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Due to the hike in van tax i am going to park my service van up and for the first time in 20yrs i will have to buy a second car,the tax is going to cost me 770 quid per year just to bring a smelly transit home(thanks Mr Brown).I am thinking of a Fiat cinquicento,i have max no claims on my X trail,what do you think will be the likely running costs for this vehicle will be (insurance,tax,fuel,passing mot etc).Going off other readers experiances is this a good cheap run around to buy?if not what are the other options?or should i keep paying the tax on the works van.I think the van tax is likely to go up each year in the budget .thanks Andrew.
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I dont think the fiat has quite the load carrying capcity of the transit. Is it a case of one or the other?
The fiat would be the cheapet option if so
Insurance 200-300 (judging on your record)
Tax 100
Fuel, well drinks less than a transit
Maintenance, personally I put away 40 p/month for mot, tyres and bits n bobs and have 200 left a year end
Fiat is my choice
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Personally never taxing a van, is that 770 quid the same as my 170 odd quid to tax my car? i.e road fund licence?
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Just don't crash in a Cinq. If you do buy a FIAT make sure you check for signs of head gasket failure. I was looking at Puntos prior to buying my Fiesta and two of them had signs of head gasket failure (both done less than 100k)
How can a Transit cost £770 a year to tax when a double decker bus only costs £330?
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How can a Transit cost £770 a year to tax when a double decker bus only costs £330?
I assume BiK for bringing it home.
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Sorry not very clear regarding tax ,i mean company van tax not road tax.I work from home as a service engineer and due to the van being available to use privately it is seen as a perk so tax needs to be paid,my tax code has gone from 522L to 222L, which means i pay much more tax its bound to go up every budget Andrew
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The difference in the two figures is not all payable tax and there are other tax incentives you should be claiming to offset this if as you say a service engineer on call working from home.There is now the £12 per day for food expenses if out for more than 8 hours and the overnight allowances plus many other unpublicised allowances what you need is a good accountant not a Fiat.
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I haven't got a Cinquicento, but I have got one of the later Seicento's, which is mechanically very similar. I'll tell you about my thoughts...
The cars share the same engines, 1.1 FIRE engine in the sportings, and 899cc in the non-sporting Cinq's. I have a Seicento SX, with the 899cc. The lowest fuel consumption I have got was about 36mpg IIRC, but that was in stop start traffic (very bad). I generally don't get any less than 39-40mpg. On the motorway I can get upto 60mpg, usually 55-58mpg with good traffic. Performance isn't great, but it's not as bad as 899cc sounds. The 1.1 sporting is obviously faster, but also thirstier and puts the insurance group upto group 3. The 899cc engines are usually very reliable and I've heard of people doing over 150,000 miles with them. The 1.1 FIRE engine do suffer from head gasket failures. A sporting may be more suitable for you if you carry much weight.
My Seicento also has a supprising amount of room in it. If you fold the rear seats down (they go completely flat in the Sei), it's like a small van. With these there aren't as many curves, and pieces of plastic in the back, which waste space.
I also enjoy driving mine, and they're very good value. If you get the low spec ones, you don't get many extras, but if you get the SX I think you get most things like sunroof, central locking, and electric windows. The Sporting also has a lot of extras, and alloy wheels. Oh yeah, my one does drink a bit of oil (runs fine though), so if you do get one, keep a close eye on the oil!
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