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.

It kind of goes against the grain a little, but there’s a valid case for listening to your friends and mechanic and driving the car until it stops. Since your car is worth – based on average asking prices – about $10,000, you could easily overcapitalise on a new transmission.

The best advice is to have it checked over by a transmission specialist who will know what to look for based on the symptoms they see. You’re right in that a bad pothole could have damaged a drive-shaft (or a wheel, or suspension component) and the torque converter is also a candidate to produce a fault in the way the car drives. On the flip-side, you might simply find that a service and change of fluid brings the transmission back to full health. Meantime, I’m not so sure about rebuilt transmissions not carrying a warranty. Australia’s consumer law suggests that may not be the case.

Kia rates the 2017 Sorento to tow a braked trailer of up to 2000kg. That much weight should be well within the limits of the car’s mechanical systems and reflects testing that Kia would have done before releasing the car. Which is to say, you won’t damage the car by towing a sub-two-tonne caravan.

Provided that is, that the caravan and car are loaded correctly and the rig is balanced and safe. This is also dependent on the vehicle being in perfect condition and you diving it correctly in the context of towing a heavy load.

The automatic transmission is your friend here, too, as it is smart enough to decide what gear it needs to be in to make the engine’s life as easy as possible and avoid unnecessary wear and tear. If you think the engine is labouring at any point, you can also lock the transmission out of overdrive and let the engine breath a little easier.