Instead, this is a list of bargain luxury barges, lightweight sports cars and souped-up hot hatchbacks that get punished with value-ruining road tax. With their £735 annual renewal many people write them off – but, because of that, there are some cracking bargains out there. Alternatively, we’ll tell you how to get yourself into one of these fantastic beasts, while avoiding the worst the DVLA has to offer.

The best way to buy one of these costly and often ignored specimens is to write the cost of the tax into your budget. For example, if you have a £10,000 budget, spend £7k on the car, and the rest on four years worth of road tax. You’d be surprised how much further your money can go in this overlooked corner of the market.

The killer £735 tax band was in operation for cars registered between 23 March 2006 and 31 March 2017 – for cars before this period tax tops out at £415, and for cars afterwards, it’s a maximum of £190 – as long as its more than five years old. For this list, we’re omitting SUVs as so many of them are in the top tax bands due to their comparatively high CO2 emissions.

Always remember to check the exact road tax band a car sits in – and its ULEZ status - before you buy, as this can vary with specification. Alternatively, we’ve compiled a list of tax busters.