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Hi Joe,

The bad news is that 2-05 Santa Fes go for as little as €2,500, which means if you were trading it in you'd probably be offered as little as €1,000 to €1,500.

The good news is that yours has a full service history, which really helps, so I'd say your Santa Fe sits a bit higher up the value pile. If it's in perfect nick you might get €4,500 privately or around €3,000 to €3,500 on a trade in. 

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Hi Tara,

Tough call, to be fair. I've been running a 2009 MINI Clubman for the last two years and it's been solidly reliable. That said, at the last service it would have set me back €3,000 for new bits and work had it not been covered by a warranty. 

Now, Qashqais aren't as perfectly reliable as you might think. Clutches, rear suspension and windscreen seals are all fragile. However, on average a Nissan would generally be more reliable than a MINI and slightly cheaper to service so if that's your priority, go with the Qashqai.

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Hi Eoin,

I'd say probably around €3,500 to €4,000 if you sell it yourself or about €2,250 as a trade-in. That depends on the service history too of course, but it might be worth getting those small dents and the carpet seen to to try and bump up the value a bit.

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Hi Michael,

It depends on your dealer and their financial services provider. Generally speaking this shouldn't happen - the Guaranteed Minimum Future Value (GMFV) is usually calculated on a pretty conservative rate, meaning that the car should have sufficient value in it to cover both the final bubble payment and a decent deposit to roll over into a new PCP. 

If that hasn't happened, then someone's cocked up somewhere along the line and pegged the GMFV too high. In one sense, you're on a winner - you can hand back the car and let the dealer take the €2k hit on the value, but it does leave you with no asset left to convert into a deposit. 

Can I just ask, has this actually happened or are you questioning a hypothetical problem? If it's actually happened then I would suggest that someone, somewhere has made a colossal error - the whole point of a PCP is that you should have equity left in the car to roll the deal over. If not, then I'd break out the original PCP contract and sit down and read the fine print, preferably with a good solicitor at your side. There may be some legal comeback if the dealer cannot fulfil their end of the bargain.

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Hi Mossy,

All good choices, three cars that it's very difficult to separate. I guess the best thing to do is to use the classic car-buying technique - go for the one in the best condition and with the fullest history file - the more receipts, the more paperwork, the more stamps in the service book the better. Forget the mileage, always buy on condition and history.

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Hi Peter,

That us a very tough choice to have to make. Both are excellent - the Qashqai won the Association of Professional Motoring Press (APMP) Car of the Year award last year and trust me, we're a tough bunch to please. It's very good to drive, frugal and very comfy. Practical too, of course.

The Passat would probably be the better choice if you are doing lots of long motorway miles though - that 1.6 TDI engine is astonishing economical (I once did Galway-Dublin-Belfast-Glasgow-Dublin-Galway on one tank in one) and they're very comfy for long journeys. Both are about equally reliable, which means they're both pretty solid but don't accept anything that hasn't a full service history.

On the safety front, the 2014 Qashqai (that's the current shape model) got five stars on the EuroNCAP crash test, with an 88 per cent score for adult occupant protection, 83 per cent for child occupant, 69 per cent for pedestrian protection and 79 per cent for safety assist (which is a measure of how many electronic driver aids are fitted as standard).

The Passat achieved similar scores - five stars overall, 91 per cent adult occupant, 77 per cent child occupant, 54 per cent pedestrian protection, and 71 per cent safety assist.

Further reading:

2014 Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi review (on Irish roads)

2010-2014 Volkswagen Passat EuroNCAP safety results

2014 Nissan Qashqai EuroNCAP safety results

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Hi Christina,

We don't think that it's staggeringly high mileage and as long as all the service intervals have been hit spot on, you shouldn't have any major troubles. Besides, there's another year of full manufacturer's warranty yet to run, so you're covered for a little while at least (again, assuming that all scheduled servicing has been carried out correctly - the warranty can be invalidated if the previous owner has skimped). The 1.6 diesel i30 actually uses a timing chain, not a belt, so it should just need an inspection and an adjustment at regular servicing time, not a full replacement.

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Hi Harry,

It's very difficult to assess such a thing remotely, but here are a few things to check:

1 - Are you carrying extra weight in the boot?

2 - Check your tyre pressures, condition and alignment - makes a big difference.

3 - Check the cleansiness of your air filter. Very important.

4 - Have it serviced if it has not been in a long time.

5 - Check that none of the brakes are binding - jack up each corner in turn and with the car out of gear and the handbrake off you should be able to freely turn each wheel. If not, the brakes may be binding and need to be looked at.

6 - Only when you've exhausted the simple stuff should you look into getting the car hooked up to a diagnostic machine. Some versions of the TDI engine had problems with injectors and turbos that could lead to higher fuel consumption, but the fix is expensive.

Let us know how you get on

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Hi Aoife,

I think you might actually be better off going for the older Yaris, price advantage or otherwise. According to our research it seems to be more reliable than the model that came along in late 2005. The only problem area seems to be the gearbox, which can develop an annoying whine. The clutch can be a bit fragile too but if you buy one that's got a full service history you shouldn't go too far wrong. 

That generation Yaris used a timing chain, not a belt incidentally, so it should only need a regular check and possibly an adjustment at a scheduled service rather than a full change.

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Hi Eamon,

They're two very different cars, the Zafira and the Galaxy. The Opel is much the smaller car so if you're planning to carry full-size adults in the third row, you really need to get the Galaxy. 

In terms of reliability they both have their common issues. The Galaxy's engine can cut out unexpectedly (a software patch is the fix) and its interior trim can be fragile. A clunking noise from the steering could mean that the power steering pump is on the way out. Electrical problems are common and the alarm can give trouble.

On the Opel check that the tailgate release is working as it should and the air conditioning system can be troublesome. The stereo can also forget its preset stations or just stop working altogether. 

More seriously, the diesel engine can give serious trouble. Timing belt, water pump and the turbo are all problem areas. Make sure you get one with a full service history and an aftermarket warranty might not be a bad idea.