Ask The Guide

There has certainly been some confusion over this with some MG dealers telling owners that 95-octane fuel was necessary. But it seems MG Australia has now confirmed that the car will be happy on 91-octane fuel, so that’s good news for you and your wallet.

It’s probably a bit hard to be certain just from looking that there’s a fault of that nature with the paint. Sometimes the individual coatings that form what we call paint are hard to see as those individual layers aren’t always obvious and are chemically bonded to each other. But I would say that a paint specialist (such as a panel shop) should be able to judge whether there’s something awry.

If the actual paint is at fault, then the problem becomes a warranty issue with either Toyota (if it’s a genuine tray) or the manufacturer that supplied the tray. That is, of course, if the paint hasn’t been chipped by actually using the vehicle as intended, at which point it would probably be deemed normal wear and tear.

If you were leaving the vehicle standing for a whole year, this would be a bigger problem, but I don’t think three months of inactivity would be too harmful to the car. Plenty of people (particularly Victorians) were forced to lay up their work cars during Covid restrictions, and I haven’t heard of mass problems as a result.

You’re already ahead of some of those folks by having a garage in which to store the car, but there are also a few things you can do to reduce the impact of not moving for three months. Make sure the tyres are inflated to the correct pressure (to avoid flat posts when you return) and fill the fuel tank to reduce the chance of moisture forming in the fuel system. Wind the windows up but leave the bonnet catch undone so you can access the battery when you return.

You can also disconnect the battery but if you do, you’ll have to reprogram or re-code the radio when you return. A better way is to leave the car hooked up to a quality battery trickle-charger. Make sure you use one that is heat and fault-protected.

An even better plan of attack is to organise a trusted friend take the time to drive the car for you every few weeks. Provided they get the car up to operating temperature each time, it should be ready for action when you return.

The distance travelled by a car has a major and direct effect on its selling price. There are other factors such as overall condition and the car’s service history which acts as proof that it’s been maintained properly. But on balance, two cars with identical histories and in identical condition, will have different values if they have travelled different distances.

Modern cars are much more reliable and long-lived than ever before. Advances in metallurgy mean engines and other mechanical parts have longer lifespans, and better materials and engineering precision mean the bodies and interiors tend to last longer, too. Even paint has come a long, long way. So there’s an argument that, for modern cars, distance travelled is less of a concern, but it’s still a big element in how the trade will value a particular car. There are also psychological triggers, too, and many car owners will try to sell a car just before it reaches 100,000km (as an example) when, in fact, the car still has a lot left to give. It’s a bit of a hang-over from a time when 100,000km was considered the average lifespan of some popular cars.

It’s also important to take each car on its own durability merits. A small hatchback with 300,000km on its odometer might rightly be regarded as just about worn out, while something like a Toyota LandCruiser with the same mileage is considered barely run-in and will still command a huge price, provided the other factors (condition and service history) also stack up well.

My experience has generally been that Ssangyong is a brand with decent reliability. Many people think it’s a Chinese brand, but it’s actually a South Korean company. And when you look at the other South Korean car-makers we see here – Hyundai and Kia – you can see that the country makes some fine vehicles with great reliability and durability.

You’re right about that warranty, too; at seven years of factory cover, it’s one of the best (if not the best) in the business. You’re also right about the relative value-for-money equation. The Ssangyong seems like a lot of vehicle for the money.

Perhaps the only thing that might make you think twice would be the supply of spare and service parts. That said, in 2022, that problem is afflicting a lot of mainstream companies and volume sellers as well as the smaller brands. And from what I can gather, this problem is a bigger one for the Chinese brands than some of the others.

A Musso has a towing capacity of 3500kg (with a braked trailer) so a 1200kg caravan should not trouble it one bit. Take the Musso for a test drive and decide for yourself, but we reckon, after a D22 Navara, you’ll be amazed at how good a modern dual-cab ute can be at this price-point.

Our first suspicion would be a bad earth somewhere on the vehicle. Dashboard faults are very often the result of a poor earth contact and the symptoms you describe are spot on for that very problem. So go around the car and check all the earthing points form the battery to the body of the car.

You could also be dealing with a broken solder in part of the circuit-board that controls the dashboard, too. A good auto electrician will be able to test the circuit for breaks and bad solders and repair them quite cheaply. Ultimately, though, the cost of this repair will be determined by how much of the car has to be disassembled to remove the circuit-board.

This sounds like a classic case of worn synchromesh rings inside the gearbox. These rings are designed to make smooth, easy shifts between gears but as they wear (or even break) they lose that ability and the gears become difficult to change. It’s also common for this problem to be worse on downshifts compared with upshifts which is why you can shift all the way up to fifth, but have trouble coming back down through the gears.

My money is on third-gear synchromesh being your problem. By shifting from fourth back to second and then third, you’re effectively `borrowing’ the second-gear synchromesh to soften the shift into third.

Unfortunately, the fix is a gearbox rebuild. But before that, it would be worth changing the oil in the gearbox and checking out a gearbox additive that helps with shifting feel and smoothness. If that makes a difference, great, but you may still ultimately be looking at a new or rebuilt transmission.

The other thing to know is whether the gearbox is reluctant to select reverse gear with the engine running. If it is, you might instead be dealing with a worn clutch which is much cheaper to replace.

If you still want to drive a proper off-road four-wheel-drive, then maybe fixing what you already have is the wise way to go. Supply crunches and high demand have seen the prices of second-hand four-wheel-drives skyrocket. You might be in for a shock when you check the prices of second-hand replacements.

Beyond that, it comes down to the overall condition of the rest of the vehicle. Off-roaders are big, heavy and sometimes complex machines and if the rest of the mechanical package isn’t in good condition, fitting a new engine will only attend to one of the vehicle’s ongoing cost-centres.

Sludge build-up in oil is definitely an engine killer. But with a full and correct service history, this really shouldn’t happen. That it does, is possibly down to long service intervals (driven by consumer demand for less maintenance and down time) and possibly even the way the vehicle is used. If it’s worked hard (towing, for instance) in high ambient or dusty temperatures, then sludge can build up as a natural result. The way a modern turbo-diesel recirculates some of its exhaust gasses also mean soot can combine with oil vapours from the crankcase to cause a build-up of black gunge, and that’s not good either.

I’d be keen to see what the oil analysis shows. If the oil was lacking some of the additives it needs to keep a diesel engine clean, then that may show up.

If you can prove the service history to Mitsubishi’s satisfaction, I’d be asking for some kind of help in the cost of repairs. Whether or not the company plays ball is debatable, but it would definitely be worth a try with low mileage like this and documentation of correct servicing for all of its (short) life. If the vehicle is still under the factory warranty and you have a full service record for it, then it’s pretty clear you have a valid warranty claim, barring any negligence or mis-use on your part.

The main fuel filter for this vehicle will be under the car, approximately beneath the part of the floorpan where the rear seat is located. The filter will be an inline unit and to remove it you need to remove the fuel line from each end of the filter and undo the bracket that holds the filter in place.

But here’s a warning: Often, there will be residual pressure inside the fuel line that may cause fuel to spray everywhere when you disconnect the lines. So wear eye protection, or de-pressurise the fuel system by removing the fuse for the fuel pump and cranking the engine a few times before disconnecting the filter.