Pit falls of buying a New 4×4 Utility

However, all that glitters are not gold as these popular vehicles are experiencing recurring problems and each marque has a different problem. It’s important to do your research on price but also on common faults that aren’t also brought to light.

Australia’s number 1 seller is the Toyota Hilux. This segment is suffering from a raft of problems which consist of clogged diesel particulate filters (DPF) that cause the vehicles to blow excessive smoke. Air sensors are getting contaminated with dust and dirt forcing the car into limp mode and there’s a thud from the transmission when the vehicle comes to a stop.

READ: Major Causes of DPF Failures

Ford Ranger, the second best selling Ute, is also not immune from faults. To date, Ford has replaced complete engines in essentially new models amongst other faults like inter-cooler pipes splitting, oil seals leaking and again a thud from the transmission.

Holden, Nissan and even VW join the party of problematic utes. I currently drive a VW Amarok which is only a couple of months old and every time I stop at the traffic light I get a thud in the transmission and when I raised it with the Dealer I was told it’s part of the application on how the 8-speed transmission works.

With all these issues where does it leave the consumer and what recourse do they have? The AAAA support the end-user being entitled to know of any issues or common faults with their vehicles. Without full disclosure, the companies have no incentive to improve their vehicles.

According to ACCC the consumer has rights to repairs, replacement and or refunds under Australian consumer laws. So if you’re in the market for a new or used SUV utility do your research.

Although the dealerships will put thought and effort into trying to get your new vehicle serviced at their dealerships, some customers use independent workshops for their vehicles needs from the day it drives out of the dealership. It is not unusual to have a long term trusted relationship with your independent workshop, you have been going there for years and they have looked after all your cars. They give free advise, reset your radio after you put in a new battery and will give you advise on what is the best new vehicle to purchase for this is based on industry knowledge and service bulletins from manufacturers right? Wrong on the service bulletins and while there are 20,000 independent repairers in the Australia market, they are not privy to this information. Can you imagine the amount of time and money it could cost the average 4×4 driver and their independent repairer because of the lack of shared information?

This need to change and the Australian Federal Government is working on the roll-out of a mandatory scheme to see shared technical information available to all repairers regardless of your dealership status. Watch this space and let’s see how it pans out.