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Hi Marie,

Prices still seem to be holding up for the 407, probably because most of them came with Peugeot's frugal and low-tax 1.6 HDi diesel engine. We've seen them on for as little as €8,950 but others seem to be hovering around the €11,000 mark.

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Hi Patrick,

It certainly should be possible, although how much it will cost is a bit of a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string? question. Probably not a huge amount but you'll want to make sure the work is done properly. In fact, you have to make sure the work is done properly as Revenue will only accept a car as being legally converted if the firm carrying out the work meets certain minimum standards. You can find more details here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/vehicle-conversions.html#section3

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Hi Tom,

It really does depend on what you mean by 'better'. The 1.5 has been around a long time so the 1.6 is more refined and more powerful, but the 1.5 is still more economical and emits less CO₂, so it's cheaper to tax. On top of all that the 1.5 is €1,500 cheaper. Our money would be on the old engine unless you value performance highly or you expect to do a lot of towing.

Further reading:

Irish road test of the current Nissan Qashqai 1.5 dCi

First drive of the 1.6-litre engine - in the old-shape Nissan Qashqai

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Hi Siobhan,

I presume you mean the Verso rather than the Verso S? Don't buy a Verso S - it's horrid...

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Hi Debbie,

If you're importing it as a commercial vehicle (and it may well be that Revenue will ask for some proof of its future use before allowing you to do so) then it comes in under Category B, so it's a minimum of €125 VRT, or 13.3 per cent of the Open Market Selling Price, or OMSP.

How much that is can best be answered by me waving this piece of string around and asking you how long it is. I'd take a stab at around €8-900,  but honestly that's just a SWAG (Scientific Wild-Assed Guess). You won't know for sure until the car has been inspected. The wonderful certainties of the Irish vehicle taxation system...

If you're not importing it as a commercial, but as a private vehicle, then you're going to be paying more. The CO₂ emissions for the 2. 5D with 114hp were 186g/km, which puts the L200 into the ninth VRT band, which means you'll pay 30 per cent VRT. That should work out at about €1,500 or so, but again, that's a total finger-in-the-air guess and I can't offer you any more than that without taking the actual, physical car to Revenue myself for the valuation.

Best of luck with it

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Hi John,

Yeah, that's not bad actually. The 206 has long been popular as a starter car or for those looking for something small and cheap to run. Just have a good check that anything electrical is working properly and make sure that the cabin is all holding together - its fragile in there. Also make sure that the central locking and heating systems are working properly. 

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Hi Mary,

Sort of. Ford currently has a special offer, dubbed Ford Swappage, in play for 151 registrations. Basically, if you trade in a car up to ten years old against a new Fiesta, Focus, B-Max, C-Max or Kuga, then Ford will give you a bonus of €1,500 on top of the normal trade-in value of your vehicle. In other words, if your car is worth €5,000 as a trade-in, Ford will give you €6,500 for it.

There are some terms and conditions of course. The car being traded in must be taxed, insured and have a current NCT ticket and the offer is currently set to run out at the end of this month. It's also only available to individual, private customers not those buying for fleets.

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Hi Kieran,

Not massive. There's a tiny 1mpg gap between them in terms of fuel economy (the Toyota gets 59mpg, the Ford 60mpg), but in everyday driving , they'll probably work out pretty much the same.

Overall, the Toyota will probably be slightly more reliable, and the Ford slightly cheaper to service and repair if anything does go wrong. The Toyota will probably be a little cheaper to insure too, and its road tax will be slightly lower.

On balance then, the Toyota is likely to be fractionally cheaper to run, but there's precious little in it.

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Hi John,

Yes, I'd say you're onto a good one there. Obviously, a well used 14-year old Astra isn't going to come with a bundle of trade-in value attached, so I think the price looks pretty fair for the Octavia, especially given the low mileage. Honestly - we see press cars with higher miles than that!

As for the petrol/diesel side of things, I think you'll be fine in the 1.2 TSI. At 11,000 miles a year you're well within the bracket to keep burning petrol rather than switching to more expensive diesel (more expensive to buy the car, not the fuel of course) and the good news is that the 1.2 TSI engine is exceptionally frugal. In fact, I once drove one for 200km before I realised that it wasn't diesel, so slow moving was the fuel gauge. In my defence, it was late and I was tired...

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Hi Sinrad,

I'd say you should be able to get about €12-13,500 as a trade-in, maybe €14,500 if you sell it yourself.