Ask The Guide

Any number of things could be exciting the passenger seat, the wheels and tyres, driveline, engine. It’s not likely to be the suspension/shocks, although they would be prime suspects when it comes to the hard ride. Take it to a suspension specialist and check out the options for springs, shocks and bushes.

It is obviously frustrating you, and it would be nice to think that you wouldn’t have these problems with a new car, and that the dealer would give you better service. They don’t seem to be major problems, more annoying than anything else, and should be easily fixed. The good thing is that the car is still under warranty and the dealer appears to be attempting to fix the problems. If you are concerned about it ask the dealer for an appointment to go through the problems, what he is doing about them, and when he might be finished. You could also request that a representative of Hyundai be there at the same time.

The 3.2-litre turbo-diesel engine in the Ranger is known for its propensity to self-destruct. It can even happen at low kilometres.

I’d say you have a turbo problem. Get it to a dealer and have it checked out. Wit the problem you describe you should be able to clearly show the dealer what you are concerned about.

The lack of performance you’re feeling is when the car goes into ‘limp’ mode because it has detected a problem. Take it to your VW dealer and have them run a diagnostic check on it, which should identify the cause of the problem.

The Brumby would have been a good choice 10 years ago, but finding one now that hasn’t been driven into the ground, beaten to death, or rusted away is nigh on impossible. Instead of buying a dodgy old your son a favour and buy him a decent car, one that doesn’t belong in a scrap yard, and will serve him well for some time into the future. I would go for a Hilux, Triton, or Bravo 2600.

You can’t, it’s telling you there is no information for it to display.

The dual-clutch so-called ‘sports automatic’ transmission in the Cruze has a long and miserable history if trouble. From what you describe it seems trouble is coming your way.

You seem to have kept good records of the problems with your car, which will help when it comes to the crunch. It’s also good that you are pursuing Holden through VCAT. If you bought it new in 2015 the warranty must have only just expired, which should help you claim against Holden for the cost of repairs. I would pursue Holden to replace the transmission; the car has a long history of trouble with the transmission, which you can verify with the records you have kept. If that fails to move Holden I would again go to VCAT to get some satisfaction.

All you have is your gut feeling; you need to have something more concrete than that if you hope to make any progress with the dealer. They clearly haven’t been able to find anything wrong with it when they have checked it. I would start by checking the fuel consumption. Measure it; if it’s substantially higher than it should be (7.2 L/100 km average, 5.7 L/100 km country, 9.8 K/100 km city) then that tells you there is something wrong. Then I would find a flat section of road where you could safely measure your car’s 0-100 km acceleration time, which should be around 9.5 seconds. If it takes significantly longer than that it’s also an indicator that something is amiss. With that info you can decide for yourself if there is a problem or not, and if the numbers suggest there is you have something to show the dealer.