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\n Paddy Comyn<\/p>\n
AS THE FACE of DoneDeal Cars and with 25 years\u2019 experience in the industry, Paddy Comyn is \u2018the\u2019 car guy<\/a> to everyone in his life and he has widened out that role to you, The Journal readers.<\/p>\n In his Car Clinic series, he answers all your motoring questions and queries. Have one? Send it with the subject line CAR CLINIC to motoring@thejournal.ie \u2013 we will publish all answers on Mondays on The Journal. (Your questions will be anonymised.)<\/p>\n Please let Paddy know what your budget is if you\u2019re asking about your next big purchase.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s this week\u2019s question:\n<\/p>\n Hi Paddy,\u00a0<\/p>\n I am looking to change my car. It\u2019s a 2008 reg and the NCT is coming to an end. I do a bit of driving on the motorway \u2013 around a 600km round trip twice a month. <\/p>\n I\u2019d like to stay with diesel but open to ideas. I was looking at a T-Roc earlier. It is 2022 with 101,000km on the clock. Would this be a good option? <\/p>\n Would appreciate what would be a good car to consider other than this for my budget which is \u20ac20,000 to \u20ac30,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hey there. Thanks for your question. The choice of diesels has really dwindled over the past number of years with brands like Volvo, Toyota etc abandoning them altogether. So if you want to stick with diesel then your options are getting a little thinner.<\/p>\n You said that although you would like to stick with diesel, you are open to other ideas. Given you only do a 600km round trip on a motorway around twice a month, I would be curious about your other driving and what it looks like, as a hybrid or even a smaller petrol might do a decent job for you.\u00a0<\/p>\n You did mention the Volkswagen T-Roc and a 2022 with 101,000km on the clock. Your budget would most certainly allow you to get a fresher car. I found a 2023 model with just 5,000km on the clock for under \u20ac28,000 and it comes with the excellent 1.5-litre petrol engine in the T-Roc.<\/p>\n I can understand your draw to a diesel if you have had them before but I think you might consider the other option in the T-Roc. While the Diesel is good and would be a strong choice if you intend to keep the car a long time and put up huge mileage, for me the 1.5-litre petrol engine is nicer and makes the T-Roc a really sweet car to drive.\u00a0<\/p>\n Another really good option for you would be a Toyota C-HR, with a 1.8-litre petrol \/ hybrid <\/a>engine. Your budget could get you a 2022 example with tiny mileage from a Toyota dealer and this would be a really nice car to own and it returns excellent fuel economy.\u00a0<\/p>\n