I’ve had a diesel [Volvo] XC60 for the last 11 years. The Volvo’s engine recently died on me. I wasn’t driving it enough, too much city driving, and not enough motorway driving. Bad timing really as it only had 120,000km on it. It had full leather, was very comfortable, and I felt safe.
I recently bought a Suzuki Vitara – the 1.4 hybrid – in the rain from my nearest forecourt. This after being fed up with walking in the rain. I just bought it on the spot.
It’s too small; I need room for a big golden retriever, a walker for my elderly mother and now a teenage boy at boarding school.
I will be driving an extra four hours a week on the motorway, carrying equipment and his friends.
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The step into the car must be lower than the Volvo, as my elderly mother has restricted ability to swing her legs into the front seat. I would go electric, but nothing over €40,000 used. Can you advise? I like SUVs with a squarish look rather than a sloped angular back, as the dog needs head space. From TG, Galway.
Yes, that Suzuki Vitara, although still a decent car, is quite small on the inside, certainly if you’re trying to lug a golden retriever around. Will he happily sit in the boot? My greyhound complains bitterly if he’s relegated away from the comfy seat.
Thankfully, within your €40,000 budget, as long as you’re willing to buy second-hand, there’s a wealth of options, electric and otherwise.
Let’s start with a Skoda Enyaq. It’s one of the best medium-sized EVs around, and your budget pretty handily gets you into a 2023 model, an Enyaq iV 80, which means you get the biggest 77kWh battery and a range of about 450km in real-world conditions. It’s also impressively smooth and refined, and not beyond giving you a bit of driver pleasure on a twisty road.
It’s also a bit lower slung than your previous XC60. An XC60 has a minimum seat height to ground drop of 717mm, whereas the Skoda’s seat height is 655mm. Plus the 585-litre boot – one of the biggest in its class – should make a good home for your retriever, with plenty of space for a dog crate or similar and a large, square-ish rear body shape. We found a 2023 model on sale from a Skoda main dealer within your budget.
If you still like your Volvos, you could consider an EX40. However, its seat height is a little higher even than the Skoda’s, at 688mm, so it might not be so much of a good choice.
A car that does have a lower seat even than the Skoda, and which has an excellent real-world range is the Renault Scenic E-Tech.
This is something of a massively underrated car, and it’s actually one of our favourite mid-sized EVs. The 87kWh battery version has a claimed range of just over 600km (450-500km in real-world conditions), and it has a roomy 545-litre boot.
It also has fantastically comfy seats both front and rear, and if you’re lugging your son’s friends around in the back then they may appreciate the handy tablet and mobile-phone holders in the rear armrest. We found a 2024 Scenic 87kWh, in desirable Esprit Alpine trim, for sale from a Renault main dealer, within your budget.
I’ve concentrated on electric cars so far, given your stated willingness to go all-battery, but there’s a final option which might actually be the best one, although it’s only half-electric.
It’s also a rare bird, in Irish terms, but one that keeps you within the Volvo family. It’s a 2023 Volvo V90 estate T6 plug-in hybrid, which – if you charge it up fully – has a circa 80km electric range and storming performance in a straight line.
It’s also devastatingly handsome (the one we found is finished in a shiny black metallic, with diamond-turned wheels). The boot can carry 560 litres up to the luggage cover, and there are four incredibly comfortable seats in the cabin.
Plus, the bonus is that for your mum, the seat height from the ground is a mere 525mm, much lower than your old XC60, and lower than anything else we’ve suggested here. Considering that this one is coming in at almost €3,000 under budget, it seems like a total winner to us.
