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Hi Ahmed,

It really depends on where you do most of your driving, and how many people you tend to carry around. The 115hp model is fine around town and at lower speeds if you're on your own, but if you have three other people on board regularly, or you often drive in hilly areas, you'll appreciate the extra performance of the 150hp engine. There won't be much of a difference in the real-world fuel economy. 

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Hi David,

It's a tricky time for choosing a new car in your situation for sure, especially given your high mileage. I feel that a diesel would still be a little more economical for you than the latest hybrids unless you keep your speeds down. If you spend most of that at 120km/h then a good diesel is hard to beat from an economy point of view. Saying that, the Corolla and new Civic are both very efficient cars and, if you adapt your driving style to their powertrains, then it is possible to return some trully outstanding fuel economy figures. And it must be said, with one eye on future values, a hybrid might be a more shrewd choice.

In your situation as described, I'd shy away from purely-electric cars for now as well. I'd be worried about relying on the public charging network to support such high mileage.

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Hi Chee,

The Countryman SE plug-in hybrid can, potentially, be capable of tremendous fuel economy, but it all depends on how you use it. If you (a) have a driveway or a garage and (b) can install a home charger and (c) tend to do short hops around town most of the time, then conceivably you could get from one end of the week to the next without burning any petrol at all. The Countryman SE will do in and around 30-35km (realistically) on a full charge of the battery. If you’re regularly taking on longer journeys, though, it gets a bit thirstier and can dip as low as 25mpg if you’re really using all the power. That said it is, as with pretty much all MINI models, really good to drive.

The RAV4 is not. Well, not that it’s bad to drive or anything, but it’s not sharp and rewarding like the MINI. That said, it’s squishy and comfortable, so if you’re on lots of long journeys, it’s great, and it’s massively roomy inside, much more so than the MINI, so with one kid and another on the way, that’s worth taking into account. Being a closed-loop hybrid with no plug-in version (yet) it’s also better for you if you don’t have a driveway or can’t install a charging point. Figure on about 6.0-6.5 litres per 100km overall, although you can get better than that on longer, gentler runs. Oh, and it should be more or less faultlessly reliable, too. 

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Hi Brian,

It’s a tricky one. The problem is that a 330e gets amazing fuel economy as long as you keep it plugged in as much as possible (which would work nicely for your short commutes), but that all goes to pot a bit on long motorway journeys (which is obviously not going to be good).

We think it’s a good idea to start moving away from diesel and towards hybrid and electric, but you’re going to struggle — overall — to match your A5 TDI’s economy with the 330e. Now, the thing is you can maybe make this work from the perspective of overall running costs. If you can charge up at work as well as at home, and stick to electric-only power as much as possible for your three short commuting days, then it’s just possible that might balance out the thirstier longer runs on the other two days.

Unfortunately, we can’t be more certain than that — the only way to know for sure is to try it out. If you don’t fancy making that leap of faith, then I guess it’s back to 320d diesel power and wait for truly long-range electric cars to arrive.

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Hi David,

Short answer: it’s not easy. The best online source for NOx figures is the British government's Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA), which has an online database of fuel economy, CO₂ and NOx figures. Sadly, it’s not an exhaustive resource — some models are not covered. The only source that really matters, as in the one that will be accepted by Revenue as the legally official NOx figure, is the one on a car’s Certificate of Conformity, which is kind of like a birth cert for a car. Sadly, you’d need to get the CoC for the specific car you’re looking at buying, which is not the easiest. 

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Hi Leo,

It kind of depends on how big your kids are and what kind of car seats they need. If you need three individual seats in the back, I’d recommend something like a VW Golf SV or a similar mid-size MPV. Or you could go for another Alhambra of course — it’s a great car. 

I’m assuming you want a change from the Alhambra though, and, MPVs in general, so how about a medium-sized estate? Lots of space, roomy back seat, but smoother and more agile to drive, with better fuel economy. How about a Skoda Superb Combi? Vast boot, massive back seat for packing the kids in and one of the nicest cars on the road. 

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Hi Anshul,

Ok, let’s take those one by one. As far as a fair price is concerned, you haven’t given us a year for the car, but I’m going to assume it’s a 2016 model. That would put a fair price, in Ireland, if about €15,000 give or take. There’s no issue buying a UK car that has already been registered in Ireland.

Fuel economy should be fine — you can expect to get around 45-50mpg from a 1.7 Optima. 

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Hi Gloria,

Stop-start systems generally don't have any settings as such. They are on by default and will automatically turn the engine off when appropriate. The driver can manually switch the system off when the car is running.

So basically it's on or off. Leave the system on for (slightly) better fuel economy in slow traffic situations where you might be stopped for prolonged periods of time.

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Hi John,

For the moment, it seems it’s status quo ante at Mercedes for 191. The nine per cent discount on prices, which as you point out was introduced some time ago, basically carries over to the new price lists. Those lists were slightly late in being published, owing to delays in getting cars through the new WLTP-based fuel economy and emissions tests, but they are available now, so dealers should at least be a little more clued up. There are no specific 191 offers available as yet, but we’ll keep an eye out for any that show up.

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Hi Declan,

With that high mileage, I'd suggest that you're still better off sticking with diesel, as you'll get far better fuel economy and, as you'll be changing your car frequently, the mileage is going to have a bigger effect on resale values that what powers it. That balance might change in a few years time, but today, in 2018, diesel definitely makes most sense for you. The 520d is an excellent car. As is the 530e, I might add, but the diesel still has the edge for long-distance driving, as you need to plug the 530e in regularly to get the best economy from it.

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