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Hi Justin,

It was always a nice car to drive and never less than pretty, but watch out on the reliability front - it comes from Merc's dodgy period. The engines and gearboxes are pretty solid but everything electrical is suspect, and the interiors are pretty poorly built in some cases. Watch the frameless glass in the doors too - it can slip away from its rubber seals and let in a lot of wind noise. 

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Hi Sarah,

Is this just a feeling or have you any proof, perhaps images of the car beforehand? It's possible, but highly unlikely, that the wrong shocks were fitted, reducing the height. If there has been a change in the height we'd suspect that something wrong may have been done in reassembling the suspension. Either way, you need to talk to the garage about this as soon as possible. 

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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 Tim,

It depends on your business setup - most likely you'll have to pay the VAT element up front and claim it back, but I think the best person to talk to about this is your accountant and not us. 

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Hi Michael,

Yes, the Berlingo is generally excellent. It is occasionally prone to electrical issues, but they tend to be minor and the engines and gearboxes are long-lived and hard-wearing. As long as you buy one with a full service history, you should be fine. The cabins can be a little fragile at times, but being van-based, it should be easy to clean out after the dogs.

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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.

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Hi John,

Sorry, but you'll have to change the plates - if you're bringing a car into the UK you only have to inform HMRC of the car's arrival within 14 days and then begin the re-registering process. The maximum time you could use the car on Irish plates for would be six months. The good news is that the process is relatively painless - you will have to get an MOT test done as the NCT won't be recognised, but other than that it's just some forms to fill out. If it's an older car you won't be liable for any VAT or duty so it'll only cost a little. You can find more details here - https://www.gov.uk/importing-vehicles-into-the-uk/overview

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Hi William,

Clearly your car is still under warranty so if you think the vibration is "severe" then you should get it back to the dealer for a look. They'll soon sort it out if it is indeed a problem such as a fauly engine mounting.

We've not had any other queries of the same nature on the Qashqai and we've always found the 1.5 dCi engine relatively smooth.

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Hi Declan,

That's an impossible question for us to answer I'm afraid - it's all down to the leasing company and what it says. You might have more luck with the likes of Volkswage, SEAT or Renault as they use their own in house banks who are more likely to say yes than a high-street financial institution, but if you've got bad credit then that's something you're going to have to work on. 

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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