Advice - are Diesels going to get hammered???

[DaveNP]

The way I see it from my 1998 2.5 litre petrol V70 with its £245 annual tax.
You're about to spend several thousand pounds on a very nice car which would cost a lot more (and be less nice) if it were a newer eco friendly thing (how many years of 'higher' tax will it take to make up the difference?), you'll be getting diesel type economy which will be better than a petrol version of the same car (how many tankfuls will it take to make up the difference?). In the broader picture my £245 per year isn't that big of a deal, petrol for my modest use costs me around £1500 for a year, depreciation on my car is virtually non existant and on an 09 S80 will be modest compared to a new eco friendly model (how many years to make up the difference?). Yes it makes me wince once a year when I have to pay the tax, but then it's done and I carry on enjoying my car of choice.

[Splodger]

Its something I thought long about having recently purchased a D5 for 6.5k. I wouldn't have bought it if I had to commute any distances's and enter cities.

Its very difficult to know the facts around it all though and what the outcome will be. I would imagine the first cities doing anything about diesels will be the trial runs to see if it works and actually brings down the illegal pollution levels at the monitoring stations... for which this is all about.

To just go randomly taxing diesel drivers more than petrol would most likely not work at all.

[Munro83]

Originally Posted by Prufrock

Really don't see the point of your post, nor the inclusion quoting mine. The facts are clear, the tide has turned where diesel is concerned, and diesels are being banned - ULEZs are being created, have been created in Europe and elsewhere.

Your opinion is of no matter or interest, the writing is on the wall: if you can't read...

Jon.

If you don't see the point of my post then your too narrow minded and naive

[Splodger]

Smoking is not banned because the harm it causes is pretty much restricted to the smoker.... No smoking laws have pretty much ensured that.

Toxic fumes from cars , particularly diesel are totally indiscriminate. The figures for deaths are pretty staggering and are only just becoming common knowledge

[phil1968]

So are they going to ban diesel taxis, buses, HGVs, plant machinery, ships ...the list goes on. I think not. I understand & agree with why they're proposing to limit the use of diesel engines but it would be very unfair to penalise those who already own one. Just remember the government were advocating diesels only 20 years ago.

[Splodger]

Yes they will. It won't be long before there's no diesel taxis in cities. Buses will soon have to be hybrids. Hgv's it will take many years as the alternatives are just not there yet.

[wimorrison]

Originally Posted by Splodger

Smoking is not banned because the harm it causes is pretty much restricted to the smoker.... No smoking laws have pretty much ensured that.

Toxic fumes from cars , particularly diesel are totally indiscriminate. The figures for deaths are pretty staggering and are only just becoming common knowledge

The fatalities and health care costs for smoking far outweigh the similar figures for car pollution as shown on the NHS website and given that car pollution has dramatically reduced per vehicle over the past few years that differential will remain for a long long time. Even the deaths and admissions for second hand smoke exceed those attributed to vehicle pollution. Smoking has reduced to a level which it doesn't seem to want to go below, namely ~20% of the population.

This recent upsurge in the anti-car hysteria has been brought about some extremely clever briefing by green activists whose prime objective is the adoptions of anything that isn't an ICE, diesel or petrol.

Remember Volkswagen and the storm about them? Same people that shouted then that are shouting now and when do you hear about VW now?

I am fairly certain that this recent furore will be forgotten in a few months as something else exites the twitterspere and popular press.