Getting new car

What's your budget?

What type of driving do you so?

Do you need big saloon or would smaller hatchback do?

If you liked the passat and want something similar from the vw group I'd be advising to look at Skoda superb, another passat, audi a4 or a6.

Unfortunately new cars have gotten very expensive these days so 40k doesn't go as far as it did a few years ago. If your working from home then I think it's best to give a modern diesel a wide berth. Diesel engines are more complicated these days than your 1.9 TDi and have the likes of a diesel particulate filter and AdBlue to make them cleaner. However if they are not driven as intended then these systems can develop problems and are costly to fix.

You could go with petrol or even a hybrid. If you have the ability to install a charger at home then you can include a plug in hybrid or even full EV. There is even a grant of €600 towards the installation of the home charger from the Government and 5k off the price of a brand new EV upto the value of 50k. Downside is that brand new cars are in very short supply due to the microchip shortage so actually finding a brand new car in stock is very challenging.

If you are interested in something used and want something now rather than waiting months or longer for a brand new car then you have a few more options out there:

VW Arteon:

https://www.carsireland.ie/3014116

The Arteon is basically a current model Passat but in a fancier dress, mechanically they are the same. It's a fastback rather than a saloon so more practical. 1.5 litre engine looks too small on paper but it's turbo charged with 150bhp and has more power than your current 1.9 TDi. Not the fastest car but certainly well able to handle overtaking. They are better equipped than an A4 and a bit less common.

If you want something a bit newer then you have the likes of the Toyota Camry:

https://www.carsireland.ie/3032237

A bit dull but a very comfortable car to be wafting around in, it's a self charging hybrid so need for a home charger. Even though they have a 2.5 litre engine they are quite frugal and probably as reliable as you can get these days and backed up by a Toyota warranty.

If these cars are too big for you then you could look at the likes of a well speced petrol VW Golf or self charging hybrid Toyota Corolla hatchback like these:

https://www.carsireland.ie/2986583

https://www.carsireland.ie/2936451

If you want to go full electric then VW have the ID.3 which is similar in size to the Golf:

https://www.carsireland.ie/3014618

Leave off the prius. If it is any more than 4 or 5 years old the battery will be profoundly degraded and you will be driving on the engine 95% of the time. Might as well buy a regular petrol car at that rate.

Similarly, if you are buying eclectic, you have to buy new as anything more than a couple of years old will either have an older tech lower capacity batter, or the battery will be degraded and won't hold charge, or both. If you are buying new budget for replacing the car in 5 or 6 years time with the car at scrap value as the battery will be degraded at that point and despite what they say, the reality it is not economic or practical to replace batteries. The way to look at it is this, electric cars are far far cheaper to run but the savings are offset by tremendous depreciation owing to a) battery degradation and b) technology rapidly improving meaning car with hi tech battery today is obsolete in 4 or 5 years and almost valueless.

I know of a local authority who had to return their fleet of electric car/vans to hyundai because at barely a year old, the range was falling very far short of what they were supposed to be capable of. I think if buying electric, you should take the real world range as 2/3rds of the advertised range, and then reduce by a further 10% per year old.

One thing is for sure, you never hear people saying the car went further than the advertised range! It is always shortfalls.

Electric cars are more or less a disposable/expendable item now. When they break or degrade, it is a case of replacement rather than repair or refurb. Some electric cars, like Tesla, are in practical terms largely non-serviceable. Tesla support is geared toward warranty repair by god like authorised dealers. Tesla won't sell parts or service information to third parties and there are no spurious parts available. Tesla don't care anyway because their market is the luxury sector targeting high earners. A car being written off for want of an unavailable part after the warranty period is over isn't a concern for them or a wealthy owner - they just buy again.

Yeah the Honda e only has a 35kWh battery so it's really not a suitable choice for long drives. Looks cool though

What specialist is telling you the battery won’t last 8 years?

Don't get distracted by engine sizes. Modern engines are smaller turbo charged units that deliver a range if power. For someone who drives very little is it a key priority?

You need to identify what features and style of car you want.then see if that matches a power source like petrol or elec.

If it's a big saloon then a superb or another passatt may do but by the sounds of it any car do?

We get most of our oil from the UK, not Russia.

Hyundai Ionic 5 or Kia E-Soul are both good cars. Both very cool and both in your budget and both have good range too.

Citroen C4-E if you want something comfortable and more kinda normal. It's a hatchback.

Skoda Octavia not sure if it comes in electric but it's a very stylish,classy car.

Skoda are phasing out all their phev models and they will be obsolete soon. VW have just announced same. They were designed to get around regulations but keep the profitable combustion engine.

Just something to be aware of before you drop a lot of money on one.