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Hi Simon,

The Mokka is quite nice, and a bit of an underrated car actually, but we reckon the best car in this class is the Suzuki Vitara, which is affordable, genuinely rugged, reliable and quite nice to drive. Handsome too. The Dacia Duster is actually a terrific machine — you have to allow for a rough and ready interior and an unrefined driving experience, but for the money it’s nigh-on impossible to beat.

Opel Mokka X review

Dacia Duster review

Suzuki Vitara review

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Hi Ignacio,

There are two hybrids that are far cheaper than anything else, but we have to mention both as they’re slightly different in the way their hybrid systems work. The cheapest full hybrid is the Toyota Yaris Hybrid, which starts at €19,250 and which has impressively low CO₂ emissions of just 75g/km.

Toyota has also recently updated the Yaris Hybrid so that it’s much nicer to drive than it used to be. The other is the slightly cheaper Suzuki Baleno 1.2 DualJet, which isn’t a full hybrid like the Yaris, but a mild hybrid that uses a smaller battery and clever starter/generator to take strain off the engine to help save fuel. That emits 94g/km and costs from €18,995.

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Hi Niamh,

Well, obviously we would advise you to get the car to a garage, preferably a Suzuki one, pretty quick. We can’t diagnose a problem on a car we’ve never seen, but the ticking and smoking does indeed suggest either a starter motor or ignition issue, so it may not be all that expensive to fix, especially if it’s just a wiring problem.

Generally, for most so-called ‘scrappage’ deals (they’re not actually scrappage at all, but trade-in boosters) the cars do indeed need to be running and drive onto the forecourt under their own power, so if you want to use it for that purpose, you’ll need to get it running again somehow.

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Hi Anna,

Yes, it’s an odd one, but the compact three-door SUV has really fallen out of favour and pretty much no-one makes one anymore. There are three we can think of and they’re at the opposite ends of the scale. One is the Suzuki Jimny and that’s not really a realistic option unless you’re planning to drive off-road a lot. There’s the Jeep Wrangler, but it’s quite pricey and not all that practical in three-door form and then there’s the Range Rover Evoque Coupe, which looks nice but again is quite expensive.

I think the best option, if you want something that looks a bit three-door-ish, is to have a look at the new Toyota C-HR, which is a five-door but which has Alfa-Romeo-style hidden rear door handles, so it looks kinda-sorta like a three-door. Read our review of it here.

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Hi Ian,

We haven’t heard of any specific issues with that model and, generally and excepting the recent recall for dodgy brakes in the Celerio city car, Suzukis are usually very reliable, so you should be fine. A nice car, the S-Cross, actually — rather underrated.

Read our Suzuki SX4 S-Cross review

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Hi Arunita,

If it’s the 1.0-litre three-cylinder engine (and that was really the only version sold in Ireland) then it should have a timing chain, rather than a belt, which shouldn’t need regular replacement, but it’s a good idea to have it regularly inspected for any possibly defects or stretching. Other than that, the Alto’s a good little car – Suzukis tend to be reliable, it’s not bad at all to drive and runs on a whiff of petrol. A good choice as a city-centric runaround.

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Hi Frank,

The triplets of the Peugeot 107, Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo are pretty good - nippy and reliable. The last generation Suzuki Alto is also a good option. If you need something a bit larger, track down a Toyota Yaris 1.0.

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Hi Tom,

A really good car the SX4 - it's hugely reliable and if you can track down a 1.9 diesel 4x4, you'll find it has genuine go-anywhere capability.

The more common 1.6 petrol is a bit thirstier though, with official economy of 42mpg and you'll struggle to match that in daily driving. The boot is also a bit on the small side. Worth looking for deals on the current SX4 S-Cross - a really good and very underrated car.

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Hi Brendan,

There is no specific market data for Ireland in this respect. The old rule of thumb still holds true - if you want ultimate reliability, buy a Honda, Toyota, Nissan, Suzuki, Subaru or Mazda. You could probably pretty easily add Kia and Hyundai to that list too now.

The best I can do for you is to point you towards the results of the JD Power Vehicle Dependability Study for the UK market in 2015. An independent research agency, JD Power ranks the various brands surveyed by problems per 100 cars - although it's worth remembering that those problems can range from minor electrical niggles to total engine failure, so you can't read everything into the stats. The last set of figures, ranked from best-performing to worst, were:

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Hi Mark,

Suzukis are reliable cars, by and large, so I'd say lots and lots of miles, but it's impossible to generalise. It all depends on what kind of condition the individual car is in and how well it's been looked after. Any car that's been serviced to schedule and cared for properly will do mega-miles easily.