'It is time for me to buy a new EV for between €50-60k. What would you recommend?'

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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:

It is time for me to buy a new EV. I am happy to buy it this year or wait until 2027 if there is a newer model on its way that would suit me better. I have solar panels and would envisage charging at home most of the time. However, I do intend to use the car on motoring holidays so would like decent charging speeds.

I am close to retirement and while our children have their own cars now, we do have a grandchild so will need a car that is child-friendly. We currently have a PHEV, but this will be our first full EV.

Therefore, I will probably have some range anxiety and would like an official range in excess of 500km. I don’t have a preference for make but would value comfort and if possible a towing capacity of 1.5 tons, braked.

Reliability would also be high on my priority list. New or almost new is good and my budget would be a maximum of €50-60k. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Hey there – well you are nice and clear about what you want and there is some decent choice in the price range that you mention. So let’s work backwards from the towing as that is going to be the hardest thing to achieve here.

The first car that will do the job is the Tesla Model Y which can tow up to 1,600kg and has a WLTP range of 605km, but it must be the Model Y Long Range AWD model if you want this performance.

So Tesla Ireland has a LR AWD from 2024 for €47,000, However, new, they are within your budget. A new model is just over €54,400 for the Model Y Premium LR AWD.

Another option is the Kia EV9 but it will stretch your budget a little. It hasn’t been out that long, and you would need the EV9 AWD and the cheapest on DoneDeal Cars is a 2024 with 42,000km from a Kia Dealer and it’s €66,000. This has a 500km range and a massive 2,500kg towing capacity. It is a huge vehicle with seven seats but it’s going to handle your towing with ease.

A final option would be the BMW iX xDrive50, which has a 612km range and can tow 2,500kg so it will certainly do what you need. You would need to go back to 2023 however for a 55,000km model from a Trusted Dealer on DoneDeal Cars for €56,995. This would be a really good solution, but I know you said new or nearly new.

For me, a new Tesla Model Y LR AWD seems like the best solution.

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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