Your questions answered: When is the GWM V8 hybrid coming to Australia?

Who wants a plain old fuel-sipping hybrid when you can have something with a bit of spice and pace?

That’s the wish of one of our readers this week, who is eager to see GWM’s V8 hybrid drivetrain arrive in Australia.

On the more sensible side is a reader looking for a sub-$50K electric car to replace their trusty 25-year-old small car. Should they look at a new brand or something with which they’re more familiar?

A new MG hybrid owner wants to know which fuel to put in their car while a Volkswagen EV buyer is wondering why it’s taking so long to get cars on the road.

Plus, we look at a mysterious case of warning lights on a 2018 SUV.

Got a question but don’t know where to find the information you need? Email us at editor@carsales.com.au

Question: When is GWM looking to bring its V8 ute to Australia? I would be very, very interested and so would a lot of people. – Mark

Answer: Right now, there is no such thing as a V8-powered GWM ute, although it is a logical step given the brand announced the new plug-in hybrid drivetrain at the recent Shanghai motor show.

GWM has decided that big performance and fuel efficiency are a good mix for its large off-roaders, starting with the Tank off-road SUVs.

The brand has also hinted the same engine could be used in a large ute down the track.

As for when/where/how, they’re all unknowns.

Another unknown is the price. Clearly it will cost more than the Tank 300 hybrid, which is $55,990 drive away.

It’s also likely to use more fuel (keeping in mind the hybrid Tanks are more about going fast than slashing fuel bills).

In short, there’s a lot more we need to learn about the engine – including when it’s likely to make its way to Australia.

We’ll obviously keep you up to date as we learn more.

Interestingly, big-power hybrids seem to be gaining momentum. German brands such as BMW and Porsche have been teaming V8 engines with electric motors for years now, and supercar brands such as Ferrari and Lamborghini have also headed down that path.

Electric motors are an easy way to add a power boost to an already grunty engine.

Question: Seeking some advice on the purchase of our next car. Currently getting the most out of a 2000 Mazda 323 and would like to dip our toes into the EV ocean.

We have some reservations in regards to the many new brands coming from China as to how long they may be around in Oz.

Ideally, we are looking for a small to medium SUV-style vehicle. We live on the NSW Central Coast and are retired. We have solar panels but no battery as yet.

Budget is $50K and the vehicle does not need to be new but some warranty would be comforting. Currently no real urgency to purchase. – Rob

Answer: It’s almost certain that some of the new Chinese brands hitting the Aussie market won’t survive longer term.

Then again, some established car-makers from other countries are also under enormous pressure and may not make it either.

But which ones are likely to make it and which are looking perilous?

It’s too early to speculate.

Scale is a big one for many of the new Chinese brands. The likes of MG, BYD, GWM, Geely, Chery and Deepal are all from some of the largest car makers in China, which gets them off to a good start.

Another unknown with some of those brands is the quality of aftersales support; how easy will it be to source parts or have things fixed under warranty, for example.

Again, it’s too early to say which will do it best.

Of those brands, MG and BYD will give you the best options on the used market. An MG4 or BYD Atto 3 would be a good place to start; from late 2024 MG upped its warranty to 10 years while BYD’s warranty is six years.

Other options that could get you some decent EV for less than $50K include the Renault Megane E-Tech and Cupra Born (remembering Cupra is part of the Volkswagen Group).

Each brings some Euro flair in a package that was arguably too expensive when new but is now good value on the used market.

Also check out the Polestar 2, which isn’t as spacious inside as some rivals but has an upmarket flavour.

And it’s impossible to ignore market leader Tesla, which has plenty of used options for less than $50K.

Question: I have just purchased a new MG ZS Hybrid+. One person at the dealership said to use Shell unleaded E10, while another said 95 premium unleaded. A fellow driver I spoke to said 95 RON premium as well.

In the nearest service station I saw unleaded 91, E10 – 94, 95 and unleaded 98.

I am confused. Could you please confirm the correct fuel to use. – John

Answer: The numbers refer to the octane rating of the fuel, which represents its resistance to knock, or pre-ignition.

The higher the number, the better. It doesn’t matter if your car can use a lower octane rating, you won’t hurt it by using fuel with a higher octane rating.

But you don’t want to put, say, 91-octane fuel in a car that stipulates at least 95-octane.

Both 95 and 98 are premium unleaded, but the 98 can potentially eke a tad more performance out of each drop – in the right car, at least.

Not that you’ll ever notice it in a garden variety car such as an MG ZS.

That said, the ZS hybrid stipulates you must use 95-octane unleaded, which is premium fuel.

Whether you choose 95 or 98 doesn’t matter, as long as you make sure you’re filling it with premium unleaded.

Definitely don’t use the 91-octane regular unleaded, and be wary of ethanol-blended E10, too. Most of it has an octane rating of 94. In the past there have been higher octane blends of E10, although we’re not aware of any available these days.

But either way, we’re told the ZS hybrid is not suitable for E10 use; a car will always contain that information either in the owner’s manual and/or on the inside of the fuel cap.

Question: I test drove my ID.Buzz two weeks ago and transferred all the cash for it to the dealer. There had been a delay with a software update for the Australian Design Rules (ADRs), but that was behind us.

Then we were told that there was some problem getting it registered. Some issue with the Register of Approved Vehicles.

A week ago I rang the RAV. No issue as far as they could see.

The dealer now says that VW say they have a solid fix for the issue (what issue?), but it will be another six to eight weeks!

No problem with the dealer. They have offered me my money back if that is what I want. 

Their hands are tied.

This all smells a bit. – Conrad

Answer: To bring our readers up to date, we’ve been tick-tacking on this with you for a couple of weeks now, something that seems to have helped in fast-tracking your car.

We hope you’re enjoying it now that you’re behind the wheel!

It turns out you’ll also be getting the first three services (Volkswagen calls it a six-year care plan) valued at $1450 as a sweetener for the inconvenience.

As for what the issue was, it’s been bubbling away for months now and relates to software.

Volkswagen says it had to update ID.Buzzes to the latest software before delivering them to customers.

Why a software update can take so long is a bit of a mystery, especially with so few cars.

Volkswagen reported just three ID.Buzz people-movers as being sold in April and 11 ID.Buzz Cargo vans in the same month. With more than 100 dealers around the country, it seems like slow going.

Volkswagen has experienced various delays with its EVs, which have taken years to get to Australia.

The ID.4 and ID.5 are now officially on sale but most customer deliveries won’t happen until July, while Volkswagen awaits more stock.

Question: I currently have a 2018 Mitsubishi ASX which I bought brand new from the dealership in August, 2018.

In the past four or five months I have been having an issue with it – I’m not sure what is going on and by the sounds of it neither does Mitsubishi.

The error that keeps coming up on RACV’s error machine is “A/T Torque reduction request communication”, but when I give this to Mitsubishi they say nothing.

The issue I am having is that after driving in stop-start traffic, reaching my destination and turning my car off, and if I try and turn my car back on within, say, 30 minutes, it has a full hissy fit and the dash lights up like a Christmas tree. All these warnings then come up on my screen:

This just keeps going around and around while the engine is running, but to turn the engine off when this is happening I have to hold the pushbutton down for about 10 seconds.

Then the engine turns off but the accessories stay on, and I can’t actually turn them off – the only way I can is by disconnecting the battery.

And once I have disconnected the battery and plugged it back in, my car runs fine – no lights on the dash, no warning light, nothing – it’s like nothing ever happened.

I have now taken it to two different Mitsubishi dealerships. The first one didn’t want to know about it and told me there is nothing wrong with it. The second one had a look and said it was my spark plugs – we replaced them and they said the issue should not happen again.

However, one month later it did happen again. I took it back to them and they called to tell me that they have not found anything wrong with it.

Clearly there is something wrong with it. I am wondering if you have heard of this issue happening to anyone else? Or maybe you might know what is happening, because I’m really not in the position to buy a new car. – Leah

Answer: It sounds like some sort of electrical gremlin is triggering the various warnings.

But, to answer your question, I haven’t heard of this and wouldn’t know where to start. It’s obviously difficult without seeing the car, but I’m also not a mechanic.

That said, I have heard of issues where cars can throw up plenty of warnings that make it difficult to figure out exactly what’s going on.

It sounds like you’re not having luck with Mitsubishi dealerships. They’d be plugging the car into the official diagnostics computer via the OBD (onboard diagnostics) port.

But it appears there’s something else going on that’s not throwing up any fault codes (the things that make it easy to track the issue).

Or, alternatively, you could be clearing those fault codes when you’re disconnecting the battery. Have you been able to replicate those warnings at the dealership?

I’d be making that a priority so they can analyse the car when all those warnings are being displayed.

If your patience is running thin, I’d be asking around friends and family for a trusted local mechanic or even an auto electrician.

Often they’re run by experienced people who’ve been in the industry for decades and are good at diagnosing issues such as the ones you’re experiencing, which can be trickier to find.

That said, I think the key is allowing whoever is checking the car to see it with all those faults lit up. It’ll give them a better chance of seeing what is sending 1s and 0s in the wrong direction.

Got a question but don’t know where to find the information you need? Email us at editor@carsales.com.au

Join the conversation at our Facebook page
Or email us at editor@carsales.com.au