another car for the tax-free stable

[sudburypaul]

Having bowed to pressure, at the weekend I went out and bought my wife a new car for her commute back and forth to work; a Citroen C1 vtr plus on a 2012 reg. Amazingly, I didn't know this but these cars have zero tax on them due to their low emissions and average 66mpg (which was the whole reason I agreed to buy it ) They will even make sure it has a full tank of petrol on pick-up That should last her nearly a month!
So I now own 2 vehicles with 56 yrs between them, neither of which I pay any road tax on! (In fact I don't need to mot them either for now, but rest assured the Series 2 will be looked after, after all it is now MY fun car!
Strangely, I think I'm drawn to cars like this - the C1 feels like a modern version of a Moggie or a 2cv, both of which I've had fun with over the years. I can see myself asking to drive it quite a lot...
All I have to do is pay for insurance and after that, petrol and servicing aside, they are free motoring (a dealer service on the C1 works out at around £140 per 10000 miles - which I think is quite reasonable once a year- and its under warranty: I do the minor).
A brand new car with no high costs on the horizon for under £8000. Its not a Minor, but I'm feeling quite smug!

[daveallgood]

You seem to have overlooked depreciation.

[sudburypaul]

Not really - the car is high spec and I got it for nearly £2000 under its rrp, and these cars hold their price very well as have such good mpg and low tax - two qualities very sought after these days! It does as many miles to the gallon as most diesels, and petrol per litre costs less than diesel, so is quite an attractive proposition, even with the new dratted 3p per litre tax increase. Used examples are often advertised for the same price as new or only marginally lower. Driving a new £30000 volvo off the forecourt would depress me immediately but I'm happy with this deal. Anyway, depreciation is only a problem if you intend to trade it in every few years. I tend to keep them and run them into the ground, getting the most I can out of them for the money. With regular servicing and maintenance it should top 100 000 miles.

[bmcecosse]

In reality - I suspect you will struggle to break 50 mpg. But as long as you don't have big load to carry - a sensible choice ! Now - if you could add an LPG kit with LPG at 67p/litre..... that would be cheap motoring!.

[sudburypaul]

Haha, LPG! My cousin's business is converting motors to LPG... Only prob is the gas tank would fill the rather limited boot space, so where would we put the weekly shop?

I'll keep an eye on fuel use: It will be used mainly for trips into/around town and around the local country roads, so I'm hoping for around 60mpg. I used to get about 50-55mpg out of a Toyota Yaris before it needed a clutch/automatic gearbox ECU transplant worth more than the car (it had to go!), so I hope to better that. AND I can now take the morris off the road for a couple of months for a refurbishment as a xmas pressie to it - new paint, carpeting and upholstery repairs.

[les]

----and an lpg kit, thank you cousin!

[sudburypaul]

And for period authenticity maybe it can carry its gas in a big bag on the roof. Would that matter now it no longer needs an MOT? Perhaps not but there's bound to be some other laws I'd contravene connected to the storage of combustibles and controlled/uncontrolled explosives! Mind you, every morning I'd come out to a drained tank if gas prices keep going up, so there wouldn't be much in it for long...

[irmscher]

Citroen make a great car