After another year in the driving seat, it’s time to put ourselves in the buyer’s seat. Readers regularly contact us for suggestions or opinions.
We have both been doing this for over 20 years, and rarely have readers told us they are looking for a C-Segment mid-sized crossover.
This year, we’ve tried to look at how motorists commonly approach the market.
Over the next few weeks, our categories may not fit your situation exactly, but they should give you a good steer on what we regard as cars that you should add to your shortlist for a test drive.
READ MORE
For a second car runabout
A second car in a household usually has a couple of deal-breaking criteria to meet. It has to be cheap to buy, hence why the cars we’ve listed here are some of the absolute cheapest new cars on the Irish market. It has to be cheap to run, which is why our top pick is electric (although that does presuppose that you have a driveway and a charger at home so you can top the battery up on night-rate electricity). And it has to be practical, because it’s always the second car runabout that’s going to be delegated to the general dogsbody roles of hauling things and people about, from trips to the bottle bank and the Saturday morning shop.
- Best: Hyundai Inster
The Hyundai Inster is, no word of a lie, a bit of a superstar. It’s also not really what you’d call a pretty car — it’s oddly both boxy, but it does have a faint hint of adorable puppy about it. It’s better by far inside, where Hyundai shows its usual mastery of developing cabins that are plush enough to feel high-tech, but which still have simple buttons and controls that actually make life easier. It’s also massively roomy.
You can easily get two teens in the back of this for a school run. In the mid-range version and upwards, the rear seats slide back and forth, so you can sacrifice boot space for rear legroom, which makes it incredibly adept at tackling family needs.
With all seats folded flat, you could even sleep in this if you find yourself at a weekend festival. The 49kWh battery version - that’s the pricier one - can manage better than 300km of range in real-world terms, and if you can charge at the cheapest night rate, then a full top-up should cost you not much more than €5.
Being small and light, the Inster is also sweet to drive, and yet it’s comfy on an occasional long haul. A better small all-rounder? You won’t find one.
[ Hyundai Inster: Small EV with a big personality set to shine in 2025Opens in new window ]
- Also try: Dacia Sandero
The Dacia Sandero, as it has always done, exemplifies minimalism. True, its price isn’t as minimalist as it once was, but it’s still pretty cheap compared to any other small city hatchback.
With the 2026 update coming soon, it is also a really rather quietly handsome car, closer to a VW Polo than the old, rather shabby-looking Sanderos.
The cabin looks and feels pretty good; it’s roomy, it’s economical, and it’s perfectly fine to drive. Dacia also tends to make reliable cars, thanks largely to using lots of well-proven old Renault bits. Humble it may be, but the Sandero is really good.
[ Dacia Hipster an early bet for EU’s new small affordable car schemeOpens in new window ]
- Also try: BYD Dolphin Surf
We’re still waiting for the BYD that truly blows us out of the water with sheer excellence, but the little Dolphin Surf sticks to BYD’s recent form of making cars that are just thoroughly decent.
Go for the retina-bothering bright green-yellow paint, and it looks a bit like a Lamborghini essayed by Micro Machines, and the cabin is both roomy enough for four and well-made.
A 156hp motor in the higher-spec models gives it some serious pace, and the bigger battery can manage a real-world 250km (out of a 310km claim), but consumption spikes if you venture out on to the motorway for too long.
For a family car buyer with off-street parking
If you have off-street parking, then the best bet is surely, at this stage, to go fully electric.
Yes, we know — there are still challenges, not least the lack of decent charging options along any longer journey route you might want to take, but if you pick up an EV with a good chunk of usable real-world range, then you have some built-in flexibility, and your off-street parking means you can put in a home charger to make sure you’re getting the cheapest possible night rate electricity for topping up the battery.
Do your sums right, and you’ll end up with an unbeatably affordable car to run, and as these choices show, something stylish and good to drive too, with more flair than your average SUV.
- Best: Kia EV4
The EV4 comes in two guises – hatchback and fastback (a wannabe saloon). Now, for many, the styling of the Fastback EV4 will be a bit too much to swallow, but either way,with the EV4 you’re getting a roomy and high-tech interior which manages to include enough proper buttons for actual usability, and the sort of quality levels - one or two shabby plastic items apart - that put more than a few German models to shame.
Space in the EV4 is also excellent, although obviously the five-door hatch has the edge in overall versatility. Unlike its somewhat inert sibling, the smaller EV3, the EV4 is enjoyable to drive, with a sense of connection to the road below, but still enough isolation for long-range comfort and low-speed bump absorbing. Long range? You bet, with the 81kWh battery option, Kia claims 633km on a full charge, and on our test at least 520km of that seemed realistic, even with lots of motorway driving. The EV4 is a little pricier than some of its rivals, but it’s also a bigger, more substantial-feeling car than most, and with the quality and range on offer, you’ll soon forget the price tag.
[ First drive: Can Kia’s EV4 save the hatchback in the electric age?Opens in new window ]
- Also try: Toyota C-HR+
It took a while, but Toyota has finally got the recipe right for its C-HR. And it comes with a plug. From the start, back in 2017, this model represented a quality leap for Toyota in terms of its styling and interior. It could easily have carried a Lexus badge. But it was cramped in the rear and the regular hybrid setup, wasn’t engineered for driving fun. That little + means you now get proper rear legroom, a decent boot and a fully-electric powertrain that – based on our tests – should deliver more than 415km from its 77kWh battery pack, with a claimed range of 600km. On the road, it delivers a level of refinement you don’t get in its bZ4X sibling. It’s also competitively priced, starting at €41,355. What’s not to like?
- Also try: Citroen C5 Aircross
The C5 Aircoss is a very welcome surprise. This is the car that drags Citroën back into the Premier League of family crossovers. While most rivals chase “sporty handling”, the C5 Aircross simply glides across the average Irish road as if the tarmac has been ironed. No, it’s not the sharpest tool in the shed and you won’t be seeking out back-roads for the thrill of it, but if your back prefers cushions to kettlebells, this is the one to beat. Built on Stellantis’s new platform, it has genuine family space, a cabin that looks smarter than you expect for the money, and ride quality that wouldn’t disgrace the new DS No.8 - but minus the DS price-tag and its bling. And that price? Starting just under €39,000, it’s proof that comfort doesn’t have to be a luxury-brand indulgence. In a sea of identikit crossovers, the Citroën turns up with a soft ride, a touch of French eccentricity and an attitude that says: “Relax. Let everyone else pretend to be sporty.”
- Wild card: Nissan Leaf
Is the new Nissan Leaf a hatchback? Or a crossover? Do we really care? It’s undeniably a massive leap forward compared to the previous Leaf. Instead of a cheap black plastic cabin, you get one boasting high-tech, high-quality and high-comfort.
You also get range: 622km claimed for the big 75kWh battery version - and just enough space to be family-friendly. The Leaf is smooth and relaxing to drive, too, and the new Google-based infotainment system is one of the best we’ve yet come across. The only real demerit is a slightly small boot.
For a car buyer with on-street or apartment parking
If you’re an apartment dweller, it doesn’t necessarily mean that an EV (or indeed a PHEV) is off the table, but it certainly becomes more difficult. If you live in an apartment complex with a forward-looking management team, then yes, you may well have access to properly metered electric car charging facilities and can charge at cheap rates. For many apartment dwellers, though, that will not be the case, and considering that car parking space in apartment complexes is often at a premium, that means you’re best off looking at a small, frugal car without a plug. So that’s exactly what we’ve chosen here…
- Best: Skoda Fabia
Skoda just makes sensible cars, and that’s quite probably why it’s one of the few parts of the VW empire that’s currently running properly, finding lots of customers, and pulling in solid profits. The Fabia might be one of Skoda’s older models now — and it comes with neither fully-electric nor even hybrid power — but it’s just such a sensible, satisfying little thing. We say little, but actually, the Fabia is pretty roomy inside. Rear legroom isn’t going to threaten any limos, but it’s sufficient, and the bonus is the huge boot, which at 380 litres is comparable in size with that of a much bigger VW Golf. The front of the cabin is roomy and comfy too, and the dashboard and instruments look a little more interesting than those of the Fabia’s close cousin, the VW Polo (although the Polo still feels a touch more robust overall). You have a choice of three-cylinder petrol engines, with or without a turbo, or a 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbo, with an automatic gearbox only. All are frugal, but the best bet is the 95hp turbo 1.0, with a manual gearbox. Simple, economical, reliable, and easy-going — if not quite fun — to drive.
- Also try: Suzuki Swift
Since 2005, the Suzuki Swift has been the thinking person’s Mini Cooper. No, seriously, it has. The Swift has much of the same cute-and-cuddly styling as the Mini, but it costs multiples of thousands less to buy, and the bewildering choice of Mini options is here reduced to a singular 1.2-litre mild-hybrid petrol engine. Which is enough, to be honest, and it’s both lively and very economical. The cabin feels a bit cheap in places, but the Swift is reliable, and it’s a hoot to drive. Total bargain.
- Also Try: Toyota Yaris
We don’t generally think of the Toyota Yaris as being fun to drive — the rally-inspired GR Yaris aside — but this current small Toyota is genuinely sharp from behind the wheel, with an impressive sense of balance and very communicative steering. It doesn’t hurt that it’s also spectacularly well-made, and in hybrid format exceptionally economical. Back seats and boot are small though, and it’s not cheap.
- Next week: Best buys with your company car allowance, plus our pick of the luxury cars
[ EV Q&A: Is it worth buying a battery to store electricity?Opens in new window ]
