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Hi Claire,

Both are really good cars, and I think it would be the Audi that we’d — just — come down on the side of. It’s not as cool to look at as the CLA, obviously, but the ride quality is better and that makes a big difference on Irish roads. It’s also a fraction more practical than the Mercedes and, if you can find one with the excellent 1.0-litre TSI turbo petrol engine, then you’re onto a winner. Basically, it’s the Audi if you want practicality, or the Mercedes if you’re more interested in style.

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Hi Joseph,

You've not told us the year, so, taking the 2014-2015 model as an example, it's every 20,000km or 12 months, whichever comes first.

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Hi Anshul,

Ok, let’s take those one by one. As far as a fair price is concerned, you haven’t given us a year for the car, but I’m going to assume it’s a 2016 model. That would put a fair price, in Ireland, if about €15,000 give or take. There’s no issue buying a UK car that has already been registered in Ireland.

Fuel economy should be fine — you can expect to get around 45-50mpg from a 1.7 Optima. 

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Hi Rebecca,

Well, we can’t guarantee that there will be no parts issues, as despite being broadly the same car, there are bound to be a few market-specific differences between the two cars. Also, you’re not going to be able to get parts in your local Opel dealer, so if they’re going to go ahead with it, then I think joining a good owners’ club would be a good idea — always a great source of information, parts and help. As for legality, it should be fine, but you will need to check that the engine used in the South African market will meet 1990-era European emissions standards. 

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Hi PJ,

It has officially gone on sale here already, though there can't be many examples in the country yet. See our news story on the A-Class Saloon in Ireland here.

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Hi Geraldine,

Get it into your nearest BMW dealer as soon as you can. If the car is subject to a recall, then you should still be able to get the work done at no cost to yourself, as car makers are required, by law, to carry out recalls until all vehicles have been cycled through.

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Hi Brendan,

A couple of things. Obviously, any of the car’s on-board systems will be setup for Japanese language, so you will need to get those changed, and the radio may not be set to receive European FM frequencies, so the car’s entire audio system may need to be replaced. Generally speaking, a Japanese Passat will be mechanical similar to a European one, but there will inevitably be some detail differences in specification and equipment, so you may run into trouble further down the line with parts availability.

I’d suggest that you’d be better off looking at the UK market than the Japanese one — the Passat is hardly a rare car, so there may be an easier option out there for you.

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Hi Tony,

Currently you can buy the following hybrids on the Irish market: Toyota Corolla, CH-R, RAV4, Prius, Yaris, and there are probably a few run-out  examples of the Auris Hybrid out there still in dealerships. There’s also the Kia Niro and the Hyundai Ioniq. There’s the full Lexus range — CT, IS, RC, GS, ES, LS, NX, RX and LC. There’s the Ford Mondeo Hybrid, too. There’s the new Honda CR-V Hybrid, some Mercedes diesel-hybrids and petrol plug-in hybrids, oh and the new AMG 53 six-cylinder mild hybrids.

Suzuki does mild hybrids too — for the Baleno, Swift and Ignis. Then there are the plug-in hybrids — Kia Niro and Hyundai Ioniq again, plus the Volvo XC90 and XC60 T8 models, along with the S90 and V90; the BMW i8, 330e, 530e, X5 40e, 225xe, and the MINI Countryman S E; there’s also the Range Rover and Range Rover Sport plug-ins, the Mitsubishi Outlander, the Volkswagen Golf and Passat GTE, the Audi Q7 e-tron and the Porsche Panamera and Cayenne.

I bet I've forgotten some...

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Hi Simon,

Mercedes Ireland is staying very quiet about it so far (we asked again on receiving your question). We'd expect the A-Class Saloon to take over the old CLA's pricing and the new CLA to be more expensive, but that's just guesswork of course...

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Hi David,

It’s a tricky one. As a fellow bad back sufferer, I know the pain (literally) of sitting for too long on the wrong car seat, but the problem is it’s a case of one man’s meat is another’s poison. I, personally, find the seats in the Civic absolutely fine. You may, or may not — the only thing I can suggest is to ask your local Honda dealer for as long a test drive as possible, explaining the reason why you need it. Alternatively, you could always fit the utterly brilliant bucket seats from the Civic Type R as an aftermarket extra...