Watch that band

Further unpleasant surprises for motorists this month as the government seizes yet more money from us under threat of criminal sanction (what Gordon Brown calls ‘asking’) to help replace money wasted from earlier seizures. This time it takes the form of car tax (VED) increases.

If your new car is in the new band M (255g/km CO2) you’ll pay £950 for your tax disc instead of £405. This will clobber not only British-built exotics such as Rolls-Royce, Bentley and Aston Martin, but also Range Rovers, most new Jaguars and even the relatively modest Vauxhall Insignia. Band L (226–255g/km) will cost £750 and will clobber the Ford S-Max and Land Rover Discovery. Even down at Band H (166–175g/km) it will cost you £250 to tax your humble new VW Beetle 1.6. Those in bands A–D (less than 130g/km), however, will pay nothing — and that includes some surprising winners such as the Audi A3 1.6TDI and the BMW 316.

Naturally, these measures are clothed in environmental fancy dress and we’re all invited to play make-believe. But making-believe ignores the fact that exotics contribute far less to overall CO2 than their output figures suggest: there are very few of them, they generally do many fewer annual miles than their more frugal brethren and their owners, if they weren’t driving gas-guzzlers, would still be driving something. The overwhelming majority of car CO2 emissions come from the low g/km cars and punishing the tiny number of high emitters will make no appreciable difference. Also, if we all obediently bought bands A–D and paid no VED, are we expected to believe they would remain zero-rated? Tell that to the marines.

One vehicle that won’t be too heavily clobbered, however, is the excellent Mercedes E 250 CDI Sport Coupé I drove last week. With manual gearbox it’s 148g/km (band F, £125, same as the Nissan Note) and with auto 168 (band H, £250, like the Beetle). But there the comparison ends. I had to check and check again that there really were just 2,143cc under that bonnet because the engine’s power and refinement are so far beyond the humble Note and Beetle that you can’t believe they’re in the same bands. Granted, there’s a slight harshness when you really gun it (0–62mph 8.8, top speed 144mph) but only enough to let you know it’s there. You almost feel you’re with the big boys in band M.

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