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Hi Justin,

We wouldn't hesitate in recommending you go for the V90 estate as you've identified. It's more or less identical to drive and in the passenger compartment as the S90 you have, but the boot is larger and far more practical with the longer roof line. It's a superior car to Volvo's SUV in our opinions. Finding one is probably your biggest challenge.

Aside from that, if you are willing to go hybrid, you can't beat Lexus from a dependability point of view.

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Hi Dave,

Sounds to us like you're the perfect candidate for going fully electric, though the biggest question to answer is whether or not you can easily get a home charger installed. Even with low annual mileage, it would be a real pain to have to exclusively use the public charging network, never mind the fact that it's much more expensive than charging up at home.

For the few longer trips you take a year, you'll use public chargers. The network is far from perfect, but it's improving all the time and only when you have to do a very long journey in a hurry does it become annoying.

In summary, so long as you can get a home charger, we'd recommend you go electric. It's a great ownership experience and you'll never go back.

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Hi Brian,

Yes we would. It is a great-value electric SUV for starters, but more than that, it seems to represent a shift change in MG's way of doing things, as it also feels of great quality inside. The warranty package is strong, there's decent space inside (so long as you are not planning on fitting three people in the back) and it even drives well.

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Hi Robert,

We don't believe there is any such model as a "350+" in the electric CLA lineup. There's a "250+" and then a 350 4Matic model. Though we can confirm both will be offered as Shooting Brakes as well as saloons.

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Hi Brendan,

It certainly sounds like electric power would suit you, though if you decide against, the Skoda Octavia is an excellent car.

I'm assuming the cars listed mean a budget of nearly €40,000. There are better options out there than the ID.4. You could get a nearly new Cupra Tavascan, for example, or the smaller Cupra Born if you want to keep the price down or stay away from SUVs altogether.

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an excellent car as well, as is the Ioniq 6, though the latter's styling is not to all tastes. The Kia EV6 is along the same lines and it's more a crossover than an SUV.

You could also afford brand-new examples of the Peugeot E-308 and MG4, both conventional five-door hatchbacks.

Come back to me with your thoughts on all these and we can discuss it further.

Expert answer

Hi Dee,

Hybrids such as the Juke have very small batteries and can therefore only drive on electric power for very short distances. If you're in stop-start traffic, it might use the battery for most of the time, but if the traffic is free-flowing and the speeds are higher, then it will not.

Unfortunately, the Juke Hybrid does not give a readout showing how much time is spent using the battery alone so you can't monitor it accurately.

If you drive slower, the car will use the battery more in town. Likewise, less use of the heating or air conditioning should mean less need for the engine to start up.

Bear in mind through all this that most of the energy used to charge up that battery comes from the engine itself, so it's not free energy.

Choose the Eco driving mode for maximum efficiency, but really, it will come down to your driving style as much as anything else.

Expert answer

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 Malcolm,

Yes it does. All modern electric cars can be plugged into a home charger/wallbox and charged at up to 7.4kW on single-phase AC outlets. 

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Hi San,

From the details you've provided, we believe there would be no VAT or import duty, though you will need proof that the dealer imported the car according to the Windsor Framework rules. Mention it to them, as I'm sure they'll know exactly what you need.

And yes, assuming the car is under the VRT threshold, there should be a VRT rebate in full as well.

Expert answer

Hi Neil,

Yes, in fact most versions of the new C3 Aircross are automatic. There are electric and hybrid models that are automatic. Only the regular petrol engine can be had with a manual gearbox.