Expert answer

Hi Maria,

There's no list of cars that have tilt adjustment, but the AGR does publish a list of cars that come with its seal of approval. Here's the link, but note that it applies to specific seat packages and not necessarily every seat available in the listed make and model.

Expert answer

Hi David,

Driving and owning an EV is arguably easier than a petrol or diesel car with one important caveat – you get a home charger. Do that and, with your low annual mileage, you'll rarely have to bother with the public charging network. No more petrol stations, either. Just plug your car in at home overnight and it's ready to go in the morning, for a lot less “per kilometre” than any petrol or diesel model.

EVs are simple to drive as they're automatic and they also have a lot less maintenance. Even standard servicing requirements are less.

Pop into a Renault dealer and book a test drive and I doubt you'll look back. They'll even help you with the process of sorting the home charger. Once that's done it's all plain sailing and you just drive the car as normal.

Feel free to come back to us with any other concerns or questions. EVs don't suit everyone yet, but it certainly sounds like one would suit you. And they don't come much more desirable than the new Renault 5.

Expert answer

Hi David,

First up, the Mokka has comfortable suspension, so it will be good from that point of view. The three-cylinder petrol engine has plenty of go in 136hp guise, and it's mated to a six-speed gearbox so it shouldn't be too audible, even at higher motorway speeds. It can be a little loud getting up to speed, but fine when cruising.

One thing to watch out for is that the GS version you mention rides on bigger wheels than the lesser models in the lineup. That means lower-profile tyres, which are likely wider as well. This can certainly add to road noise at speed.

And, while the Mokka is above average in terms of refinement on the motorway for its class, it is still a relatively cheap-and-cheerful small car, and you can't expect it to be as civil as larger and more expensive ones at higher speeds.

The best advice we can give you is to take one for an extended test drive, including motorway speeds on a variety of road surfaces - and make sure the stereo is off and anyone with you is quiet so you can assess if it meets your needs.

Expert answer

Hi Dave,

Sounds to us like you're the perfect candidate for going fully electric, though the biggest question to answer is whether or not you can easily get a home charger installed. Even with low annual mileage, it would be a real pain to have to exclusively use the public charging network, never mind the fact that it's much more expensive than charging up at home.

For the few longer trips you take a year, you'll use public chargers. The network is far from perfect, but it's improving all the time and only when you have to do a very long journey in a hurry does it become annoying.

In summary, so long as you can get a home charger, we'd recommend you go electric. It's a great ownership experience and you'll never go back.

Expert answer

Hi Dee,

Hybrids such as the Juke have very small batteries and can therefore only drive on electric power for very short distances. If you're in stop-start traffic, it might use the battery for most of the time, but if the traffic is free-flowing and the speeds are higher, then it will not.

Unfortunately, the Juke Hybrid does not give a readout showing how much time is spent using the battery alone so you can't monitor it accurately.

If you drive slower, the car will use the battery more in town. Likewise, less use of the heating or air conditioning should mean less need for the engine to start up.

Bear in mind through all this that most of the energy used to charge up that battery comes from the engine itself, so it's not free energy.

Choose the Eco driving mode for maximum efficiency, but really, it will come down to your driving style as much as anything else.

Expert answer

Hi Daniel,

The driver's seat has a lot of adjustment in it, for height as well as everything else, so we believe you'd be ok.

Make sure you go and take one for a test drive to know for sure though.

Expert answer

Hi Mairead,

That's a good shortlist of cars to start with. Of them, we'd be slow to recommend the KGM due to the small dealer network and the way the distributor is set up here as an outpost of a Maltese company. The Torres EVX  undoubtedly is the most spacious of the three cars, with a huge boot and more space in the back seats, but we're not convinced by these things alone. The Skoda and Kia are far better cars in all other respects.

Before discussing them in more detail, I will say that it will be almost impossible to fit three child seats across the same row in any car of this size, especially with ISOFIX in use in the outer seats. If you're likely to be having a third child before changing car, and the older two will be in ISOFIX seats for some time yet, then I'd urge you to consider one with an extra row of seats. That'll reduce your choice of car unfortunately.

Anyway, both the Skoda and Kia are decent cars, and you'd likely be happy with both. The Enyaq has a slightly larger boot, but the EV5 fights back with a decent extra storage space under the bonnet up front to complement the regular boot so in effect there's little difference between them on that front.

In '85' specification, the Skoda has the longer official range, at up to 573km, while the best range the Kia manages is 530km. Those are comparable, as few EV owners would leave it that close to charge up on a long journey. Most do most of their charging at home and anyway, the vast majority of people cover less than half that range in a week, never mind a single journey. It's nice to have the comfort of more range of course, but the difference between these cars is negligible in real-world driving.

Although the Enyaq was updated earlier this year, the Kia is newer and feels larger inside, with a far nicer interface and loads of useful storage in the cabin.

Our money would go on the Kia if the choice were between just the three cars you named, but we'd suggest you take the time to go test drive as many models as you can to form your own opinion and bring your car seats along with you so you can see how much space there is.

A really good seven-seat electric SUV is the Peugeot E-5008, which is priced at a similar level to the cars you've mentioned. Read our review of that here.

An alternative five-seat model that has a little more space in the back seats is the Nissan Ariya. It has a smaller boot than the other cars here, but more space between the seatbelt buckles in the rear so it may be possible to fit a third child seat in, depending on its bulkiness. Read our reviews of that here.

Please do come back to us and let us know what you go for, or if you want more help narrowing things down.

Expert answer

Hi Rose,

We don't see any reason for these batteries to be any more degraded than those in equivalent cars in Ireland from new. Hybrid batteries last quite well in general. Unfortunately, it won't be easy to detect if the battery in a given hybrid you're looking has degraded as the main symptom is more use of the petrol engine. Unless you can try several examples of the same type of car in the same driving conditions, then you won't know what is the norm.

Expert answer

Hi Shona,

Before we take a look for potential cars for you, I would say that you should avoid diesels, as they're not suited to mostly city driving and will end up costing more in maintenance. Stick with petrol, or hybrid if something comes up within budget.

A small estate such as the Skoda Fabia Combi could work well for you. There are plenty within budget, they're reliable and they have huge boots. The only reservation I have is that the rear seating isn't huge, which might be a problem if you have two rear-facing child seats in there. Worth going to take a look at one and making that decision for yourself. The SEAT Ibiza ST (Sports Tourer) is pretty much the same car underneath, incidentally, if you prefer the look of that.

There are VW Golf and Passat estates on the market within budget and with petrol engines as well, and they come with much more rear legroom than the Fabia, but you'd likely have to make do with an older model for under €10,000.

On a completely different tack are cars such as the Nissan Note and Kia Venga, which are more upright than most hatchbacks that take up the same amount of space on the road, to the benefit of interior space. They beat the Fabia for rear legroom, for example, but their boots aren't huge. I wouldn't want to be carrying a travel-system-style buggy as well as anything else. Nonetheless those ones I've mentioned are reliable and within budget.

The Honda Jazz is similar and it's an excellent choice.

Let me know if we're on the right track with this and if you need further help narrowing your search. 

Expert answer

Hi Nicole,

You should be able to get insurance for a left-hand-drive car without any difficulty, though make sure it's declared as such. And I should say, the car must be already registered in Ireland.

The price of insurance varies massively depending on your own driving history and situation, and where you get the quote from, so we would not be in a position to give you an estimate, unfortunately.

We would advise you to shop around, however.