Ask The Guide

For a lot of second-hand car buyers, the opportunity to purchase a car with a year of factory warranty remaining is a big deal. It’s great peace of mind and that means a lot to some people who are sometimes a bit spooked by the level of technology in modern cars. On the basis that you’ll be selling the car in the next 12 months or so, perhaps now is the time while that warranty is still there to attract would-be buyers.

However, you must be able to prove to a buyer that the car has been serviced correctly and at the appropriate intervals. A car without a full, correct service history is, effectively, a car without a warranty regardless of how old it is. Make sure the service handbook is fully stamped and in the glove-box. By the way, your car’s warranty started when you bought it in late 2018, not 2019 even though it’s a 2019 model-year vehicle.

Mechanically, there’s virtually nothing to separate these two versions of what is essentially the same car. Both have the same power and torque and the transmission is the same CVT. The only real difference that could make the GSR feel a bit frisker than your Exceed is that the former is about 40kg lighter.

Perhaps it’s your perception that is the difference here. The Exceed is the more expensive variant so perhaps it has a little more sound deadening on board. That would help explain the extra mass but could also be making the vehicle sound a little more muted and, therefore, less perky. Don’t rule out the spectre of manufacturing tolerances, either. It’s far less common (and marked) these days, but it remains that some cars are just a bit more powerful than the car that came down the same production line either side of them.

Ultimately, even higher tyre pressures can have an effect on acceleration, but if you can detect these small differences, you are indeed a very sensitive driver.

That’s not a bad innings for a four-cylinder engine, even a modern one (although I’ve seen similar engines with more kilometres and still going strong). There’s a fair chance the piston rings and valve stem seals have lost some of their mojo and are allowing the oil to be burned in the engine. It’s normal wear and tear, but it needs to be fixed on the basis of the pollution being produced from the tailpipe. Also, eventually, something major will fail spectacularly and leave you stranded.

Your options include rebuilding the current engine or finding a second-hand engine with fewer kilometres on board and simply swapping it into your car. Thanks to the fact that the Mazda 3 was a popular car with younger drivers, they’re somewhat over-represented in wrecking yards, often with engines in very good condition. This would certainly be cheaper than rebuilding your current engine.

Fundamentally, these Audis were well-built cars but there a couple of things to watch out for when shopping for a second-hand one. First, these were very complex cars with lots of standard equipment. So it’s important to make sure every switch, every lever and every button does exactly what it’s supposed to. Check that the air-conditioning blows icy cold and that the cruise-control does, in fact, work. Fixing these problems after the purchase might make the car seem a pretty expensive one.

Mechanically, the biggest thing to watch for is a faulty transmission. The V6 variant of the TT had a six-speed dual-clutch gearbox which is not without some history of problems. So, during the test drive, make sure it shifts promptly and without any hunting issues. It should pick up a gear from Park without hesitation and there should be no noises from the transmission whatsoever. Any jerking during take-off or trouble selecting a gear means you should look for another example without these problems as replacing or rebuilding the transmission will cost a huge percentage of the car’s value.

The Audi TT is one car where the cost of an independent pre-purchase inspection might be a good investment.

Any time a fuel-injected car can’t get fuel from the tank to the engine, the number one suspect is the electric fuel pump. These are often located inside the fuel tank and have a finite lifespan. And when they stop, they just stop. That’s it; no warning and only a new pump will get you going again.

However, it’s also worth checking that you don’t have a blocked fuel filter or a kinked fuel line or something equally random that is stopping the fuel getting to the engine. Nine times out of ten, however, the fuel pump will be the culprit.

Whenever you see a bunch of problems all occurring at once, the car’s body computer becomes a prime suspect. This computer is what controls functions such as door locking, power mirrors and windows, the anti-theft measures, cruise-control, lighting, wipers, powered seats, the dashboard and much, much more. All these functions can go haywire or stop working altogether (and all at once) when the body computer says it’s had enough.

Since your car has electrically controlled steering, the body computer will have a say in that as well, which could explain the weird noises. But either way, you shouldn’t drive the vehicle any farther. Any noises or strange symptoms in a car’s steering could mean a sudden loss of control at the worst possible moment.

A problem like this is all but impossible to diagnose remotely. There are literally hundreds of reasons why this could be happening, and simply guessing at an answer and replacing that part randomly is not the way to proceed. The fact that no fault codes have shown up Is a puzzle, too. Don’t forget, though, that there’s probably a second fuse-box somewhere inside the vehicle as well as the one under the bonnet that you’ve already checked.

I’m not sure about the flashing anti-theft light. Sometimes these flash constantly whenever the car is locked as a message to would-be thieves that there’s an alarm system fitted. That said, the problem could be something to do with the immobiliser system which would stop the vehicle in its tracks if it thought the car was being started by somebody without the correct key fob.

The bottom line, of course, is that this vehicle – provided it’s been serviced correctly – is still under Great Wall’s factory five-year/150,000km warranty which was introduced back in 2019. So make it Great Wall’s problem.

Your car is trying to tell you that there’s something wrong somewhere and that it has disabled its cruise-control function as a result. A flashing cruise-control light in this vehicle is often accompanied by a check engine light, so make sure that’s not lit as well. If the check engine light is illuminated, then the flashing cruise light is the car’s way of telling you you won’t be able to engage cruise-control to avoid causing a bigger problem.

But you could have a different problem with the cruise-control - perhaps a speed sensor or brake-light switch problem – that is forcing the car to disable the cruise function.

You could be dealing with a gear-selector mechanism that is not adjusted properly. Or, you might be looking at worn synchromesh rings or some other wear inside the gearbox. The first problem is an easy one to fix, the second requires surgery on the innards of the transmission itself. Also, even though you’ve replaced the clutch, is it adjusted correctly?

The problem shows up when the transmission is cold because that’s when the oil inside it is thickest. As the transmission warms up the oil flows a bit more easily and lubricates better, making everything slip together with less effort. A lot of people simply learn to live with a stubborn gearshift first thing in the morning, but if the cause of this is worn components, they aren’t going to fix themselves and will get gradually worse.

This is probably because who ever serviced the car failed to manually switch off the service-engine reminder light. This is often done via a scan-tool through the diagnostic port.

But in the case of your car, you should be able to do it yourself. Turn on the ignition and you’ll see that the service light is illuminated. With the ignition still on (but the motor not running) press the small button that you’d normally twist to control the brightness of the dashboard lights. After a few seconds, the service light should start to flash. Release the button and then give it a single push (but don’t hold it). Now turn the ignition off. If you’ve got the sequence correct, the next time you turn on the ignition, the service reminder light should have disappeared.