£5000

gtvlusso

http://www.theherald.co.uk/politics/new ... m_2011.php

In the spirit of this, can I have £500 per year for running my bicycle every day, as I have been "green" for many, many seasons....?

Bassjunkieuk

I'm actually quite surprised the government has come up with a plan like this as it seems they usually prefer to penalize people with taxes!
Having got a Prius as my company car (of choice) I'm rather impressed with it. I've got colleagues are using the other cars that where offered or running their own cars who moan about not being able to break even with their fuel spend vs. what they can claim back (set to HMRC guidelines). At present even if I have a bit of a heavy right foot I still break even :-)

Of course I only ever use the car for the run down to Woking so it's mainly motorway/A-road driving which is fairly economical anyway!

I think if the government was serious about cleaning up our air they should start converting those vehicles that we have quite a few of in the capital (i.e buses and the black taxi's) into more economical machines. I can sit in a traffic jam producing sweet FA, whereas the stinky black taxi in front is still belching out exhaust fumes whilst he moves nowhere!

God I'm glad I don't ever have to drive in town now :-D

Now £5,000 would go a long way towards a bit of Italian hand built exotica..........

gtvlusso

Just a tax break would be nice though for cycling to work 365 days a year! What about scooters that do 100mpg on a thimblefull of fuel?

This just goes to harden the fact that we are a car dependant society - surely the £5000 for each vehicle could go to getting people out of their cars and doing something healthier?! Kill 2 birds with one stone as such!

I get a Car allowance (my wife currently runs a 1999 BMW 318iSE Estate with 106k miles on it) - however, we chose this for size (kids + dog) and it is reasonably efficient/cheap to run. We are not looking to change cars as nothing that is electric/hybrid is large enough for the fambly and I am very anti buying a brand new car (instantly lose money when you buy brand new!). In fact, I would only consider buying a bigger car at the moment!

always_tyred

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

I'm actually quite surprised the government has come up with a plan like this as it seems they usually prefer to penalize people with taxes!
Having got a Prius as my company car (of choice) I'm rather impressed with it. I've got colleagues are using the other cars that where offered or running their own cars who moan about not being able to break even with their fuel spend vs. what they can claim back (set to HMRC guidelines). At present even if I have a bit of a heavy right foot I still break even :-)

Of course I only ever use the car for the run down to Woking so it's mainly motorway/A-road driving which is fairly economical anyway!

I think if the government was serious about cleaning up our air they should start converting those vehicles that we have quite a few of in the capital (i.e buses and the black taxi's) into more economical machines. I can sit in a traffic jam producing sweet FA, whereas the stinky black taxi in front is still belching out exhaust fumes whilst he moves nowhere!

God I'm glad I don't ever have to drive in town now :-D

Now £5,000 would go a long way towards a bit of Italian hand built exotica..........

Doesn't that toyota do about the same mpg as a diesel mini (about 65mpg?), but with far more environmental damage due to manufacture of the batteries?

Efficient technology is very interesting, but I'm fairly sure that hybrid drive isn't it. There are many more savings to be made by making vehicles small and light and fuel efficient, such as gearbox technologies, use of different materials etc.

The government's move on this is a gimic. Its visible and requires them to do very little.

Bassjunkieuk

@AT - The best I've managed to record on it was 67mpg, but that was part way into a short journey in fairly calm traffic, whilst practising some "zen" driving!
At the time when I was given a choice of cars the Prius appealed to me most as it was going to be the cheapest to own as far as it being a company car was and I'm a geek so I loved the interior (more so when I had the fully loaded Spirit tester, then my T3 :-( )

I fully agree tho that this is a typical government gimic..........

always_tyred

Bassjunkieuk wrote:

@AT - The best I've managed to record on it was 67mpg, but that was part way into a short journey in fairly calm traffic, whilst practising some "zen" driving!
At the time when I was given a choice of cars the Prius appealed to me most as it was going to be the cheapest to own as far as it being a company car was and I'm a geek so I loved the interior (more so when I had the fully loaded Spirit tester, then my T3 :-( )

I fully agree tho that this is a typical government gimic..........

Don't get me wrong - I Zen drive my car to 35-38mpg max which is pretty poor. I just look at innovations like hydraulic gearboxes that claim to about double the mpg of conventional cars and wonder if the effort isn't misdirected.


Toyota Pious, pah.