Expert answer

Hi Ray,

To be honest, it sounds to me as if you should just stick with it. I appreciate that it’s not much fun spending €1,200 a year on motor tax, and that the service interval is a bit short, but if you’re only doing short mileages with the occasional long trip, then you’re just going to be throwing money at trading up to a car you don’t really need.

DPF issues are never far away from a diesel car if you’re only doing low mileage, but the biggest issue is going to be the cost of change. A budget of €200 a month isn’t going to get you very much, to be honest, so I would just do the work your Volvo needs and stick with it.

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Hi Philip,

The advantage of a hybrid (as opposed to a plugin hybrid) is that you can, theoretically, use a smaller petrol engine, running on the fuel-saving (but power-sapping) Atkinson combustion cycle, and use an electric motor, fed with power by an on-board battery pack that’s charged by both the engine and regenerative braking, to fill in the gaps and holes in the power delivery.

It’s a relatively more simple system than a plugin hybrid, and has the convenience advantage that you don’t actually have to plug it in. Up until quite recently, such hybrids tended to be very thirsty unless driven in a very specific way, and were especially poor in both performance and economy terms on long motorway journeys. Recent improvements in software and battery design (and Toyota is at the cutting edge here) mean that hybrids are now comparable with diesel cars when it comes to overall economy, and much better in town traffic. They’re generally much better for harmful emissions such as nitrogen oxide as well.

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Hi Paul,

At 24k a year you’re probably best going for diesel, to be honest. While we’re equally in the dark as regards what the Budget holds in store for us, it seems (at the time of writing) unlikely that any drastic moves are going to be made just yet. There’s also an urban/rural divide in all of this. If you live in the Dublin, and to a slightly lesser extent, Cork, Limerick, Wateford and Galway city areas, then there is a distinct move away from diesel and towards petrol, but in rural areas, diesel is still king.

That said, the 150hp 1.4-litre TSI turbo engine is absolutely excellent, and we’ve found that while it is, of course, less economical than the equivalent diesel, you’re only talking about 1.0 litre per 100km or so in the real-world difference. It’s well worth considering if you’re concerned about future diesel values. 

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Hi Philip,

On the Jaguar front, first of all thanks for the compliment. As far as noise goes, I don’t think I’d ever tire of the F-Type’s V6 sounds, but that four-cylinder model is hugely impressive (and very refined) all the same.

As for running a car up and down its rev range, yes, it’s a good idea. Engines perform best (especially in fuel economy terms) when held at constant, low rpm (such as on a long motorway journey), but from a mechanical point of view it’s a good idea, once in a while, to stretch things out, warm things up, and get things moving.

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Hi Philip,

The short answer is that there are some benefits to using additives, but they’re not a miracle cure. Some additives, such as Redex, STP, or Dipetane, can apparently help to reduce the build-up of carbonised particles of soot and burned fuel on the insides of your engine, which can lead to improvements in reliability, fuel economy and emissions.

That said, there’s little here that’s scientifically proven. The benefits of additives tend to be more word-of-mouth than provable fact, but there’s certainly no harm in using them and if you notice a benefit, well that’s all to the good.

I would suggest that you’re better off sticking to a strict service regimen, using original parts and a qualified technical, than relying on additives though. And of course, as you already know, diesels need to be driven regularly to stay in good condition.

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Hi Mark,

While we haven’t loaded an Octavia 1.0 to its total maximum GVW capacity, we have driven it with four passengers and a boot full of luggage and it performs very well indeed. Not the fastest car around, no doubt, but we found no lack of performance and fuel economy remained at an impressive 50mpg.

Read our Skoda Octavia 1.0 TSI review

(there's a video review embedded in the copy, too)

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Hi Kev,

Yes, it's a tricky combination of things you need. Normally we'd say go for the Lexus and just enjoy the ultimate in reliability, but as you rightly point out, there's an issue with luggage space. With that in mind, I think the best bet is the Audi A8, which has masses of space in the cabin and boot and which should be, aside from the Lexus, the most overall reliable car in your list. 

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Hi Kay,

Yes, you should see a considerable saving on fuel, probably in the order of 10mpg at least, depending on how and where you drive. It is worth noting, though, that you will also be looking at considerably higher maintenance and servicing costs, as the 320d is much more sophisticated and high-tech than your Golf and, without careful, regular attention from a specialist they can start giving serious trouble.

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Hi Sharad,

Skoda reliability is hard to beat; in fact Skoda often does better in reliability surveys than its Volkswagen overlord, so knocking off a regular 1,000km journey will be no bother to it.

As for economy, we recently tested the 1.0 Octavia and got close to 50mpg out of it in daily driving, so it's pretty frugal, really.

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Hi Steve,

Generally speaking, no you shouldn’t avoid, but of course it’s not that simple. You’re quite right, Volkswagen does claim, and presumably would claim, that its updates do nothing to alter engine performance. There is some back up to this claim, though, as the fixes had to be approved and signed off on by the German federal transport authority, which at least gives some independent oversight to the process.

Now, there have been some reports in the press about issues with the updates, such as higher CO₂ emissions and a degradation in fuel economy, but those are as yet unverified. I think, in general, you should be fine buying a Volkswagen car that has to be recalled, though, if it turns out there are any issues, they will simply have to be brought back in again and fixed, but fixed better this time.