Extra taxes on 4WDs ????
Submitted: Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 10:37
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Member - Mike DID
It seems that there's been talk in the UK of extra taxes on 4WDs. When I was there 4 years ago, you saw very few 4WDs compared with Australia, and that was before the recent rise in fuel prices.
Even though the author has no desire to own a 4WD, at least he considers the situation logically. Of course laws are rarely based on logic.
Here is a quote from this English website.
"on a purely environmental basis such restrictions on 4x4s do not seem justified. For example, the Land Rover Freelander diesel weighs 1600kg, is 4.4m long, and produces 205 g/km of CO2 on the European drive cycle. A Mercedes S55 AMG weighs 2100kg, is 5.2m long and produces 317 g/km of CO2. Now, the S55 AMG is an excellent and highly desirable car, but it would seem unfair to tax the Freelander more highly than the S55 on the basis that it is "less environmentally friendly", when by any objective measure it is not."
www.fuelsaving.info/vehicle.htm
Reply By: _gmd_pps - Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 12:21
Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 12:21
less 4wd in Europe is not a matter of taxes.
Germany in particular has it's priorities on speed .. in most other countries as
well as Germany a 4WD is NOT a status symbol ... most farmers drive Mercedes Diesel (has to do with the Diesel prices and tax benefits) and just in the last 15 years the BMW and Merc 4WD became more popular ... a Toyota or Nissan is still a Japanese car, and they are not rated very high image wise in Europe ... just for the record .. I lived 40 years in Europe and the US before coming to Australia ... the car buying and usage habits are totally different and also highly influenced by advertising .. but one has to consider that off road opportunities are very limited in Europe ... no beach driving, no forest open for cars etc etc .. so why buy a 4WD ... all wheel drive is a concept for performance cars and was made popular by Audi with the Audi Quattro .. such cars .. now including the Tuareg are popular in the mountain areas with winter tires. The English cars have an exotic image in Germany, a bit like the French.. they are considered less quality (especially engine wise on high speeds, does not matter elsewhere but does matter on German Autobahns). Now with more and more speed limits around the cities and high fuel prices the move to smaller cars is as obvious in Germany and the rest of Europe as it is here. Still higher average income in Europe than Australia and shorter distances keep the luxury car sales up. There are many regional differences in the vastly different areas of Europe but image wise and for status there is only 2 brands .. BMW and Mercedes .. BMW for the sports minded .. Mercedes for the more relaxed and comfort driven ... of course I could go on four hours about this and the special interest groups etc etc ..so as a summary .. the number of 4WD on European
roads has little to do with taxes .. those who want them buy them and are not worried about taxes ... here in Australia a lot of people buy 4WD or Holden V8s and don't even have the money to feed their kids properly ... and don't tell me it's not true .. I know a few of those ... there are really some cultural differences here rather than tax reasons ... I never understood the motivation behind a Holden V8 on gravel road and speed limit of 110 ... what a waste ...sorry :)))
regards
gmd
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Follow Up By: Alan H - Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 14:06
Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 14:06
Hi gmd.
The top speed that most vehicles could go is totally irrelevant in Australia given the strange mindset of the authorities and police which ignores all other types of driving stupidity to focus entirely on drivers exceeding the sometimes farcical limits by small amounts.
"Speed kills" so they say, but stupidity kills far more!
You're certainly right on the limitations for off road driving anywhere in Europe and why they would bother with 4 x 4 I don't know, although my sister in law always had Range Rovers for their many trips over very icy roads throughout the continent.
I'm staying here where we can still go to some remote
places although the greenies and other killjoys are trying hard to stop that as
well.
AlanH.
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Follow Up By: Footloose - Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 15:21
Monday, Aug 07, 2006 at 15:21
There are other differences between the two hemispheres. AFAIK local authorities in some areas can be sued if an accident can be proved to have resulted from a defect (eg lack of maintenance) in a road under their jurisdiction. I can remember wondering why some council workmen were filling in a pothole in the middle of a UK winter blizzard.
Just try doing that here !!
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