It's just another way of getting ICE cars of the road, as most likely many struggled to meet their original emissions even Euro 6 when new, as like the published MPG figures ,were usually achieved in lab conditions, not in real world driving.and not acheveable outside the staged and contrived lab conditions.
Hence the recent emission cheatng software debaracle....I'm sure is not the first instance of car manufacturing fudges. Even if they did meet the standards when new, its unlikely that the catalytic convertors, ecu and sensors are operating in as new condition and ensuring the car delivers the emission standards for a new car. Just take eg the commonly used GDI engine by most manufacturers which are recycling dirty polutants and how gummed up they are compared to when new.......Sue's Mercedes Oxy sensor is a regular failure weakness on all modern Mercedes especially for low mileage cars, so the likihood the car even though amazingly well serviced will most likely not meet the then when new manufacturers decared model specific emission standards
Only a matter of time before, the historic vehicles are forced off the road on emissions etc. got to find different ways of getting people out of ICE...
All the more reason to look closely at the post 92s cars which are not 40 years old and historic and meet the Euro 1 and Euro 2 much higher limits emission standards eg Mercedes which achieve a Euro 4 TUV sticker when touring Germany.....so I've been reliably informed. Whereas later cars may struggle more to meet their more demanding limits. This became very important when UK VED was based on emissions, which are determined in part by the mpg they achieve, which in reality we never achieve on the road outside the lab conditions......times maybe a changing. Just a change of tyre size or tyre compound away from the original specified tyres may alter your resultant emissions.
I'm sure the Government has complied the results of recent MOT emission tests and running that against declared when new manufacturers emission standards to see the fail rate against the manufacturers declared emmissions rather than the relevant Euro standards.With 40 million ICE cars on the road it will be interesting to see the way this heads.........................could be they give a percentage within latitude for the MOT,but may also consider reclassifying the VED band your car is in and resultant VED you pay.......lots of ways of skinning a cat, especially the earlier punishing VED rates pre 2017.
I asked AI the following:-
While Euro 4 standards were not legally mandated across Europe until January 2006, a handful of forward-thinking manufacturers began engineering petrol engines in the late 1990s that easily met the strict Euro 4 Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) limit of 0.08 g/km.Because clean air schemes like London’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) rely solely on the NOx value for petrol vehicles, certain late-1990s petrol cars can be proven fully compliant if you obtain a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) from the manufacturer to update the vehicle's registry.1990s
A few of the 1990's cars engineered to meet Euro 4 emissions
BMW 3 Series (E46 Generation — 1998 onwards)Many early E46s equipped with the M52TU or M54 inline-six petrol engines (such as the 323i, 328i, and 330i) produce NOx emissions well below the 0.08 g/km threshold. BMW famously provides the CoC paperwork to owners free of charge.
Mercedes-Benz SL-Class (R129 Facelift — 1998–1999)Late-90s models that swapped the older inline-six engines for the newer M112 V6 (like the SL320) and the M113 V8 (like the SL500) run exceptionally clean. Models built from late 1998/1999 frequently qualify under the NOx limits
.Porsche 911 (996.1 Generation — 1998–1999)Early water-cooled Carrera 2 and Carrera 4 models equipped with the 3.4-litre flat-six often output NOx numbers as low as 0.035 g/km. This is less than half the maximum allowed for Euro 4 compliance.
Lexus GS300 & IS300 (Late 1990s)Toyota was an early adopter of ultra-clean powertrain tech. Models packing the naturally aspirated 2JZ-GE 3.0-litre inline-six engine comfortably achieve low enough emissions to bypass Euro 4 restrictions.
Ford Puma (1.7-litre — 1997 onwards)This nimble, 90s coupe featured a high-tech 1.7-litre engine co-developed with Yamaha. Thanks to its advanced variable valve timing (VCT), it runs remarkably clean and can clear the Euro 4 bar
.Aston Martin DB7 Vantage (1999)Introduced in 1999, the Vantage version swapped the old inline-six for a 5.9-litre V12 designed under Ford's ownership, which featured more modern, tightly controlled emissions mapping.
⚠️ Critical Warning for BuyersIf a car was registered before 2001, databases (like Transport for London's checker) will automatically label it non-compliant by default because the factory emissions data wasn't standardized on registration documents back then.To legally drive them in emission zones without charges, you must request a Certificate of Conformity (CoC) from the vehicle manufacturer's homologation department, proving the vehicle produces less than 0.08 g/km of NOx, and upload it to the local transport authority for manual approval
.
Last edited by JohnHarris; 30/08/26 01:15 PM.
