Early (oldest are 2013) range extenders are free, but there must have been a change in the regs at some point since, as the youngest versions (2019) are £145.

The regs changed on 01 April 2017. As you rightly say cars before that date would have been £0 and cars after currently £145.

Under the April 2017 regs there are only 3 prices. EV's cost £0, Alternative fuel cars (Hybrids, PHEV's, LPG but NOT mild hybrids) £145 and ICE cars £155.

My friend ordered one and was told the Road Tax was thirty pounds but because of the range extender it turned out to be over £400 so he cancelled the order. Is this correct ?

There was never a £400 rate under either the pre 2017 or post 2017 rates.

Looking at the regs there is no specific category for a Range Extender because it fits in the Alternative Fuel category.

Presume whoever told him was probably a bloke in the pub. To pay over £400 a year prior to 2017 the car would have been producing 226 CO's, under the post 2017 regs it would need to cost over £40000 for which there is a surcharge for years 2 through to year 6.

How the world had changed, I was watching some old Cortina ads and the ad man was all about how good to drive the car is and the gizmos galore.

Cortinas were never a particularly bad drive but never that good really. In my experience the BMC 1100 - 1300 was far better but then the Allegro and Marina came along and the Cortina was without a doubt better than them.

Fortunately along came the Avenger followed by the Cavaliers and compared to any of those the Cortina did not drive well at all.

And what are the "gizmos galore" that the Cortina had, I cannot remember any that stood out compared to its contemporaries. My dads Mk 3 had 2 features that no other car I have ever drive had and I can understand why. The first was an oval steering wheel, nearly as daft as the Quartic one in the Allegro and the second was a floor mounted windscreen wash/wipe plunger, not electric, just a pump.

But I suppose a good ad man could make a turd sound exciting.

The floor-mounted washer pump was a standard Ford thing - my mk1/2 Escorts had them.

How the world had changed, I was watching some old Cortina ads and the ad man was all about how good to drive the car is and the gizmos galore.

Cortinas were never a particularly bad drive but never that good really. In my experience the BMC 1100 - 1300 was far better but then the Allegro and Marina came along and the Cortina was without a doubt better than them.

Fortunately along came the Avenger followed by the Cavaliers and compared to any of those the Cortina did not drive well at all.

And what are the "gizmos galore" that the Cortina had, I cannot remember any that stood out compared to its contemporaries. My dads Mk 3 had 2 features that no other car I have ever drive had and I can understand why. The first was an oval steering wheel, nearly as daft as the Quartic one in the Allegro and the second was a floor mounted windscreen wash/wipe plunger, not electric, just a pump.

But I suppose a good ad man could make a turd sound exciting.

I had a Mk1 Cortina, used BMC 1100 and then Marina as works pool cars, later I had 2 Mk 3 Cortinas, they all had stalk operated washers. The worst design feature on Mk 3 was the plastic nut which hekd the gearlever into the top of the gearbox, in time this commonly didn't hold the lever in place and it would come off in your hand.

Edited by galileo on 24/01/2022 at 11:17

If you have constipation a turd would be exciting!