The nation may be embroiled in economic turmoil, with talks of second bailouts (or not if we vote the wrong way), but that does not seem to have dampened the spirits of the population, who still vie for the finer things in life. This is evidenced in the latest figures from Carzone.ie that show the Irish people spent a whopping 1.5 million hours looking at cars on the site in 2011 with 'premium' brands such as BMW, Audi, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen amongst the most searched for.
Of the 91 million pages of cars viewed each month on Carzone.ie, those carrying the famous BMW propeller badge were the most sought after, ahead of Volkswagen, Audi, Toyota and Ford.
Understandably, the top search locations are dominated by the four main cities with Dublin coming out on top ahead of Cork, Galway and Limerick. Kerry shows itself to be the fifth most car-mad county in Ireland ahead of Waterford, Wexford and Donegal.
And Porsche's recent decision to open a sales outlet in the middle of a recession does not appear so mad after all as it proved the most popular 'supercar' brand ahead of Ferrari, Aston Martin, Maserati and Lotus.