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Hi Bobin,

Depends on where and how much you drive. Low miles and mostly in town? Get the Passat. Long journeys and motorway miles? BMW. The Passat is more likely to be more reliable though - some of those 2.0 BMW diesels have timing chain and turbo problems.

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Hi Mai,

OK, lots to choose from here. Volkswagen Golf, Ford Focus and Toyota Auris are all ever popular and all with very good reason. They're reliable (the Toyota scoring best here), beautifully made (the Golf come out top in this category) and nice to drive (the Focus wins here). Lots of all three about so you can afford to be picky. Fancy something a bit different? Try a Honda Civic, especially the 1.6 i-DTEC diesel version, which is possibly the best compact diesel engine around.

Also well worth a look are the Kia cee'd (especially the handsome and practical estate version) and the current model of the Peugeot 308 (ditto on the estate version there).

Relevant reviews:

Volkswagen Golf review

Ford Focus review

Toyota Auris review

Honda Civic review

Kia cee'd review

Peugeot 308 review

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Hi Catherine,

Not much I'm afraid - probably about €700 to €1,000.

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Hi Fiona,

The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) keeps an online archive of its recommend retail price lists dating back as far as 2004 and you can find them here:  http://www.simi.ie/Statistics/Recommended+Price+Guides.html

Your Golf cost €22,620 by the way. Mind you, that's without options, which would have an effect on the price. The only way to find the options inclusive price would be to go back to the dealer that originally sold the car and see if they have a copy of the original bill of sale.

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Hi Anthony,

It’s unlikely we think. The Passat wheel hubs are actually shared with the Audi A4 and not the Golf, so the spacing of the wheel studs is slightly different. One can always try, of course...

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Hi Derek,

It depends on which model and what year for a start. Assuming that you're looking at a 2012 version, that has CO₂ emissions of 156g/km so the VRT is going to be 27 per cent of what the Revenue Commissioners estimate the car's Irish market value to be. That will depend on a lot of variables though - including condition, history, mileage and spec. Unfortunately, given that we have an entirely opaque and non-transparent tax system, you won't know exactly how much until you have the car here and it has been inspected. 

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Hi Niall,

Probably around €8k retail or €6,500 - €7,000 as a trade-in.

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Hi Sharon,

Quite different cars - the Insignia is bigger and plusher and feels, as it should, a lot more sophisticated. That said, the Jetta is comfy and has a massive boot, and is ruggedly reliable too. That old 1.9 TDI is a rattly old thing though. If they're similar on price, spec, history and condition, I'd say the Insignia shades it.

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Hi Shane,

It's complicated because some of the providers are also providers to the providers - for instance Bank of Ireland provides the finance for many of the car companies themselves. 

Generally speaking though, it's a list of the usual suspects - AIB, Bank of Ireland, Permanent TSB, Ulster Bank and the Credit Unions followed by the big car company banks - Volkswagen Bank, Renault Bank, BMW Finance. There are some leasing companies too such as Lease Plan but they don't really work with individuals.

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Hi Philip,

There are some very good options here actually. Both the Land Rover Discovery Business and the Mitsubishi Pajero Executive have full five-seat, leather-and-everything cabins, but their boots are big enough to qualify for commercial VRT and motor tax (assuming you can demonstrate that your business needs a commercial vehicle). The Land Rover Defender can be had in similar layout but if you want something really rugged then go for the Volkswagen Amarok pickup, which matches comfort with utility. There's also the Toyota Hilux crew-cab and Mitsubishi is about to launch a new L200 pickup later this summer.