Toyota Problems

I NEVER treat the distance-to-empty readout as gospel. I use it as a basic guide, but nothing more. I don't trust them and certainly have no confidence in them, whatever the make of car. I am driving a VE Commodore SS ute that was showing an average fuel consumption of 13 litres/100km when I picked it up. It now shows 17.4 litres/100km after I reset it and have driven it for three weeks. That's a vast difference. I plan to do a fill-to-fill check and see what the correlation is. I would first determine the accuracy of your trip computer by doing a similar check and seeing what the range really is. If that backs up your belief that the range is inaccurate, you have something to talk to Toyota about.

WITHOUT knowing the strength of the wind gust that caught the door it's hard to comment on your son's case, but we have had no reports of problems with the HiLux's body. We have had a few reports of clutch problems and this does seem to be an issue with the vehicle.

THE Camry is a good choice. It's a reliable model and won't cost an arm and a leg to run. I would also consider the Nissan Maxima A32, which fits your budget, and don't forget the Mitsubishi Magna. You will get a later-model Magna for the same money.

YES, you can. The fuel you refer to is a blend of 90 per cent unleaded and 10 per cent ethanol. Ethanol in sufficiently high concentrations can damage your engine and fuel system, but at 10 per cent there's no danger at all.

IT IS unusual a service manager would advise against changing the belt for starters. He's right that there is enough clearance so there is unlikely to be any internal damage, but if it does break you will be left stranded. Car companies are generally conservative when it comes to service on items like the cam timing belt, but I'd err on the side of caution and have it replaced.

YOU can use them without causing any damage to your engine, but long-life spark plugs are considerably more expensive than regular ones and you should consider this before installing them.

WITHOUT knowing what you do with your cars and how you drive them, it's hard to comment. But if you drive them normally, I would think you do have a claim against Toyota. Having to replace a gearbox at 40,000km, and even at 80,000km, is unacceptable under normal use.

A HYBRID such as the Toyota Prius recharges the battery as you drive along, so there's no need to plug it in to mains power to recharge it.

YOU would like to think your car would be properly serviced when you take it in, but sadly sometimes shortcuts are taken. I would take it up directly with Toyota. The service you received wasn't good enough.

DAEWOO makes the Viva in South Korea for Holden. I have had few complaints about it from Carsguide readers, which would suggest it will be a sound choice. The other cars to consider are the Mitsubishi Lancer, Toyota Corolla and Mazda3.