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Hi Anne Marie,

Yes, SIMI (Society of the Irish Motor Industry) maintains 'Recommended Price Guides' for past years. Go to that link and open the "2021" tab and choose the relevant month of the year. It will download an Excel file. Within that there are separate tabs for each of the car brands. A quick look at the January 2021 file shows that the Kona EV is in there, from about €49,000.

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Hi Caroline,

If the car is already registered in Ireland and has an NCT then there will be no issue at all taxing it. The seller should be able to supply the usual Vehicle Registration Certificate (VRC - often referred to as the log book). You can also check that the car is on Revenue's system by putting the registration into the Motor Tax Online page.

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Hi Paul,

In theory it should be possible, but it may be tricky to find the relevant CO₂ and - more likely - the NOx emissions figures so you could end up paying through the nose. You'll need to make sure the lighting is up to scratch too, with rear fog lights added, for example.

There will be other paperwork to sort as well, but nothing to actually stop you doing it as far as we are aware.

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Hi Igor,

Unless you need the long-distance economy of the diesel, we'd suggest you stick with the 2.0-litre petrol model. It should cost less to maintain in the long run and the 2.2-litre diesel has a known issue with its timing chain.

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Hi Gerry,

It is in theory possible, but it's not a simple thing to set up. Because of that, we've written a feature on it actually: Can you power your house from your EV's battery?

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Hi Patrick,

While some owners have reported such issues with the Arkana, not all have – i.e. it's not widely known as an unreliable car, but some vehicles clearly are not up to scratch. Hence, go into the process with your eyes wide open and scrutinise any car you like the look of in detail, checking every sub-system and warning light and getting as long and as detailed a test drive as you can.

Insist on a full service history and also check that the car has had all its recall work done, as the Arkana was subject to a few recalls from Renault.

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Hi Dillon,

It would make no sense to import such a car from GB (England, Scotland and Wales) as it would attract VAT at 23 per cent and import duty at 10 per cent, on top of the VRT and NOx levy. That is unavoidable in the case of the Tiguan – and assuming you are an Irish resident already, not someone moving here from the GB.

The same vehicle imported from Northern Ireland may not be subject to any VAT or import duty, so long as it was either sold new in the North or it has been imported into the North according to the Windsor Framework and then used there. You will need paperwork to prove all of that.

Assuming you find a car that qualifies in NI, then it's just VRT and the NOx levy. The latter will be a minimal amount for the PHEV as emissions of NOx will be ultra-low (likely no more than €200, depending on precise specification of the car).

Likewise, CO₂ emissions should be sub-50g/km (check this, as it depends on the specification), so VRT is calculated as seven per cent of the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP), with a minimum fee of €140.

The OMSP can be tricky to estimate as it's the figure Revenue reckons the car is worth once registered on Irish plates. A quick scan of the classifieds suggests this could be in the region of €45,000-€48,000.

Assuming the worst case – i.e. an OMSP of €48,000 – then the VRT bill would be €3,360.

So, aside from travel/transport and insurance, this Tiguan should cost a good deal less than €4,000 on top of its purchase price to import.

If you can find one that qualifies for importation without VAT or import duty, and its purchase price is equivalent to a value lower than €40,000, then you are potentially making a saving.

Just double-check all your paperwork. It will obviously be more hassle than buying at an Irish dealer, with no option to trade your existing car in, so weigh up the savings to ensure it's all worth it.

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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.

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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.

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Hi San,

From the details you've provided, we believe there would be no VAT or import duty, though you will need proof that the dealer imported the car according to the Windsor Framework rules. Mention it to them, as I'm sure they'll know exactly what you need.

And yes, assuming the car is under the VRT threshold, there should be a VRT rebate in full as well.