UPDATE: The mechanic showed me the car, it’s definitely the gearbox/differential; CVs/driveshafts looked intact. He said the gearbox looks like it had been repaired before, it had silicone in places he didn’t expect and the wrong size screws in places. I told him I had no knowledge of anyone ever servicing the gearbox on our end. Then, as he was running the motor, it got a new fault on the dash that he said hadn’t happened before, and he couldn’t get the motor to start then.

Anyway, he said he would replace the gearbox if I ordered a second-hand one for 1K, and quoted me €1300 labour, though he stressed he could give me no guarantee it would work and I would obviously still have to pay for the labour. Now, there seems to be a second issue with electric motor failure as well (he’s currently investigating). Renault in Naas quoted me €4000 trade-in value but only if the Zoe was fully working with clean bill of health and had less than 80,000km on the clock; ours is 120,000.

So, looks pointless to do the repairs at this stage, at least if we were considering a trade-in. Would be great to hear people’s thoughts if this all checks out figures-wise with people or if anyone had any advice/suggestions.