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 this brand-new 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.)
Here’s the first question:
My wife and I just had our third child. My other kids are four (18kg) and two (15kg). My current car is an EV MG ZS and there is not a prayer of fitting the three in the back.
I would like some advice on what to go for next please.
My preference would be a five-seater hybrid or EV if I could get one with the space in the back, a long range and a decent boot size. I would be looking to hold onto this car for the next number of years (5-7 years), so any with a decent warranty would also be an added bonus. I would like to go down the PCP route or low-interest loan.
If this is an unrealistic ask could you point me in the direction of any ICE (internal combustion engine) cars that would fit my criteria. If you have any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Firstly, congratulations on your new arrival.
This is a common enough enquiry and the arrival of a third small child can present some logistical challenges when it comes to child seats.
It can be hard to find an SUV with three ISOFIX points in the rear – the likes of the Skoda Enyaq and Volkswagen ID.4 have three ISOFIX but one is in the front seat and two in the rear.
A Kia EV9 would make a really good choice as there are two rows of seats behind the driver which take two ISOFIX in each. It isn’t a cheap car, it starts at €77.500 but they are starting to appear on the used market. There are around 60 on DoneDeal Cars and the cheapest is €62,000 and this would be a super choice.
Staying with Kia you could have a Sorento which is a PHEV and starts at €67,800. Hyundai also offers the IONIQ 9 which has a total of five ISOFIX, one in the front and two in each of the second and third rows. That starts from €78,495. There aren’t too many yet on the used market, and they start at around €68,500.
However, there is one ideal solution which you might not have considered, and it’s the Citroen eBerlingo. There are three individual seats in the rear and all have ISOFIX and then there is a massive boot behind it. You have a choice between Medium and Long Wheelbase and the option of five- or seven-seats and it starts from €37,072, or €38,946 with seven-seats.
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.