Subaru Problems

With your budget you would be looking at a 2010/2011 VW Beetle, which had a regular automatic transmission and not the troublesome DSG that was fitted in later models. That’s a big tick for the Beetle. The Citroen C3 is a decent car, but an orphan in the sense that there weren’t many sold and you won’t find a dealer on every corner. As for the BMW, they’re too expensive to service and repair if you use a dealer, and they have too many niggling issues that spoil the great driving experience. The Subaru Impreza is well worth looking at, but my pick of that bunch would be the Volvo C30.

It’s a tough call, the Qashqai gets the nod on price and for having a diesel engine option and better luggage capacity, the XV is all-wheel drive, but there’s no diesel. The Nissan by a nose.

Until this week I would have said the Passat was fine but I've just run into a problem with a VW test car. I would now punt for the Liberty, which has just been updated and gets The Tick.

Both the CX-5 and the Tribeca are good choices; they're capable, well built and reliable. Others to consider are the Kia Sportage and Sorento. While they are Korean like the Captiva, unlike the Captiva they're very good cars, well built and reliable.

If you don’t want a convertible, which rules out the MX-5 as my easy first pick, then the 86 is the car for driving enjoyment on a reasonable budget. But don’t overlook its Subaru twin, the BRZ, which is my choice of the two. Both get The Tick, having shared our Car of the Year award.

Sadly, the Jumbuck has gone the same way as the Subaru Brumby — the world now wants bigger utes. In any case, the Jumbuck was based on the old Mitsubishi Lancer, which meant it was barely safe, and Proton has insufficient funds to develop a new model.

You'd like to think that once fixed it won't happen again, particularly as it is happened to you once before, but no one can predict what might or might not happen in the future. No one can guarantee 100 percent that it won't happen again, but Subaru should be able to explain what caused the problem and give you a reasonable assurance that it wont re-occur. The dealer's responsibility is to fix your car; Subaru's should be to explain what happened and why so you can get back to driving your car with confidence. If the dealer doesn't want to help go directly to Subaru and ask to talk to an engineer. If you don't get any satisfaction go further up the company ladder until, if necessary, go all the way to the top. If the repairs are going to take some weeks as you suspect you should ask for a loan car so you're not without wheels.

The Suzuki is the best bet, by far. Avoid the older Audi, it's likely to be too costly in terms of service and repairs, the Impreza is a good car, so too is the Liberty, but the best is the Suzuki.

Both are very good cars, they're well designed, well built and reliable. The Outback is the more fuel-efficient of the two, but it has a CVT auto where as the Sportage has a conventional automatic. You should drive the Outback to see if you like the CVT before making your final decision. Clearly the more frequent servicing of the Subaru means its running costs are slightly higher, and the shorter warranty could have an impact later on. It's a line-ball decision, but for mine I would probably go for the Kia.