Mitsubishi Problems

I don’t know of any insurance companies that will pay out an increased amount because of recent repairs. The presumption would have been that your car was worth the $6000 agreed-value amount only if it was in good working order and not in a damaged state. Following that presumption is the fact that, if it needed $1500 spent on it to bring it back to that condition, that’s simply a wear and tear cost that is not the insurer’s problem. It’s a cruel world, no?

As for the payout figure including (or not) the registration refund, I’d imagine that would be up to the insurer and would be included in the dreaded fine-print. From what I can gather, this is a pretty common inclusion on most policy wordings, and many insurers will adjust the payout down to include the policy excess (if, unlike your case, Tracey, you were at fault) and the unused portion of the CTP insurance and registration. But get this: Some insurers will even deduct the costs of the rest of the year’s insurance premium from your payout, even if you were paying the premium monthly! Never gloss over the fine print.

You have a very common-sense approach to this Neil, and I agree with your theory 100 per cent. Towing a heavy load in an overdriven gear – whether it’s a manual or automatic gearbox – is not a great idea. Some gearboxes are obviously stronger than others, but even so, I reckon it’s just a good policy based on the principles of mechanical sympathy.

Towing in overdrive places huge stresses on the mechanical components of a gearbox – a piece of equipment that already has its back to the wall with 2.3 tonnes of caravan trying to drag it to a stop – and limiting the load and stresses by sticking with a ratio no higher than direct-drive (1:1) just makes sense. Think of it like your legs when riding a push-bike: Using a higher gear is fine until the driveline starts to load up, such as when climbing a hill (or towing a caravan in your car) at which point you need to shift to a lower gear to avoid your leg muscles exploding.

You’re right in suggesting that your car heads for the higher gears in a hurry to reduce fuel consumption, and this is one of those times when the manufacturer has placed the official fuel-consumption number on the windscreen sticker over common-sense. Not that Mitsubishi is the only offender (far from it) but it remains that the engine and gearbox have been calibrated for maximum fuel economy rather than maximum mechanical sympathy.

Ands let’s be honest, with a big caravan hitched up behind, no vehicle is going to record brilliant fuel consumption figures, is it?

With the ignition off, press the info button repeatedly until the service screen comes up. Then press and hold the info button until the spanner icon flashes, press the info button repeatedly until the schedule starts to flash. Press and hold the info button until off is displayed, then press and hold the info button until the flashing stops. The service reminder will then be turned off.

A 2002 Magna in decent condition is around the $2000 to $3000 mark, Karen. So depending on what’s wrong with your car, the value in 'poor condition' could be as little as a few hundred dollars. If we’re talking major panel damage, flaking paint, rust and a car that needs new brakes or suspension, you could be looking at the vehicle’s scrap value which would be between $150 and $250 at current rates.

An MY18-model Mitusibishi ASX LS should set you back between $15,000 and $20,000 depending on kilometres and its overall condition. Whether you look at a 2WD or 4x4 model it doesn’t seem to change the 2018-model’s valuation.

It’s a fact of life, Ted, that fuel-efficiency has been a big focus for car-makers in the last decade. So, the most economical models tend to be the newer ones which tap into better technology (such as stop-start functions) and improved engine and driveline designs.

But beyond the improvements in petrol-engine technology, diesel engines have brought some big improvements, as have hybrid vehicles. The real headline makers have been, of course, the plug-in electric vehicles which are now available second-hand for sensible money. I’ve seen Nissan Leafs for sale for less than $20,000 and the plug-in hybrid Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV for similar money.

If economy is your number-one aim, stay away from all-wheel-drive cars as the extra driveline friction requires more power and, therefore, fuel to drive it. And don’t forget that how you drive, where you drive and even whether you check you tyre pressure regularly can also have a huge effect on your ultimate fuel economy.

Assuming we’re talking about a 4B12 engine (Mitsubishi’s internal codes) such as found in a 2016 Lancer or Outlander, then your engine has a timing chain rather than a timing belt. While timing belts need periodic replacement (usually around the 80,000 to 100,000km mark depending on the manufacturer) a timing chain should last the life of the vehicle.

However, this hasn’t always been the reality, especially with older Mitsubishi engines such as the Astron 2.6-litre which was found in Australian Magnas. These developed wear in their timing chains early in life and many were replaced. The trade seems to regard the 4B12 pretty highly, though, so it seems these later engines are not prone to the same problems. Even so, as with any engine, I’d be making sure the servicing – and in particular, oil changes – has been done by the book. That’s the cheapest mechanical insurance around.

Air-bags deploy according to what force the crash places on the car. There’s no hard and fast rule to this, because no two crashes are the same. So, the sensors that tell the air-bags to deploy take into account the amount of deceleration involved and compare that with a threshold reading to decide whether to deploy the bags or not.

A car travelling at very low speed that noses into a wire-rope barrier, for instance, may not decelerated sufficiently for the bags to go off. But the same car, travelling at the same low speed that is hit by a moving car coming the other way, is much more likely to deploy its air-bags.

And just because the side air-bags have deployed in a crash, doesn’t necessarily mean the front air-bags will also be deployed. Sometimes the front bags will go off in sympathy with the side air-bags, but if there was not sufficient forward deceleration, the front ones should remain intact.

However, the tule of thumb is this: In Australia, air-bags are designed to deploy at speeds above about 25km/h and, in the case of front air-bags, in any impact within roughly 30 degrees of the car’s direction of travel at the time.