In regards to the Honda Accord and Honda CRV, they are both good cars, but my friends advised me against them citing poor resale value.
Is this true? If yes, which is the better option with a better resale value? How about the Toyota Camry? Does it have good resale value like other Toyota vehicles because of “perception”.
Kindly comment on reliability, fuel economy, safety, and performance as compared to Honda Accord. Remember, I am looking for a used family car.
Ambrose.
There might be a grain of truth in the allegations of Honda vehicles not having strong resale characteristics in the Kenyan automotive field, but those who “Think Toyota, Today, and Tomorrow Too” have no idea what they are missing out on. Hondas are good cars, especially those equipped with V-TEC.
The Camry might suffer the Accord’s resale fate for a very different reason. A good number of Kenyans are “scared” of engines that stretch beyond 1800cc. Those that are indifferent will not be buying a Camry; they will go for something less plain and boring.
So that will be jumping from a lion’s cage in the zoo only to realise that you have now landed in the tiger’s cage. No difference in circumstances.
The parameters that you mention are more or less the same for the two cars, but from what I observed, the Accord may have the edge in performance over the Camry. If in doubt, you could always go for the Accord R, which has…. wait for it… a 2.2 litre V-TEC engine, good for almost 220hp.
**********
Hi Baraza,
Thank you for a good job done so far. A quick challenge of sorts, though. Have you ever done motorcycle reviews? If not, then how about it? An ideal place to begin would be the now Popular TVS Apache.
Nicholas Ngetah.
Thank you for the compliments, and no, I have not done any motorcycle reviews. This is chiefly because I do not want to die, and riding a motorcycle greatly increases the odds of that happening. So, borrowing from the sheep in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: “Four wheels good, two wheels bad.”
I do, however, have a colleague who does not give much thought to the vagaries of the afterlife, and as such he loves motorcycles. I am talking about The Jaw. Maybe he could ride them, review them, then he and I see how I can put that review into my own words. Fair, Nicholas?
**********
Dear Baraza,
I am the second owner of a P38 4.6HSE 1998 Range Rover. It has 130,000km with a clean service history at a CMC dealer.
1. What is the best fuel consumption I should expect in kilometres per litre? It has averaged 5km per litre.
2. I am told the gearbox is four-speed. It has a 4HP-24. How does this compare with a five-speed box? I also cannot find the Overdrive switch.
3. These “tune ups” to improve consumption, are they real? If so, what do they entail? Some guy is promising 11km per litre on the highway after the tune up. I am not convinced a V8 engine can be this kind to anyone.
Muriithi.
1. The “best” fuel consumption will depend on your deftness as a “hypermiler” (one who ekes ridiculous mileages from a litre of fuel, usually through strange, illegal, or unsafe driving tactics). Five kpl for the old 4.6 sounds just about correct in normal driving situations.
2. Comparison between a four-speed and a five-speed? Depends on the gear ratios in the transmissions, but generally a five-speed will offer better acceleration (the engine speed can stay in the power band for a longer period of time) AND fuel economy (you do not need to rev very high in one gear to gain enough power to push you into the next), but NOT simultaneously. Also, the differences will be marginal and hardly noticeable in day-to-day use.
Also, not all automatic transmissions come with an Overdrive switch.
3. Yes, the tune-ups are real, but not to the extent you claim there. Simple tune-ups just involve getting the engine back to manufacturer settings through replacing worn out bits, refastening bolts that may have played loose, checking for loose or frayed wiring in the ignition system, and removing carbon from the valvetrain.
But these actions will NOT make a P38 4.6 V8 attain 11 kpl; if there exists such a P38 out there, I would like to buy it immediately. The best you can hope for is eight kpl, and that is by sedate driving on the highway.
**********
Hi Baraza,
I am an ardent reader of you column and bravo for a job well done. I recently purchased a Mercedes Benz E 280 year 2006 model and have driven it on Kenyan roads for less than one month.
On the dashboard are two messages displayed — “ESP defective visit workshop” and” Active light system unavailable”.
Kindly shed some light on what these two messages relate to and how they can be sorted out without much ado.
Kenneth.
“ESP Defective” means the electronic stability programme is malfunctioning and needs to be looked at. Without it, the Benz may become a bit of a handful when driven hard or on less-than-perfect surfaces. Without the ESP, it simply means the car will not compensate for your mistakes and/or lack of driving skill the way it used to.
The ESP defect may be a bug in the software or a malfunctioning sensor out of hundreds (yaw sensors, G-sensors, throttle position sensors, brake sensors etc… any sensor associated with vehicle dynamics could be the culprit).
The software bug is curable by programing the ECU. The sensor issues are curable by replacement and/or recalibration. The ESP is a complex system that uses ABS, EBD, an almost unfathomable network of sensors and/or adjustment of engine power, among other things, to “stabilise” a car to prevent skidding and/or oversteer/understeer.
“Active light system unavailable” means that one of the features found on higher level Benz cars such as yours is either not working, or was never there in the first place. Just to be sure, does it say “unavailable” or does it say “inoperative”? My research on that problem shows “inoperative”.
Anyway, this is not about nitpicking on the accuracy of descriptions. The active light system on a Mercedes was a setup where the headlamps followed the movements of the steering wheel to improve night-time visibility and optimise safety.
The swivel feature of the headlamps may, thus, have been rendered inactive or was never there in the first place (active light system was an option on the W211 sedan, of which yours is one).
Either way, a visit to a garage is in the books for you, my friend.
**********
Dear Baraza,
Recently, I took my G-Touring Toyota station wagon for a window repair. The wire man asked if my car overheats and I replied in the negative. The temperature gauge does not go even an 1/8 of the scale even after doing 15km.
He then asked me to open the bonnet and start the car to idle until gauge reaches the centre. To quicken the process, he accelerated the car while idle. The gauge reached the centre, something it has never done before. The fan went on and the gauge went slightly down, then stopped.
He told me everything seemed fine.
From that day the gauge started moving more than 1/8 up to the centre in the same distance I normally cover — around 15km to 20km. Could he have tampered with its functioning by accelerating the car while stationary? This is worrying me, although it does not go beyond the centre. Why is this? I check the coolant regularly. It has no power loss.
Second, does this model have problems with the gear system? I find the top gear a bit stiff to engage.The other day I added gear box oil but still the problem persists. It is a very well maintained car. I mostly use V-power but sometimes I use the ordinary fuel. Which one is the best and why?
Sammy.
Stop worrying about the engine temperature.
That mechanic did not ruin your car. That is how car engines are supposed to behave. When the thermometer reached “centre” position then the fans started suddenly, that was just the cooling system of the car trying to maintain the engine at an optimum operating temperature.
The fans are activated by the thermostat to prevent the engine from getting too hot, then they go off when the temperature drops. Your car is fine.
But again, your car is not really fine. Difficulty in engaging fifth gear means one of two things: Either the linkage is getting wonky or the fifth gear synchroniser unit is worn out. The linkage can easily be fixed with basic tools. Replacement of the synchroniser unit demands disassembling the entire gearbox.
**********
Dear Baraza,
I recently got one of these A150 Mercedes cars and every time I need to shift either from Drive to Neutral or Reverse (and vice versa), the whole car jerks. At times when I shift to Reverse, it does not engage even if I depress the gas pedal. It then jerks into motion quite violently when it finally does. Other times, particularly when driving in traffic, it “forgets” to shift up.
It remains in very high revs or develops a rumbling noise and does not shift smoothly. Now I am being advised to change the entire gearbox. These problems are particularly worse in the morning. I also find it to have massive under-steer for a car of that size. Please help before I lose my mind.
Ben.
I need not state the obvious: You clearly have transmission problems.
When the mechanics recommended a change of the TCM, had they done a diagnosis or did they follow the path of the electronic scapegoat? (Sensor problem over here! sensor problem over there! Even your flat tyre has been caused by a sensor problem!)
Most of the time when the TCM acts up, it might not be necessary to replace it; reprogramming it will do. It may be that the TCM and ECU are out of sync or have lost synergy and have started “confusing” each other.
A diagnosis should have been done on the original TCM to see whether the problem lay therein or not.That aside, these folks now want you to get a new gearbox. Have they verified that the current one is completely unserviceable or did they follow the path of “replacement is easier than repair”?
If they know nothing about the automatic transmission of a Mercedes-Benz A150, let them be honest and say so. They might end up telling you to buy a new car.Last thing: Does your A150 have an owner’s/operator’s handbook?
If yes, read it, especially the chapter that says “Transmission”. One of the things you said has led me to believe that your initial problems were caused by incorrect ATF levels within the transmission, and this may or may not have caused some transmission damage.
Sometimes it is as simple as topping up/draining excess fluids instead of shouting about “sensors” and “computers”, like a good number of Kenyan mechanics do (this has not escaped my notice, and the root cause I believe comes from the culture of apprenticeship from the days of yore instead of proper, formal training).
