Volkswagen Problems

It would appear you’ve got a good claim against VW for repairing the car, even though the warranty has expired. Remember, the car is still covered by the statutory warranty under local law. It is most likely to be the same problem that has reappeared; if it is it’s a well known one. Go back to VW through the dealer and ask for the problem to be fixed again.

Your car is now nine years old, which makes it difficult to claim on VW, but it has only done 70,000 km, so that’s in your favour. If a VW dealer had been servicing it I would attempt to convince VW to cover at least part of the cost of the replacement. Otherwise I think you will find it hard to get VW to cough up.

The best way to make a Toyota Corolla faster is to trade it in on a Subaru WRX or Volkswagen Polo GTI. While Japanese cars are known to be loved by boy racers for their easy ability to hot up, the last few series of Toyota Corolla have next to no options for hot-up parts as these cars focus on excellent reliability rather than tar-burning performance. If you have a need for speed, consider looking to the Subaru WRX for a practical four-door Japanese go-fast car, or a Volkswagen Polo GTi for a fast car at a similar price point to a Corolla.

It’s probably best to get out of the car rather than continue to try and rectify the problems. You could try and negotiate a better deal as a trade-in, but if you did that you would be left driving another VW and that’s probably not what you want. You could seek advice on your legal options from the Queensland consumer affairs department. But the best option might be to trade the car in on something from a rival brand.

I find it hard to believe that 98-octane fuel is selling for less than 95, but if it is you can certainly use it in your Tiguan.

The lack of performance you’re feeling is when the car goes into ‘limp’ mode because it has detected a problem. Take it to your VW dealer and have them run a diagnostic check on it, which should identify the cause of the problem.

I’m reluctant to recommend the Touareg, or the X5 for that matter. They are good cars, but can be expensive when things go wrong, and they are more likely to go wrong than is a Prado. I would definitely go for the Prado.

While there are ways to make your Mazda 3 quite fast it is not cheap or easy, and will require extensive involvement from experts. You would be far better served to look for a second-hand factory turbocharged high-performance Mazda MPS model, or buying a Subaru WRX, or Volkswagen Golf GTI, to get your high-performance kicks.