Hyundai Problems

I would go for an i30. It's a former Carsguide Car of the Year and you will get a car with the remainder of the five-year warranty

You could upgrade to a more-powerful high-beam halogen globe but it's a common problem as many Asian makes focus on low-beam performance because their countries are mostly urban. So they use Xenon gas for HID low beams but do not bother to upgrade the high beam from halogen.

I recently drove an Elantra and was pleasantly surprised, because the original drove quite badly. The value is good on the Trophy, too.

There is also a petrol-engined Santa Fe. The crossover point for getting the money back on diesel power is about 30,000km a year.

You will struggle for space in a CX-5 as it's smaller than the CX-7. I would go for a Hyundai Santa Fe, which gets The Tick with seven seats, quality, a five-year warranty and lifetime capped-price service costs.

For your specific needs, including serious outback travel, I would also go for a Toyota. But the discussion was about regular compact family cars and in that class the Koreans are ahead of all but the Mazda3.

When the Japanese brands slashed development spending through the global financial crisis, the Koreans spent more to improve their cabin quality, engines, gearboxes and everything else. Kia and Hyundai now also have specialist engineers who tune their suspensions just for Australia. They also lead on warranty and service costs, for a compelling overall package on cars like the Hyundai i30 and Kia Proceed.

It sounds like it is hesitating when you want to accelerate. It would worth checking the spark plugs and cleaning and resetting the gaps if needed, also clean the throttle body, and check for any vacuum leaks.

If it were the actuator that has failed again I would think you had a strong claim for a replacement. The part that was fitted has a warranty, and if it has failed, the warranty on the actuator should cover the replacement.