’t be surprised if it rains, we get plenty. Maybe a surprise for you?

4-door small family car

How small a family? How small a car?

I'd 2nd the Golf suggestion. It's not the most original, but on balance it's hard to beat. I'd say it's the best out of the similar sized VAG options.

Could also look at a boy racer Civic or Focus.

If you live near a large city in Europe you should expect to be within an emissions zone at some point

Various small French towns have just outright banned highly polluting cars.

Rouen is about 100k people and you now can’t drive a diesel pre 2006 at all and from Jan it’s pre 2011 I think.

It’s right on the route to Le Mans from the tunnel so the villages around are going to be treated to lots of noisy old British cars passing through now.

Both looks great, we bought our mum a Cliosport 197 there, but it was too harsh for her.. great wee car with loads of "stance"

My brother also had a MK2 golf with a TDi conversion making 270bhp and 380 lb/ft.. it was some going machine..

1 Attachment

I’m in Northern Ireland

That's probably why it's a surprise to you. But in London where the ULEZ is, the expansion has been talked about for ages, there was even a public consultation earlier in the year.

Obviously that doesn’t make the news here. I still think it’s a big tariff for someone to pay.

Agreed. I'm for it in principle but I don't think it's particularly fair in the current format.