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Hi Mark,

That’s right, you’ll miss the NOx tax if you bring it in before the 1st of Jan. After that though...

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Hi Pat,

It probably depends more on the year than the mileage, but I’m going to assume with 100,000 miles on the clock, it’s probably a 2015 model? If so it should be worth around €12,500, or about €10,500 as a trade in. 

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Hi Pat,

We certainly have noticed this trait in all Volkswagen Group DSG-based gearboxes (that's what the S tronic transmission is) and their attendant engines of late. The only explanation seems to be that VW’s various brands have trimmed back both engine power and responsiveness at low speeds, and especially at idle or when waking up from a stop-start cycle, in order to optimise their figures in the new WLTP emissions and economy tests. VW is certainly not the only one to do this, but it does seem to be more obvious with VW Group models than with some other manufacturers. Shifting the gearbox into Sport helps a bit, but it’s not a total fix.

One cure might be a total vehicle upgrade — we’ve noticed that the new ‘Evo’ versions of the 1.5 TSI petrol and 2.0 TDI diesel engines are noticeably less sleepy. Or, alternatively, trade in for a version with a manual gearbox — that is the simplest cure of all.

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Hi Julian,

It should be changed at least every 200,000 kilometres or 10 years, whichever comes first.

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Hi Lucy,

I'm afraid that the VRT calculator supplied by Revenue is only for an estimate, as every car is different. The final figure takes into consideration the condition, mileage and any extras fitted to the car.

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Hi Sinead,

Bit of an odd one for that model, but for cars built up to July 2012 and registered up to that date, the interval is every 240,000km or 10 years, whichever comes first. For cars registered after that date, but with the same build period, the interval is 180,000km or 10 years. Either way you still have some time to go before your car needs a change.

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Hi Carole,

Assuming it has the 1.6 TDI diesel engine, then it’s going to cost €514 a year to tax it as a private car — that’s because when you tax a van as a car, you revert to the old by-engine-capacity taxation system. No, we don’t know why either.

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Hi Anne,

Is that a 100km round trip every day? Or 100km each way? Either way, you could potentially get away with a fully-electric car, assuming that you can charge at home and charge again at work. Either way, though, you’ll have to spend big and go for one of the latest electric cars with a  50kWh or 62kWh  battery, such as the Hyundai Kona Electric or the new Renault Zoe. What could well be an easier (and much cheaper) option would be to go for a hybrid. There’s only one hybrid-engined car in the Polo-size class at the moment, and that’s the Toyota Yaris. The current version is pretty good, but there is an  all-new one coming next year, so you might be best off waiting for that to appear. By then, the new Honda Jazz, also a hybrid, should be available. Or, you could keep it a lot simpler and go for a new Polo with the excellent 1.0-litre turbo petrol engine. It'll be tough to beat your diesel Polo for outright economy, though.

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Hi Nathan,

Generally the Ford 1.6-litre diesel (also used by Mazda, Peugeot, Citroen, Volvo and MINI down the years) is a rugged and reliable unit, but there are a few things to bear in mind. First off, this is an engine that needs a regular diet of high-grade synthetic engine oil, otherwise a nasty sludge can build up in various parts of the engine, choking performance. Make sure you check the service history to ensure that a good quality oil has always been used. The stop-start system can occasionally cause starter motor issues, especially if the car has mostly been driven in town. If it has been mostly driven in town, or has very low mileage, be wary of potential issues with the diesel particulate filter, too.

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Hi Colin,

When you tax a commercial vehicle as a private car you revert to the old engine capacity tax system, so with a 1.6-litre engine that’ll be €514 per year.