Hi Baraza,
I have a Toyota 104L Extra, which I bought in 2009. I have never experienced any mechanical or fuel consumption problems with it.
However, I have fallen in love with the new model Subaru Forester non-turbo, so I want to sell the Toyota and buy the Subaru. Problem is that people have been discouraging me from buying it, saying it consumes a lot of fuel and that its spare parts are expensive.
Please advise me before I make my move.
Wanyoike
Why marry if you cannot support a spouse? In the same vein, why buy a car if you cannot afford to run it?
People say that Subarus are costly to run, but exactly how much more costly is it compared to other cars?
From what you have described, you sound like a guy who can take good care of a car, so go ahead and buy the Forester. It will not trouble you if you do not trouble it.
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Hi Baraza,
In one of your articles you wrote that a Subaru Forester 2.0XT, compared to the likes of the Nissan X-Trail and the CR-V, is a fuel guzzler but its consumption also depends on the way it is driven.
Since I have always been interested in being a professional driver, can you kindly advise me on how one can ensure economy with such a car?
Victor
I wish you would not throw words like “guzzler” around when what you want to say is “thirstier”.
If you call the Forester a “guzzler”, what would you call a Hummer? Or a supercharged Range Rover?
Drive gently if you want to ease up on your car’s thirst — avoid hard acceleration and brake as little as possible (within reason).
Also, try and maintain a sleek aerodynamic profile, which means that you should shut the windows when on the highway, and lose unnecessary weight from the car (and yes, this includes freeloading passengers who have no solid reason to be in your car).
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HI,
There is this belief that when you turn on a car’s AC, you are actually consuming fuel. I wonder, what is the connection between the AC and fuel consumption? Does the AC require fuel to function? And if yes, what is the mechanism?
Peter
There is a relationship between the AC and fuel consumption, but it is not direct.
The AC saps engine power, so to maintain a certain speed (or load-lugging capacity), you need wider throttle openings and as such consume more fuel.
In some cases, the increase in consumption is as extreme as 12 per cent but the average increment lies between five and eight per cent.
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Hi,
I’m planning to buy my first car at the end of this month and on my mind are Subaru Legacy, Toyota Avensis, Mitsubishi Airtek, and Toyota Voltz. Can you advise me on the maintenance costs and fuel efficiency of each of them?
Thanks.
Of the vehicles you have mentioned, the Airtek is the most recent and I know least about it. Somebody said it is a turbo. I will confirm this in the near future.
The Voltz is visually unappealing overall and has an ugly dashboard (in my opinion), so I walked away from one the day I was invited to drive it. Now that you ask, maybe I should go back, with my tail between my legs.
The Avensis is the thinking man’s choice. Easy to run, and it is a Toyota. It also has the mature understated Audi-esque looks, is comfortable and spacious, and could be the winner here.
The Subaru (2004–2007) Legacy is even prettier; it could be the best-looking of the lot (shares the mantle with Avensis and maybe Airtek, depending on individual taste).
The carrying capacity is also competitive, as is the consumption (if driven by a human and not a demon from hell). But that AWD system adds weight and complications during repair if it ever fails.
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Hi JM,
I have a 2002 X-Trail 2000cc A/T transmission, petrol. It started losing water/coolant gradually until I was forced to top up almost daily with water.
I took it to a mechanic and the cylinder head gasket was replaced, including grinding the head to align it to the block.
Afterwards, the car had the “check engine” light on permanently, even after it was deleted from memory.
The car also lost power and even with a hard press on the accelerator, the rpm would not go above 2000. Needless to say, it could not move.
I took it to another garage that claims to be great with Nissans and they changed a couple of items, including the ECU, one plug, air mass sensor, and the intake valve timing unit. They also corrected the valve timing, which had been misaligned.
After all that, the “check engine” light is still on, the car moves but suddenly loses power every now and then (I have to switch it off, then on for it to be okay), which mostly happens if I am in slow moving traffic and less when I am on the highway and moving fast. What could be wrong?
Colin
Tsk, tsk Colin, you cured the symptom but ignored the problem.
Why did you flush the memory to get rid of the “check engine” light without first finding out what the problem was?
There is a reason the light still stays on. Do a diagnosis.
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Hello JM,
I have a Toyota Ist 2002 model, 1300cc and I would like to have your opinion on this model, any problems you have heard or know about and its fuel consumption.
When I put Sh500 worth of fuel, it goes for about 38 kilometres. Is this good or is it consuming a lot?
I have also tried to find the manual for this car online without any success (it did not have one when I bought it). Please help because I really do not know much about cars.
Dru
That kind of fuel consumption, 38 km on 4.2 litres of fuel, is the sort of consumption reserved for cars like the Toyota Mark X, not a tiny tot like the Ist. So, yes, there is a problem right there.
I have not heard much about this car, and I have not driven one much (just a quick lap round a dealer forecourt), so I cannot give comprehensive information just yet.
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Hello,
I am planning to buy a Daewoo Cielo and after searching the Net I could not find any negative comment from people who own the car. But I am not so sure about this car in Kenya; it is not a common car on our roads.
I know its an old model, but would you recommend it because it is cheap, economical, strong, and the spare parts are available?
Daewoo has had a rather colourful history, starting off by rebuilding extinct GM passenger cars, then going solo, and then rebranding some Chevrolet cars to Daewoo so as to sell them cheaply.
The Cielo is bloody old, as you have pointed out. I am not too sure about spares — they are there, seeing how it is an ex-GM car (Vauxhall/Opel Cavalier or something along those lines), but maybe not in Kenya. It is doubtful that someone would stock spares for a car that appears in such small numbers.
Do not let this stop you from asking around, though. If the spares exist in Kenyan shops, then go ahead and assuage your yearning heart.
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Hi Baraza,
I recently changed the CV joint on my Probox but the ABS light will not go off even though the ABS ring was fixed.
I have taken the car to several mechanics but no one seems to know what the problem is. How do I get this light to go off?
First, be sure that it is the ABS which has a problem and not your brakes. You can drive without ABS, but I highly doubt if you can manage without the wheel anchors.
The light staying on will either be caused by a large air gap between the sensor and the exciter, a bent exciter ring, or corrosion or damage to a sensor cable.
Check all the cables for any damage e.g. rubbing against the front wheels when on full lock or damage to pins in connector sockets due to water.
All output voltages from sensors must be within five per cent of each, so any extra resistance in the sensor wires will cause the fault light to go on.
If the light really is the ABS warning, the first thing to try is to cycle the ignition key off and back on — it is like rebooting your computer — and just maybe whatever transient glitch confused the ABS controller has passed and all is well. If the condition repeats, you need to do some poking and prodding.
Find a shop with a scan tool that will talk to your ABS controller. A technician will interrogate your ABS controller and look for a trouble code stored in memory.
This code will at least give you some idea of where to look. For more information, trawl the Internet.
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Hi Baraza,
I now understand cars better, thanks to you. Anyway, I always read some boring terms about supposed qualities of a car such as kW, hp, PS, torque etc. Can you kindly clarify for readers like me what these terms are in simplified language.
For instance I read in one of the Daily Nation magazines about the Peugeot SR1, which has an engine that delivers 160kW(218 PS;215hp). Now is that a lot of power compared to say the Mercedes C200 or the Toyota Vitz?
To you they may be boring, but to some of us, they make for exciting reading (depending on the car in question).
kW is kilowatts and is the power a car develops, expressed in SI units. Hp is horsepower, and is the same power expressed in imperial measurements.
This is the power that either the engine develops at the flywheel or the car itself develops at the wheels (the figure at the wheels is usually smaller) and sometimes, when the figure is quoted, the authority giving it will specify whether it is at the wheels or at the flywheel.
Torque is the twisting ability of the crankshaft when the engine is running, and is either expressed in Nm (Newton metres), kgm (kilogramme metres), or lb.ft (pounds feet).
Cars vary in power, and the Benz Kompressor may or may not have a bigger number attached to it compared to the Pug (that is short for Peugeot by the way) but the ultimate ability is expressed by the power to weight ratio (PWR), simply got by dividing the horsepower or kilowatts available by the weight of the car in kilogrammes or preferably in tonnes.
The car with a bigger PWR is typically a better performer, keeping other things constant of course.
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Hi,
I have a 2004 Toyota Mark II Blit station wagon and it is a lovely machine. What is the difference between this car and the Mark II sedan? Which one is better? And what is your take on the Blit?
The two cars should be mechanically similar, but the differences are obvious: one is estate, the other is not and the front facade treatment is a four lamp edifice for the Blit against the single ovoid lamod lamps of the sedan. As for which is better, it depends on your taste and needs.
I personally do not like the Blit. It looks too much like a hearse, especially in black or grey, but I guess that means it has some awesome carrying capacity.
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Hi Baraza,
I have a Rav4 J and the problem is that it does not pick when climbing a hill. I have changed the gear box but there is no improvement.
And the handbrake sign is always on. When changing from reverse to drive, it produces a loud bang. What could be the problem?
When I read about your problem, I first laughed for close to five minutes. Forgive me. Disengage the handbrake and go.
About the loud bang when changing gears, have the linkage checked, as well as the clutch system.
