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Hi Patrick,

There’s no such thing as a total exemption from motor tax, but when a car is 30 years old or older, it becomes eligible for (the slightly erroneously named) Vintage Tax, which is a flat rate of €56 a year.

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Hi Patrick,

We asked vehicle check expert, Cartell.ie, for a steer on this one. Here's the response:

"Identities of previous owners have been covered by the rules on Data Protection for some time now and cannot be disclosed. Vehicle history check companies like Cartell do not hold this information either. In exceptional cases the Gardaí may assist or you can contact the VRU in Shannon for advice."

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Hi Una,

The 2010 1.5 Mazda2 has CO₂ emissions of 135g/km, so that'll be Band B2, and motor tax of €280 a year.

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Hi Peter,

The 2.0 TDI Golf is something of a canny buy - it's much punchier than the 1.6, yet comes with only a small penalty in motor tax and running costs, and in fact is good enough to undermine the case for buying the overtly sporting GTD.

That said, if you put the effort in, the 1.6 can be significantly more economical and, obviously, is cheaper to buy. In daily driving, unless you're really pushing hard, its performance is entirely adequate. You can read what our road test editor, Dave Humphreys, thought of the 1.6-litre BlueMotion model here.

As for the 2013 model, that was the MkVI Golf and it's still a fine car - reliable, comfy, spacious and nice to drive, but you will notice a palpable difference in quality and comfort between it and a MkVII.

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Hi James,

It depends on what you mean when you say 'classic.' If the car is more than 30 years old (taken from its first date of registration) then you'll only have to pay a nominal Vehicle Registration Tax fee (about €200) and motor tax will be €56 for a year. If it's younger than 30 years then you'll have to pay VRT at the full rate and depending on the car and its estimated value that could be quite expensive.

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Hi Brendan,

X5. Yes, it's bigger, heavier and (on paper) thirstier than the Lexus, but it's also far nicer to drive, more spacious and actually, in the real world, probably a little more frugal than the RX 450h. The Lexus' only advantages are lower motor tax and the fact that it will be more reliable long-term than the BMW, but if you buy the Beemer with a  full service history and look after it properly, you shouldn't have any major problems.

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Hi Eileen,

The Ford Focus 1.6 TDCi hatchback emits 95g/km, putting it in Band A3 for tax, which currently costs €190 per annum.

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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.

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Hi Helen,

If you mean the current model, with the 2.0-litre 140hp TDCi engine, then that has emissions of 139g/km of CO₂, putting it into Band B2 for motor tax, which has a six-month cost of €155.

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Hi Shay,

Just as with motor tax, Vehicle Registration Tax is calculated based on the CO₂ emissions of the car in question. It starts at 14 per cent of the wholesale price of the car (inclusive of options) for cars in the lowest tax band, 0- to 80g/km of CO₂ rising to a maximum of 36 per cent for the highest band, for cars emitting more than 225g/km of CO₂.

The most common bands are Bands A2 to A4 and B1 and B2, which run from 15 per cent to 19 per cent.