Ford Territory Problems

Unfortunately I don't think there is much you can do about it, the car is 10 years old and well beyond the warranty. It's even stretching the limit where you might expect goodwill. You bought an old car without inspecting it, took the salesman's word, and bought a model with known issues.

Replace the ignition lock.

A design flaw in the front suspension is the cause of the wear in the Territory ball joints, one that was fixed with the new suspension in the updated Series II model. You would hope that the revised control arms Ford released for the early Territory eliminates the wear issue, but they don’t address the fundamental design problem with the suspension that causes the ball joints to wear. In your case it seems the revised arms didn’t do the job, and I would press Ford to come to the party to replace the ball joints on your car at its expense.

The Avenso Versis is a good all-rounder in the people-mover class. Other people-movers you could consider are the Honda Odyssey, Kia Grand Carnival, or VW Caddy Life, you could consider SUVs like the Ford Territory or Nissan Dualis.

You're not the only one and Ford is not the only brand. Ford Australia's customer service boss, Steve Kruk, replies: "The price for the SZ is $195 and it's $295 for the SX from 2004-2011. The reason our Ford map upgrades are more expensive is that we need to build a unique map system for the integrated Ford Sat Nav. The NavMan  and Garmin are generic and they can spread the cost over millions more customers – but it is not integrated with the vehicle".

Definitely not the Journey; the Territory is solid and good value; but my current favourite in the class is the Kia Sorento. It gets The Tick and is well worth the extra, even though the starting price of $40,990 is well beyond the $33,500 base of the Journey.

The three cars you name all have merit, none has any major issue to be concerned about and all fit your needs, but you will have to shop around to find them within your age and budget limits.

It seems like another case of perfect preparation preventing poor performance.

Definitely not the Captiva. The Kluger will cost more because of the Toyota badge. I'd favour a Territory — but make sure it's had necessary upgrades to the ball joints. As an alternative, a Hyundai Santa Fe would be a good choice.

I would keep the Territory going as it should still have plenty of life left in it. Most of the three-tonne tow-mobiles are quite costly, even dual-cab utes.