Ask The Guide

Hi Sam, I can’t offer financial advice as to whether a lease, car loan, or private loan will be preferable for your individual situation. Leases have been a great way to get into a late-model car while assisting your tax situation, though you do have to be aware of balloon payments due at the end of the lease term. Also consider the value of the car once you’ve racked up plenty of kilometres up and down the M1 freeway each day getting to Newcastle. I’d suggest speaking to an accountant or financial advisor first.

You actually bought both in one go, John. In much the same way as the American car industry used to do, Subaru actually releases their cars by model year or MY code generally in the August or September of the previous year. So you have a 2017-spec Forester which was built in 2016.

The question of whether the Kia is too small compared to the Subaru or Toyota really comes down to your individual situation, Greg. However, while the Seltos is marketed as a competitor for the Mazda CX-3 or Hyundai Kona it is much larger than both those compact cross-overs, measuring up only 40mm shorter than its larger Sportage sibling! It is a great-looking machine but I’d go for an all-wheel-drive model to avoid the 2WD’s antiquated torsion-beam rear-end.

As electronics take over cars and 4x4 vehicles the humble cable-operated handbrake has largely gone the way of the carburettor and points ignition systems. The easiest way to find a manually operated handbrake today is in dual-cab utes and their wagon-style siblings, like the Holden Colorado, Toyota HiLux and Prado, Ford Ranger and Everest, Mitsubishi Triton, Isuzu D-Max and MU-X, and Nissan Navara.

If comfort and solid heavyweight tow-ratings are on your shopping list I’d recommend looking at the turbo-diesel V6 Land Rover Discovery, or the 200-series Toyota LandCruiser GXL. Both are superior tow vehicles to many dual-cab utes on the market, while offering genuine luxury in their cabins, and plush coil-sprung suspension. If a 4x4 leaves your mustard un-cut I’d be suggesting a large full-size American-built pick-up like a Dodge Ram, Ford F-150 or HSV Silverado.

A Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) from Hyundai back in 2011 stated any manual, two-wheel-drive Hyundai was OK to be towed four-down behind a motorhome. So far Hyundai has not indicated there has been any change to this TSB. When looking at cars to flat-tow behind a recreational vehicle (RV) ensure the tow vehicle has the required rating to tow the mass you’re intending to pull.

Hi Rebecca, generally 100,000km isn’t a concern on rugged off-road vehicles like Toyota’s retro-cool FJ Cruiser, as this has been spread out over five years now and most people will rack up at least 20,000km per-year. The crucial aspect to this is whether the FJ has a full service history (major services happen every 80,000km and 100k kilometres), and whether the bulk of those kilometres were done around town in stop-start driving, or on longer trips which cause less strain on mechanical parts. In most cases parts won’t simply start falling off once you hit 200,000km and a well looked-after FJ should be able to reach over 300,000km before major components will need to be reconditioned. As to the value I have seen sub-100,000km-old examples listed as low as $32,000 and some as high as $45,000 so it will come down to the individual FJ’s history. I would definitely have a look at the prices around Australia as you might find bargains a short road-trip away.

Hi Chloe, the wrench symbol is the service indicator light on this generation of Passat. I would take the car to your nearest licenced mechanical repairer and have them read the fault codes logged in the ECU, which is basically your car’s brain. Basically, when a part of your car stops working properly it sends an error message to the ECU, which has an error code it can display when the mechanic plugs their scan tool into the computer. This model Passat had an issue where the service light would come on, requiring the ECU’s software to be updated by the dealer. I’d take the car in and see what error codes come up as the first job.

Normally this would be an issue with the glow plugs, but the 2.5 turbo-diesel Rangers seem to occasionally have an issue with the assembly around the fuel filter (which includes the water trap and primer pump) sucking in air. This can be fixed by replacing the unit as a whole. Similarly Ranger owners have reported trouble cold-starting their 2.5 TD when the valve stopping fuel flowing back into the tank from the pump fails. Try priming your fuel system a couple of times before starting and if it starts up fine then replace that valve near the fuel pump. 

An MY18-model Mitusibishi ASX LS should set you back between $15,000 and $20,000 depending on kilometres and its overall condition. Whether you look at a 2WD or 4x4 model it doesn’t seem to change the 2018-model’s valuation.