I bought a diesel Corsa because it was congestion charge free. Then 6 months later they changed the rules so it wasn’t free anymore but did give a grace period. The grace period was shorter than the finance on the car so that was a bit of a bummer. Then they brought in the ULEZ charge so the originally green vehicle discounted car went from free to 25 quid a day within 5 years. So that had to go in favour of the MX5 which was fine for the ULEZ but still copped the congestion, I got around that by doing 12 hours shifts. Then they extended the congestion charge times to 22:00 so even a 12 hour shift was not exempt. No more into work with the MX5 for me.
I had a lovely Italian motorcycle that I would use for work in the summer months that fell foul of the ULEZ so that had to be changed for something ever so slightly younger (an 07 rather than an 06). It was months later I discovered that I could have had the old bike tested and altered to make it exempt but that information was very well hidden. When the times of the congestion charge changed I had to use the newer bike exclusively so I had to change the bike again because a head down ■■■ up bike is fine for the occasional trip into work but on a 2 degree morning after a night shift it’s a recipe for disaster.
I don’t have BMW or Audi money which is why I was driving around in a diesel Corsa on 5 years finance, an 06 Aprilia, a 95 Honda FireBlade (which easily passed the ULEZ test) and now an 06 MX5. The train ticket for the year is £4380 which is more than I paid for the MX5 in 2018 and still gets me into work late as I start before the first train arrives in London.
The ULEZ checker website was all but useless for bikes right up until it came in. The only way to be sure was to have a bike registered after July 1st 2007.
The rules for the congestion charge have once again changed so that I can now use the MX5 again. This is the first time I have been helped by a change made to the traffic charging policy in that London
Wow this site has a really fussy profanity filter. I used a 3 letter word for bottom that also begins with a b and it’s been blanked out.
Do you have a reference for that? So far as i can see the exemptions which stop in 2025 mean even electric cars will have to start paying the congestion charge to enter central London but the changes don’t seem to affect the emissions zone that will cover all of greater London.
They’re quite happy to have you “working from home” though.
You conducting THEIR business from YOUR house. Totally rent free and you paying for the heating. Then the boss has the brass neck to tell you that you don’t need a pay rise because you are saving on commuting.
Apologies if this has been discussed on previous posts. The hight court ruling to stop the expansion of ULEZ has not been successful .
I own a 1.6 2.5 (2003)
It is showing as not ULEZ complaint. I don’t live in the extended area but drive in on occasion.
How for along is anyone in trying to get Certificates of Conformity showing it is compliant to the emissions level needed? Is their any hope of it happening anytime soon ?
Consolidated some posts and threads here to provide a single source/resource for MX-5 related matters related to London (and possible other urban area) ULEZ implementations.
My guess is that many petrol cars with a 3-way cat and EGR would meet later standards for NOx and particulates. In fact, port injection engines have much lower particulates than GDI engines without a GPF.
The problem is that the car could only be certified for the prevailing Euro standard when it was new.
To take a good example, the Suzuki Jimny 3rd gen was produced for 20 years(!) and had the M13A engine for most of that time. The car has at least three different Euro standards depending on age, although the engine and everything else was largely the same.
It’s more clear-cut for diesels, where only Euro VI cars are likely to have SCR, which is an absolute must to get them under the NOx limit.
The issue we have is that bikes can go to a testing centre in London, be measured and if possible adjusted to get under the limit. They are then given a certificate that is registered with tfl. I do not know of any such system for cars.
Interesting ULEZ experience at a Club meet the other evening. My 02 NB is compliant (according to the TfL checker), I had therefore assumed that all NB facelift models would be. But no, another member there had an almost identical 1.8 02 NB and the checker said his wasn’t compliant. The difference, my NB is a Sport his isn’t. This lead to some research and as probably mentioned in this thread it looks like the NOX level is the key to compliance, whereas I kept reading that euro3 failed and euro4 emissions passed, its just not the case with all cars. Mine is euro3. The NOX level on my cars V5 is 0.066, the cut off for ULEZ is 0.08 which must be the figure the ULEZ database has. But, it still doesn’t explain why the other 1.8 NB FL fails as engine will be the same, differences I would assume such as gear box, brakes, etc. not going to impact on the NOX level, or do they ? Was NOX measured at the time in some sort of real world driving thing where closer gear ratios of a Sport would have an impact ?
So anyone out there who has an 02 NB non sport who can check the stated NOX level on their V5, and then check their car with the London ULEZ checker ?
Just came across some info on this silly scheme - not sure if its been posted in the past but if it helps someone so be it.
From
…
However, not all cars that meet the required benchmarks for nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions are flagged by the website as being ULEZ-compliant.
This is often because the cars were registered before the Euro 3 standard was introduced in January 2001, which began the practice of tracking NOx separately from hydrocarbons. If the NOx and PM requirements aren’t listed on the car’s V5 document, TfL automatically determines compliance based on age, thus barring models predating 2001.
The good news is that, if you can prove that your car meets the requirements, you can apply to register it as ULEZ-compliant
What are the ULEZ emissions requirements?
Petrol cars must meet the Euro 4 standard for nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, emitting fewer than 0.08 grams of NOx per kilometre driven.
Diesels must meet this same benchmark for NOx emissions and must also produce fewer than 0.0045g/km of particulate matter, in accordance with Euro 6 standards.
yes, I saw that, there are definitely a few things you can do.
Anyone else like to share their NB facelift experience as somewhere in the lifespan of that model is the ulez cut off for MX-5s. I’ll run a few through the tfl checker on Sunday at the rally!
