How the Mazda MX-5 Owners’ Club is preparing for the London ULEZ expansion

The London Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ), set to spread to Greater London boroughs on 29 August, has got many car clubs worried, but the Mazda MX-5 Owners’ Club is busy developing strategies to cope. It has a large number of London based members, and a base of non-compliant models – the MX-5 Mk1 [‘NA’] and MX-5 Mk2 [‘NB’], to attend to.

Iain Fleming, central support for the Mazda MX-5 Owners’ Club (MX-5 OC), explained the current state of play to Lancaster Insurance Services; it asks that other clubs get in touch if they have other strategies for dealing with the ULEZ.

The expanded ULEZ will charge cars not meeting Euro 4 emissions standards £12.50 to enter the zone; the MX-5 OC has been researching via Transport for London’s compatibility checker as to which MX-5s will be allowed in.

‘[The London ULEZ is] a difficult area, it’s a political area, but that doesn’t detract from the owners who are being subjected to it; it seems arbitrary in how it’s applied, ’said Iain. ‘It comes hot on the heels of E10 petrol and the hike in car tax [which applied from 1 April].’

Response to the growing ULEZ has been vocal, with cameras controlling entry vandalised. Certain boroughs, including Acton and West London, are also challenging the ULEZ’s terms, which could delay its adoption.

Iain said that concerns had been raised within the club, for whom the ULEZ stretches across four areas, and that, depending on how the ULEZ panned out, it would consider starting a programme to help rehome MX-5s that London owners had decided to move on.

Iain said: ‘We’re getting calls in the office. Everyone who’s phoned up is willing to sell their car, they’re saying, “I’ll probably get a Mk3 [which have no problems meeting ULEZ requirements]”.

We do have many members in the Greater London area and we have had many contacting us with concerns on ULEZ or looking to sell.

We’re not (yet) running anything to rehome them - while further challenges to ULEZ expansion are ongoing. We direct members to the classifieds for free. There have been numbers of cars being sold because of the ULEZ, if someone wants a car we put these people together.’

Questions have also been asked about the ULEZ’s affiliated Scrappage Scheme for the problems it might pose to the survival rates of early Mk2 [‘NB’] models built between 1997 and 2002.

‘The introduction of the Scrappage Scheme is the concern, not so much for the earlier cars as their values continue to climb but more especially with many Mk2s in the dip of their values - we are more concerned that many owners may opt to dispose of them.’ Iain said.

Determining which cars are ULEZ friendly has been a problem for the club, but it is narrowing the search down. ‘Everything post 2001/2 should be compliant, but the earlier Mk2 and the MK1 are falling foul of the changes,’ Iain confirmed.

‘The impact may not be felt now or indeed for years but with the rate of attrition in the MK2 to old age and corrosion this has the knock on to availability of parts especially were the MK1 and the MK2 share so many components.

We are already seeing the supply of many Mk1 parts availability become difficult and not just as a consequence of supply interruptions with Covid, but there are an increasing list of parts now not available and the Mk2 probably has a role to play in keeping Mk1s on the road in the future, so any incentive to take them off the road in excess of the current rates is a concern’.

Certificates of Conformity would save numerous Mazda MX-5s on the borderline of ULEZ acceptance, as these documents, issued by car makers, confirm that NOx levels are below the amounts needed for Euro 4 requirements, even if the car was built before Euro 4 emissions standards became mandatory.

Mazda was building Euro 4 compatible engines well before Euro 4 itself (the ULEZ standard, let’s not forget) was a legal requirement.

YouTuber AJVW found that Transport for London (TfL) in fact determines ULEZ eligibility through NOx emissions alone. This level is 0.08 g/km for petrols (set by Euro 4).

In his video, he explains how if your car’s NOx emissions are lower than these levels, it can be marked as ULEZ exempt if it isn’t already deemed so by its plate.

If you need to get a Certificate of Conformity, ringing TfL to have the car exempted or emailing cclondon@cclondon.com with the first three pages of your log book (and Certificate) should get the ball rolling.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been that simple for the club. We’ve had no luck with getting Certificates of Conformity from Mazda but we’ve have already raised the question with the MX-5 liasion [with Mazda] for the process. There’s going to be some obscurity and ambiguity, Iain said.

Sadly, lacking type approval, parallel import Eunos Roadsters the Japanese Domestic Market version of the Mazda MX-5, do not qualify.

‘They’re not going to get Certificates of Conformity,’ said Iain. ‘Eunos Roadsters are going to have to leave the zone or their owners are going to have to pay the £12.50 a day.’

None of this has diminished the club’s resolve. ‘We’re desperate to support owners and we’ll do what we can but we don’t know [how serious ULEZ] is going to turn out,’ Iain concluded, who has yet to hear from owners in Birmingham or Bristol, two other cities affected by Class D clean air zones.