Sounds like you need a Dacia Duster next year with the 1.3 petrol engine or a Superb estate 1.5 tsi.

Dacia if you want to spend less, superb if more/

.

NARU

that appears to be a very sensible option, and i had half come to that conclusion but :

1) perhaps it's a male menopausal thing but i'm getting a slight urge to change/update our car and i have a "need" to look at a new one.

2) importation to Portugal is slightly more complicated than here to France as they, along with Cyprus, impose import duties dependant on age, fuel & engine size, hence my thinking along the new hybrid route. being tight i want to keep the costs as low as possible, for example my octavia will cost around €600 in import duties, and a new hybrid zero but a small amount of VAT difference is payable because of the difference in VAT rates between France & Portugal, around €300.

my main fear is that by hanging onto the octavia, paying the import duties, its re-sale value will go down dramatically because i've found many portuguese are still very much into diesel because of the price at the pump, whereas here in France my car has barely lost any value since i bought it : a skoda dealer, here in france has offered me over 95% of the price i paid for it, just a depreciation of €750 over 30 months. he cannot lay his hands on enough 2nd hand petrol octavia estates, and has even got some RHD's on sale. my car now retails at €5000, or more, new today, an increase of over 25%.

Edited by terry mac on 25/10/2018 at 09:01

I too would be sticking.

It's all very well apparatchiks making grand eco gestures from their ivory towers built on infinite piles of other peoples money, but grandstanding plan cans have a habit of being kicked down the road, Brexit a prime example, and recall how many people bought Diesel cars when encouraged by the politicians of the day.

The EU will be a completely different animal in a few years, and none of us can know what it will be.

I'd not be spending money to replace something still giving good service for the forseeable.

Edited by gordonbennet on 25/10/2018 at 12:18

Whatever you buy now will be out of date and worth scrap value in 15 years time..

(anyone want a Mark 1 Toyota Prius? Nope)

Don't forget if electric cars become a sizeable proportion of cars on the road, whoever the Chancellor is will have to recoup the lost fuel duty and VAT with extra tax somehow.

I wouldn't bet on adequate (and reasonably priced) fast charging facilities being available anytime soon either.

"Hybrids aren't that economical in real world terms - even the PHEVs are uneconomical once their short electric range is exhausted."

I have a Toyota Auris estate hybrid. Over the last 10000 miles it has never dropped below 52 mpg real mpg not from the car computer and when on rural roads in France will go over 60mpg

Add to that no cam belts to worry about and to me that is economical motoring.