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 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 Paddy,

I’m looking for some advice as I need a car suitable for a family of six as I have two teens, an eight-month-old and another on the way.

Currently, I have an Octavia which I love due to the cabin and boot space but it’s a bit tight when all the family are in it and with another baby on the way I need something to fit us all.

Is there a seven-seater you can recommend up to €40,000 either new or reasonably new? I am open to all fuel types, I tend to drive 25-30km annually with regular round trips up to 300km so if it was electric then range would be important. 

Hey there. It sounds like you have a super busy household!

As someone who has really enjoyed an Octavia, the natural place to start is with another Skoda. The Kodiaq has been a really popular model in Ireland for some time, and with good reason.

It is versatile, comfortable and not too expensive to run either.

With your €40,000 budget you would be looking at a 2023 Kodiaq, with most of these with a little bit of mileage on them but I wouldn’t worry about this too much. The choice of seven-seat EVs is still pretty thin on the ground, so this is where the finance question comes in. 

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The ideal car for your family sounds like the forthcoming Skoda Peaq, a seven-seat EV which is essentially Skoda’s EV equivalent of the Kodiaq, but it only comes to Ireland early next year and it is new, so there are no used versions and the new model starts at €55,000 so you would be looking at finance in that case.

The Skoda Peaq Skoda Skoda

There will be attractive offers on this car but they are going to be in huge demand so if that is the route you might go, you will need to move fast. 

In terms of cash vs finance for the used car you won’t get brilliant finance rates on a used car, so if you have the money then it might be best to use that, but I would consider changing the car within about two years given the expected mileage you will put on it. 

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.