Car & Driver: 130i Test - Page 2

Matt · **Re: Car & Driver: 130i Test -** 11-03-2006, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Luwalira

Try South Africa. 100% tax on cars not manufactured in the country.

BMW has a plant in South Africa, doesnt it? So that tax wouldnt necessarily apply.

You guys are right in saying that BMW needs to get their pricing on the right track and Im not going to argue. Hopefully the AMerican coupe version will be a bit cheaper...

Bruce · **Re: Car & Driver: 130i Test -** 11-03-2006, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

As for the BMW 1-Series, good car, great drive as expected but I thought all German luxury cars come with leather in the US?

As far as i'm aware pretty much all of the German luxury cars come with leather in North America. However having said that i have seen a few B5 A4's with cloth and a few E34's 5 series with cloth interior here in Canada.

MikeJ · **Re: Car & Driver: 130i Test -** 11-03-2006, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cawimmer430

Try Finland.

I'm sure our Finnish members can confirm this. I read something about prices over there being overinflated big time.

Actually with new cars it isn't that bad any more, it's 28% now (of course, there'll be 22% VAT too... even on the car tax).

It's people importing used cars that get ripped off, because the tax you need to pay is based on the 'market value' of the car... it's the job of the customs to define how much that is. Used car dealers don't like people importing used cars themselves, so they hike up the asking prices so that the supposed 'market value' of cars being imported is higher than what anyone would ever pay for them... And in some cases they have to define the market value for a car that has never been imported here (the lists of imported cars and the tax paid on them are public, the latest list includes cars such as a 1978 Holden Kingswood), so they essentially pull the 'market value' out of a hat. Needless to say, Finland has (once again) been taken to EU court for this nonsense.

But this is going off topic.

cawimmer430 · **Re: Car & Driver: 130i Test -** 11-04-2006, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeJ

Actually with new cars it isn't that bad any more, it's 28% now (of course, there'll be 22% VAT too... even on the car tax).

It's people importing used cars that get ripped off, because the tax you need to pay is based on the 'market value' of the car... it's the job of the customs to define how much that is. Used car dealers don't like people importing used cars themselves, so they hike up the asking prices so that the supposed 'market value' of cars being imported is higher than what anyone would ever pay for them... And in some cases they have to define the market value for a car that has never been imported here (the lists of imported cars and the tax paid on them are public, the latest list includes cars such as a 1978 Holden Kingswood), so they essentially pull the 'market value' out of a hat. Needless to say, Finland has (once again) been taken to EU court for this nonsense.

But this is going off topic.

Thanks for the info.