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Hi Joe,

We can’t tell you the specific price for a specific car, but they seem to hover at around the €25-26,000 mark.

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Hi Denis,

While it shouldn't suffer from any massive mechanical issues, the second generation Mégane upheld Renault's unloved reputation for electrical problems. Basically be suspect of anything with a copper wire coming out of the back - electric windows especially, but also wiper and light stalks, keyless ignition and remote central locking, which all seem to give problems. The engine management system can also go for a bit of a bath, causing sluggish throttle response and poor starting. Squealing brakes usually just means that the pads need changing.

Hope that helps

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Hi Martin,

You'd be surprised how many engines still make two with two valves per cylinder (i.e. eight valves in a four-cylinder engine) and actually, more valves are not always better. Generally speaking, an eight-valve engine has better low down torque, where as a 16-valve design allows freer flowing gas at higher engine speeds, releasing more power. However, the eight-valve engines are often more rugged and reliable and of course cheaper to produce.

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Hi George,

By and large, if you’ve got a Volkswagen on a list, then it’s going to be the most reliable, and the Caddy is hugely spacious inside too. However, most vans are generally very reliable (simply because a van that’s off the road isn’t earning money), so as long as you’re buying carefully and with a full and complete service history, you should be fine with any of those listed.

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Hi Gerard,

It’s a very good family car from the point of view of safety and comfort, and yes that 1.5-litre diesel is hugely economical (you should see better than 50mpg on a regular basis). You just need to keep a close eye on electrical items such as the central locking, the key-card and the windows and beware of traditionally steep depreciation for large French cars.

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Hi Seamus,

The rule of thumb is never buy on mere mileage, always buy on condition and history. If the car has a full service history, that's a good sign. If the garage is willing to stand over it with a warranty, that's good too, although it would be worth pushing to see if you can get a full year. Don't forget also that the 'mileage' is actually 'kilometreage' and that 100,000 is actually only 62,000 in old money.

For what it's worth, our own 2009 MINI Clubman has more than 100,000km on the clock and it still looks and feels like a new car (when I remember to clean it). Mondeos are built to a pretty high standard, and as I say, once that service book is fully stamped up and the dealer seems reputable, then you should be fine. At least you can be confident it's not been clocked...

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Hi Brendan,

Activated carbon is usually the best solution to most smell issues, but if the smell has gotten deep into the fabric, then you may need to take the seats out altogether, remove the fabric (usually they’re zip-on or clip-on), wash thoroughly and then laboriously re-assemble. To be honest, your best bet could be to contact a really good local valeter...

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Hi Gabriel,

Dacias are fine, to be honest, you just have to make sure you know what you're getting into. They're not sophisticated, nor are they especially modern, but they're cheap and genuinely quite cheerful. Best of the bunch is the Sandero supermini, which combines decent build quality with surprising refinement and a  emptingly low price.

The Duster SUV is also pretty good, albeit it's quite an old design now and lacks things like electronic stability control as standard. Still, it's rugged, tough and refreshingly simple. The newer Logan estate and Stepway crossover are just variations on the Sandero theme and are there for those who need either an enormous boot (Logan) or a bit of 4x4-esque style (Stepway).

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Hi Gerard,

I write this as a former (recovering?) Laguna owner and the best I can tell you is to tread very, very carefully. Admittedly, I owned the previous generation Laguna that was quite simply a reliability disaster and one that cost Renault a fortune in warranty claims. The third-generation car, the one you're looking at, is much better in reliability terms, but still, you need to be suspicious of anything that uses electricity – make sure absolutely everything electrical is working properly and watch it like a hawk to check for failures. The 1.5 dCi engine is actually pretty good, and robust too, and you should pretty easily get high-forties mpg out of it. However, you're going to be on a pretty steep depreciation slope as nothing loses value faster than a big French car. That's fine if you're planning to keep and use it until it dies, but not so good if you're planning to trade-in in a few years. As a family car, it's actually quite good though – spacious and comfy, with a big boot and Renault has an excellent reputation for safety too.

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Hi Katy,