Expert answer

Hi Kevin,

That’s almost an impossible question for me to answer I’m afraid as, as you’ve pointed out, a car that many might consider comfortable and pleasant (the Honda CR-V) is uncomfortable for you. Mind you, you’re right about the C-Class Estate being small inside – it was never the biggest car around.

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Hi Alan,

All are, in general, pretty solidly reliable cars as you would expect,  but the issues come with the added weight and complexity of those folding hard-tops. All three can suffer roof failure (often at the point of being half way up or down) and all three suffer equally from increased tyre and suspension wear relative to their hatchback cousins, not to mention higher fuel consumption. None, to be honest, are especially pleasant to drive.

Of the three, I’d say the Eos is the best built, the Focus by a slim margin the best to drive and the Astra fractionally the roomier in the back seat. As an alternative, what about an Audi A4 Cabriolet? You’d have to go for an older one to match the price, but it’s a better car and a better convertible than any of these. Alternatively, if you don’t need the back seats, get a Mazda MX-5 – literally the only small convertible that’s actually worth buying.

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Hi Donal,

Short answer – no. That’s partially down to the fact that such in-depth comparisons have to take into account the type of mileage you do, the electricity tariff you’re on and more. The best I can suggest is that you have a good long look through our various electric car reviews and then use the cost calculators on both the ESB and SEAI websites to further refine your research:

BMW i3 review

Mercedes-Benz B-Class Electric

Nissan Leaf review

Renault Zoe review

Tesla Model S review

Volkswagen e-up! review

Volkswagen e-Golf review 

Expert answer

Hi Gavin,

I’d still tread carefully. Yes, the Sensotronic was dropped but the basic electrical system remained the same and it was still prone to glitches and issues. Mercedes didn’t really start to get its quality mojo back until the 2009 W212.

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Hi Brian,

Well, it's all down to the CO₂ emissions because it's that on which the rate of VRT will be applied. You need to do your homework though as cars that can be quite affordable in the UK can be wildly over-priced in the Irish market leading to you paying more VRT than you really should do.

Ideally, you need to be spending above €30k on a car to make it truly worth your while on importing a car, thanks to the exchange rate. The BMW 3 Series, Audi A4 and Mercedes-Benz C-Class are all well worth looking at, as well as higher-spec versions of the likes of the Skoda Superb, Volkswagen Passat and Mazda6. 

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Hi David,

Probably. Irish figures are a little tricky to come by, not least because garages tend to artificially inflate advertised prices for used cars, but it seems that a DS 5 will lose at least €12,000 – or around a third of its value – in the first year alone. 

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Hi Rochelle,

It's a chain, and generally speaking it should be replaced or at least given a major overhaul at the 200,000km mark so you'd need to make sure that's been done. As for the mileage, it's maybe a touch high, but as ever, you should buy on condition, not mileage. If this car seems to have been well cared for and comes with a fully stamped service book then it should be fine. 

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Hi Rory,

It’s tricky and it will depend greatly on the car you buy. Instrument binnacles these days are basically sealed units, in order to make it harder for unscrupulous sellers to alter the car’s mileage, so swapping one out will probably involve significant expense. If it’s a UK car then it should have a speedo graduated in both miles and kilometres though, and it’s perfectly legal to drive a car in Ireland on a mph speedo as long as you’re still sticking to the speed limit (30mph is 50km/h, 40mph is 65km/h, 62mph is 100km/h and 75mph is 120km/h). On some cars it will be very simple though – many brands now have a digital speedometer in addition to the analogue one and it’s simply a matter of delving into the settings menu to swap it over to km/h.

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Hi Martin,

A really impressive car, although it is looking a touch expensive compared to the likes of the Hyundai Santa Fe or Ford Kuga now. It's good to drive, with surprisingly sharp steering and lots of space in the back, plus the promise of rugged Toyota reliability. The Hybrid version is perhaps not as satisfying as the diesel (and is even more expensive again), but is perhaps worth considering if you live and do most of your driving in town. Rivals worth considering are the aforementioned Ford and Hyundai, and also Honda, both HR-V and CR-V, and the Mazda CX-5.

I've added links to our reviews of all these cars above so hopefully that's of help.

Expert answer

Hi Billy,

The Fiesta EcoBoost is a really sweet little car, lots of fun to drive, roomy and very frugal. It's a little difficult to know how reliable it will ultimately be in the long-term as the engine itself is a relatively new design and hasn't been around long enough for us to be able to tell exactly how robust it is. That said, Ford's quality record has been good of late, so I'd say it's a reasonably safe bet.

As for which model, it just depends on what your priorities are. A Titanium will have more standard equipment, but it may well be that there's a lot of extras that you simply won't need nor use, so you're probably better off going for the better value of the Zetec.

Other cars that are worth considering would be a Toyota Yaris, Mazda2 and Skoda Fabia. Hope that helps.

Relevant reviews:

Ford Fiesta review

Toyota Yaris review

Mazda2 review

Skoda Fabia review