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Hi Yvonne,

It’s going to be very hard to find a car that’s taller but not bigger overall. Most car makers cluster around the same size and dimensions within a given class, so unless you go for a larger car altogether, you’re unlikely  to find anything else that is more than a few millimetres different either way.

Your best bet might be to have a look at the Opel Mokka X, which is similarly sized to the 2008, but a little bit higher in its ride height. Why not go and check out out and see if it suits?

Relevant reviews:

Ford EcoSport review

Peugeot 2008 review

Opel Mokka X review

New Peugeot 3008 review

Expert answer

Hi Alma,

The Nissan Leaf is the most affordable electric car, but the cheapest versions have limited range (less than 160km on a single charge). The new Renault Zoe has a brilliant claimed range of 400km, but that's quite pricey for a small car. The BMW i3 is probably the best electric car around at the moment, but is very expensive, sadly. So, I think the best one for affordability and useable range is probably the Hyundai Ioniq. It gets an easy 200km in real-world driving, it's roomy and not too expensive. Read our test drives of each below:

BMW i3 review

Hyundai Ioniq Electric review

Nissan Leaf review

Renault Zoe review

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Hi Tom,

Both are good cars, but we’d say the Fiesta has a slight edge in terms of quality and of driving experience.

Read our Ford Fiesta review

Read our Peugeot 208 review

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Hi Lorraine,

They're OK from the point of view of reliability (although the 1.5 diesel can suffer from blown turbos and you need to keep an eye on the electrical systems), but if they're the same price then go for the Laguna - it's a much more sophisticated and better-driving car than the Fluence. 

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Hi Georgette,

I assume you are referring to the economy we got when we drove the Octavia in this review? We averaged 6.5 litres/100km - or 43.4mpg. To put that into context, we did very little motorway driving, mostly around town and into the mountains around Dublin. Not bad considering.

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Hi Martin,

As far as Brexit is concerned, you can basically pull out a random piece of string and tell us the length… Given the huge political turmoil taking place in the UK over Brexit, it’s literally impossible to predict what way car makers are going to jump, but we wouldn’t be at all surprised to see some actually raising prices, because of currency fluctuations.

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Hi Gerry,

Of the two, I’d prefer the 1.3 diesel. Neither is an especially refined engine by modern standards, but the 1.7 is a terrible old thing – incredibly noisy, rattly and prone to stalling when driving in stop-start traffic. The 1.3, if you get it with the 90hp output, has decent performance, is very economical and doesn’t seem to give too much bother. Great that you’re doing your own servicing, but beware of what effect that may have on the resale value as most buyers prefer to see a healthy book of dealer service stamps.

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Hi James,

It depends; do you mean the first-generation 9-5, which was in production from 1996 to 2009 or do you mean the short-lived last-of-the-line 9-5, which only survived in production for two years before Saab went bust?

If it’s the first generation car then the rating is a little mixed. It was always well thought of in terms of overall quality, comfort and driving dynamics, but there were a number of annoying, niggling reliability issues with that model, although at least with the 1.9-litre diesel engine you’re avoiding the troublesome 2.2-litre model.

If it’s the later, second-generation version of the 9-5 then it is indeed very well thought of, and generally considered one of Saab’s best cars. It’s just a shame that it was also its last.

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Hi Anne,

Actually, it’s not far off. I’d say, with a bit of practice, you should be able to beat 60-65mpg on a regular basis with that Polo, and to be honest you’re not going to get much better than that from any car. There are plenty of cars with official economy figures up in the 70s and 80s mpg, but those are laboratory figures and damned near impossible to reach in real world driving. If economy is your priority, then I’d stick with that Polo.

Expert answer

Hi Conor,

The two best SUVs of similar elevation to the Freelander would be the Honda CR-V and the Nissan X-Trail. Both are excellent choices (and the X-Trail can be had with seven seats), but the Honda’s more spirited driving experience nudges it for us. Also worth looking at a Land Rover Discovery Sport (effectively the third-generation Freelander), although they’re pricier than the Honda or Nissan.

As for choosing a buying time, yes, if you wait until the end of January, depending on how new car sales go, there should be a few more trade-ins and the like cluttering up dealer lots so you might get a sharper deal. Any of the big car rental companies will set you up with a good deal on a long-term rent, and Enterprise is probably the best place to start.

Here are a few of our reviews to help you choose:

Honda CR-V review

Nissan X-Trail review

Land Rover Discovery Sport review