10 Reasons Why It Sucks Being A Petrolhead In Ireland

As a proud Irish citizen i can’t help but realize how much life sucks for car guys in Ireland,yes there are worse off and after seeing one about India I thought Ireland problems need to be mentioned

1.Bad reputation

Along with the other 80% of other countries car guys are frowned upon as most of unfortunately are jackasses who like to go diffing(Lame version of drifting) as they can’t afford to make a drift car and the culchies only make things worse by putting straight pipes in their diesel golfs and boras so they can ‘Boow’ along with cutting the springs so they can be as low as possible.These inbreds (No offence) leave us true petrol heads in a spot of bother when we say that we are car enthusiasts who treat their car like it’s an only child we are instantly judged on by our embarrassing stereotype like a BMW driver.

2.Insurance Costs

Like Britain Ireland’s insurance is as bad if not worse.First time and Young drivers are kindly greeted by the local insurance companies with a massive premium which wouldn’t surprise if they were worth more than the car.This also has major restrictions on the cars we can drive for example.People under 25 year olds can only drive a car with maximum 2.0L and if your car is a JDM Import or Notorious with boy racers There’s a slim chance they’ll even insure you.Some insurers are stopping to insure cars over 15 years old which is blasphemy to some drivers.I Once tried to insure myself on an Evo IX.The company in question wouldn’t insure me until i was 23 and that would cost me over €25000! €10000 more than the car.

3.Ridiculous Road Tax System

Back when times were simple Ireland’s road tax system is done by engine size.Unfortunately in 2007 some party called the green party (Fortunately they’re not a party anymore) Came up with an idea to encourage people to buy new cars by changing the tax system to run on cars registered after july 2008 and for some ridiculously stupid reason this bill was passed.This made road tax cheaper if you have an economical diesel with no character,passion and made you look like a virgin but if you had a good car (M3,RS4,EVO) it only made life hell as their high emissions meant that the government could take giant dump on your road tax bill.For example Road tax on an Evo X is €710 registered in june 2008 but in August 2008 you will be paying €2350!.Another example is an 06 VW Polo 1.2 is on the engine size system and pays €330 a year not bad but a 2012 Audi A6 TDI is on the emissions system and pays €270 a year which is very unfair.Government parties are trying to abolish the road tax and replace it with taxing the fuel but fuel which is taxed already so its pointless.
Links to road tax rates can be seen here:http://www.mywheels.ie/motor-tax-rates-ireland/

4.Fuel

Prices at the moment are OK but the only problem is the fuel we have.In most countries they have Diesel,95 octane(Premium),98 octane(Super) and in some cases E85(Ethanol).As for Ireland We have Diesel,95 Octane(Premium) and that is about it.Very fuel stations in the country (None where i live)have 98(Super) and i don’t think any stations in the country have E85. This means that if you imported an R34 Skyline,Evo or any high performance you might be able to run it on regular 95 but the engine would be running low and power and it might not do much good for your engine so a flex fuel remap would be recommended if that was the case.

5.Aftermarket section

My only issue is the lack of Irish tuning companies yes there are ecu tuners around and that about it.On the plus side some tuning companies do ship to Ireland or even have their own Irish branch which would come in handy and there is most likely a mechanic which will install the parts for you if you can’t.

6.Speed Limits

I’m not exactly against speed limits but what I am against are the Limits themselves.Their too slow for my liking.In town Its 50 Kph which is understandable.One a bypass its 100 kph and on the motorway is 120 kph.Yes these do save lives but yet again driving slowly is as dangerous as driving fast.We also have speed camera vans instead of regular speed cameras.These snakes hide in places to catch speeders my dad once came across 3 in one journey.

7.Race tracks and events

They’re simply isn’t enough of them.Yes there are car shows and car meets which i can live with but the only track in anyway derivable is Mondello Park In Kildare and Kirkistown in Down.The closet is Mondello and its 1 Hour 40 Minutes from where I live.I know it wouldn’t be easy to build a race track or get the money for one so nothing can really be done about it.As for events you do get Dub-shed and Japfest or if you a ‘Differ’ you have ‘King of the Cone’ in Donegal. There.There are also rally’s that come and go.

8.Driving Roads

Like racetracks there isn’t enough! I sometimes wonder that the government got the biggest pile of dry arses to design the roads.Most of the roads where i live are not smooth,have potholes or are too narrow to go fast are carve some bends in.Repaving and widening the roads could help but let’s be honest here that’s not happening anytime soon.

9.Car prices

Most cars in Ireland would be more expensive than the British equivalent of them.Not due to currency rates but VRT(Vehicle Registration Tax).This is a tax which you have to pay when importing a car into the country Old or new your paying up.This tax isn’t cheap either.You would be paying between €4-7000 on average onto it.This makes you €40000 Mercedes into a €50-55000 car.An example is a BMW M4 and C63 AMG. These will cost you at least €100000 to buy over here,nearly twice as much as they cost in Britain.

10.Best selling cars

The average Irish motorists who knows nothing about cars lacks the sense of what cars are good.The best selling car is the VW Golf which is anything but bad but the country’s fastest growing band bugs me.The fastest growing brand is Dacia. The duster in particular only makes my day miserable.They look like a withered testicle,have engines which couldn’t pull you big toe out of bed.Have bland interiors and are all round very basic and bring.They cost roughly people €20000 and because of this they sell like hot cakes but why? How could one of the best selling cars in the country be so terrible.You would think that Dacia being owned by Renault that it would put buyers off but it doesn’t seem to be the case.Especially for the same price you could buy an Evo or an E46 M3 for less.Yes the running costs would be high but you could at least have enough to run these cars for at least 2-3 years.I guess People really only want a cheap,pathetic crossover.

Now after all these 10 reasons this is why being a car guy in Ireland sucks and while you are here here is a video of this article https://youtu.be/ZAg8ss_nKr0

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