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: 

Thanks for offering this advice first of all – much appreciated. My wife and I had our first baby seven months ago. She drives a 2016 Yaris which is in good condition and fully serviced.

I drive a company van so an upgrade would primarily be used by her. We want a bigger sized family car which will be reliable and safe. We live in a rural area. Most trips would be short journeys but the odd longer trip a few times a year would happen too. We’re thinking of a Hybrid or full electric. We don’t have a charging point but would have room to install one.

What are your general thoughts?

Firstly, hearty congratulations on your new arrival. It is a common question to ponder – Hybrid or Electric? And I would generally say if you are thinking of electric then hybrid is the one people choose if they are cautious or anxious about making the full move.

You say that most of your journeys are short with the odd few longer trips so an EV would make sense once you have the potential to install one.

Without mention of a budget it is tricky to pinpoint an exact model, but if your wife has been happy with her Yaris, then an obvious first pick would be another Toyota, in the form of the Bz4x and you can get 2023 examples from around €25,000 on DoneDeal Cars and this would be a great family vehicle in terms of having decent space for a buggy and the higher access point makes putting in a child seat a whole lot easier.

There is a 71 kWh battery and that is good for a real world range of around 375km without trying too hard.

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Other options would be the ubiquitous ID.4 – there are more of these EVs on DoneDeal Cars than any other so there is plenty of choice. These can be got for as little as €20,000 from Trusted Dealers.

Mileage might be higher in some cases, and I think it is still best to aim for an EV with less than 40,000km. But between the ID.4 and Bz4x I think you would be on to a great car for your new family.  

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.