Thanks for answering my questions Gilbert, sorry if I took things a bit off topic.

I'm still thinking about the cutoff date, pretty sure there's been a lot of talk on Subaru and other forums about otherwise identical vehicles, same engine and state of tune, paying different road tax if before or after 2006. Is there just the one cutoff date or could another cutoff date have effected road tax on those vehicles?

Have a look at the link I posted above Simon, that explains it better than possible here. That Galaxy I have would be in the £575 rate if it was newer than 2006. As it stands, it's clear for both the Ulez and the Burm CAZ now. The online checker confirmed the Brum one to have changed recently.

It's the bit at the bottom of the table that's making the difference for band k

"*Includes cars with a CO2 figure over 225g/km but were registered before 23 March 2006."

I suspect they are over 226g/km as up until 23 March 2006 band K was the highest they went up to so it included everything with a CO2 figure of over 201g/km but after that date band K cuts' off at 225g/km and the next band applies. Sometimes it throws up some interesting ones. My missus has a 2007 Mercedes SLK 280 (3.0 litre V6) and that comes out at 227 g/km so costs her £585 a year (band L, 226-255g/km) but following a remap and a couple of other minor tweaks for the 2008MY version, the CO2 figure drops to 224g/km which brings it into the next band down (band K, 201-225g/km) so the road tax drops to £340 a year. Equally, if her car was a year older it would fall into band K even though it has a figure of 227g/km.

But, I shouldn't need to tell you this (and there shouldn't need to be any discussion on Subaru forums either), it's all explained perfectly clearly here https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables/rates-for-cars-registered-on-or-after-1-march-2001. Then again, many Subaru owners don't even know which why round a baseball cap should be worn......

and Brian beat me to it.

Thanks Bri, our posts crossed around the time of your link so I've only seen it following your further prompt.

The discussion on Subaru forums was years ago, they were talking about the merits of buying a pre/post 2006 H6 Legacy, post cost more for road tax.

Government responded:

There are no current plans to reduce the tax exemption age for classic cars from 40 to 30 years. The Government has set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date to distinguish classic cars from old cars.

The Government considers that classic vehicles are an important part of the country’s historical and cultural heritage. According to research by the Federation of British Historic Vehicle Clubs, in their publication The 2020 National Historic Vehicle Survey, the historic car industry employed around 34,000 people in the UK.

Recognising the important role played by historic vehicles, the Government announced at Budget 2013 that it would be extending the cut-off date from which classic vehicles are exempt from paying Vehicle Excise Duty (VED) to 1 January 2014. At Budget 2014, the Government then announced that it would introduce a rolling 40-year VED exemption, which means that currently vehicles constructed before 1 January 1981 are exempt from paying VED.

The Government set 40 years as being a fair cut-off date that distinguishes classic cars from old cars. There are no current plans to reduce the tax exemption age for classic cars from 40 years to 30 years, but as with all taxes, VED is kept under review.

HM Treasury

I think they make the perfect point, a differentiation between classic cars and old cars. Take it down to 30 years and you are looking at anything pre-1991 and while you may not see them everyday there's still plenty of doggy old motors running around. There's a guy in my village running a J plate Renault and there's no way that would be considered a classic.

Or the H Reg Maestro which someone has near me. Which whilst it may be in pristine condition, is still a Maestro.

The worst car ever made was the Austin Allegro. My next door neighbour had one. Awful car.
You could describe it as just an A to B car, but even that is being generous.

Theres someone else with a obviously very well cared for Austin Maxi I've seen a few times in town. It just begs the question of why!

Probably because the whole world knows they are diabolical (I had a Maestro as a company car many years ago) so when they need repairs costing more than £20 they got scrapped. One day they will be almost extinct so the odd person thinks they might be worth something solely because of their rarity (and as an example of how bad cars were in the old days).

You might be on to something there, though I can't imagine anyone really wanting one for anything other than a museum. Same applies to a few other cars my parents had - Austin Princess, Maxi and the FSO Poloniz being the 3 standout examples that come to mind that you'd never want to go near again.