Holden Problems

The recommended fuel is 91-octane unleaded petrol.

I understand your disappointment. You need to contact Holden’s Customer Care (1800 46 465 336) and plead your case.

The automatic transmission has been a problem for Captiva owners, but you’re unlikely to get much sympathy from Holden on a car that is now 11 years old. How’s to say what might've happened to the transmission in the past 11 years.

I assume it depends on the gradient involved and it doesn’t happen on every hill, just the steeper ones. It seems that’s the way it is calibrated to work.

There could be a number of reasons it won’t start, from a battery that’s down, a problematic starter or starter solenoid, a poor electrical connection in the starter circuit, or a problem with the ignition switch.

If it’s a regular model it will have a 1.8-litre engine, but if it’s a SRi it will have s 2.2-litre.

I wouldn’t recommend the Cruze, there have been too many problems with them. The Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and Hyundai Elantra are all good, reliable cars with plenty of performance for the class. Any one of them would be a good choice.

The switch is on the light. It should have three positions: off, on when it operates independently of the door switch, and the third position is for when it operates in conjunction with the door switch.

0W-40.

Replacing the timing chains is not a cheap exercise. You could anticipate paying around $3000. I would expect to affect the pink slip.