Hyundai Tucson stays tops in 2016

The Hyundai Tucson has broken all SUV records by being the best-selling car as well as the best selling SUV in Ireland so far this year. New car registration figures for the month of November, produced by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) show that the Tucson remains on top, ahead of its nearest rival the Volkswagen Golf, as the car market grew by 17%. The Tucson’s success has pushed the Hyundai brand to the market leader position for 2016.

The rise of the SUV market has been phenomenal. New car sales in this market sector in which the Tucson dominates, have grown by almost 52% year on year, according to SIMI, and this is now the second biggest segment in the Irish car market.

Three SUVs made it into the top 10 cars sold listing this year, with the Tucson in the lead followed by the Nissan Qashqai in fifth place overall and the Kia Sportage in 10th position. Between they account for over 10% of the total market with almost 15,000 registrations.

The car market remains competitive as we come to the year end. The 171 offers are piling in, with options of free insurance, free servicing, cashback offers and low-rate finance among the tempting devices being used by the motor companies in their efforts to guarantee new car registrations for January 2017.

The all-important message is to take some time when buying a car, new or used. Examine the features that you want or must have and make your decision based on running costs and your safety and that of your passengers, more than colour and style. And, remember, deal with reputable car dealers; be very cautious of any internet buying and equally cautious of taking a chance at an auction.

The Mercedes Benz E-Class was voted by a panel of more than 30 motoring journalists as the Irish Car of the Year 2017 in association with Continental Tyres. This new model is more competitive than ever, with a lower price and higher specification than the previous model, including a host of new driving technology features.

The seven category winners that were shortlisted for the overall award are listed in Table 1.

All of the category winners were in the running for the top honour. The journalists selected the Mercedes Benz E-Class as the Irish Car of the Year 2017 by a landslide margin.

This is the 40th year of the Irish Car of the Year Awards.

Hybrid cars are here to stay even if some considered them transition vehicles on the road to hydrogen power. Some companies are putting a huge effort into hybrid sales, with Toyota being the dominant player, offering a range of non-plug-in hybrids as an alternative to their petrol and diesel cars. Hybrid sales are rising (Table 2), with more than a 40% increase this year compared with 2015.

There is some confusion on what a hybrid car is and why you should choose one. There are a number of alternatives – hybrids, plug-in hybrids and range extender hybrids.

The most common type of hybrid uses an engine to generate ongoing battery power, which is stored in a large re-chargeable battery pack typically located under the floor of the boot. This extends the range of the car and allows for electric battery-powered and cleaner air, with zero CO2 emissions, driving at low speeds in towns or cities.

These cars use a range of devices to constantly recharge the battery. Included among these is the car’s engine, recharging from the systems fitted to the car’s wheels. The move between engine power and battery power is seamless and requires no input from the driver, other than sensible and normal driving style.

Most of the plug-in type hybrids use a mains electric plug-in system to charge the car overnight. They will typically give you a 40km to 60km driving range on the electric system only.

This will be backed up with a petrol or diesel engine, so that you can drive the car on the electric power for short runs and it is cheaper motoring. Alternatively, you can drive on the car’s petrol or diesel engine and hold on to the battery electric power until you need it.

The other types of hybrid are where a small engine is operated mainly to create electric power to recharge a battery pack. These cars can be plugged in for low-cost charging overnight and when the rechargeable battery power runs out, the engine kicks in to recharge the battery.

This gives some form of range comfort as you can pull in to refuel the engine which will start recharging the battery. The car in this case will always be driven on electric power; the engine itself does not provide any motive power.

So hybrid power is now a reality for rural drivers. If you could use a small-scale turbine or a digester to generate power in a farm situation, you could reduce your motoring costs significantly by using it to recharge your car overnight.

This will hugely lower your car fuel costs and, with the range of hybrids on the market, this is now a reality.

Toyota is so confident of its hybrid offer for 2017 that it will replace a hybrid car for a petrol or diesel engine model if the owner is not happy after an agreed level of use. Toyota is already claiming a 140% increase in hybrid sales in 2016.

The RAV4 hybrid, which I drove during the early summer, and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV plug-in hybrid are now competitive in an ownership sense with diesel power equivalents, and other than their slightly lower towing power, offer a real option and are great to drive on the road.

New cars are clocking up more kilometres

The annual mileage covered in newer cars has increased by 7.1% as the country recovers, according to a study by vehicle history company www.cartell.ie which tracks car usage levels and valuations. The average annual number of kilometres travelled by a car of five years of age or less in 2016 is 21,028km, up from 19,635km in 2008.

Cartell.ie also compared the average annual mileage in 2008 of private cars registered between 2003 and 2008 with the average annual mileage in 2016 of private cars registered between 2011 and 2016. The results showed that vehicles in the second range were driven more, up by 1,398km.

John Byrne of Cartell.ie said: “What makes the results interesting is that between 2003 and 2008, the economy was performing well throughout most of that period, so we might have been expecting to see a decline in mileage in newer cars since then. It’s possible that the buying trend towards diesel engines has encouraged buyers to use their car more – buoyed by the fact that costs are lower relatively.

Used car imports soar with weak sterling

The weakness in the value of sterling against the euro following the Brexit vote has resulted in a huge upsurge in the numbers of used cars being imported into Ireland. Most are coming from Britain and Northern Ireland. While the number of new cars sold until the end of November was 146,175, over 66,490 used cars were imported and registered in Ireland during the first 11 months of the year.

According to the latest Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) data gleaned from the Revenue Commissioners registration service, this was a 48% increase in used car imports or 21,636 extra cars compared with 2015. And it’s all due to the effect of the decline in the value of sterling. Car buyers are flocking across the Irish Sea in search of value. And they are getting it, with higher-specification cars at competitive prices.

The Ford brand is the most popular used car import so far this year, with the Ford Focus being the dominant model. Volkswagen’s Golf comes in second place with the Passat in third, the Audi A4 in fourth place and Opel/Vauxhall’s Insignia giving great value, in fifth place.