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Hi Mark,

I would imagine so. That’s pretty big mileage right enough, although not so bad on an annualised basis (22,00km a year, roughly), but as long as the service history is chock full of stamps and receipts, and you keep up that level of servicing, then I’d say 500k kilometres is pretty easily on the cards.

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Hi Niamh,

It depends — do you want diesel or petrol? Any small-to-medium car with a 1.4 to 1.6-litre diesel engine is going to be very, very economical (e.g. the Toyota Auris, VW Golf, Ford Focus and Skoda Octavia), but if you want a petrol engine, the choice is a little different. Here, we’d be looking at the Volkswagen Group cars (Golf, Leon or Octavia) with the 1.0-litre or 1.2-litre TSI petrol engines, which have excellent economy, or a Peugeot 308 with the 1.2-litre PureTech engine.

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Hi Malik,

It sounds as if either there's a problem with the power steering pump itself or with the belt that drives it. Best bet is to bring the car to a good mechanic to sort it out.

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Hi Liam,

As of 1 January 2013 that car will cost €710 per year to tax. The full breakdown of tax changes announced in the 2013 Budget can be found here.

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Hi Sean,

I don't think you're asking for too much actually, so long as you don't mind a car that's a few years old. There's plenty of choice at that price point. You've not told us how big a car you need or how far you drive each year so we're keeping an open mind there, but only shortlisting diesel saloons and hatchbacks. Options include:

- Ford Fiesta 1.4 TDCi

- Ford Focus 1.8 TDCi

- Ford Mondeo 2.0 TDCi

- Nissan Note 1.5 dCi

- Peugeot 407 1.6 HDi (only if it has a full service history)

- Skoda Octavia 1.9 TDI

Come back to us if you need help narrowing things down further.

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Hi Tom,

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Hi Liam,

We assume by 'outdoor' you mean an Audi allroad quattro type vehicle with raised ride height and protective cladding. Skoda markets that as 'Scout'. Unfortunately Skoda does not offer the Superb in such specification, but it does offer a 4x4 variant in both saloon and Combi (estate) guises with prices starting from €35,695.

If you can live without the Superb's expansive legroom there's always the Octavia Scout - a 4x4 Octavia Combi with 17mm extra ride height, bigger bumpers and moulded side protective strips, for €32,350.

We hope this helps. 

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Hi John,

We spoke to Skoda Ireland about this and here's the response:

"This is not a simple fix. All Greenline vehicles come without a spare wheel.  If it was a Superb or Octavia it would be straight forward.

The Yeti wheel well in the Greenline differs from other models. The Yeti Greenline has increased boot volume and different carpets and fittings (much deeper boot) as a result of not having the spare wheel. This makes the task of including a spare wheel a very difficult one as it won’t actually fit!

It could technically be altered but it would be costly."

Expert answer

Hi Pat,

You've not told us whether it's petrol or diesel. If diesel then definitely worth testing the glow plugs. That sounds like the most probable reason for this.

Tell us more about it if that doesn't help.

Expert answer

Hi Joe,

We don't know the inside of the door in detail, but it sounds like a lever from the interior door handle to the lock has been dislodged in reassembling the door. You'll have to take it all apart again to fix it I'm afraid!

Best of luck