Ask The Guide

Without a doubt the best car for an inexperienced driver is the one with as many safety features and as high a safety score as you can afford. With that in mind, newer is better as these features trickle down from more expensive makes and models with cheaper cars usually the last to receive them.

As a minimum, you'd want to make sure any car for your grand-daughter has stability control, autonomous emergency braking and an air-bag for every seating position (which means full-length curtain air-bags as well as front and side bags). A reversing camera is also a good idea, but look also for lane-keeping warning and/or assist, and rear cross-traffic alert.

There's a website at howsafeisyourcar.com.au which is a great resource for safety ratings and explanations of what safety features do what. Long after the car's performance, reputation and what colour it is seem important, safety will still be the most important attribute.

You can buy replacement keys from locksmiths or online. They're not very expensive for the Captiva (unlike many cars which can cost hundreds) but you will need to have the key cut by a locksmith to make it work with the locks in your car.

If the remote control unit is working, you can fit the new key to that, or you can buy the whole unit with a new remote control. This new remote unit needs to be coded so that it talks to the computer in your car, but again, a locksmith should be able to handle this. If not, a Holden service centre will be able to code the new remote.

This message flashes up when the car is due for a service or other maintenance. The problem is that just because the work gets carried out, the message continues to flash up every time you start the car, unless the reminder has been reset.

While some makes and models have simple methods of resetting the reminder (and making the message go away) usually through the menus on the info-screen, the Haval range is not among them. In the Haval's case, it appears the only way to reset the reminder is via the diagnostic port that gives you access to the car's on-board computer. Not all workshops have the equipment to tap into this port and while a Haval dealer will have the gear, such dealerships can be pretty scarce in remote and regional parts of Australia.

Air-conditioning systems are designed with various interlocks to prevent them being damaged by extreme conditions. For instance, if the refrigerant gas in the system starts to become depleted, it will also get hotter and hotter the harder you work the system. Eventually, the temperature of the system becomes too high and the interlock will step in and shut the air-conditioning down to prevent it becoming permanently damaged.

You need to take the car to an air-conditioning specialist who will have the tools and equipment to safely test the system to determine the problem. Then whatever is wrong can be fixed according to strict environmental regulations, which is why air-conditioning is not a DIY job.

The crucial number here is the towing capacity of the Transit. This model ranged form 2000kg to 2750kg (depending on body and wheelbase) so a Daihatsu car shouldn't take you anywhere near that limit. That, of course, is if you flat-tow the Daihatsu behind the motor-home. If, however, you tow the car on a trailer, then you might (depending on the trailer's size and construction) find you're getting close to that limit in some circumstances.

The other problems will be the same ones faced by anybody who tows a decent sized load; wear and tear on the mechanical components and the sheer cost of fuel, particularly diesel.

Plenty of people have successfully converted vehicles like these to motorhomes, so the short answer is yes, it's a good choice. Because it's a bus, however, it will have windows along the full length of each side, so privacy inside might be a problem. Many motorhome builders tend to black out various windows as well as fit security screens over them to make the rig more secure at night and when you're not there to watch over it.

Some early versions of these buses were petrol-engined, but a diesel version would be a much better bet for outback touring where diesel is sometimes easier to obtain. Beyond that, the success of the conversion will come down to how clever you are with things like the equipment you specify and the layout you choose.

They might both be Ford Focuses, but they're a couple of generations apart meaning that they are not only physically different, they also used different transmissions to each other. Even if, by some miracle, the older gearbox would bolt to the newer engine, the car still wouldn't have the correct electronics to make the transmission work properly.

Even if the transmission in question was a manual which requires much less in the way of electronic control, the unit in the 2008 Focus was a five-speed, while the later car used a completely different six-speed. Even things like the clutch and flywheel would be incompatible. You'd probably even find the gear-shifter for each transmission enters the cabin in a physically different spot, meaning the interior trim would no longer fit.

The Opel story in Australia is a weird one involving problematic range of cars and a completely indifferent car-buying cohort. It's little wonder the brand packed up and disappeared from this country after only about a year. The real mystery is why Opel ever bothered when it had already been established that Aussies didn't want the product even with a Holden badge on it. The point in 2023 being, of course, that the brand and its cars are now orphans that nobody really wanted new nor wants now they're second-hand.

Which is another way of saying that your car won't be worth much, and that low value might convince you to cut your losses and get out now before anything else expensive goes wrong. At current values, you might be able to sell the car for around $8000 to $10,000, but only after you've fixed the current turbocharger problem (if that's what it is).

Even so, that could be the wise way to go. That's because these cars had pretty terrible reliability records. They didn't seem to agree with Australian levels of heat, and the list of problems they tend to suffer is a long one. It's hard to imagine the bugs would ever truly be ironed out and sticking with the Astra might mean you're forever chasing problems.

A car that is difficult to start could be suffering from, literally, hundreds of different problems. You need to have the car electronically scanned to see if the on-board computer has logged any faults of glitches in the fuel or ignition system. That's the best way forward or you could find yourself replacing perfectly good components without any change in the car's behaviour.

And don't rule out basic stuff like a battery that seems fine but is struggling to turn the engine over as well as supply enough power for the ignition to work properly. Modern cars with electronically controlled major functions really don't like a battery that is slack and cold weather will often show that problem up.

Also, when you say you've checked the fuel filter, what do you mean? Did you replace it or simply do a visual inspection. You can't really tell by looking at a filter how gunked up it is inside, so while it all looks okay, it could still be a contributing factor in your starting problems. An accurate diagnosis will also be easier if the mechanic has more information to work with. So start taking notice of exactly what is happening. For instance, is the car more difficult to start hot or cold? Does leaving it overnight make a difference to trying to start it for the second time that day? Does the ambient temperature have an effect on starting difficulty? Are there any specific noises the engine makes when it becomes recalcitrant? Keep a diary of this stuff... it might save you money.

The cost of dealership servicing puts a lot of people off, but many see it as the only way to maintain their warranty or, in the longer term, preserve the integrity of the car's service history. In fact, that's not really the case.

Provided the workshop you use is certified to deal with that type of vehicle – and that should be the first question you ask – then your warranty will be safe and the service record will be wholly intact. Just make sure the workshop fills in and/or stamps the relevant page in the car's service handbook.