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Hi Simon,

Yes, it will be in all its 510hp glory, but it’ll probably be special order only and I’d expect prices to start at around the €100,000 mark for that one. A much more sensible Giulia diesel should only set you back around €38,000 though, and looks pretty much as good. Here are our reviews:

Alfa Romeo Giulia diesel review

Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio review

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Hi Tony,

There's no major recurrent fault for the flywheel on a Q5 specifically (although dual-mass flywheels generally come in for a lot of reliability criticism across all brands), but there was a recall for Volkswagen Group 2.0 TDI diesel engines a while back to replace faulty flywheels, so it's worth checking to make sure that's been done. If it doesn't show up in the service history, get in touch with Audi Ireland customer services, as they should be able to find out if a specific vehicle has or has not had the work done. 

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Hi John, 

We sent this to Mazda Ireland for comment and here's what was sent back:

"I would advise them to report this directly to his Mazda Retailer for investigation as to the cause of the issue. If it falls under warranty, this would be covered, but in any event, they will do everything to assist rectify the issue."

Let us know how you get on

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Hi Harry,

Yes, it’s up to you to sort out the outstanding finance with your son, but you should be aware that if for any reason he defaults on the payments, the finance company can recover the car without any recourse to you.

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Hi Sean,

Yes, 4Matic four-wheel drive will arrive in Ireland this September on the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class. Read our review of the Mercedes-Benz E 400 4Matic here.

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Hi Ruairi,

Nice idea, but it won't work. Do you really think the good folk at Revenue haven't thought of that particular plan before? The official documents state that not only must the car be insured and taxed, you have to have physically been resident overseas too, in "the place where you usually lived, for at least 185 days in the year ending on the date of transfer, because of occupational and personal ties."

There are a bunch of other restrictions on the transfer of address waiver and you can find them here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/leaflets/tax-relief-transfer-residence.html

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Hi there,

Right, I'll be honest - we had to get on to Nissan Ireland for help with this, but it came through in spades.

Over and above the SV model, the SVE added Xenon headlights, Intelligent Key, illuminated passenger sunvisor, seven-speaker BOSE audio system, 17-inch alloys and rear parking sensors.

The engine has a timing chain, not a belt, so it doesn't need replacement,  but it does need to be inspected at regular intervals. Any Qashqai with a full service history should be fine on that score.

In terms of economy, the 1.6 petrol Qashqai got 44mpg overall while the 1.6 diesel got 55mpg, or 60mpg if it was fitted with the stop-start system.

Hope that all helps

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Hi Camillus,

Ok, I think you might be about to have a MASSIVE row with Revenue over this one...

Lexus IS diesels of that age are ridiculously cheap in the UK. Your £4,000 isn't even the cheapest I've seen.

Here at home though, they're massively over-priced. I've seen some advertised at north of €16,000 and that's the sort of figure Revenue is  going to value the car at. With 168g/km of CO₂ that means 27 per cent VRT and a bill therefore of around €4,000 to €5,000. Which is just ridiculous for a car that's cost you, in cash, about the same amount. But unless you can show that the car would be worth significantly less in Ireland than other advertised IS 220ds then you're stuck with it I'm afraid.

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Hi Karen,

We asked Skoda Ireland about this for you and such a kit does indeed exist. It costs €176 plus VAT from your Skoda dealer and all fitted it should be under €300 + VAT. Contact your local Skoda dealer to confirm the availability and pricing. Full list of Skoda dealers here.

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Hi Rory,

It’s tricky and it will depend greatly on the car you buy. Instrument binnacles these days are basically sealed units, in order to make it harder for unscrupulous sellers to alter the car’s mileage, so swapping one out will probably involve significant expense. If it’s a UK car then it should have a speedo graduated in both miles and kilometres though, and it’s perfectly legal to drive a car in Ireland on a mph speedo as long as you’re still sticking to the speed limit (30mph is 50km/h, 40mph is 65km/h, 62mph is 100km/h and 75mph is 120km/h). On some cars it will be very simple though – many brands now have a digital speedometer in addition to the analogue one and it’s simply a matter of delving into the settings menu to swap it over to km/h.