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Hi William,

Do you mean the old Mercedes 190E? The old, very square, saloon produced up to the mid-nineties? Well, they were great at the time, and come from an age when Mercs really were built like tanks, but at that age you’ll be looking at potential problems all over the car, from rust to engine issues. If you can find one that’s been really well cared for, and you look after it yourself, then it could potentially run happily for a good while yet. Get a bad one, though, and it’ll be no end of expensive trouble.

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Hi Tom,

Not necessarily, as you can switch the mileage clock from miles to kilometres and back again. The usual tell-tale for an import is that the speedo is marked in both mph and km/h. Theoretically, all Irish cars from 2005 onwards will have had just km/h marked, but again it’s not definitive — it could be a replacement instrument pack after all.

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Hi John,

Well, far be it from us to slag anyone’s car off, but that does smell a bit fishy. Have you done a history check on the car with Cartell.ie? Or checked out the mileage? That 2.2-litre engine can develop the most appalling overheating issues, which can banjax the entire cylinder head, so tread cautiously and try and find out how much work has (or hasn’t) been done. 

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Hi John,

You're in an enviable position. We're assuming you'd like to stick with an open-top car and rear-wheel drive. The Irish market isn't exactly flooded with €50,000 sports cars that match that brief so in your position we'd seriously consider importing from the UK.

Fabulous cars that fall within your budget include:

- Honda S2000 - very reliable and huge fun, though even newest ones are getting on now

- Lotus Elise - one of the most engaging road cars at any price; you could afford a relatively new one with the more reliable Toyota engine

However, we'd put our own money into a Porsche Boxster. You should be able to afford one of the last of the just replaced generation Boxster S. It's very quick, genuinely brilliant to drive and reliable too.

What do you think?

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Hi Peter,

If reliability and part prices are key, I’d go with the Golf. They’re pretty well built, solidly reliable and not too expensive to service. Nothing much wrong with either the Volvo or the Audi, but you will pay a servicing and parts premium for having the posher badges.

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Hi Maria,

I understand it can be very frustrating to be hit with such high bills unexpectedly with a car with such low mileage on it. 

Those are two very expensive jobs to do in any car and the estimates don't sound unreasonable to me, assuming they include parts and labour. For your information, the head gasket can take up to seven hours to do, while the gearbox replacement could take about four hours.

If the car is outside warranty then you really can't do much about it other than pay the bill. Obviously you should shop around to a few garages for the price, though.

One last thing to maybe mention to the garage, though I'd hope they checked already, but the gearboxes in the C3 are known to break a bolt on their selector, which is a tiny thing to fix in comparison to replacing the whole gearbox...

Best of luck

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Hi Colette,

Keep an eye out for turbo issues on the 1.5 diesel, and listen very carefully for any knocking coming from the suspension. Some of the interior fittings can be a bit fragile too. Other than that, they’re pretty solid, as long as you buy with a full service history. Oh and, yes, they’re economical — you should easily get 45-50mpg in daily driving.

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Hi Coreen,

That does sound odd, especially the need for four tyres, not just the front two. Did you measure their tread depth for yourself? 

Tyre wear rate depends on many variables, such as the way you drive, where you drive, what make of tyre it is and whether the wheel alignment is right. If all four tyres in your car really do need changing then I'd suggest that you change to different brand of tyre and also get the four-wheel alignment checked by the tyre fitters. 

Let us know how you get on

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Hi Mike,

The official figure for this car on the combined cycle is 5.7 litres/100km (49.6mpg). We'd expect most drivers to get close to 40mpg so long as all their driving isn't in town.

Hope that's of use

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Hi Fergal,

This engine downsizing is prevalent and not just by Ford, and it has been made possible thanks to advances in engine technology, such as high pressure fuel injection and turbocharging.

A close look at what's offered by Ford Ireland reveals that the Mondeo 1.6 TDCi is the 115hp version, where as the Focus can be had with that and a cheaper 95hp unit. The raw data reveals that the 115hp Focus does the 0-100km/h sprint in 10.9 seconds - a second faster than the Mondeo with the same engine. Likewise, the Focus is more efficient with lower emissions and fuel consumption - though the differences are not as big as you might think.

Essentially, it boils down to the engine's torque output. This engine produces 270Nm from as low as 1,750rpm, which is more than enough to deal with a car the size of the Mondeo. Naturally a 2.0-litre diesel with the same technology will be more impressive again, but the 1.6 is just fine.

For the record, we find that Ford's 1.6-litre TDCi engine has a very narrow power band, but once you learn to keep the engine within that it never feels slow. Obviously, driven like that it won't come close to its official fuel economy figures.

Hope that all helps.