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Hi Francisco,

Yes, that's right: the Kuga 2.5's timing belt (and auxiliary drive belts) must be changed every 200,000km (or every 10 years - whichever comes first).

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Hi Julian.

The Kuga's belt should be changed every 200,000km or every 10 years, whichever comes sooner, so, as your car is now 10 years old, it'd be wise to get the belt done when you can.

It wouldn't be helpful for us to give you a price for the work, as labour rates vary considerably from garage to garage. And the price of the parts will vary too, depending on where they are bought. It might help to know that the work should take no more than three hours, but don't forget that, as well as the timing belt itself, the auxiliary belts will need to be replaced, as will the water pump.

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Hi James,

The problem is, if you’re using the car for anything other than strictly business use, then you have to tax it as a private car, and on a 2.0-litre engine that means it’ll cost €710 per year. As for insurance, it shouldn’t be too bad, but as ever Irish insurance is an utter minefield, and the advice is — as ever — to shop around and perhaps get in touch with a good local broker before deciding. 

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HI Niall,

Yeah, that sounds wrong to us. The highest emissions figure we can find for a 2016 Kuga is 140g/km, which would result in tax of €280, and that would be for the range-topping 180hp version with four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox. However, €710 is EXACTLY the motor tax you’d pay on a 2.0-litre engine if the car was previously registered as a commercial vehicle and then taxed as a private car. Maybe check and see if that’s the case?

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Hi Clive,

Because you revert to the old by-engine-capacity tax system when taxing a commercial as a private car, a 2.2-litre engine is going to cost €951 a year to tax.

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Hi Richard,

The phrase ‘can of worms’ springs to mind. In general, a car can be registered to a company, and taxed and insured by the company, and still used by an individual for social, domestic and pleasure use. That’s how company cars work, obviously, but equally obviously there’s a Benefit-in-Kind tax liability to be paid. So it’s possible that your friend with the Land Cruiser is trying to avoid paying BIK.

In the case of the SUV, in theory a car that’s taxed as a commercial cannot be used for personal, social, domestic, or pleasure driving and there’s a fine to be paid if you’re caught displaying incorrect tax. Now, we should state at this point that we’re neither legal nor tax experts, and that the people you’re talking about could be operating entirely above board, and we’re not going to cast any aspersions on anyone.

Of course, this is Ireland and as we know, we don’t like sticking to the rules...

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Hi John,

You can absolutely insure it as a private vehicle, but the only issue is that means reverting to the old by-engine-capacity tax system, so it’ll cost you €514 a year. 

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Hi Francis,

It’s actually pretty brilliant — that 1.6 iDTEC engine is one of the best diesels we’ve ever sat behind. It’s smooth, has plenty of performance and is very economical. Plus, Honda engines were never implicated in any diesel emissions cheating, so your conscience can remain untroubled. The rest of the car is rather lovely too. Honda’s quality is a given and that generation of Civic is both massively roomy and massively versatile with those clever flip-up ‘Magic’ rear seats. It’s also good to drive — not as agile as a Ford Focus, but solid and planted, with nice steering feel and good comfort levels, too. The only demerits are a bit too much road noise and a slightly messy dashboard layout.

Read our review of the 2013 Honda Civic i-DTEC here

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Hi Mark,

If you’re prepared to wait a bit, there is an all-new Octavia RS coming, which will be available as a plug-in hybrid with 245hp. Now, it will depend on how you rack up those 30,000km as to whether a plug-in hybrid would suit you — if it’s all motorway miles then probably not, but if you do a lot of short-hauls around town, and can charge at home, then it could be ideal.

There’s also the diesel version of the new Ford Focus ST to consider, the new Golf GTI and SEAT Leon Cupra (all sharing their bits and pieces with the Octavia, of course), or what about a Hyundai i30 N — one of our favourite hot hatches? A few reviews to help you decide:

Skoda Octavia reviews

Volkswagen Golf reviews

SEAT Leon reviews

Hyundai i30 reviews

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Hi Bridie,

If it’s commercial tax you’re talking about, then it’s a flat rate of €333 per year. If it’s to tax as a private vehicle, then you revert to the old by-engine-capacity tax system, and so the cost for a 2.2-litre engine would be €951.