help need a 7 seater car urgently - searching driving me mad

rev_henry

If image is everything have a look at a Chevrolet Suburban or GMC Yukon on Autotrader or eBay. They're both the same car; a huge American SUV with 7 or 8 seats depending on its configuration. Could get a nice one thats 4 or 5 years old for less than £20k, although they drink fuel of course (think sub 20mpg). As its an import the tax will 'only' be £215 instead of £405.

macca

at the moment we're going down the R class route as have persuaded other half to be slightly sensible and not have a four wheel drive for the sake of it - we only get 13p per mile at work so I don;t fancy paying out loads of money each for travelling on works behalf.
What is really now annoying me is the vast array of names which are given to each model and the fact that they change them each year, so its sooooo difficult to compare, oh and just that there's not many of them around, and they've now changed from a 6 seater into a choice of either 5 or 7 seater - don't want to make it easy for the public do they?:rolleyes:

HalfPint

rev_henry wrote: »

As its an import the tax will 'only' be £215 instead of £405.

As far as I am aware, imported vehicle or not, you still pay the road tax according to the emission (?sp) levels or if an older car, size of engine.

I have an import and taxed on engine size due to age of car.....I'm lucky it's an older car otherwise I'd be paying a lot more in road tax :eek:

HP x

rev_henry

HalfPint wrote: »

As far as I am aware, imported vehicle or not, you still pay the road tax according to the emission (?sp) levels or if an older car, size of engine.

I have an import and taxed on engine size due to age of car.....I'm lucky it's an older car otherwise I'd be paying a lot more in road tax :eek:

HP x

I thought, for imported vehicles, its always on the old system of engine size, regardless of their age. I've seen quite a few ads for the above car shouting about the £200something road tax, even though they're registered after the changes. I guess its because they're not going to do government emissions tests and assessments to decide the tax on every individual car that's imported.

goldspanners

rev_henry wrote: »

I thought, for imported vehicles, its always on the old system of engine size, regardless of their age.

im pretty sure your right aswell, if anyone disputes it they could always check the dvla website?

rev_henry

goldspanners wrote: »

im pretty sure your right aswell, if anyone disputes it they could always check the dvla website?

I'm just trying to find this out for sure myself. The DVLA website and parliamentary consulation papers I've looked at are not at all forthcoming. Seems to be something they overlooked when they brought this in.

HalfPint

Thats interesting about the imports...will need to look into it too...anyone else know?

My import is over 10 years old and is a 2.2TD, hence I thought it was taxed on it's engine because of the age....If all imports are taxed on engine size, I might consider changing mine in the future (but not at the mo)

If I find out anything more will post it

HP x

rev_henry

I did some considerable digging last night, and it would seem the whole thing's a bit of a minefield. It seems to revolve around whether you have on the V5 'PLG' or 'Petrol/Diesel Car'. If the latter, CO2 ratings will appear as well and you will be taxed accordingly, if the former, you'll just be on the old system. 2006 seems to be a key date in all this, in that many imports registered in the UK after then are usually on the new CO2 based system as they have had to have an enhanced SVA when they came in, during which the CO2 was calculated. Which seems a rather silly way of doing it to me. CO2 ratings for 'normal' cars are based on manufacturer figures/tests when the car is new. Its bound to be different when you import a 10 year old car or whatever.

So basically HalfPint, check the V5 on a prospective imported car for the golden letters 'PLG'!

Fruity1

scotsman4th wrote: »

I doubt 2 baby seats and a booster would fit and with the reduced seat size in the front, Id imagine the adults would be more at risk injuring the child than the impact.
It probably wouldnt take our buggy either (trust me, I looked at nearly everything) as the boots not a very good size.

I have an FRV and regularly have two booster seats in the back plus a baby seat, the back and front row are wider than my previous Zafira and the boot its deceptive. Any good showroom will let you try and put all you need into the car. I tried babyseats in various cars before buying cars not just for the width but also seat belt length to fit round the babyseats.

pinkneonmartini

if you've now got £30k, why can't you get the GL merc that you want, my local dealer has an 07 plate for £34k, get in there and haggle!