Expert answer

Hi William,

The first thing I would say is, do you really need a diesel? The diesel version of small cars tend to cost more and if you aren't really doing excessive mileage then you might not reap the benefits of owning one. For example a diesel Ford Fiesta costs €1,000 more than a petrol model and the annual road tax on the petrol model is only €156 - just €52 more per year than the diesel option. Often, in a small car, a petrol engine is really the best option.

The first car that you mention, the Fiesta, has been one of the real stars of the scrappage scheme and one of the best-selling cars in 2010 and for us, it is still the best supermini in the class. It is well built, drives really well and has pretty styling. The offers on the Fiesta for scrappage are very tempting and you can shop around to get the best deal, but you will find that there are greater discounts on the petrol models.

A car we rate here at CompleteCar.ie is the Volkswagen Polo and the 1.2-litre TDI BlueMotion model in particular is excellent offering outstanding fuel economy and ultra-low emissions. The Polo is the sort of car that you would like holding on to for four to five years as they age well.

There are obviously some incredible offers in the Renault range, as the company is offering by far the most generous discounts when it comes to new cars. You could have a petrol Clio from €8,990 under scrappage. There is a diesel version available too and with all the discounting this would come out as one of the cheapest five-door diesel superminis around.

I think if you are intent on diesel then perhaps you should look in value terms at a slightly larger car. I would be very tempted by a Hyundai i30 1.6-litre diesel. You can have one of these, which has five doors, is going to be very reliable and will cost you from €14,995 under scrappage, which is really excellent value.

However a car that has really impressed us of late is the new Nissan Juke. Here you are getting lots of car for the money. The diesel Juke starts at €20,195 (full price list here) and this car would qualify for scrappage as it has Band B emissions. 

That's a few for you to consider but do come back to us if you have more questions!

Expert answer

Hi Marie,

We had a chat on the phone to get more information and now know that you would prefer to sell the L200 privately and use the cash to buy your next vehicle, so your budget is about €10,000 - €12,000.

The difficulty in getting something with height is that the SUVs going back a few years tended to be diesel with fairly large engines, so before 2008 these engines were in some cases cheaper to tax than they are now. Emissions were higher, but you were charged - as you are probably aware - for the size of your engine. I'm sure you don't want to get landed with a high road tax bill per year, but we will explore some options. 

The first is a 2004 Toyota RAV4. There is a model in a dealership in Louth, which I realise is quite far from you, but this diesel model is a beaut and is at a SIMI dealer so this brings with its some safeguards. This RAV4 is under €10,000 and has low mileage, though is going to cost €823 to tax each year. 

The Kia Sportage fiesel would be a great little buy for you. This small SUV has proven to be very reliable and very well liked by owners. This one in Cork is a little over your budget, but as a cash buyer I would think you could bargain down the asking price of €13,900. 

A car that you might not have thought of, but I have always rated as a good little car, is the Fiat Sedici. This small SUV has four-wheel drive, a diesel engine and is cheap to buy and run. We found a 2009 model in Laois with just 23,000 miles on the clock and the asking price is just €11,750. This would be a nice little runabout and it still retains some of the height of the SUV. This will cost you €447 per year to tax. 

Another good choice, although the annual tax will be the same as the RAV4's, is the Nissan X-Trail. This is a really nice example from 2005 that has a 2.2-litre diesel engine and would be a nice vehicle to own. Again, if you couldn't cope with the high annual road tax then it might not be the best option for you. 

I'd be inclined, if it were me, to buy that RAV4, as it would be a nice vehicle to own. 

I hope this helps!

Expert answer

Hi Mary,

A 2007 TDi Golf with your mileage would retail at a main dealer for about €13,000 - €14,000. You will most likely get offered a bit less than this, so perhaps you could expect around €12,000. You don't mention a budget but we can give you a few ideas. Most of the equivalent cars, post 2008 will be cheap to tax. 

For example, a 2009 1.6 TDi Golf, which has emissions of 118g/km (Band A) would cost you around €22,000. Here is an example of one from a main dealer in Naas. This would also be the newer shape model too, although I am not sure you want to go for another Golf? You could get something of a similar theme with the Skoda Octavia. A 2008 model like this costs around €17,000 and would give you a little more space and would still be in Band B with road tax of €156. 

Something slightly more SUV-like would be nice too. The Nissan Qashqai has a great reputation and owners love them. You could have a 2008 Qashqai, like this would cost around €19,000 and this example here has very low mileage. This still has emissions of 139g/km, so would only cost €156 to tax each year. This would be a great buy and isn't a major jump, financially. 

I think you might like the Qashqai, so perhaps you should give it a go?

I hope this helps. 

Expert answer

Hi Eamon,

That's quite a wide selection! Let's go through each model first of all:

Toyota RAV4:

Going by your shortlist you obviously need four-wheel drive and an automatic transmission. There's only a single Toyota RAV4 on sale fitting that, the RAV4 Sol in 4wd powered by the 'D-Cat 150 (2.2)' engine. That's a 2.2-litre turbodiesel. Choice stats:

• Price: €39,465
• CO₂ emissions: 189g/km
• Tax band: E
• Annual road tax: €630
• Combined cycle fuel consumption: 7.2 litres per 100 kilometres
• Maximum power: 150hp
• Maximum torque: 340Nm
• Towing ability: Up to 1,800kg

BMW X1:

The cheaper xDrive18d model doesn't seem to have an automatic option so you'd have to go for the xDrive20d SE at least. The stats:

• Price: €43,091
• CO₂ emissions: 155g/km
• Tax band: C
• Annual road tax: €302
• Combined cycle fuel consumption: 5.9 litres per 100 kilometres
• Maximum power: 180hp
• Maximum torque: 350Nm
• Towing ability: Up to 1,800kg

Hyundai ix35:

This is one of the newest SUVs on the market, but it's more of a crossover than an SUV really. That's emphasised by Hyundai only listing the two-wheel drive model with a manual gearbox on its website. It does say that "Automatic subject to availability. Please contact your local Hyundai Dealer", but we're not sure there is an automatic option available for this car as yet. We've asked Hyundai for clarification.

Kia Sportage:

There's an all-new Sportage launching later this year, so we assume you're thinking about that. Full details have yet to be released, though Kia tells us that, along with a new 1.7-litre turbodiesel engine a 2.0-litre turbodiesel 4x4 model will be offered on special order with an automatic gearbox. Tax will be band D, costing €447 per year. I'm afraid that's all we know at this stage. We're driving it next month for the first time.

Nissan Qashqai:

Nissan gave the Qashqai a facelift this year and it looks better than ever. For some reason the new look has not been applied to the seven-seat '+2' version on Nissan Ireland's website. However, the figures below refer to the regular five-seat version. The cheapest available with a diesel engine, four-wheel drive and an automatic gearbox is the Qashqai 2.0d A/T 4x4 SV. The stats:

• Price: €37,995
• CO₂ emissions: 191g/km
• Tax band: F
• Annual road tax: €1,050
• Combined cycle fuel consumption: 7.2 litres per 100 kilometres
• Maximum power: 150hp
• Maximum torque: 320Nm
• Towing ability: Up to 1,400kg

Summary:

So, let's leave the Kia and Hyundai out of the equation for the moment, as we don't have enough information to make an informed decision.

The Toyota and Nissan compare well to each other. Like the Qashqai, the RAV4 was given a makeover for 2010 so it's fresher than ever. In diesel, automatic, four-wheel drive guise, the Toyota appears to win that battle, as the Qashqai is very expensive to tax. The Toyota is the better tow car too.

It looks like the Toyota probably wins outright on paper. The BMW X1 xDrive 20d is more powerful, significantly better on fuel and a newer design than the RAV4, but it's also a lot more to buy to begin with. Even paying less tax and fuel costs, it'd take a long time to claw that price difference back. Pity the xDrive18d doesn't come with an automatic transmission, as that could be a better choice, but in this list, the Toyota wins the logical argument.

Make sure you test drive examples of both before you decide and please do let us know in the comment box below what you end up doing.

Expert answer

We spoke to Jane direct to find out a little more information. She currently lives in Northern Ireland and has a 2008 Nissan Qashqai Tekna to trade in. She wishes to downsize and will be moving to the Republic soon with her new car.

Initially Jane believed that she could bring a car to the south VRT-free so long as it was over six months old, but in fact the legislation states that she must have owned the car herself outside the state for six months before importing it.

Jane fancied changing to a Nissan Note, but was unsure of its reliability. We confirmed that the Note has had no major problems and so Jane is going ahead with a swap for a six-month old Note Tekna with only 4,000 miles on the clock. This is a highly specced version with satnav, alloys, Bluetooth etc.

Expert answer

Hi Marie,

I would expect that you will need about €12,000 - €13,000 along with your Primera to get into the cheapest of the 2008 Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi models. However, dealers differ, so shop around.

Expert answer

Hi there,

We could do with a little more information. What is your budget and how many miles are on your Micra?

Expert answer

Hi Rory,

The Alfa 166 was never tested by NCAP so there are no results for that. The 1997 Nissan Primera was though, and received 3-stars. You can read the report here. 

Hope this helps.

Expert answer

Hi Tanya,

Without knowing your budget just yet, it is a little difficult to guess, but a car that is a top buy for a family, with a great boot is something like a Skoda Octavia. One like this has low mileage, a frugal diesel engine and will be perfect for a lot of mileage. It is solid and has a great sized boot too.

The Nissan Qashqai has been a massive seller in Ireland of late, with good reason too, as it is very good value, has a brilliant safety record, looks great and is perfect for a family. Here is a fully loaded 1.5-litre diesel for €20,950 with low mileage. 

You could have the choice of a number of family hatchbacks too, such as a Ford Focus, Volkswagen Golf, Toyota Auris or perhaps even a small MPV.

Come back to us with more details and we will try and help you further. Just add your comment to the comment box below.

Expert answer

Hello Helen

Thank you for your enquiry. In this instance, we are going to look on the website beepbeep.ie, because that is the official classified website of SIMI, the Society of the Irish Motor Industry. Because we are looking at something on a budget we want to get something with as much history on it and as much security as possible for you. On that site, all cars come with a history check and they are also covered by the consumer protection act. 

A couple of things are important here. One is that your car is cheap and the second is that it will be reliable and I suppose, attractive would be good too?

You could never accuse it of being sexy, but this Nissan Micra on sale at a dealership in Drogheda has done 80,000 miles and has had only two owners. It will cost you just €1,550 and will be cheap to run, insure and service:

http://tinyurl.com/3y9m5fh

This Toyota Yaris from 1999 has done 130,000 miles and while that might sound like a lot, this little car is well able for it and this could be a decent little buy that won't cause you too much heartache:

http://tinyurl.com/3ydjl87

How about this? A 1995 Opel Corsa, which has only done 18,466 miles and has an NCT until early next year. That will cost you just €1,250:

http://tinyurl.com/3a59low

However, what I really think would be a great first car for you would be the Ford Ka, which is a great little runabout and still looks funky. This 1999 model has only covered 52,000 miles and has an NCT until 01/11. It is advertised at €1,850 but I reckon you could get it as a straight deal for a little less:

http://tinyurl.com/378vt9h

Let us know if any of these don't float your boat and we will put on our thinking caps again!