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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 Keith,

Neither I'm afraid. It will go by the engine size, as things for cars used to be before 2008. That's the case for privately taxing a commercial vehicle of any age, incidentally, aside from actual vintage commercials that is.

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Hi James,

You're not alone in having this issue. We can find that T-Roc on the MLIT website and get its CO₂ emissions and fuel consumption data, but we cannot see a document showing its NOx rating. The best we could come up with is a spec sheet for the 2025 model on sale today in Japan. Given that this should be the same as the 2022 version, Revenue may accept that. It's 150mg/km.

We've not heard of anyone successfully obtaining this information from a European brand directly, and it's unlikely that Revenue would accept data for the T-Roc sold in a country other than Japan, as there can be regional differences.

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Hi Anais,

All diesel engines available in the 2014 Avensis used timing chains.

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Hi Brian,

To do these calculations, we're going to assume that the Trooper has been registered and used in Northern Ireland for quite some time, and that you can prove that. This means no import duty or VAT will be payable.

We're also going to assume it's a passenger car as it's a five-seater.

The high CO₂ emissions rating of that model means it'll be in the top band for VRT, at 41 per cent of the Open Market Selling Price (OMSP), which is what Revenue reckons the vehicle to be worth after registration in Ireland.

There are many examples of the Trooper in Revenue's online VRT calculator, so we're confident it won't be valued any higher than €2,500 (most likely lower). At that value, the VRT would be €1,025.

The NOx levy is likely to cost a lot more, however. If you can't get an official NOx emissions figure for the vehicle then it will default to the maximum for a diesel, at €4,850, so make sure you look into that before committing to importing it.

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Hi Chris,

It should be changed at least every 180,000km or 10 years - whichever comes first.

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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 Dilan,

The lower CO₂ rating of that earlier car was according to the old “NEDC” standard. Any cars imported since 2021 with an NEDC-standard CO₂ figure (as this Jap import would have had) would have had the number 'uplifted' by Revenue to make it comparable to the newer WLTP standard. It was trying to reduce the number of older, more polluting diesels being imported, but it just means that people may more motor tax at times, even if the cars are identical to those already registered in Ireland.

Of course, a Japanese model's CO₂ figure could be a little different on top of all that.

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Hi Fergal,

That's actually becoming a bit of a challenge as regular cars such as the Mondeo have fallen out of favour with buyers, so the carmakers are slowly doing away with them. At the same time, demand for diesel engines is waning. Nonetheless, here are a few possibilities:

- Audi A5 'Saloon' (it's actually a five-door hatch)
- Mercedes-Benz C-Class saloon
- Skoda Superb (another hatchback and the closest match to the Mondeo today)

That's pretty much it. A leftfield alternative could be the Peugeot 508 SW, which is the estate model. It can be had with a diesel engine still, but the five-door 508 fastback cannot. We reckon it looks stunning.

How do these strike you?

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Hi Bernard,

I can confirm that, if you tax a commercial vehicle privately as described here, the rate is determined by the engine size, so, for an engine of 1,901-2,000cc, the rate is indeed €710 a year.