If you are considering buying a new van this year, you might want to look for a Euro 5 model. New 2010/11 rates of road tax for vans mean that new vans that aren’t Euro 5 compliant will cost nearly twice as much to tax as Euro 5 models.

Euro 5-compliant vans will cost £125 to tax for a year in 2010/11, against a standard rate of £200 for other new vans. Although it’s not a huge amount when set against the cost of a new van, the lower rate is guaranted for the lifetime of the van and non-Euro 5 vans may be penalised further in years to come.

Owners of Euro 4 vans registered between 01/03/2003 and 31/12/2006 will also benefit from the £125 rate in 2010/11 – although owners of Euro 4 vans registered since this period have to pay the standard £200 rate of tax.

Owners of most other vans will pay around £200 for a year’s road tax if their van was registered after 01/03/2001 and £205 if it was registered before this date and has an engine larger than 1549cc.

For full details of current rates, click here for the 2010/11 DVLA fact sheet.

What Euro 5 Vans Are Available?

The bad news is that the range of Euro 5 vans available is limited at present. As far as I know, these are the only current models available with Euro 5 engines at present (remember that not all versions of each model may be Euro 5):

• Mercedes-Benz Sprinter
• Volkswagen Crafter
• Volkswagen Caddy & Caddy Maxi
• Volkswagen Transporter
• Ford Transit ECOnetic
• New Fiat Doblo Cargo
• New Renault Master
• New Vauxhall Movano
• Iveco Daily

What this list shows is that several major manufacturers have launched new versions of their largest vans recently, and that these larger models have been the first to get Euro 5 engines – although their heavier HGV cousins have had Euro 5 models available for some time now.

The choice of smaller vans with Euro 5 engines is pretty limited and Ford’s Transit currently seems to be lagging behind in the larger van category, too, with only the ECOnetic available in Euro 5 spec. The ECOnetic only comes in FWD/SWB/low roof spec so is not suitable for all Transit owners. The popular Renault Trafic/Vauxhall Vivaro is only available with Euro 4 engines at present, too – although I suspect this will be remedied fairly soon, given Renault’s excellent reputation for modern diesels.