Hi guys, new to the forum..Hoping I may be able to get some advice as I've been out of the game for a while.
Just got my Hackney Carriage licence in the home counties having been out of the game for nearly 10 years, back in the day I had deisel Passats, Octavias and a Mondeo, all did the job pretty well. However, with the demonisation of diesels these days, talk of charging diesels double for the London congestion zone (I will have a lot of journey's into London), and potentially big depreciation on a diesel when I come to sell/trade in, I'm thinking of investing in a petrol this time around.
Unbelievably, my licensing authority doesn't have any age limits for vehicles, so I'm open to older cars. I'm currently studying 'The London Taxi Knowledge', I expect to be doing it for another 2 years, so ideally whatever car I get will see me through that time.
The main 3 cars I'm looking at are a 1.8 Avensis (or Verso) V-Matic M-Drive, or 1.8 TSI Octavia both in the 2009 -2011 age range. The 1.4 Octavia is tempting due to the increased MPG but I've heard bad things about the DSG box failing on those, does anyone know much about this?
There are other cars such as the VW Jetta, Golf Estate, Toledo, Kia Cee'd Estate but I'm not sure they're big enough.. But then I think, surely they give more room than a Prius, and every other cab seems to be a Prius these days!
On the other hand, I could be tempted by a Diesel with good MPG, hope the additional congestion charges don't come in within the next 2 years (I think it will though), run it into the ground and hope some kind of scrappage scheme comes in when I'm done. The Peugeot 508 HDI looks pretty economical, always been a bit weary of French cars though.
I'm sure I'm gonna get slated for some of my suggestions! Cars have changed a lot since I handed my badge in, evidently so has the trade - I see a lot of smaller cars being licensed in my area these days, makes me wonder if its worth it in return for better economy.
If anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated
Cheers, Sherbet