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 he has widened out that role to you, The Journal readers.

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 – 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:

Hi. I’m driving a 2012 Mercedes E-class which is running very well with 215 kilometres on the clock. I know that it doesn’t have much resale/trade in value. I drive about 10,000 kilometres per year.

I live in a terraced house, so an EV is not an option. What would you recommend as a replacement car that gives me good lumbar support and automatic transmission? I’m anxious to avoid Diesel Particulate Filter (editor’s note: DPV is basically a filter that cleans out some of the muck from diesel engines – they can get clogged in cars that do low mileage in the city) and similar issues going forward, but I would like a car with plenty of legroom. 

Hi there.

Your Mercedes E-Class will still have plenty of life left in it yet, if you keep servicing it properly, so perhaps you will have to give some thought as to whether changing it at all is the right thing to do, but let’s assume that you have made up your mind.

You haven’t given me any idea of budget, which makes answering a little tricky, but based on your wanting really good seats, I would be inclined to point you towards another Mercedes, especially if you have enjoyed your time with the car you have.

If you wanted to come up to something newer, a 2022 Mercedes-Benz E200 MHEV (mild hybrid) would cost you around €43,000. If this is too much, coming up to a 2019 would cost you around €27,000. Both of these are petrol and automatic and have brilliant seats so would do a really nice job for you.

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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.