Blog Search Results
You are currently searching the blog. Why not search for "diesel" in our database of questions, testdrives, and news too?
When advising buyers what car to go for, one of the first things we ask them is how they'll use it. While Irish drivers are obsessed with diesel power at the moment, petrol cars can make sense depending on your circumstances, especially if you're going for a small car and you don't plan on astronomical annual mileages. Likewise, petrol-electric hybrids are suited more to a city life than one in which you pound the motorways.
So, where does our Golf BlueMotion fit in? Well, in truth, it's driven in and around Dublin city the…
Three Sub €10,000 Family saloons
The family saloon makes up the staple diet of Irish car buying and we have chosen three good value cars here, all great value because they are petrol powered.
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer 1.5 Intense €9,950
The latest Mitsubishi Lancer is an impressive car, so we were delighted to see that now you can get into a 2008 model for under €10,000, which is really very good value. The Lancer feels feel built, is entertaining to drive and the engines are reliable. Plus, lately, they have been better equipped with lots of standard equipment thrown in.…
Unless you have jumped into a taxi in one of the larger towns or cities in Ireland recently then you probably won’t have come across the Hyundai Montana. And here in Ireland there really isn’t that much call for vehicles with more than seven seats outside of the taxi business. But are we missing a trick?
A family event in Cork required lots of seats and lots of space, but when you go beyond seven people your options are few. The problem, too, with a lot of seven seaters is that with all the…
Monday mornings are usually a bit slow in the motoring world, but there are a few bits and pieces to look at today. The most relevant news to Irish new car buyers is the revealing of SEAT's new five-door Mii.
Just like its Volkswagen up! and Skoda Citigo cousins it's little different to the three-door option, other than an extra pair of doors, naturally. That makes it easier to get into the rear seats and hence it'll be the best-selling version.
Actually, SEAT Ireland hasn't confirmed whether or…
A busy news day finally, though most of the stories relate to cars that aren't terribly relevant in Ireland. Two of which made their debut at the Chicago Auto Show in the States, which opened its doors last night. The Nissan 370Z has been given a minor overhaul to keep it fresh in the wake of forthcoming new rivals (such as the all-new Porsche Boxster/Cayman and Audi TT).
As you can see, there's not a lot to report. The wheels are a new design, the front bumper houses LED daytime running lights and there…
I'm in China for the week with Mercedes-Benz taking part in its F-Cell World Drive. That's the circumnavigation of the globe in a pair of fuel cell powered B-Class Mercs. We're aiming to drive about 1,000km through China. Should be quite an experience. A few 'postcards' from the journey to Beijing for you:
Alright, this could be from any trip we take, but spotted a (very) yellow Ferrari California up for grabs in one of those airport raffle competitions. First time I've seen the car in that colour.
The Fiat Qubo has joined the CompleteCar.ie long-term test fleet and when it was first suggested that this car would come, I must admit that I wasn't what you called thrilled. Up until now I think I had only seen the Qubo in green (Disco Green) and it is certainly 'distinctive'.
But the arrival of a new addition to the Comyn family, young Noah has made me look at cars in a very different way. Even the normal family hatchback is filled to the brim very quickly with buggies and all the other 'stuff'…
We've got hold of a Volkswagen Golf for a few months to live with it every day. In some ways it's a more realistic test of a car than our usual week-long loans. Paddy will be the 'owner' of the car most of the time, but I'll be getting behind the wheel regularly too to give a second opinion.
Our car is the BlueMotion model, which is the most fuel efficient Golf available. It's not difficult to spot some of the modifications made in the name of efficiency. It sits lower for a start…
Alright, I admit that winter tyres may not have been necessary as yet, though I did feel vilified in having them fitted to our long term test Golf when the temperature plummeted to zero in the middle of December. Then it decided to come back up to a balmier 14 degrees around Christmas Day...
Still, it's only the first week of January and many are predicting cold weather and snow for later this month.
However, I'm not as ready as I was, as one of the tyres suffered a puncture before the holidays. Annoyingly,…
It all happened by accident. I was supposed to collect the Seat Ibiza ST, a car which sounds like it has performance potential, but is really just a Seat Ibiza Estate, which Shane had driven before anyway. But when I showed up at Seat's Liffey Valley headquarters, the Ibiza had gone AWOL and the Leon 1.6 TDi was offered by way of a replacement.
It had been quite a while since I had driven a Leon. Probably because it is a long time…
One quick thinking commentator described Enda Kenny's State of the Nation address - which seemed to prepare us for the most hard hitting and austere budget in living memory - as the pep talk you receive from the dentist before he starts a root canal. But on the face of it Budget 2012 was not as bad as we had been lead to believe. Certainly CompleteCar.ie is happy that the tub of Vaseline we had to hand as Michael Noonan delivered his first as Minister for Finance has now been returned to the medicine cabinet...
Changes to the Universal Social…
There's no doubt that, if fuel economy is your top priority and you're a high-mileage driver, then the BlueMotion version of the Golf is the car for you. The official combined consumption figure is 3.8 litres/100km (74.3mpg) and it gets pretty close to that. We're consistently amazed by its ability to avoid fill-ups, even when confined to the environs of Dublin. On the motorway it's peerless.
Though it's not quite peerless, as Volkswagen offers the same 1.6-litre TDI engine in the rest of the Golf range. Sure, you do without a list of further…
The Renault Scenic has enjoyed bursts of popularity on the Irish market over the years and for a while was the default choice in the seven-seater category. But once more mainstream players such as Ford and Toyota started upping their interest in this segment, twinned with some shoddy build and reliability from the Renaults, the Scenic’s popularity began to wane. We must admit it had been quite a while since we spent any time in a Renault Scenic, but what with Renault’s new-found popularity thanks to giveaway prices, and a new gearbox offering in the Scenic we decided it was…
Three Bargain Fast Estates
?Estate cars don’t have to be boring, or super expensive as these three super-fast estate cars show
We all know that Audi’s RS-range produces some super cars and the RS4 from the early part of the last decade was nothing short of astonishing at the time but it would also have been a car that was out of reach for most buyers because it cost close to six figures. Ten years on and this RS4 has covered 92,000 miles, but looks…
It has gone suspiciously quiet this week. No doubt all the press offices are waiting for the perfect moment to announce their Geneva Motor Show plans. Opel has already confirmed its line-up, which will include a 280hp OPC version of the new Astra GTC. Alongside will sit a 195hp BiTurbo Insignia, which is the most powerful diesel car yet made by the company. It promises to be clean as well so don't rule it out for the Irish market.
We've already looked at the Mokka crossover, which will be sold here, while we'll not…
The Cobo Center opens its doors wide to the media on January 9 for the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Here's a preview:
Acura
Honda's luxury US division will use the North American International Auto Show to debut a new ILX concept saloon. The Honda Civic-based four-door saloon will be available with either a 2.0- or 2.4-litre four pot or the Civic Hybrid's powertrain (in America only).
A near-production ready second-generation RDX crossover will also be displayed that noticeably, in an automotive world dominated by downsizing, will swap the turbocharged four-cylinder engine of old for a more fuel efficient V6.
The…