Warranty

When I press the accelerator pedal in my 2018 Toyota HiAce I hear whistling sound in my engine. Can you give me possible problems of my car?

There is no surer cure for the heady rush that comes with buying a new car than when that service reminder light first pops up on your dashboard.

Renault Australia has extended the warranty on its light-commercial vehicle (LCV) range, making it better than all of its van rivals, except Ford.The new warranty is three years or unlimited kilometres, increasing the distance from the previous three-year/200,000km cover.It now exceeds the offerings from Mercedes-Benz Vans and Fiat Professional that both have three-year/200,000km warranties on their respective Vito and Sprinter, and Doblo and Ducato products. Citroen has a three-year/100,000km cover on its Berlingo.But none of them can beat Ford’s five-year/unlimited kilometre warranty on its Transit, Transit Custom and Ranger vehicles.Renault has applied the warranty from November 1 this year on its Trafic, Kangoo and Master models. The boost in cover, which Renault said was in response to customer feedback, is aimed at lifting the LCV range’s sales and resale value.Renault Australia managing director Andrew Moore said the company’s van range was now well positioned to respond to the needs of LCV buyers and that business customers covering long distances no longer had to worry about this impacting on their warranty.Sales of Renault Australia’s LCVs in the first 10 months of the year have slipped slightly compared with the 2017 data.The Renault Kangoo has 710 sales for the 10 months, down 3.3 per cent on the same period in 2017, while the Trafic sold 1657 units (down 2.1 per cent) and the Master found 1306 buyers, down 3.5 per cent on 2017.

My 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe hadn't made 50,000 km before the transmission had totally gone. I have read reviews and other complaints and when my car was in being fixed there were four other cars there with the same problem. I have been given a 12-month warranty, but I don't have faith that this too will last. Do you think I should sell and get another vehicle?

One of the LED lights on my 2013 Gen-F HSV Clubsport has gone out. It's a known problem with the HSV. I tried talking to HSV, but they don't want to hear about it. I know my car is out of warranty, but I have serviced the car with them from the day I bought it. I even asked them to come to the party, 50-50, and still they don't want to know about it. I've rung HSV head office, they keep saying someone will call back, but no one does. I don't know what else to do.

Volkswagen has joined the five-year warranty club in Australia, adding an extra 24 months to its standard three-year warranty for vehicles sold before December 31.

We purchased a 2018 Honda CRV and took delivery in April 2018. At 4500 km the computer came up with a sign that it needed an oil change soon. We called Honda and were told that it would require an oil change within the
next 1000 km. We called and questioned it as within the service manual it clearly states that it is every 12 months or 10,000 km. We were told that it was due to the driving conditions. This car is used under normal daily commute duties, school drop-offs and the occasional weekend daily road trip. Furthermore, Honda said that if we didn't conduct the oil change it would void the warranty. Again we questioned then what was the veracity of the service interval, as we couldn’t be conducting oil changes three times a year in what we consider to be standard driving conditions. Finally, the service manager just referred to the confidence that the oil monitoring system was doing its job and the oil would be required to be changed. We have never had this situation in any other vehicle brand we've had. Please share your thoughts.

The new capped plans are significantly cheaper, with Skoda claiming their line-up is now “among the least expensive to service” in each category.

I've had using Holdens all my life and I now own a 2012 Holden Cruze. It has only 49,000 km in the clock, but recently it has been giving a knock on gear changes and now the car has stopped changing gears and doesn't go when accelerating. But if I stop the engine and re-start the car, it will run for about 100 metres and does the same thing.

I am interested in the Subaru Outback, but the 3-year warranty is disappointing. Should I still consider Subaru, or look at the Kia Sportage or Mitsubishi Eclipse?