My 4mo isn't £400 a year tax - it's £180ish, the exact same as my mk2 GTI.
It's a 2000 model, but as far as I know, none of them are £400 a year tax......
I've just checked on Parkers - pre 2001 cars will only be going up to £205 per year tax, while post 2001 will be £245. Hardly extortionate!?!?!
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/road-tax/?deriv=18512Anyway - yeah it is juicy, but not stupidly so - about what you'd expect from a 2.8 V6 with the power going through all four wheels really! I usually get about 26mpg on my way to work - 14 miles on B roads with about 2 miles of dual carriageway thrown in for fun (it's usually below 20mpg on the way home from work). I've got to the dizzy heights of 33mpg on a long motorway journey before though.
There's some bargain 4motions to be had out there too as people get scared that they're not going to be able to afford to run them with the fuel going up in price. Mine was advertised for £5250 and I ended up haggling him down to £3700. To be honest, I haven't noticed the difference going from having a mk2 as my daily to having the 4motion.
Remember, diesel is for tractors and lorries - V6 power is where it's at.