Ask The Guide

It all depends on who’s providing the numbers, Richard. Over the years, I’ve seen plenty of car specification sheets that list the overall width including the mirrors, and plenty without the mirrors.

These days, it’s much more common to find the width measurement includes the mirrors, purely because an exterior mirror on each side of the car is now a standard fitment. A few decades ago, that wasn’t the case and even a driver’s side mirror was an extra-cost option. That’s why the official width specification of an early car will often ignore the mirrors.

Also, don’t confuse the overall width with the vehicle’s track dimensions. The track is the measurement from the centre of each tyre to the centre of its opposite number. Track measurements are rarely the same front to rear, either.

Cars generally have a set of protocols that shuts down the entertainment and other systems to avoid the car’s battery going flat. If, for example, you were listening to the radio without the engine running, eventually, the car would switch the radio off to maintain the charge in the battery.

It’s quite likely that the message you’re seeing is something to do with this process. Why doesn’t it send the message every time? Perhaps it only does so after short runs where the battery isn’t fully recharged after starting the car. Maybe your battery is starting to feel its age. See if you can find a pattern to the message appearing; short runs, cold weather, wet weather, air-conditioning on or off, etc.
 

This sounds awfully like a sensor problem of some sort. Electronic sensors really do control every aspect of a modern car, from the engine to the dashboard and everything in between. So, it’s conceivable that your problem is the fault of a single sensor that is throwing multiple things out of kilter and causing the problems.

But why the engine and dashboard at the same time? Because a car’s computer will often take its cues from a variety of sources. Without a properly functioning dashboard (and the information on road-speed the speedometer supplies to the computer) some engines won’t even run at all. The rough running and hard starting could be another symptom of this.

But don’t rule out something simple like a battery or charging system that is not pulling its weight. Low battery voltage can do strange and random things to a modern, electronically-controlled car.

It’s possible that something has thrown an error code curve-ball at the car, Luke. It’s quite possible that a re-set of the ECU (and you can try it at home by disconnecting the battery for half-an-hour or so and then reconnecting it) will switch the warning lights off and return things to normal.

The other alternative is to take the car to a Subaru dealership and have the car scanned to see what fault codes get thrown up. It doesn’t take a huge fault to bring on these symptoms and I’ve even heard of a car driven with a loose fuel cap causing an almost identical problem.

It’s relatively widespread, Steve. In fact, it was enough of a problem for a while there that Ford was actually repairing some cars that were out of warranty. So that would be the first step: Tackle your local Ford dealer and ask the tough questions. A vehicle made in 2015 is too young to be rusty through bad design, but bear in mind that the dealer may not want to know and playing hardball on your part could result in legal costs if you follow it right through. And there’s no guarantee you’d win anyway.

There are shortcuts to rust repairs, but they all guarantee that the problem will recur. Fixing rust permanently requires removing all the affected metal, welding in new metal and rust-proofing the end result before repainting.

Somehow, moisture was able to enter the skin of the Territory’s tailgate and sit there and, naturally, rust was the end result. The area at the rear of the car around the tail-lights is also susceptible to corrosion. It’s interesting that the Territory had a storage space beneath the boot floor that was designed to accommodate wet bathers and wetsuits after a trip to the beach. Could this be the clue?

So, going by your description, the engine has only just started before the vehicle rolls downhill to the first intersection. So the engine has only been running for a few seconds, and then only at idle. It’s possible that the transmission pump hasn’t had time to build up enough pressure to fill the accumulators to eliminate any slack in the shifting clutches and bands. Which could, on the odd occasion, produce a clunk when you hit the throttle for the first time on a cold transmission.

Honestly, though, this is a problem you see more in older cars with worn transmissions, and I wouldn’t expect it from a 2019 Ranger.

But let me ask you a question: Is the vehicle lifted on its suspension? Many Ranger owners opt to raise their cars for greater off-road performance, but this changes the angle of the driveshaft and can cause precisely the shudder you’ve described. The fix is to fit a spacer between the car’s body and the centre-bearing of the driveshaft. That corrects the angle of the driveshaft and stops the shudders.

This was a definitely a big deal in the US where I think the figure was more like 600,000-plus Accords being recalled to fix the problem. The symptom is a sudden loss of power-assistance to the steering wheel and, while the car can still be steered (the mechanical link remains intact) it can be quite a surprise when it happens. Steering the car also requires much more effort from the driver and some older or smaller drivers simply may not be able to summon up the required brute strength. That said, adrenalin can do wonderful things!

Honda Australia did actually recall a batch of Accords in Australia in March 2011 for power-steering problems, but that was to check and replace a hydraulic power-steering fluid hose that could crack and leak into the engine bay. If the leak was bad enough for long enough, the car could conceivably run out of fluid at which point power assistance would be lost (if the car hadn’t caught fire in the meantime).

But since your problem seems to re-set itself when you turn the car off and then back on, I’d say it’s electronic; either the computer, the wiring of the electric assistance motor itself. Taking it to a Honda dealer pronto is definitely the smart thing to do.

As part of the Volkswagen family, Skoda cars suffer from the same reliability cloud hanging over them in terms of transmission and electrical problems. The era of Skoda you’re shopping for was also one of the most problematic for such maladies, too, so just because your friend’s car has been perfect, doesn’t mean the next one will behave the same.

The Subaru XV is generally regarded as a more reliable long-term prospect but you’re right in suspecting that it will use a little more fuel. Depending on what engine the Fabia is fitted with, the official combined fuel consumption can be as low as 5.3 litres per 100km, while the XV’s will be anything from 7.0 litres and up. That’s mainly to do with the Subaru’s all-wheel-drive which makes the car heavier and requires more fuel to overcome the drag and friction of driving twice as many wheels and axles.

The pay-off is in the superb grip offered by the Subaru’s all-wheel-drive which gives it an active safety edge over two-wheel-drive cars on less than perfect surfaces. However, if fuel efficiency is your holy grail, then a Subaru might be a disappointment.

It would be very rare for a facelifted version of a car to be less expensive than the one it replaces, Imran and, on balance, the upgrade model usually costs a little more based on more features. At the moment, though, there’s no word on exactly when the facelifted Tiguan will arrive here, nor exactly what the changes and improvements will be, so it’s very difficult to know whether it’s worth waiting for.

But it is worth mentioning that you’ll be very unlikely to manage a discount on the new version, whereas VW dealers might be a little more motivated to clear the decks of the existing model and will possibly be a bit more keen to negotiate.

Of course, even if you wait for the upgrade model, there’s a very real chance that we’ll be seeing an all-new Tiguan by 2022 anyway.

Since both variants of Colorado here use essentially the same engine, I’m not sure what sensors would be different and require changing. That said, the MY17 Colorado got recalibrated hill-descent and hill-start functions, so maybe there are some differences there.

The major mechanical difference that I can see between a 2014 and a 2017 Colorado is probably the power-steering. In late 2016, the vehicle switched to an electrically-assisted system in place of the previous hydraulic set-up. So the later engine would probably lack the pulleys and mounting hardware for the hydraulic power-steering pump that your vehicle requires. Perhaps they can be removed from the old engine and fitted to the later one.

Perhaps an easier solution would be to return the engine originally supplied and ask for the correct version for your car. If the engine supplied originally was not fit for purpose, then you’ve every right to ask for a replacement unit that is.