As above i've had my heart set on getting a diesel (first a sdi) now a VRS.

It now seems the government has an agenda against diesels now after saying they were good for so many years.

The money Ill be saving ie tax fuel etc. Will that be eroded away by new taxes and extra taxes on diesel fuel?

Im still bowled over by the VRS and still want one as i want an economical car but also something I can take onto a trackday(as a pure beginner fully insured to do so)

 

Can anyone shed any light or basically is everyone being kept in the dark. Ive tried looking through the internet but cannot find much apart from horror stories about diesels.

 

Any help would be much appreciated thanks Thomas

 

Stop over thinking it, grow some and buy a diesel if that's what you want!

I think we're a long way off having diesels being made illegal or too expensive to drive.

Did you watch that programme the other night about diesel cars by any chance?!

What are these horror stories you speak of?!

Thanks I'm over thinking it.

I never saw the show.

The horror stories I've heard is higher tax and also higher diesel costs aswell.

how long does it take this or any other government to do anything   I wouldn't worry just do it----remember it doesn't matter who you vote for the government always gets in  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've had my vrs now since September and it was one of the best things I've done. And like the others have said. It will be a few years from now before anything happens at the rate our government work. [emoji2]

Do it!

 

I'd never go back to petrol unless they made them illegal, even then i would still carry on driving one lol

Eviromentally the petrol engine is a cleaner engine when fitted with a catalytic converter, as opposed to a diesel.

With a diesel engine fitted with a particulate/ catalytic converter filter it still chucks out loads of soot particules which figures say kills around 7,000 people a year.

Petrol is cheaper to buy, cars are cheaper to buy, cleaner running and will return good fuel economy in lots of cases, compared to a diesel powered car.

 

Thats nothing to say I do drive a Fabia VRS MK 1 diesel...thats fitted with a particulate filter ** (see below) that is now 10 years old this June..

 

** NOTE: CORRECTION AND HUMBLE APOLOGY TO ALL MEMBERS WHO READ MY ABOVE ENTRY BEFORE THIS ADDITIONAL APPENDAGE.

MY 2005 FABIA VRS HAS A CATALYTIC CONVERTER FITTED TO THE EXHAUST DOWNPIPE AS FROM NEW, NOT A PARTICULATE CONVERTER...SORRY..

Plus the EGR thingy, found-out from Skoda..bless.

DID NOT WISH TO MISLEAD NOR BE MISUNDERSTOOD.

 

THANK YOU MEMBERS FOR TAKING THE TROUBLE TO CORRECT ME, QUITE RIGHTLY OF COURSE..

Edited 3 February, 201511 yr by giandougl

What he said above. You can't ignore the truth.

Unfortunately this will begin to impact, you might even find you can't go into certain places sooner than late if they take this into account at a local level so its best to start thinking about this if you plan to keep your car for a while.

 

Its also deperately sad that some people feel the need to remove components like the cat or dpf IMO for the sake of what, a few hp or exhaust note is worth the extra pollution ?

 

I don't tend to drive mine urban, its only going to and from work and has been used for a LOT of motorway miles which is really where the car is best intended ( so hopefully my impact of driving a diesel should be that bad ).

Whether new or used - my next cars definitely a petrol.......

I have to ask though giandoug are you sure you have a particulate filter on a 2005 vrs ??

No dpf on the Mk1 Fabia , in some ways they are more environmentally friendly than later cars

 

I have no doubt there will be road tax increases on diesels in the future but (Crystal ball out now ) I expect that will be to make new cars less attractive so will be on EU5 and EU6 engines with further penalties for those living in large cities, so neither will apply to you

I can't believe what I'm reading in this thread *shakes head*

Hi,

I've just got my first diesel and I'm so happy with my VRS, saving money on fuel, same tax as my previous car (1.4 Polo 2001). I would buy a car for what you want and not worrying about what the government may do sometime in the future.

Live for the here and now, get a VRS and enjoy it!!

get mine thursday but i havent heard any of this until reading this.bought the vrs to save money

Ah stop worrying about it.

 

It's not all about money. If you were wanting to save money then you ought to buy a Fabia Greenline.

 

I drive a diesel through choice not need/money reasons.

 

Try drive a petrol version of my car fully loaded to Germany via France on less than one tank of fuel!

 

Yes they don't like diesels as they are very bad for particulate emissions but all that will happen to current market cars is a slight increase in tax. The main squeeze will be on newer engines as we get to Euro 7/8/9 etc.

 

Phil

I have to ask though giandoug are you sure you have a particulate filter on a 2005 vrs ??

Yes it has a particulate filter..

 

NO!!  IT DOESN'T I'M A TWIT.... But I do have a Catalytic converter though...and a EGR thingy...LOL

Yes it has a particulate filter..

Did you add it yourself?

Did you add it yourself?

Fitted from new as standard..so I guessed - thought...WRONG !!!        (See above entry)

Apologies, it has a catalytic converter, which I thought was the Particulate Filter.. DOH!!! and a EGR..

The mk1 Fabia vRS does NOT have a dpf filter, they have an EGR which you maybe getting confused with? They only became mandatory in 2009 and the PD engine is an old in design before even common rail became mainstream. So unless yourself or someone else has retrofitted one (not sure why you would) then it won't have one. 

 

But I wouldn't worry about such things, they can't just change it overnight. The focus does seem to be on small capacity turbo petrol engines at the moment as they are better round town, offer almost diesel like mpg on a run and are less harmful in regards to harmful particles.

 

Buy the car you like and enjoy it! 

Fitted from new as standard..

Nope

Manufacturers lead the way on EU regulations so will already take plans of removing engine choices etc, so I doubt they will take the brunt of the tax issues as they will already have a very strong impact at that end of things.

It would be rather retarded and shortsighted of them if they offered cars that didn't benefit the consumer, so of course they tend to lead the way on emmisions etc. So you can guarantee that if there is an issue with diesels they will either clean them up or stop selling them.

 

Now, I'm not saying that will make every used diesel owner instantly hang up their keys, and probably won't with me either until I decide to change car but it's something to think about as over many years can start to get expensive and its actually one reason I decided to ditch the old 1.4MPI (currently £205 a year!)

 

That certainly wasn't that price tax when I first bought the car in 2002 ! This was also eventually part of the reason I ended up selling it. (Over the course of 10 years it could end up costing you a grand above a normally taxed car and in the long term ownership stakes that isn't small chips).

So absolutely no reason why they might not go the same way with diesels unfortunately.

Edited 1 February, 201511 yr by dominorising

You can only really buy for the situation today. Without wishing to seem dismissive, if you spend £4000 on a decent Fabia vRS, the most you can lose is £4000. That's not a vast amount of money these days.

Ultimately, it's almost always cheaper to keep the car you have than to get another one. Even if the road fund licence doubled on a Fabia vRS it's only an extra £10 per month. Which is a curry or a Chinese you now can't afford. Big deal?

Most of the scare-tax stories I've seen have been around congestion charging in London, so if you never go to London, no problem. If you do go to London it's a great excuse to go somewhere else instead. That'll teach Boris!

Do ask yourself why you want an "economical" diesel car though. If you're only doing 10,000 miles per year then petrol is almost always cheaper to run, especially as diesel seems set to be 7p/l more expensive for the foreseeable future and most small cars are pretty economical anyway.

I would buy a Fabia vRS because it's a Fabia vRS. It's a great car. The way it pulls make it feel spectacularly fast. Which it isn't. Which is good because that's safer. They are reliable, but bear in mind you're buying a 8-12 year old car, which is quite old when the warranty ran out at 3 years because that's when VW Group felt t would start to break. So keep some budget back for immediate repairs and tarting up.

Do it!

 

I'd never go back to petrol unless they made them illegal, even then i would still carry on driving one lol

I thought that. But then I realised that I'd never drive a Lamborghini or a ride-on lawnmower, so I relented.

Thanks all youve put my mind at rest.

Thanks again Thomas

WJA I guess you have a point.

Although thats on VED tax, not taking into account if they started to tax at the pump.....who knows ? Like you said, its a punt you either take or don't.

 

I've run my motor since 2006 well over 100K so in a way its already ran the large part of its very useful course already, what it does now is just a bonus to be honest and to the point the cars almost worthless- a fraction of what it originally cost now !

 

One thing I'd say, I'd tend to agree that I'd find myself more (un)happily be paying what the 1.4MPI costs to tax (ridiculous) if it went up to such on the vRS because for what it offers I'd feel less cheated than taxing a 1.4MPI.

 

Again though, I think if the fuel cost went up by 20p a litre or something ridiculous, I'd be far less happy and the sense of switching to a slightly more modern petrol might be worthwhile. Who knows so like you said its currently still a sound decision but could be leading to a gamble depending on how the wind blows but currently its a smoky oily wind that the EU frowns upon and we know what a bunch of ******s they are !

 

Adding: I have the insight of knowing some folk aware of decisions at a local governments and can assure you the pollution level concerns (breaches of EU safe levels) is being felt far beyond the contraints of places like London. Watch this space. (Anyone running de-cat and de-DPF at the moment is basically doing the diesel engine a disservice and just exhaxibating its eventual demise to be honest)

Edited 3 February, 201511 yr by dominorising

As said, its not worth even attemting to guess what the govt of the day will be doing, i have a 2006 Elegance 1.9TDI which i have had remapped so its making the same sort of power as a VRS (It does surprise some cars at the lights  ), i look after it very well and have not had a moments trouble in all the past 9 years, its simply the best car i have ever had and will soon be sold to a family member, he is only buying it because of how it still drives and the fact it has cost me next to nothing to run for close to a decade.  I would say take a chance but its not actually taking any kind of chance, buy it and enjoy it.

Edited 4 February, 201511 yr by Hudson1