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Hi Barry,

Assuming you might like to use the rear seats, the BYD is the least spacious option of the three as its boot is much smaller. It holds up to 425 litres with its rear seat in place, while the Santa Fe PHEV manages 621 litres in five-seat mode (it's a seven-seater in which you can easily fold down the third row of seats).

The Kodiaq PHEV (assuming you're only looking at the plug-in-hybrid versions of each car mentioned) is a strict five-seater, but it comes with the largest space behind at 725 litres. If can be had in seven-seat guise with a simple petrol or diesel engine if you need the flexibility of the interior.

One major extra bonus of the Santa Fe is that its tailgate reveals the widest opening of the three, though really, the Skoda is likely to fit the bill as well. Their load sill heights are about the same distance from the ground at in and around 760mm.

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Hi John,

I'm afraid not. Skoda Ireland confirmed as much to us. Demand is low and the VRT would make it prohibitively expensive. 

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Hi Evelyn,

I drive a petrol-powered Mazda3 hatchback.

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Hi Brendan,

We can't answer that definitively, unfortunately, as there is no official word on it. The Karoq is certainly ageing and due replacement, but we agree there's plenty of demand still for a Skoda model in this space that is not only available with electric power. 

Watch this space I guess...

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Hi Gary,

The 1.5 EcoBoost engine in the Kuga is a four-cylinder unit, not a three-cylinder design, and it has a traditional 'dry' belt, not a wet one like the 1.0 EcoBoost engine found elsewhere in the Ford range. 

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Hi Frank,

It's the timing belt itself that you've heard about most likely as, on some versions of the 1.0-litre Ford EcoBoost engine, it is what's called a “wet belt”. That means the timing belt actually runs in oil, where most timing belts do not.

Ford isn't alone in having problems with them. The rubber in the belts can degrade due to many issues including use of the wrong engine oil and impurities in the oil as it gets older.

The good news for you is that, while earlier examples of the 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine did use this setup (though not all), and Ford dropped it from 2022 on, the MHEV engines always used timing chains instead and they should therefore be more robust.

However, even those later engines use a rubber belt to drive the oil pump and that still runs in oil so potentially has all the same issues. It is too new for those problems to have come to light and Ford believes it is designed for the life of the engine because it is under far less stress than the timing belt was.

All we can advise is that you carry out oil changes a little sooner than recommended and that you always use the correct specification of oil.

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Hi Jurgen,

According to our figures, your car's CO₂ emissions (it's a 2015 Audi A4 saloon 1.8 petrol) are in the 156-170g/km range according to the old NEDC system. 

For such cars, registered before January 2021, the tax band is D, costing €600 a year. 

A car registered after that date with a WLTP rating of 151-160g/km would cost €280 a year and the €400 rate you mentioned is for cars with an emissions rating of 141-155g/km so perhaps the dealer was mistaken.

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Hi Conor,

I spoke with a representative of Opel Ireland today and they asked me to apologise to you for the confusion.

The electric version of the Sports Tourer is indeed available, but it's what's called a "special order" model, so it has been removed from the public-facing price list etc. If you contact your local Opel dealer, they should be able to talk you through the process of ordering one. 

Don't forget to read our review of the Opel Astra Electric (though we've not tested the estate model).

Update on 2 Sep 2025: Opel Ireland got in touch to say the online documentation has been updated. You can get the new Opel Astra price list here.

Expert answer

Hi Jordan,

The two different 1.6-litre petrol engines available in the Astra J of 2011 used timing belts.

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Hi Vincent,

I'm afraid it's not possible to get the Duster with both the hybrid powertrain and four-wheel drive. If you need 4x4 then you'll have to go for the petrol engine called "TCe 130", which costs from €33,390 as a 4x4 against €32,090 for the entry-level (front-wheel-drive) Duster Hybrid - called "HEV 140" by Dacia.

The 4x4 model can tow up to 1,500kg of braked trailer, while the front-wheel-drive hybrid version is limited to 750kg.