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Hi Anne,

An all-new Volvo XC90 is due in Ireland in 2015 so the current car is being phased out. The last examples sold in the country are in either D4 or D5 diesel spec with a Geartronic automatic gearbox. They both sat in Band F for road tax, costing €1,200 per annum.

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Hi John,

Clearly no car is utterly immune to breakdowns or component failures, but the Lexus LS 430 comes closer than probably any other. It is staggeringly reliable. We have heard tales of people buying the (older) LS 400 model from the '90s for under a grand and still finding every single electrical item working perfectly. Try that with a 7 Series or S-Class...

The Lexus is also hugely comfortable and deeply luxurious and actually better to drive than you might think. No hot hatch, obviously, but still more capable than the roly-poly reputation would have you believe.

Downsides? Colossal motor tax costs and it helps if someone else is paying for your fuel...

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Hi Margaret,

You need to book a session at your nearest NCT centre to have the car valued for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT), which is the fee payable when importing a car from outside the state. According to the regulations, you have to book the inspection within seven days of the car arriving in this country, and then you have 30 days to complete the inspection and pay the fee, which will be calculated as a percentage of the estimated Irish market value, based on that model’s CO₂ emissions. You can find more details here: http://www.revenue.ie/en/tax/vrt/vrt-guide.html

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Hi Graham,

It depends which model you are referring to. Our records show the following:

- RAV4 2.0 VVT-i (petrol) automatic: 212g/km - Band F, €1,200 per annum

- RAV4 2.0 VVT-i (petrol) manual: 202g/km - Band F, €1,200 per annum

- RAV4 2.2 D-4D (diesel) manual: 173g/km - Band E, €750 per annum

Come back to us if it's something else and we'll look into it.

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Hi Ann,

Yeah, you might just scrape into a 2012 model in either car but to be fair, though rolling back to a 2011 or even a 2010 (assuming that condition and history are OK) isn't really going to be any hardship. As for the C4 Picasso, well it's a very, very different type of car altogether - a big, spacious family MPV rather than a low-slung sports saloon. They're nice and comfy, but won't be as well built as either of the German cars.

If it were our choice to make, we'd go with the Audi - comfy, decent to drive and reliable.

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Hi William,

Two excellent choices there. If it was the new-shape Santa Fe you were looking at we'd recommend that without hesitation. As it's the older shape one though you need to think a little more carefully, as its CO₂ emissions are on the high side these days. In that sense the Q5, in spite of being more expensive and smaller inside, is possibly the better choice.

Let us know how you get on

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Hi Jim,

It depends on the year, as the Lexus RX 400h was sold before and after the motor taxation system change in 2008. For later models the emissions fall into tax Band F, costing €1,200 per annum. For earlier cars, because the engine size puts it into the highest category, the annual cost is €1,809.

Hope that helps

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Hi Rory,

Both cars use dual clutch semi-automatic gearboxes, which are pretty slick-shifting, but Volkswagen's DSG transmission just edges it for smoothness and quickness. 

On the emissions front it's rather bad news I'm afraid. If you're buying 2008 model year cars then you're looking at emissions of 189g/km for the Mondeo 2.0 TDCi Powershift and 175g/km for the Passat 2.0 TDI DSG. That means tax of €750 a year.

It gets a bit better if you can spool forward to 2010 when the Passat's emissions drop to 158g/km so that means a tax bill of €570 a year. 

Just for reference, the Mondeo 2.0 diesel auto gets an official 39mpg while the 2010 Passat with DSG gets 47mpg.

To be honest, if you can live without an automatic gearbox you would be better to go for the 1.6-litre diesel versions of either car. Both have decent performance and much better economy and emissions. For instance, a 1.6 BlueMotion Technologies Passat gets 62mpg and has emissions of just 118g/km so tax of €200 a year.

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Hi Dave,

We're assuming you mean the current 1.6 TDCi version of the Ford C-Max, which has 95hp. It emits 117g/km, putting it in Band A4, which currently costs €200 per annum.

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Hi there,

Welcome to Ireland! I'd suggest you have a look for a Honda Civic 1.4 petrol automatic. That's probably the best balance between reliability (Civics are very reliable), economy and sticking within your budget. The higher road tax comes from the changeover to a carbon emissions based system in 2008. Prior to that cars were taxed according to their engine size, but the Civic's 1.4-litre petrol engine should keep your tax bills down to a reasonable level. Sadly, there's nothing you can do to change the NCT test - every car requires one every two years once it's more than four years old, and every year once it's more than ten years old. Again, the Honda will help here - they're really well built so less likely to develop problems that would cause you to fail an NCT test, as long as you look after it and keep it serviced.