Which engine is cheaper to tax?

Which to go for: 1.2 petrol or 1.6 diesel car same year 151 or 152 reg plate? How can the government know emissions of above engines? Which engine is cheaper to tax?

Thanks

Mark Leahy

Crossbarry, Cork

Mark Leahy (Cork)

May 2020 Filed under: taxation

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Expert answer

Hi Mark,

The government knows the emissions of each vehicle simply because each vehicle is put through a series of official laboratory tests as part of the process of homologation — the legal process whereby a car is pronounced as passed for sale to the public - and that data is made available by the car manufacturers. As for which is cheaper to tax, it’s down to the CO₂ emissions and we’d have to know which make and models you’re looking at before we could give you a precise answer, but in most cases, for a given car, the diesel would have lower CO₂ emissions and hence motor tax.

Neil Briscoe - Complete Car Advisor
@neilmbriscoe