Paddy Comyn

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:

We drive a 10-year-old Toyota Corolla at the moment. My wife has back problems and finds the driver’s seat position too low. We need to change to an SUV we think, not necessarily brand-new. Do you have any suggestions? Are there any cars specifically designed for people with bad backs? We don’t want to break the bank either!

Hi there. There are some carmakers who make a concerted effort to produce cars with really good seats and Opel is one of those.

A car I have driven recently with absolutely brilliant seats is the Opel Grandland. It is an SUV that starts from €39,095 new and features something called Intelliseats, which are designed to relieve pressure on the tailbone and honestly, they are the most comfortable seats I have been in for ages and I am someone who spends a lot of time driving, especially from Dublin to Cork.

You didn’t mention a budget so I am not sure if moving to a new car is a stretch but 2025 versions of this car are appearing on DoneDeal Cars from about €35,000. 

But these seats also come from the Elegance spec in the new Opel Frontera, which is a really good smaller crossover from Opel that starts from €24,606 but the one you would need starts at €26,480.

This comes in either EV or Hybrid, with the hybrid version in Elegance trim with the right seats starting from €30,095. 

Another good option is staying with Toyota and an obvious solution for you guys would be to go for a Corolla Cross on the used market. A new model starts from €40,085 and the thing is that values remain very strong on the Corolla Cross so even a two-year old one is commanding €36,000 at a Toyota dealer. It is quite a large SUV so it might make more sense to go for the Toyota Yaris Cross, which sits high up, has very decent seats and starts from around €20,000 for a 2021 on DoneDeal Cars.  

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If your budget allows and seats are a priority, then go for either Opel fitted with Intelliseats. 

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.