New member

[Meb10]

Hello all

Im over in Ireland and in late December bought one of the only 3 S1's to be supplied new here I am told, supplied by a dealer in Cork in 2001 - RHD number 265. It has been lightly used certainly in the last few years and has just over 60k miles now, does need a little tidying and is off to get a service and cambelts shortly. The weather has not been the best but I have driving it nearly every day including a great 100 mile return trip over the mountains here on a dry sunny day.

Non modified car except for a carbon air filter and clear indicator lenses. I need to get tyres and the steering wheel recovered and will search the forum tonight for advice.

Is RHD 265 known on the forum? I thought there were only 256 RHD's destined for the UK so perhaps mine was part of another batch of RHD's for Ireland, Japan, Aus etc.

Anyway looking forward to the better weather as I have some nice roads to drive around here.

I have always been a car enthusiast and knew all about the V6 when it first appeared. I keep an eye out for interesting cars over here and spotted 265 on 24th December, mine by 28th having never driven one! Road tax is the issue here - €1,495 pa, who cares about mpg. No pockets in a shroud as they say over here.

cheers

 

[Jamesv6]

Welcome Bill.

[v6plaque]265[/v6plaque] is in our register. Was once owned by Aidan. It's what we class as non UK hence the higher numbers.

 

[GPH]

welcome. That road tax is bad news! Just looked up how it works in Ireland and prior to 2008 it was by engine size and instead of just a couple of bands like in the UK for pre 2001 cars, some civil servant had time on their hands to do 20 something bands up to 3.0 litre separated only by 100cc each time so the Clio ended up in the second from top category :rollseyes: Ouch
Gives you an incentive to drive it to get your money's worth!

 

[Meb10]

I forgot Aidan had told me he was a member.

On road tax they made a complete mess of it post 2007 as well - based on emissions and highest rate is now €2,350! Buy a 3 litre diesel in December 2007, annual tax 1500 - same car in January annual tax €780 on emissions. Not only that but there is import duty of up to 36% - the clio for example had 36% import duty added in 2001 plus vat on the whole price of 23% including on the duty. For the 3 litre diesels changes to import duty equated to a €6,000 drop in list price between 2007 and 2008! It was the green party that brought that new regime in (complicated coalition government), they had 4 MP's and all were booted out a few years later but their legacy lives on! Rubbish SORN system as well plus you cant pay road tax monthly by DD - only annually or in 3/6 month parts. Of course you are penalised if you dont pay it annually and it costs €400 for 3 months for a 3 litre pre 2008, €500 for over!

I wont go on but a friend has a 2016 Porsche Cayenne hybrid, €110k worth of twin turbo 3 litre diesel plus electrics. Very fast but in the first 3 months he averaged 21mpg. Road tax? €190 pa as its a hybrid and so good re emissions! I have a few cars but my 2005 Alfa GT 2l averages 25mpg, worth €2k here and is taxed at €790. No sense at all. On the plus side Uk buyers can find very cheap large engined cars over here and there is also a refund scheme imposed by the eu on the import duty, I know all the ins and outs (Im scottish and have exported / imported) - just make sure it has an mph speedo for the uk mot. And the £210 road tax rate is for pre April 2006, I did not realise that and exported a cayman S and hit the £500 road tax by 4 weeks!

On the register the mileage is wrong as it is quoted as km, it was 58.5k miles when I bought it, 60.4 miles now. Most speedos/odo's were mph pre 2006 for cars sold new here (although road signs/limits kph!), all new cars kph now so confusion can occur.

Anyway, loving the clio. Cant wait for the better weather and new tyres. I was happy to find out the rear luggage space takes 2 x 8 packs of guinness, then realised I should have used the front when I arrived at my mates with very warm beer.

 

[Jamesv6]

[mention=1292,#2b2b2b]Duncan[/mention]

 

[Duncan]

Hi Bill,

Welcome, your car was indeed intended for Ireland and not the UK. It was built as part of a run of RHD cars and was one of only a handful destined for Ireland from new. It wears its original factory number plaque (rather than being replaced by a UK one - hence being under non UK in our register).