Ask The Guide

Depending on what sounds the engine is making will determine whether the engine is a throwaway or can be fixed. But if the consensus is that the engine in your car is beyond redemption, then I reckon a second-hand engine from a wrecked Captiva would be the best bet. I don’t think the car itself would be worth enough money to justify a rebuilt engine which could run to $10,000 or more.

Nobody wants to tell you this, but fundamentally, the Captiva was a pretty ordinary car. Lots of owners had lots of transmission problems (which you already know about) and plenty of diesel engines destroyed their turbochargers and – in some cases – the rest of the engine in the process. The petrol V6 was no beacon of excellence either, with a terrifying propensity to consume timing chains.

Who at Holden has rejected your claim for help in repairing the car? If it was the dealer, I’d simply go around that business and talk directly to Holden’s customer service department. The fact that the car has a full Holden service history might sway opinion at head office, but I wouldn’t be going to the bank on it given the age of the vehicle.

You’re in a bit of a spot here, Rod, because you want vehicle that can handle beach driving every now and then (so, a four-wheel-drive) but one that will spend the bulk of its time in an urban setting. That means a vehicle with a diesel engine is not your ideal solution, yet the vast majority of four-wheel-drive utes are, indeed, diesel powered.

Diesel is a problem for folks like you because modern diesel engines don’t appreciate being used for short, urban journeys. The fact is, these modern diesels are fitted with diesel particulate filters (DPFs) which aim to clean up the tailpipe emissions. That’s fair enough, but when driven in an urban environment without a good run at highway speeds every few weeks, the DPF can clog up and that’s when the problems – and repairs costs – start.

Beyond that, a diesel can easily cost more to service and maintain over the long term, even if it gets more kilometres per tank than a petrol. You might just find that, in an overall sense, the diesel will be costlier to own and run.

Perhaps a better alternative for you is an SUV with a petrol engine and all-wheel-drive. These won’t have the low-ratios of a four-wheel-drive ute for heavy-duty off-roading, but they should be able to handle loose surfaces like a sandy track down to a fishing spot. The catch is that if you do get an SUV stuck on the beach, you won’t get much sympathy for taking the vehicle out of its depth (literally). Perhaps an older four-wheel-drive with a petrol engine would be your best bet. Look at vehicles like a 2015 to 2017 Toyota HiLux ute which was available with four-wheel-drive and a very handy four-litre petrol V6 engine. That way, you’ll get both the driveline and the engine that best matches your requirements.

The Ioniq PHEV is not exactly a fast car in terms of its acceleration, but it will comfortably cruise at the legal limit. Certainly there are cars that are better at overtaking than the Hyundai PHEV, but it will still accelerate around slower traffic on the highway.

Overtaking is a bit of a lost art these days with dual-lane freeways and it really doesn’t matter how powerful your car is if you don’t know how to overtake safely. The other thing to consider is that hybrids like the Ioniq are at their best in city and suburban traffic where the harvesting of energy otherwise lost during braking makes them most relevant. If all your driving is over long distances at cruising velocities, a conventional car with a conventional driveline might make more sense.

Inertia-reel seat-belts have saved lots of lives by ensuring that they’re always adjusted correctly on whoever is wearing them. They work by being able to mechanically detect sharp forces (such as would be expected in a crash) and locking instantly, limiting the movement of bodies in the process. In the meantime, they offer a huge degree of convenience by allowing you to move around in your seat without being squeezed by the belt.

But they can suffer problems with the inertia mechanism which can jam and lead to the problem you currently have. This is often because the car is parked on an angle, causing the mechanism to `think’ that the car has pitched violently and locking the belt as a precaution, even though it’s standing still. So test the seat-belt with the car sitting on flat ground. To be honest, inertia-reel belts are more likely to refuse to unravel to allow you to fasten them than they are to fail to wind-in or retract, so maybe there’s a small manufacturing flaw in the belt in question.

The good news is that your car is still under its factory warranty, so a trip to a Honda dealership should be able to sort the problem quickly and simply and at zero cost to you. The quickest, safest fix would be to simply replace the whole seat-belt unit and that’s probably what a dealer will do.

It all depends on what engine is fitted to your car, Karen, as Holden used a range of gearboxes in this series of Commodores. If your car is the base-model version (the Omega) it will be fitted with a four-speed automatic (code-named the 4L60E). If your car is an SV6, it will have either a five-speed automatic (5L40E) or a six-speed manual (the Aisin D173/AY6 unit). If your car is a V8 Commodore, it will have either the six-speed automatic (6L80) or a six-speed manual (Tremec T56) fitted.

Of all those transmission options, the five-speed automatic was the odd one out as it was only used from the launch of the VE until the first facelift in 2008 when it was replaced by a six-speed automatic.

It sounds like something electronic is randomly playing up and that’s causing the intermittent problem. Modern engines like these use a raft of sensors to keep the on-board computer informed of what’s going on and keep everything running smoothly and efficiently. If just one of those sensors stops working properly, all sorts of havoc can result.

It’s a bit strange that the on-board diagnostics of the vehicle aren’t throwing up a relevant fault code when your mechanic interrogates the computer but, again, some of these modern electronic systems require some pretty specific software. Which means a trip to a Kia dealership might provide a more in-depth answer to what’s going on.

The good news is that since 2014, Kias sold new in Australia have been covered by a seven-year warranty, so your Sorento is well and truly still under that factory cover. Which means it shouldn’t cost you anything to have the problem sorted out by Kia.

By 'rides' I’ll assume you mean 'slips', which then slowly allows the car to build up to speed (as in, the rest of the car catches up with the engine). There are two major causes of this, the first is a clutch that is out of adjustment, and the second is a clutch that really needs replacement.

The problem you have, though, is that even if the clutch on the Barina is adjustable (and some clutches aren’t) the fact that you’ve been driving it with the clutch slipping suggests that you’ve already damaged the clutch to the point where it would need to be replaced anyway. Continuing to drive it can also put 'hot-spots' on the car’s flywheel (to which the clutch attaches) and that can mean the flywheel also needs to be resurfaced when you replace the clutch.

I reckon, at the minimum, you’re looking at a new clutch kit. Ignoring it will eventually wind up with the clutch expiring completely and you walking home.

What you haven’t told me, Luke, is whether your car has a petrol four-cylinder engine or a V6 turbo-diesel. In any case, the petrol engine fitted to this series of A5 Audis used a timing chain, so it should never need replacing as it’s designed to last the life of the engine itself. That, however, has not been the experience of every owner of these cars, and timing-chain failures have been a hot topic of discussion on these four-cylinder turbocharged engines.

The V6 turbo-diesel, however, does use a toothed rubber timing belt, and that, along with its tensioners, does need to be changed at regular intervals. The trade reckons that interval should be every 120,000km or every five years, whichever comes first. That’s because rubber deteriorates with time as well as kilometres. The other piece of advice is to change your water pump while you have that part of the engine pulled apart. It’s a lot cheaper to do both jobs in one go than to open the engine a second time to replace the water pump.
 

The answer will depend on what brand and type of roof rack you use. Different brands of racks have different ratings, but most seem to be able to cope with between 60 and 75kg.

That then switches the question to what size kayaks you have. A small, single kayak is likely to be around the 15kg mark, while a large, double kayak can weigh anything up to 45kg. You need to weigh your kayaks together and then work out if they’re suitable for roof-rack transport. Either way, a quality rack will always be a safer bet than a cheap one. Make sure, too, that the rack you choose has fixing points appropriate for the load being carried.
 

The Baleno sold in Australia was fitted with six air-bags in total. That was made up of two front bags, two front-side bags and two full-length curtain air-bags that protected those in the rear seat as well. But it missed out on other safety tech including autonomous emergency braking and lane-keep assistance.

The Baleno wasn’t crash-tested locally, but it was tested by Euro NCAP and didn’t perform too well. Combined with that lack of active safety gear was a relatively poor chest-protection rating in the pole-impact test, leaving the Suzuki with a safety score of just three stars.