My budget is around €13,000 –€14,000. I mostly drive in Dublin but also do a weekly round trip to Limerick, about 200km each way, so I need something that works in the city but is comfortable on the motorway too. I had considered a hybrid, but I’m unsure whether the added complexity means more to go wrong. Is that the case? I’ve also been looking at Volkswagen Golfs (1.2 petrol), but many seem to be Japanese imports and automatic. They look good value, but I’ve been told some insurers won’t cover them. Is that common? The Polo also seems better value, though I’ve heard it’s not as strong on motorways, yet newer models seem to share similar engines with the Golf. I also discovered newer Golfs are just 1.0 litre, adding to the confusion. – Brenda C, DublinIt looks like you’ve been doing a good bit of research already, so you’re off to a good start. Let’s start with your Golf questions first. Yes, it’s true many Golf models currently for sale on the Irish car market are Japanese imports. Which sounds weird, right? Japanese imports are supposed to be Corollas with different badges and square number plates, surely?Well, no. Volkswagen (and Audi, and BMW, and Mercedes ...) sells cars in Japan just as it does in Ireland, and thanks to a quirk of history, Japanese specification – right-hand drive with kilometre speed and distance measurements – precisely matches that of Ireland (and Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa but that’s for another day).So, because Brexit has made importing cars from the UK prohibitively expensive, many car dealers in Ireland have turned, instead, to Japan. Yes, Japanese imports still have to pay the same VAT and Customs Duty charges, as well as Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT) on entry into Ireland, but the price of used Japanese cars is generally lower. Japanese buyers prefer to buy new, rather than used, hence there’s a surplus of good used cars in Japan, ripe for export. Better yet, these cars are often exceptionally well-kept. We’ve spoken to a number of Irish dealers who specialise in importing European-brand models from Japan, and the universal feeling is that a three-year-old Japanese-owned car is in better condition than would be an equivalent Irish-registered model. So, as long as you’re buying from a reputable source, and things such as the radio and sat-nav have been updated to meet Irish frequencies, you should have no problem. Be aware, however, that some car systems are not easily updated to European settings without complex software or pricey hardware. If you can live with sat-nav via another device, you are better off. Insurance ought not to be an issue either. Insurers are generally only concerned about models from certain Japanese brands sold specifically in Asian markets, because they sometimes don’t include antitheft immobilisers as standard. There should be no problem getting a European brand model covered, as it’s effectively the same car as would have been sold in Ireland anyway. If your insurer baulks, raise it as a customer complaint. If they still seem reluctant, shop around for a better deal. As for the VW Golf itself, yes there are two different compact engine choices. During the life of the MkVII Golf, specifically in the period of 2015 to 2017, the 1.2 litre, four-cylinder, TSI turbo petrol engine was progressively replaced by the 1.0 litre, three-cylinder engine. Both engines shared the same 110hp power output.Volkswagen Golf from 2016 Are both engines comparable? More or less. Obviously, an engine with a smaller capacity and one fewer cylinder is going to be a little more highly stressed to produce the same power output. The 1.2 also used a timing chain, rather than a timing belt, which, in theory, is better for longevity, but actually the 1.2’s timing chain needs regular attention, and the 1.0’s timing belt is a so-called ‘dry’ belt, unlike the ‘wet’ belt of some rival designs, which runs through the oil system and can cause reliability issues. So it’s generally a bit of a toss-up as to which engine is more robust. To be honest, as long as the car comes with a full service history and is in good condition, either version of the Golf would be a good choice. The MkVII Golf is widely regarded as the best Golf that VW ever made – robust, good to drive, frugal – so you won’t be going far wrong.[ Motors Q&A: Do I owe VAT on a car from Northern Ireland?Opens in new window ]Would it be worth going for a Polo? Potentially. The Polo is of course a little smaller than a Golf, but not enormously so, and it can handle long motorway journeys with ease. The trick is to pick the right engine. The most basic Polos come with that same 1.0 litre three-cylinder engine as you’ll find in the Golf, but without a turbocharger, leaving them with just 60-75hp, depending on the model. That’s very underpowered for motorway work, and you end up working the engine much harder to keep up with the flow of traffic, meaning that fuel economy will suffer. You’ll know it’s a model with this engine if the engine description is ‘MPI’ rather than ‘TSI’. T is for Turbo in this case.So the secret is to try and track down a 1.0 TSI Polo, which has 95hp, and which will be just fine on the motorway. But wait, there’s more – the Polo shares its underlying structure, electronics, engines, gearboxes and everything else with the Skoda Fabia, and generally speaking a Fabia is always going to be slightly more affordable. If you can track down a 95hp Fabia 1.0 TSI, you’re getting a fabulous car, one of our favourites. It should cover all the bases you need.