Generally speaking, once a vehicle is beyond its warranty period (or distance travelled) that’s it as far as the manufacturer’s responsibilities lie.

The exception is if you have experienced a problem while the warranty was still current, logged that fault with your dealer or manufacturer, but the problem has still not been fixed. That’s what’s called a pre-existing fault and technically, it’s still covered by the factory warranty, provided it would have been a warranty job within the statutory warranty period.

Warranty law doesn’t really differentiate between types of faults (electronic, structural or mechanical). But if the dealer knew of a warranty problem while the car as still within warranty, then that dealer (or the manufacturer/importer) is legally obliged to fix it.

It all depends on how you define long and bulky. But no seven-seater is going to be exactly small, is it? That’s because, to accommodate the third row of seats necessary to seat seven a vehicle physically has to be a certain length and there’s just no getting around that.

But I take your point; a lot of the seven-seat SUVs out there do seem pretty big. Again, however, that’s not a bad thing if you plan to fill all three rows of seats and still have some room left for luggage. The smaller seven-seaters aren’t all that good at this as the third row gobbles up the luggage space, making these cars best for those who only need seven seats on an occasional basis. If that’s your situation there are lots of mid-sized seven seaters around, but they’re pretty much all SUVs.

And while it goes against your preference for a smaller vehicle, the very best seven-seaters aren’t SUVs. They’re usually people-mover vans such as the Ford Tourneo, Kia Carnival and VW ID. Buzz. In fact, some of these even seat eight. They’re also a lot better for accessing the rearmost row of seats and they’ll still have lots of luggage space even with all seats occupied. And, yes, they look big, but that’s physics for you.

In the meantime, you could look at slightly less bulky options including the Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorento, Mazda CX-80 and Toyota Kluger. There’s also been speculation recently that Subaru’s seven-seat Tribeca might make a return to the Australian market.

While not a common problem, this could be caused by a faulty oil pressure sensor. But it’s important to have this checked out by a mechanic because you could be dealing with an engine that really is suffering from low oil pressure. If the latter is the case, you risk doing permanent and catastrophic damage to the engine because the oil pressure is insufficient to fully protect the internal parts of the engine.

The reason you’re seeing the light come on when the engine is idling (and presumably at operating temperature) is because this is when the engine’s oil pressure is at its lowest. When you rev the engine, the oil pump turns faster, creating more oil pressure. When the engine speed drops again, the pump slows, the oil pressure falls and the warning light switches on.

By having the actual oil pressure checked at a workshop with an independent gauge (separate to the one in the car) you’ll know if the light is coming on because of a duff sensor or because the oil pressure really is too low.