'I am moving home from abroad and need to buy a car. What's good out there?'

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AS THE FACE of DoneDeal Cars and with 25 years’ experience in the industry, Paddy Comyn is ‘the’ car guy to everyone in his life and is now widening out that role to you, The Journal readers.

In his Car Clinic series, he will answer all your motoring questions and queries. Have one? Send it to with the subject line CAR CLINIC to motoring@thejournal.ie – we will publish all answers on Mondays on The Journal. (Your questions will be anonymised.) Please let Paddy know what your budget is if you’re asking about your next big purchase.

Here’s this week’s question:

I am moving home from abroad and need to buy a car. The budget is 25-30k euro. Nothing to trade in so not sure of if I should borrow, do hire purchase or PCP.

Looking for something that will take motorways, as well as around town. Will be commuting every week approx. 100km each way on back roads, so I am considering a hybrid. Not plug-in. Once a month to the big smoke (350km ew).

**What is a good reliable car to get? I was thinking a Mini Countryman or a Skoda SUV. Different things, I know. Also looking at a Toyota hybrid but want something funky. No kids, no pets so just want something reliable and safe and not to be foolish or for the garage to see me coming. **

Thoughts on the BYDs?

Welcome home!

I have a decent sense of what you are after. Something a little funky, not too dull, but reliable and less than €30,000. You have mentioned a lot of brands, from Mini to Skoda and to Toyota and BYD.

Dealing firstly with the Mini Countryman. You said you’d like a hybrid, but the Mini is a PHEV (plug-in hybrid) which you’ve said no to. So if it is going to be a Countryman it will be a diesel and you would have to go back a few years and the newest one we could find was a 2020 for just under €22,000 and over 111,000km.

The newer standard petrol ones will sit a little outside your budget – you’d need around €34,000 for a 2024 with 31,500km. So unless you want to come up with a budget or choose a PHEV (which you could get as a 2023 with your budget) then you might need to forget the Mini.

I think a more logical option for you, given what you’ve said is a Toyota C-HR Hybrid. This is a good-looking small SUV, that is super reliable, great on petrol and looks good. You could have a 2023 from a main Trusted Dealer on DoneDeal Cars for €30,000. There are even some quite funky colours. I think this car probably ticks all the boxes you need.

Another option would be a Skoda, as you mentioned and I think the Karoq petrol would be a nice option. There is a 1.0-litre and 1.5-litre petrol and I would go for the latter given your commuting. You’ll pay around €29,000 for a 2021 at a Skoda Trusted Dealer on DoneDeal Cars and this feels like a well-built car and should also come with a decent amount of spec.

Lastly, there are a few BYDs that fit your budget – mainly the Atto 3 SUV which is fully electric and you haven’t mentioned electric so far, but you did say you didn’t want a plug-in hybrid. The Atto 3 is a great EV, with a 60.5 kWh battery, your commute will be easy and cheap and these cars come laden with equipment so you will want for nothing.

In terms of paying for it, I would be inclined to do a HP on a used car like this, as you will have already seen the bulk of the car’s depreciation happen. Most main dealers have pretty decent lending rates at the moment and are quite competitive.

Paddy Comyn is the head of automotive content and communications with DoneDeal Cars. He has been involved in the Irish motor industry for more than 25 years.

Journal Media Ltd has shareholders in common with DoneDeal Ltd.

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