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Hi Gerry,

It is in theory possible, but it's not a simple thing to set up. Because of that, we've written a feature on it actually: Can you power your house from your EV's battery?

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Hi Mairead,

That's a good shortlist of cars to start with. Of them, we'd be slow to recommend the KGM due to the small dealer network and the way the distributor is set up here as an outpost of a Maltese company. The Torres EVX  undoubtedly is the most spacious of the three cars, with a huge boot and more space in the back seats, but we're not convinced by these things alone. The Skoda and Kia are far better cars in all other respects.

Before discussing them in more detail, I will say that it will be almost impossible to fit three child seats across the same row in any car of this size, especially with ISOFIX in use in the outer seats. If you're likely to be having a third child before changing car, and the older two will be in ISOFIX seats for some time yet, then I'd urge you to consider one with an extra row of seats. That'll reduce your choice of car unfortunately.

Anyway, both the Skoda and Kia are decent cars, and you'd likely be happy with both. The Enyaq has a slightly larger boot, but the EV5 fights back with a decent extra storage space under the bonnet up front to complement the regular boot so in effect there's little difference between them on that front.

In '85' specification, the Skoda has the longer official range, at up to 573km, while the best range the Kia manages is 530km. Those are comparable, as few EV owners would leave it that close to charge up on a long journey. Most do most of their charging at home and anyway, the vast majority of people cover less than half that range in a week, never mind a single journey. It's nice to have the comfort of more range of course, but the difference between these cars is negligible in real-world driving.

Although the Enyaq was updated earlier this year, the Kia is newer and feels larger inside, with a far nicer interface and loads of useful storage in the cabin.

Our money would go on the Kia if the choice were between just the three cars you named, but we'd suggest you take the time to go test drive as many models as you can to form your own opinion and bring your car seats along with you so you can see how much space there is.

A really good seven-seat electric SUV is the Peugeot E-5008, which is priced at a similar level to the cars you've mentioned. Read our review of that here.

An alternative five-seat model that has a little more space in the back seats is the Nissan Ariya. It has a smaller boot than the other cars here, but more space between the seatbelt buckles in the rear so it may be possible to fit a third child seat in, depending on its bulkiness. Read our reviews of that here.

Please do come back to us and let us know what you go for, or if you want more help narrowing things down.

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Hi Neil,

It's on the digital instrument display on the bottom corner. Take a look at this image of the Citroen C4's dashboard and you'll see it.

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Hi John,

It certainly does, as standard.

Read our detailed Irish review of the Renault 5 E-Tech electric here.

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Hi Michael,

So long as you can prove that fact, using MOT dates perhaps, then you should not be liable for any customs duty or VAT on importation. Of course, you will still need to pay VRT and the NOx levy.

Read our Guide to importing cars from Northern Ireland for full details.

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Hi Joseph,

We're not convinced. There are some advantages for sure, such as getting a car that is often in better condition than an Irish-market model of the same age, and sometimes with more equipment for the price as well.

But there are loads of downsides, including potential issues with sourcing parts if it's not identical to the car that was sold in Ireland and increased insurance. Many Japanese cars do not come with alarms or immobilisers, either.

For rare cars that have value then it's certainly worth looking at, but for a regular car such as the Toyota, we'd advocate for seeking out cars already in Ireland.

If you want to investigate it further, it's definitely worth working with a reputable importer that will do it all for you, up to registering the car on Irish plates, as that in itself can be tricky. We don't have first-hand experience of any one company though so can only suggest you do some Googling and looking for independent reviews of the companies you find.

And make sure you read our Guide to buying Japanese imports.

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Hi Frank,

In general we like it, so long as you're on board with the premium pricing - as you are getting a premium car. It's spacious, has an excellent interior, is good to drive and decent to look at.

Read our reviews of the Renault Austral here, but come back to us if you have another specific question about the car.

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Hi Glenn,

If you've not already, I suggest you go and test drive examples of each, as they're very different cars to drive. Then, read our reviews on them to help look at the nitty gritty:

BYD Sealion 7 reviews

Kia EV4 reviews

Xpeng G6 reviews

We'd probably only consider the Xpeng and BYD comparable here as they're SUV-shaped crossovers while the EV4 is a hatchback (or 'Fastback') and, for the entry-level price of the Sealion 7 you can nearly have the top-of-the-range EV4 hatch. 

The Sealion 7 and Xpeng are larger inside and in the boot than the Kia, but the EV4 in its highest spec has the best interior of the three. 

So yeah, we'd not be able to easily pick one without knowing other factors, but if we didn't need the space of the SUVs, we'd certainly prefer to drive a hatchback such as the Kia.

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Hi Gabriel,

I'm afraid we don't have any update since we published our news story on the 2026 RAV4, but we believe it will arrive in Ireland as a regular hybrid in March and the PHEV will be introduced into Ireland a little later.

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Hi Liz,

All your questions should be answered by our 2022 review of the MG HS here.