Fiesta 1.25, why are some £30 tax and others £130?

[Sam25]

I am looking to get one of these cars, and in my price range I see that some of them are £30 tax a year, others are £130. Looks like it changed to the higher rate in 2015? Both have the same quoted bhp and torque figures, and performance. But one has 120g/km emissions, the other 122 which pushes it into the higher band. 

What I'm wondering is, what change did Ford make, was it to correct some problem with the older engine somehow? 

The cost of the tax isn't going to be a major factor in me buying the car, but £30 tax would be nicer obviously. I'm wondering if the newer car perhaps fixes something wrong with the older one though. Because otherwise why would Ford knowingly push it into a higher tax band like that. 

[TomsFocus]

Is it definitely 2015 with the higher tax?  The VED system changed in April 2017 to a flat rate so the majority of cars 17 plate onwards are around £150 a year.

[unofix]

Hi Sam, welcome to the Ford Owners Club

Ford don't make engines specifically for the UK. Other countries don't either have any road tax or they have a diffrent system of taxing cars. It would be almost impossible for any car manufacture to guess what changes a goverment might make to car tax. In the UK over the last 30 years each change of goverment has messed about with road tax with the intent of getting more taxation.

To the best of my knowledge there is nothing wrong with either engine.

[Sam25]

2 hours ago, TomsFocus said:

Is it definitely 2015 with the higher tax?  The VED system changed in April 2017 to a flat rate so the majority of cars 17 plate onwards are around £150 a year.

Yes, as far as I can see. There are 2015 64 reg Fiestas where it's £30 and then 2015 15 reg where it's £130 because the emissions have gone up by 2g/km. So it seems like something was tweaked by Ford somewhere.

[Eric Bloodaxe]

Yes, bit unfortunate that such a small change makes a big difference in VED in that instance (rates for cars reg March 2001-2017):

Petrol car (TC48) and diesel car (TC49)

Band and CO2 emission	Single 12 month payment	Single 12 month payment by Direct Debit	Total of 12 monthly instalments by Direct Debit	Single 6 month payment	Single 6 month payment by Direct Debit
A: Up to 100g/km	£0	£0	N/A	N/A	N/A
B: 101 to 110g/km	£20	£20	£21	N/A	N/A
😄111 to 120g/km	£30	£30	£31.50	N/A	N/A
😧 121 to 130g/km	£130	£130	£136.50	£71.50	£68.25

These changes do seem to happen quite often, not clear if the manufacturer alters anything or if it's changes in the test regime. My Fiesta is registered at 102gm on the V5C, subsequent price lists have had it as various figures including 117, 116, and 109, so who knows?😀

Edit:no idea how the emojis got in the table!

[Chinadoll]

I had a 13 plate ecoboost and it was free tax/year, and now I've just bought a 67 plate fiesta from Ford, and it's now going to cost me £155.00/year tax?????, and the explanation given to me by Ford was a little unclear but was told that the government will be putting car tax up in October????, I'm really none of the wiser and really rubbish with things like this, but I know that I will have to pay it when I buy my car on Saturday, and that the money goes directly to the government and assured its not going to Ford. 

[statts]

Hi

Looking at the price lists (1 from January 2015 and 1 from May 2015) the only difference is that the January price list says euro 5 and the May price list says euro 6 emissions so that must be the tweak to push the emissions up to the next tax band.

My mums old car (Peugeot 206) she had one registered November 2001 and it was about £145 tax per year. She bought a new one in September 2007 and the tax was about £200 per year (emissions were 149g/km to 152g/km.

I have attached both price lists for you to look at ( its on page 16 on both)

Hope this helps

Fiesta Pricelist (2) 2015 5.pdf Fiesta Pricelist (10) 2015 1.pdf

[Luke4efc]

1 minute ago, Chinadoll said:

I had a 13 plate ecoboost and it was free tax/year, and now I've just bought a 67 plate fiesta from Ford, and it's now going to cost me £155.00/year tax?????,

Previously, the amount of tax you paid was based on emissions, and the lowest emitting cars paid £0 tax. The highest paid around £500 a year. This was introduced in 2001 (so obviously there wasn't many cars paying £0 tax at that time).

Cars are much more economical now, and there were loads of drivers that were on that £0 tax bracket. Clearly that's no good for the tax man as he's losing out on millions of pounds a year compared to before. In early 2017, cars registered after this date will pay a flat rate of £140 a year (at the time), and increases every year in line with inflation. The only exception is cars that produce no CO2 (so that's electric cars), which still pay nothing.

This gets slightly confusing as for the first year the car is registered on the road, you still pay the tax based on emissions. I wont explain it much more as clearly it doesn't apply to your 4 year old car. However, it's only on the second year it goes to the flate rate.

10 minutes ago, Chinadoll said:

and the explanation given to me by Ford was a little unclear but was told that the government will be putting car tax up in October????

I don't know why they said October tbh. Like I said above, the price increases every year in line with inflation, but this happens in April at the start of the new tax year.

15 minutes ago, Chinadoll said:

but I know that I will have to pay it when I buy my car on Saturday, and that the money goes directly to the government and assured its not going to Ford. 

Yes this is how car tax has worked for a number of years now. The DVLA changed the rules a while back so you can no longer transfer the tax to another owner when you buy/sell a car. Instead, when you sell the car and send the slip off, you get a cheque from the DVLA for the amount of months remaining.

[Sam25]

  

16 minutes ago, statts said:

Hi

Looking at the price lists (1 from January 2015 and 1 from May 2015) the only difference is that the January price list says euro 5 and the May price list says euro 6 emissions so that must be the tweak to push the emissions up to the next tax band.

My mums old car (Peugeot 206) she had one registered November 2001 and it was about £145 tax per year. She bought a new one in September 2007 and the tax was about £200 per year (emissions were 149g/km to 152g/km.

I have attached both price lists for you to look at ( its on page 16 on both)

Hope this helps

Fiesta Pricelist (2) 2015 5.pdf 1.22 MB · 1 download Fiesta Pricelist (10) 2015 1.pdf 944.58 kB · 1 download

 

I see the 'extra urban' fuel economy is supposedly slightly better on the older, 120 emissions model than the newer 122 model. Although the combined mpg is quoted as identical for both cars. 

[Sam25]

39 minutes ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Edit:no idea how the emojis got in the table!

Quite apt though!

[iantt]

My daughter's 13 plate fiesta is £30. So between her car, step daughters peugeot107, partners fiesta ecoboost and my dirty diesel Mondeo , we pay a fortune to the government of £50 in total. Outrageous!! 😂😂😂

[TomsFocus]

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

Edit:no idea how the emojis got in the table!

All the smileys have key combo's!  

If you copy something with a colon or a bracket you're generally at risk of unwanted smileys...which then can't be deleted if using a smartphone! Colon laugh colon...

 

 

[TomsFocus]

2 hours ago, Sam25 said:

Yes, as far as I can see. There are 2015 64 reg Fiestas where it's £30 and then 2015 15 reg where it's £130 because the emissions have gone up by 2g/km. So it seems like something was tweaked by Ford somewhere.

I must admit, this is the first time I've heard of it...always thought the 1.25 remained at £30 until the flat-rate changeover.  

Are the more expensive ones automatic or a higher spec/bigger wheels?  

Does seem very odd to make the engine slightly worse for no apparent reason!

[Sam25]

19 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

I must admit, this is the first time I've heard of it...always thought the 1.25 remained at £30 until the flat-rate changeover.  

Are the more expensive ones automatic or a higher spec/bigger wheels?  

Does seem very odd to make the engine slightly worse for no apparent reason!

Exactly the same model and spec (AFAIK), just Zetec manual. Can't swear that the tyres are the same exact size but I assume so, the wheel are still 15".  

I'm currently paying £280 I think it is, for my ancient Puma, so even £130 is a big improvement. £30 would be great though. (I am avoiding the 1.0 model due to distrust of the engine and potential for big bills with all the things that can go wrong or need changing which the 1.25 doesn't suffer from.)

[iantt]

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

All the smileys have key combo's!  

If you copy something with a colon or a bracket you're generally at risk of unwanted smileys...which then can't be deleted if using a smartphone! Colon laugh colon...

 

 

Messing with colons wouldn't risk any  smileys happening. 

[TomsFocus]

13 hours ago, Sam25 said:

Exactly the same model and spec (AFAIK), just Zetec manual. Can't swear that the tyres are the same exact size but I assume so, the wheel are still 15".  

I'm currently paying £280 I think it is, for my ancient Puma, so even £130 is a big improvement. £30 would be great though. (I am avoiding the 1.0 model due to distrust of the engine and potential for big bills with all the things that can go wrong or need changing which the 1.25 doesn't suffer from.)

How odd.  I'd go for the older £30 tax one myself...that should hold value better too.  My last few cars have all specifically been £30 or under...1.6 TDCi Focus's, 1.0 EcoBoost Focus and 2.0 TDI Golf...  I just couldn't justify £130 on a Fiesta myself!  

[Lewie226]

My 15 plate is £30

[Sam25]

It is possible that a 15 plate being £30 is because the car is a late registration of a slightly older revision of the engine I guess. 

If the following link is correct... https://www.parkers.co.uk/ford/fiesta/hatchback-2008/car-tax/#57295

It appears that Fiesta 1.25s up to March 2010 are £155. Then until late 2012 it was £130. Then changed to £30 until Feb 2015 when it goes back to £130. Then to £155 from the point in 2017 where the tax system changed again. 

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Sam25 said:

It appears that Fiesta 1.25s up to March 2010 are £155. Then until late 2012 it was £130. Then changed to £30 until Feb 2015 when it goes back to £130. Then to £155 from the point in 2017 where the tax system changed again. 

Very interesting information.

All EV's which I understand pay no road tax are going to pay a flat rate of £500 per year and those who have a home charging point will be taxed at a further £100 per year. "These new taxes are to come in on 1st April 2030, to coincide with the switch from petrol & diesel engines, said a spokesperson for the chancellor of the exchequer."

Ok so the above is all just made up bulls#it - Or is it ? 🤔

[Sam25]

^ Rishi is taking notes! Could even be a lot higher. £500 won't cover the loss in revenue of fuel duties in a lot of cases. I am hoping that a small and simple engine (relatively) like the 1.25, ie. without a fancy wetbelt, chain or turbo, will be a useful thing to have in future, when more complicated cars are scrapped because they end up costing thousands to repair when they get much beyond 10 years old. 

[unofix]

2 hours ago, Sam25 said:

like the 1.25, ie. without a fancy wetbelt

As a schoolboy I once built an 'elasticband' racer, true it was only a model but the way things are going a full size knicker elastic powered car may be highly sort after 🤣

[Neb_engineer]

On 8/19/2021 at 12:56 PM, Sam25 said:

It is possible that a 15 plate being £30 is because the car is a late registration of a slightly older revision of the engine I guess. 

If the following link is correct... https://www.parkers.co.uk/ford/fiesta/hatchback-2008/car-tax/#57295

It appears that Fiesta 1.25s up to March 2010 are £155. Then until late 2012 it was £130. Then changed to £30 until Feb 2015 when it goes back to £130. Then to £155 from the point in 2017 where the tax system changed again. 

yep, my 13 plate 1.25L petrol fiesta zetec is £30 for road tax at the moment

[Guest]

Don't remind me 🙂

will be paying the first road tax ever in 44 years of driving at the end of the month, due to this my first own car after company cars for 44 years.

Going to ask for £10 for every pothole I've hit, so they will owe me around 10 grand 🙂

[Luke4efc]

Cue the "Karen" with nothing else better to do than say "there's no such thing as road tax, it was abolished years ago meaning your money goes to Central government rather than back on the roads".