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Hi!

You have come highly recommended! Can you tell me please what do you mean by 'look at the cost to change'? Looking to trade in a Honda Jazz, 2005, 50k, 2 years left on NCT, against a Honda FRV diesel, 2008. Like this: http://bit.ly/n2soeA What cost to change am I looking at exactly.....(complete car ignoramus!)

Can you recommend a family car (estate) in the €6,000-€7,000 price range? Should I be looking at the engine size to balance the extra weight of a family and dog!?

My 2006 Skoda Octavia 1.9 diesel takes ages to start in the morning. When it does start it runs all day without any problems. Is it injector related?

I'm looking for valuation on a 2006 Ford Focus C-Max with 87k car is in excellent condition and full service history - looking to trade up to a Peugeot 5008

Hello, I am in the market for a new or second hand car with a budget of €30,000 at a push €35,000. What car would you recommend in terms of price, reliability, maintenance cost and resale value, driving about 20,000 kilometers annual. I like the Mazda 6 sport hatchback, Audi A4 and the BMW 5 series but open to other makes. Thanks for you the advice.

What is the atkinson engine, and how does it perform compare to other engines?

Hi Paddy,

I love the site and your reviews for the irishtimes. Just looking for some advice. I'm buying a new VW Golf for January delivery. First time buying a new car. I'm getting the Edition-R 1.2TSI 105bhp with some options like MFSW, privacy glass and auto lights/wipers. Have you any tips for haggling with dealers?

I've shopped around to about 5 of them and the price in Dublin is much the same - none of them would budge, cost to change for me is about €21k (though I have been offered a better trade in price outside the pale). Also, I was told that Volkswagen are holding a dealer conference in October where some changes are likely to be introduced to the range, and also that VW may increase their 5.9% finance rate - have you heard anything about this or know what kind of spec changes are coming for the Golf? Would I be better off ordering before then and getting the dealer to hold it for me?

Many Thanks, Eoin.

How often should I get my diesel car serviced?  It's a 2007 Kia Cee'd 1.6 CRDi. I got it serviced in May this year. The garage recommends it gets servived every 10,000 km. I've now done 12,500 since last service. Theres 80,000km on clock. Money tight at the minute so wondering could I stretch it for another 2,000 km or so?

Are the government ever going to put older cars in the new tax system? Some one was telling me older cars will be treated the same in tax as the post 08 cars. 

Please help! My local Ford garage offered €9,000 trade in for my 2-year old Fiesta 1.4 automatic, 17,000 miles against new 2 litre Focus Ghia automatic. . My friend was offered €11,000 for her 2 year old Focus 2 litre automatic 20,000 miles against new Focus Titanium. Both cars were originally bought in this garage.

Changeover date for both cars Feb. 2012. Can such apalling values for our cars be correct? We are going to shop around but we have no idea what figure we should be looking for. Please , please give us your opinion. Regards, Teresa