Michael McAleer answers your queries
From Brian Fallon:
My fiancée and I are moving to the West of Ireland from Dublin.
While living in Dublin we only needed one car between us but we'll definitely need two when we move.
I was thinking of buying an older high mileage diesel car. A current example of a private sale in this category is a 1994 Citroen Xantia 1.9TD with 195,000 miles selling for €600.
My query would be about the mileage limit of an engine. How much mileage would I be likely to get out of a car such as this?
What would be your overall opinion on buying a car with high mileage?
It's almost impossible to say what lifespan the engine would have without some more in-depth knowledge of its history and the maintenance and driving habits of the previous owner/s. It's probably worthwhile to get a mechanic to have a look at the engine before you make the purchase.
Generally speaking you would expect to get more long-term use from a diesel engine than a petrol.
From Kevin Lyons:
I received a letter from Toyota last week to notify me that there may be a potential problem in the drive shaft. They briefly pointed out that some of the earlier cars may have been incorrectly assembled.
I received my car in January 2003 and my brother who bought one at the same time but received his approximately three months later has also received a letter of recall. Could you find out how the problem was discovered how many cars are involved and if Toyota have highlighted the problem in the media. Both cars purchased were bought as brand new.
There has been a recall order on 48,525 Avensis across Europe over inaccurate assembly of the steering. Of these 3,921 are being recalled in Ireland.
The problem occurs in the intermediate steering assembly and, according to Jim Cusack, deputy managing director of Toyota Ireland, in certain situations a noise from the steering assembly may start to occur. At the extreme, if you keep driving with it, the steering may become less direct and eventually the car could become impossible to steer.
However, despite the number of cars being called in for inspection, only five have been found to suffer the problem so far and about 200 of the cars across Europe are expected to need the assembly changing.
The initial problem was identified in Ireland last February. The recall note requires owners to call to their garage for a 10 minute visual inspection. If the problem is present in the car then the replacement takes about 50 minutes and all this is carried out free of charge.
From Bernard McMahon:
I read your column yesterday about the new look Corolla from Toyota.
They also upgraded the Yaris this time last year and as it's now over 5 years since it was introduced is there any news of when it is to be replaced. I normally buy a new Yaris every two years and am hoping to buy next January but would be reluctant to do so if a new version was in the pipeline.
There is a new version on the way, but it will not be hitting our shores until autumn 2005 at the earliest.
Send your queries to
Motors Help Desk, The Irish Times, Fleet Street, Dublin 2 - or e-mail them to motorshelp@irish-times.ie