Ask The Guide

Both the Toyota and Kia have good reputations for quality and durability, while the Chery is more of an unknown quantity in Australia. The important thing to remember is that the cars you’ve short-listed are all near-new vehicles, so they’ll have plenty of factory warranty left to run.

The best way to avoid clear coat peeling is to buy a car in a solid, rather than metallic, colour, which doesn’t generally have the same peeling problems. That said, modern paint technology is much better than ever before, so this is less of a problem than it once was. Protecting a car’s interior means parking it out of the sun in the hotter months. Although, again, the durability of interior plastics has come a long, long way in recent years.

If you’re going to keep the car for a few years and then trade it in on a new car, retained value is more important than any of your other concerns. And in that sense, the Toyota traditionally moves to the front of the pack.

Independent testing of the Tasman has shown that the rear bump-stops do get a mighty workout with a large load on the tow-hitch. This suggests that the rear springs are not adequate for really heavy trailers and caravans, regardless of what the brochure says about the 3500kg towing limit for this vehicle.

The traction control cutting in could well be another symptom of this. If the rear springs can’t compress any further (and they can’t when the bump stops are in play) then the rear axle is not suspended properly, and that could make the rear tyres skip and hop over bumps. Once the computer detects that the tyres are not firmly on the ground at all times, it will trigger the traction control.

There’s a bit of an arms race in dual-cab utes at the moment, as manufacturers all try to offer 3500kg towing limits. Some of them do this much more convincingly than others. It’s also true that, in the old days, the rule of thumb was that you didn’t tow any trailer heavier than the vehicle doing the towing. In the Tasman’s case, that would make the limit about 2200kg. Not as sexy as 3.5 tonnes, but more sensible in our opinion.

You haven’t told me which engine is fitted to your car, but if it’s the turbo-diesel engine, then the cause may be a pretty simple one. This engine has a habit of splitting the plastic trunking that takes the pressurised intake air from the turbocharger to the engine’s inlet manifold. If that happens, the air is free to escape to the atmosphere, and doesn’t make it’s way into the engine.

That’s why you’ll hear a noise like air escaping (because that’s precisely what it is) as well as a lack of power, because the engine is not receiving all the boost from the turbo. You’ll probably also notice that the car is blowing more black smoke than it should.

The fix is a new piece of plastic pipe that should be well within the abilities of any workshop to fit.

This situation is precisely why we can’t recommend any of these aftermarket warranties or service plans. There are simply too many loopholes written into them to enable the provider to take your money and then deny your claim when you need them most. Fundamentally, they’re the new snake oil. Maybe there are some decent ones out there, but the majority are a straight rip-off.

They also tend to lock you into more expensive dealership servicing, too. But even then, when something goes wrong, you’ll often find that particular problem isn’t covered in the fine print.

Like the other dealership add-ons – paint treatments and upholstery protection to name just two – these extended warranties are generally not worth the paper they’re printed on. You’ve learned this the hard way, but it’s also sounds like the product was mis-represented at the time you signed up for it. If that’s the case and you can prove it, then I’d be talking to the ACCC.

A loss of engine power can be due to many things. Most mechanics will start with a check of the fuel and ignition systems to check for things like dud spark plugs, ignition timing, broken ignition leads and coils and whether or not enough fuel is reaching the engine (worn fuel pump or blocked fuel filter). If all that checks out, then the search will move to mechanical things like the camshaft timing, and whether there’s a leaking engine valve or a vacuum leak somewhere.

The 2.5-litre petrol engine in your X-Trail is a very well known quantity, so there’s plenty of expertise out there. A workshop that deals with Nissans in particular may have seen exactly this problem before and will be able to go straight to the cause.

Meantime, don’t rule out the really obvious stuff like a dragging brake that could be making the vehicle feel sluggish.

You may have something loose or worn in the driveline – such as a driveshaft – that is causing the thump. Looseness or wear means the drive from the engine doesn’t travel smoothly to the wheels, and that’s why you hear a noise and feel a clunk when you engage a gear. A check underneath should easily spot the problem.

But you may also be dealing with a worn transmission with internal wear. The Subaru XV uses a CVT transmission which, while a very efficient design, is also known for developing wear. This isn’t just a Subaru problem, either; many makes and models with CVTs have the same issues. CVTs are definitely stronger than they used to be, but they’re not always the most robust type of transmission.

This engine uses a separate cooling system for its intercooler set-up, rather than simply tapping into the engine’s main cooling system. But the secondary cooling system works just the same as the engine’s coolant system, which means the expansion tank also has an overflow function.

When coolant is heated, it expands. If the system is too full, there’s not enough room for this expansion of the coolant, and the overflow function steps in, allowing some of the coolant to escape to prevent over-pressurising the rest of the system. Once that has happened perhaps a couple of times, the system will then have enough room in the expansion tank to completely contain the coolant, even when it’s hot. This is possibly why you’re seeing some coolant escaping.

However, if the coolant level continues to drop, there’s a good chance you have a leak somewhere in the system. This could be contained within the plumbing that routes the coolant around the engine bay, or even a crack in the expansion tank itself. A workshop should be able to do a pressure test which will determine if there’s a leak and where it is. The leak is also often located on the valve that lets the excess coolant when it needs to (a valve that can commonly fail). This is normally at the top of the expansion tank, but the leak could easily be appearing at the bottom simply by running down the side of the tank.

There’s about a million possible causes of this, but most mechanics would probably make a check of the electric fuel pump one of their first moves. Modern electric pumps have a finite lifespan and when they die, it can be very sudden. You can try a quick test for yourself at home, too. When it’s nice and quiet, turn the ignition until the dashboard lights come on. At that point, you should be able to hear a faint hum or buzz. That’s the electric fuel pump switching on to supply fuel to the engine. If you can’t hear it humming away, chances are it’s either dead or a fuse or other electrical problem has stopped it in its tracks.

There’s also the chance that the failure to start is related to the car’s ignition system which, again, could have any number of causes. Old spark plugs, blown coil-packs, a dud sensor or even a broken wire could be the problem.

Plenty of used cars change hands without service books in the glovebox. But this is usually a problem in older cars where the vehicle is well and truly out of warranty. In a newer cars such as yours, the lack of any service history in the car would be a major red flag.

There’s no law requiring a car dealer to provide a service history, just as there’s no law compelling owners to have their cars serviced correctly, even though failing to do so will often void the car’s warranty. And how can a dealer be responsible for a car’s service books if the previous owner lost them? Also, if the car hasn’t been serviced within the Toyota dealership network, how can a dealership determine what that service history has been?

But here’s what’s probably happened: Many dealerships (especially high-volume ones) remove the service handbook, owner’s manual and the second key from the car before it goes on the lot. That’s to prevent those things going 'missing' over the weeks the car is on sale and being test driven by who-knows-who. In my experience, there will be one person at that car-yard who will know where the books and keys and stored and until you find that person, their location will remain a mystery. But, if the car was bought on the condition that the service books would be sent to you, then that forms part of the contract of sale and the car-yard must produce them. In the meantime, since you don’t know when the last service was carried out, I’d be pushing for a free service to ensure the car doesn’t wind up with a skipped service based on time and kilometres.

A weird, random grinding noise at low speeds when taking off can sometimes be a result of the anti-lock brakes. It can be a surprise initially, but it doesn’t usually last more than a second or so and is caused by the braking system more or less calibrating itself for the journey ahead. It can also occur in reverse and is usually nothing to worry about.

But you should also probably look further than the braking system. Any grinding or rattling noise can be something as simple as a heat-shield vibrating, or as serious as a major flaw in the transmission or suspension. Either way, it needs to be diagnosed and fixed.

Don’t take no as an answer from the dealership, and don’t be afraid to tackle GWM’s Australian customer service division if you’re not getting anywhere. If there is a problem, then it’s very possibly a warranty issue and is GWM’s problem to fix.