The interesting cars being killed by road tax – part 2

Instead, this is part two of our list of bargain luxury barges, lightweight sports cars and souped-up hot hatchbacks that get punished with value-ruining road tax. With their £735 annual renewal many people write them off – but, because of that, there are some cracking bargains out there. Alternatively, we’ll tell you how to get yourself into one of these fantastic beasts, while avoiding the worst the DVLA has to offer.

You can read part 1 here

The best way to buy one of these costly and often ignored specimens is to write the cost of the tax into your budget. For example, if you have a £10,000 budget, spend £7k on the car, and the rest on four years worth of road tax. You’d be surprised how much further your money can go in this overlooked corner of the market.

The killer £735 tax band was in operation for cars registered between 23 March 2006 and 31 March 2017 – for cars before this period tax tops out at £415, and for cars afterwards, it’s a maximum of £190 – as long as its more than five years old. For this list, we’re omitting SUVs as so many of them are in the top tax bands due to their comparatively high CO2 emissions.

Always remember to check the exact road tax band a car sits in – and its ULEZ status - before you buy, as this can vary with specification. Alternatively, we’ve compiled a list of tax busters.

Perhaps unsurprisingly all V8 F-types registered before April 2017 will be an arm and a leg to tax. On the other hand, the V6 S with 375bhp top out at £415 a year – with an exception.

Although few chose it, there was a manual gearbox option for the V6 (in either 335bhp or 375bhp trim) until 2019, and its extra few grams of CO2 whack it up into the £710 bracket. So, if you really want one of the 250 manuals in the country (versus 15,000 autos) you’ll have to stomach a premium in tax or find an extremely rare manual registered after April 2017, as we have. 

What’s less difficult to find is the even more charismatic V8s, and the same tax rule applies to them, which makes them a very enticing buy from £30k.

One we found: 2017 3.0 V6 manual coupe, 42,000 miles, £24,995, £190 tax

Fancy a reliable, good-looking and well-mannered compact exec for not much cash? The second-gen IS is a good shout, and it’ll certainly cost less to run than Germans of the equivalent age.

There’s nothing wrong with the diesels, except not being ULEZ compliant, but the 2.5-litre V6 as fitted to the 250 is the way to go. Power (205bhp) couldn’t match that of BMW’s 325i, but we were impressed in our road test: “First thing you notice is its exquisite detailing, and also its presence, which is considerable. It looks expensive, exotic even”.

We also found it to be a surprisingly good drivers car, especially in Sport trim, and as such it’s worth a look for the younger driver seeking a reasonably cheap to insure first sports saloon – just note that the desirable manual gearbox pushes post-March 2006 cars into the top tax band, so best to get an early one.

One we found: 2005 2.5 SE manual, 67,000 miles, £4290, £415 tax

Thought adding lightness would decrease emissions? Not quite. The 2009 Evora was supposed to be the jewel in the Lotus crown and the car that continued the resurrection of the marque. However, its launch coincided with the financial crisis and as such sales never took off. A shame when it seemed a very usable car from the get-go; the ride was exceptional, it just about had two rear seats and golf clubs could fit in the boot.

The cheapest are early versions with 276bhp, but they still deliver a punchy 5.0sec 0-62mph time, so you needn’t go any more powerful, especially when the supercharged versions push the car into the £700+ brackets. 

The Series 3 Exige shared its engine with the Evora, but used a stretched Elise as its base and so is a more classically performance-orientated Lotus – no extra seats or sound deadening here. It did receive the supercharger as standard, for 345bhp, but that does mean all pre-April 2017 cars are in the top tax band. Later cars are just as good but have held their value exceptionally well and are a £50k proposition.

One we found: 2009 Evora 3.5 V6 manual, 18,000 miles, £29,995, £385 tax

A Maserati will never be economical to run, but they can certainly be cheap to buy – and made cheaper to run by buying the right one.

The 2003 Quattroporte put Maserati back in the business of big, powerful saloons, and for the most part it was a success. What let it down was its clunky and unreliable DuoSelect gearbox, and by the time it was replaced by a much better unit the £735 tax bracket is there to put a sting in a £10k used purchase. 

The following Quattroporte lost the glorious atmospheric V8, but became a more reliable proposition – there was even a diesel. Yes, it might be sacrilege in something that wears the trident badge, but it's quick, economical and sounds surprisingly good.

The Granturismo arrived too late for any to slip into the cheaper pre-March 2006 tax band, but it did stick around long enough (still with one of the best-sounding V8s ever made) to be a post-2017 tax bargain with a £190 bill. However, these later cars sit around the £50k mark – a step up on the £15k of early cars.

One we found: 2016 Quattroporte 3.0D V6 auto, 64,000 miles, £16,500, £255 tax

“Get a compression test done”, is how we succinctly put it in our RX-8 used buying guide. Also, “you will need loads of spare dosh for all that petrol and oil”. These are the drawbacks of the RX-8. As with other rotaries, they’re notorious for losing compression as their apex seals rather inconveniently stop sealing, wreaking havoc under the bonnet.

They also use copious amounts of petrol and oil for surprisingly little straight-line performance in return, at least until the upper reaches of the rev band. 

In return for putting up with that though, you’re rewarded with a uniquely brilliant driver’s car. Everyday usability (four seats and a reasonable boot) is balanced beautifully with deft handling, and there’s an addictive engine note as it screams up to the 9000rpm redline. An early one with good history that avoids the big tax band, such as the one we’ve found, looks like a proper bargain today.

One we found: 2004 RX-8 manual, 31,000 miles, £3000, £415 tax

Mazda came into 2006 with a seriously hot duo, the MPS 3 hatch and 6 saloon. Both hosted a 256bhp 2.3-litre turbocharged four-pot that blew the Focus and Mondeo STs out of the water with a 150+mph top whack and a 6-and-a-bit sec 0-62mph time. However, they came at a time when fast Subarus and Mitsubishi Evos ruled the affordable speed roost, and lost out with styling that was too subtle for British tastes.

They should have sold better because they were properly engineered bits of kit – the four-wheel drive 6 was 50 per cent torsionally stiffer than the standard car, both received a new 6-speed manual gearbox and both had turbo lag impressively well ironed out. 

One thing that didn’t help the pair's fortunes was the 25mpg (with a light touch) and the CO2 emissions which placed them in the top tax band. Although Mazda dropped the 6 MPS in 2007, the 3 MPS saw a second generation which Mazda made even better. It also slipped into a more palatable tax band.

One we found: 2010 3 2.3T MPS manual, 74,000 miles, £6400, £415 tax

We haven’t included SUVs on this list, yet if I described a Mercedes that’s longer than an S-Class (at 5157mm), has seating for seven and is four-wheel drive, a great big lump of an SUV would probably appear in your mind.

But, alas, no. The R-Class was a thing that took class straddling to a new degree as it merged the seven-seat versatility of an MPV with a little less of the frump, like a big estate, but with the four-wheel drive ability of the oh-so-popular SUV. 

It wasn’t a smash hit anywhere, and even less so here as it was just too big for our tastes. However, for those looking for a vast amount of room in a posh package and don’t fancy themselves an SUV, an R-Class may be the way to go.

Early ones suffered from poor build quality, and even the diesels were £700 or more to tax, but 2010 saw all engines replaced with a new ‘350’ diesel placed under the bonnet. These are the pick of the bunch with improved reliability, efficiency and a lower tax bill.

One we found: 2011 R350L 3.0 CDI auto, 66,000 miles, £9999, £415 tax

As soon as BMW had bunged a V12 in a 7 Series, you could have been sure Stuttgart wouldn’t be far behind - and they weren’t. The 1991 S600 had just that, albeit four years after Munich.

The ‘Billion Dollar Car’ that was the W140 is finally becoming recognised as a future classic, and as such prices for V12s are up to £15k or more. The W220 S-Class that followed are the cheapest (£5k for a V12 anyone?) but reliability is patchy, and as such we’re going to focus on the W221 and W222 generations which are more modern and should be slightly cheaper to run.

W221 V12s start from £10k, but we found the twin-turbocharged, 604bhp/738lb ft S65 rather irresistible, even with sky-high fuel consumption. That said, it's less than the post-2017 cheap-tax W222 V12s that start from around £40k.

One we found: 2006 S65 AMG 6.0 V12 auto, 61,000 miles, £19,999, £735 tax

The cheapest performance Lancers available are the promising-sounding Ralliart models, which were five-door hatches instead of less practical saloons like the Evolutions. With 237bhp, four-wheel drive and a paddle-shift dual-clutch gearbox they sound rather intriguing, but we were disappointed by too much understeer, poor brakes and much worse efficiency than rivals like the Golf GTI – all Ralliarts are £710 a year to tax too.

On the other hand, Lancer Evolutions are formidable performance cars in any form, from I through X. Cheapest and most common are the later X models, but all are £735 tax affairs.

It’s not like looking at Evos older than the X means you have to sacrifice anything in performance, the VII 330 we tested in 2001 sprinted to 62mph in 4.3secs – half a second quicker than Ferrari’s flagship 550 Maranello.

One we found: 2002 Evolution VIII 260 manual, 72,000 miles, £17,500, £415 tax

The 350Z was a breath of fresh air for the sports car market, it was unashamedly affordable with American-grade interior plastics and limited sound deadening, but it focused on what mattered most. It steered and stopped mightily well, looked great and packed a mighty punch in the form of a 276bhp 3.5-litre V6.

It has gained a bit of a cult following yet remains an attainable purchase as prices haven’t risen (yet) - and it should be reliable. We’d go for a pre-March 2006 (cheaper tax), manual coupe with the GT pack, which adds leather and a lovely set of Rays alloys. 

The 370Z was a heavy update of the 350Z rather than an all-new car, and like later 350Zs it was still £735 to tax. To avoid that you’d need to opt for a post-2017 car, but by this time the ‘Fairlady’ was outclassed by far more modern rivals, although it continued to possess irresistible charm as a big-engined, manual atmospheric sports car in a hybridised SUV world.

One we found: 2006 350Z GT coupe manual, 93,000 miles, £5845, £415 tax

It would be difficult to think of a more complete couple of sports cars than the Boxster convertible and Cayman coupe. We’re going to skip over the first generation 986 Boxster because of the well-documented reliability issues, and the early ones aren’t LEZ compliant. The 987 Boxster arrived in 2005 and was joined by the Cayman, a car Porsche was reluctant to make for fear of cannibalising 911 sales – that should tell you how good it was.

Early 987s are still prone to immediate shaft bearing failure, but from 2006 the M97 engine rectified this and so these are the cars to look out for - note that some 987s, especially autos, fall into the £710 tax bracket. 

The 981 generation that followed is arguably the sweet spot in the history of Porsche’s junior sports cars; they still came as standard with glorious free-revving naturally aspirated flat sixes, yet are more comfortable and economical than earlier models while being just as sweet to drive. Cheaper to tax too.

One we found: 2013 981 Cayman 2.7 manual, 73,000 miles, £23,450, £385 tax

Do they make cars as effortlessly cool as turbocharged Saabs anymore? Even in their twilight years of heavy GM influence they carried an unmatchable Scandi-chic around with them; buying a Saab said something good about someone when buying something German began not to.

Still, it's hard to say the final two generations of Saabs (the 9-3 and 9-5) were objectively great – the 1999 9-3 Viggen offered a heady 230bhp, but ran all of that through the front wheels and was a bit of a handful. 

Thankfully, quick Saabs got better in the naughties and the 256bhp 9-5 HOT Aero managed its power much more adeptly, and now makes an awesome sleeper from £3k – just watch the £710 tax on later auto models.

From the 9-3 stables came the Turbo X with a thumping 276bhp from its 2.8-litre V6 – and this time it was four-wheel drive. Only 500 were made, and all are a fair old chunk to tax, but no more so than the lesser-powered V6s, so we think it’s a fair price to pay for a classic in the making.

One we found: 2009 9-3 Turbo X manual, 73,000 miles, £7495, £710 tax

Skodas might be famed for their frugality and sensibility, but that hasn’t stopped them coming out with a few surprises. Both the first and second-generation Superbs could be had with a Volkswagen V6, in the former it was a 2.8-litre, as shared with many Audis, and produced an adequate 187bhp. It was only available as an automatic saloon and makes a wonderful bargain luxury car, sweetened with the cheaper tax of pre-March 2006 cars. 

The second six-cylinder Superb had a much mightier 256bhp 3.6-litre V6 (or more accurately a VR6 because of the narrow-angle of the cylinder banks) that powered what felt like a true luxury saloon or estate.

Leather was standard for these flagship cars, rear legroom was abundant and technology up to date. They are easily spotted by their quad exhausts (in a Skoda…) and make a bit of a sleeper as their four-wheel drive helped them to hit 62mph in 6.5secs. Just be aware of the tax-and-gas bill.

One we found: 2011 3.6 Elegance auto, 76,000 miles, £7995, £710 tax

Subaru places great emphasis on their boxer engines and four-wheel drive. However, for the benefits they bring, Subaru has never nailed making the most efficient cars.  Still, if you’re looking for rough-road performance, look no further. The Impreza’s rally pedigree is world renowned, and their turn of pace is phenomenal in WRX trim, and even more so as an STI.

There are plenty of UK cars for sale, but it’ll have to be a pre-March 2006, or post-April 2017, car to dodge the top tax bands. We’d go for one of the former because they feel closest to being a real rally car (after 2008 Subaru left the WRC). 

Legacys are cheaper than hot Imprezas, and although they do a very different job they’re exciting nonetheless and a proper sports saloon in the right spec.

Our focus is on the R Spec-B which combined a 242bhp boxer-six with the Impreza STi’s six-speed manual – we loved it, saying it has “well-weighted controls, accurate and feelsome steering and damping that treads a careful line between comfort and agility”. Just remember later cars have that big tax bill.

One we found: 2005 Legacy 3.0 R Spec-B manual estate, 91,000 miles, £6750, £415 tax

The naughties were a time of mass VXR-ification at Vauxhall, and the Zafira seven-seat MPV is the greatest evidence of this. They’re surprisingly quick and amusing, but difficult to recommend, not made easier by the £710 tax bill.

Luckily Vauxhall was still able to prove it had what it takes to build a proper performance car with the Insignia VXR that came a little later. Not only did it have 321bhp and 321lb ft from a 2.8-litre turbo V6, but it put that power through all four wheels, so the horrendous torque steer and general traction struggles of previous VXRs were solved. 

Vauxhall designed it to compete with the BMW 335i and Audi S4, and we said, “the VXR offers as much driving appeal for several thousand pounds less” – just as long as you keep it on boost. Production ended in 2017, so you’ll have to hunt to find a late enough one to skip the scary £710 bill.

One we found: 2017 Insignia VXR manual hatch, 71,000 miles, £10,990, £190 tax

When Volkswagen stuffed its 2.8-litre VR6 engine into Mk3 Golf it created the world's first ‘GT’ hatchback, combining refinement and speed in a small package, albeit without much dynamic sparkle.

VW turned up the wick with the Mk4 by boring the engine to 3.2-litres to create the 237bhp R32. It was the best driving Golf we’d tested in years. Mk4 R32s are rare and becoming quite collectable – prices start at £10k for good ones, so at least tax will only be £415. 

The 2005 Mk5 R32 follow-up was even better and more powerful (247bhp), and they’re usefully cheaper now too. Just note post-March 2006 cars which will be £700+ to tax.

With only 125 on the roads, the Passat R36 is the forgotten R, which is unfair when its 296bhp makes it quicker than the Golf. It drives nicely too, and they aren’t any more used than an equivalent R32, but they fall down on fuel consumption and a sadly unavoidable £710 tax bill.

One we found: 2006 Golf R32 DSG auto, 90,000 miles, £7990, £415 tax

Did anyone expect this from the makers of the people's car? A 450bhp 6.0-litre W12 sounds ridiculous, and it sounds especially ridiculous when that engine was put in a Volkswagen saloon that looked like a Passat.

If you know your cars then the Phaeton probably doesn’t need an introduction. You’ll know the most powerful production diesel ever was also offered (at the time, a 5.0-litre V10 with 150lb ft more torque than the W12 petrol) - and that Volkswagen’s uber-Lord, Ferdinand Piëch, demanded from his engineers that the Phaeton should be capable of being driven all day at 186mph with an exterior temperature of 50 °C while maintaining the interior temperature at 22 °C.

Sensible money would buy a late 3.0-litre diesel which was relatively spritely, economical and reliable – although never ULEZ complaint and they do feel a bit like a big Passat. On the other hand the crazy W12s and V10s draw us in, and we can justify it with the cheaper road tax of pre-March 2006 cars…

One we found: 2004 5.0 V10 TDI 4Motion, 61,000 miles, £7999, £415 tax

The S80 was Volvo's big executive saloon to take on the ubiquitous BMW 5 Series and Mercedes E-Class. And because the 5er and E-Class sell well in the US, Volvo needed to emulate that success there.

To be taken seriously in the naughties ‘mid-size luxury’ segment in the land of cheap petrol a V8 was needed. Yamaha was commissioned to build one, a narrow-angle V8 that could be mounted transversely to power all four wheels – and happily (if optimistically) they brought it to the UK too.

The results were a gutsy 311bhp, enough to shove the slightly bargey S80 to 62mph in six seconds. Designed for America, UK owners struggled to stomach the 23mpg and (now) £735 annual VED – that’s unavoidable, but at least it should be reliable.

One we found: 2006 S80 4.4 V8, 69,000 miles, £7500, £735 tax