Can you tell me about your Band A /zero road tax car please?

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We are planning to change our car and are looking for one with zero road tax. What zero road tax car do you drive and would you recommend it?

For information, we are a family of 3 + medium size dog who would have to travel in the boot. We don't do a huge amount of driving and are in no way snobbish about brands (currently drive a beaten up Skoda....).

Thanks :)

DH drives a Peugeot 3008, which I think is £30 road tax rather than zero, but would suit otherwise. I think he had to for a specific model though to get the low road tax, although he didn't buy new.

Thank you! We are looking for zero road tax as it means my parking permit at work is £210 cheaper per year as well, so a decent saving. We're also not think of buying new.

this might help you a bit.

We're looking at new cars at the moment, I know the Volvo C40 diesel is road tax free.

We also have a 1:4. Tdi VW Polo that is band A

We have a fiesta which is zero road tax. 1.5tdci titanium 2013 model.

We also have a grand scenic though so a bigger option when we need it. In actual fact we all prefer the fiesta, and drive it by choice. There are 4 of us, me, DH (who is 6'3"), DSs 13 and nearly 10. We would happily choose to use the fiesta for journeys up to a couple of hours but would go with the scenic for longer journeys or ones where we need lots of luggage space.

Fiesta is lovely but does nowhere near the promised mpg. It promises an average of 75mpg (85 extra urban and 65 urban). I know you never expect to get the published fugues but in reality it does between 45-55mpg.

Thanks Nickname, that's quite a difference! We make mostly short journeys with occasional long ones but fuel efficiency is a key decision making factor.

There are so many great looking cars which I have to rule out because there's not enough room for the dog to ride in the boot.

Thanks also invisible I am going to l
look at the Kia on that list.

Do look at other ownership costs as well though. The VED and in your case the cheaper parking may still only be a small percentage of the overall cost of ownership. If you don't do much driving how about something slightly older, petrol and less economical?

If you are doing mostly short journeys, then a petrol engine will be a better choice. Modern diesels will suffer if used this way and you won't get good fuel economy out of them.

But there are not many petrol cars with free road tax. You might want to consider a Nissan Note 1.2, a Fiat Punto twinair or a Toyota Auris hybrid.

We had a brand new car in the £30 bracket. Over the first 2 years and 20k miles the total ownership cost was £10k. You don't do many miles obviously aren't a massive petrolhead so just make sure you're not spending ££££ to save £240 per year. Find a nice tidy petrol Jap car for about £5k and you should have decent reliable motoring. Your saving will easily outweigh your parking costs. Not directed at OP but I am amazed when people replace perfecty fine cars for the sole purpose of cheaper road tax and a few extra mpg. Spend thousands to save hundreds!

My lovely Dad is buying us the car so initial cost isn't a huge consideration for us . We are planning to keep it for as long as we can as well so are not particularly focusing on residual value.

No, we are absolutely not petrolheads, cars for us are functional money pits .

I have investigated further and I can get the 'green' parking permit on band b cars as well so our short list is looking like this at the moment:

Fiat Panda (might be too small)
Fiat Qubo
Ford Fiesta
Ford B-Max
Hyundai i30
Kia Cee'd
Nissan Note
Citroen C3 Picasso

This is mostly compiled from Internet reviews as opposed to seeing the cars in the flesh.

In that case then get as new an i30 as possible with as much warranty remaining as you can get. As a curve ball have a look at brand new Dacias. I'd normally run from anything Renault based but they're good value and the 7 year warranty upgrade is pretty cheap and would give piece of mind.

Thanks Bartman, I do like the Hyundai. I'd never heard of Dacias before so will go off to investigate.

So we saw this car for sale today - does anyone have any opinions on it?

It's the Nissan Note - no. 10 on the list and its a Band B.

www.falmouthgarages.co.uk/used2.html

We bought a Ford fiesta last summer and love it. It's a 1 litre, but with ecoboost so it drives like a 1.4 litre. We pay no road tax and insurance is ludicrously low.

At the moment it's just two of us but we're expecting a baby in the next few weeks, and we're confident we can fit everything in. We've managed to bring home a serious ikea shop, and the boot is surprisingly spacious.

The actual mpg is usually lower than advertised, but it still significantly lower than our previous car. We've been v pleased with how far we can get on a tank.

Another suggestion for you.
I've got a seat Ibiza Ecomotive which is zero tax and has great fuel economy. Insurance really cheap too.
Our dog sits on the back seat but if this car is a bit small for you they also make an estate version. Or the seat Leon Ecomotive may be worth a look.
I'm thinking of getting a different car (just for a change) but can't find anything I want to swap it for

I've just got a Nissan Note & it's surprisingly spacious.

First time I've ever had a brand new car but it's on a 2 year lease - I'd had a nightmare with my last car, which had cost me a fortune in the last 18 months, so thought I'd give leasing a go.

To get much power in the engine you have to go for fairly new or kind of pricey. I have a Fiat 500 which is still a bit wimpy & £35/yr road tax, but not so new/expensive and I wanted to stay very small.