Your Questions Answered: Why does my car smell?

I think my car is letting water in somehow as it smells like old sweat, dust and mould. I have tried leaving windows open and spraying deodoriser but neither has really worked. Any ideas? – Garry

Answer: Hey Garry, a car that pongs is no fun and can also be not great for your health. I’d suggest some basic checks first to find out why it smells. Check the cabin filter, if your car has one, as often that is overlooked. An old, blocked cabin filter can end up dragging in air that has passed through dust and even mould stuck in its pleats. If that is clean, then I would be checking the carpet under any floor mats. Does the carpet have any mould spores? If not, then check if it feels damp to touch. If it does, and you’re sure no-one has spilt something in there, then your car probably has a leak. Because car carpet has an underlay, it often needs to come out to be dried properly. You also need to find the source of the leak and fix it, otherwise it’ll keep happening every time the car is driven or parked in the rain. Common leak points are sunroof seals or blocked sunroof drain tubes, the air-conditioning evaporator drain tube, front or rear screen seals or door seals. Even a poorly sealed lower windscreen trim or aircon fan box in the plenum chamber (that area between the engine bay and lower windscreen) can cause a leak into the cabin.

I was just wondering if you can recommend a small city car that is cheap and reliable. I have about $5000 to spend. I won’t use the car a lot as I take public transport to work, so basically a weekend car and something to get to the shops. – Danny

Answer: Hi Danny, while $5000 is an acceptable amount to spend on an older, small car for the purposes you mentioned, you’re at a price point where finding a well-preserved, well-maintained car of any type that still has a lot of life left is harder. So while I would recommend something like a Toyota Echo, Toyota Yaris, Honda Jazz or Suzuki Swift as the reliable, cheap-to-run options, everyone else is recommending these cars too. In other words, older Japanese cars like these are popular on the used market. If low kilometres and nicer condition are important to you, then you could take a punt on a French car such as a Peugeot 208 or Renault Clio, or one of my favourites, the Volkswagen up!. These Euros can not only be better value but also more fun to drive than some of the Japanese shopping trolleys. The downside with the Euros is that (generally speaking, unless you find an absolute nugget) reliability is not as good as the Japanese, maintenance can be more expensive, and the up! is only available as a manual.

I like the looks of the Jetour T1. Looks like a mini Land Rover Defender or a Ford Bronco. Do you have confirmed specs for the models coming to Australia? When will it be here and how much will it cost? – Damo

Answer: Hey Damo, we don’t have confirmation of the exact launch timing for Jetour as a brand, let alone the cars it plans to sell here, but the first-quarter 2027 launch of the T1 and T2 plug-in hybrid SUV models is most likely. The linked carsales report says the T1 and T2 are scheduled for Australian release from the first quarter of 2027. The Australian government database for import approvals (ROVER) has both the Jetour T1 and T2 listed as approved in the last couple of weeks. That means that Jetour has complied with the requirements for these models for the Australian market so that they can be sold here. As we outlined here, the Chery subsidiary is expected to arrive in 2027 under a separate importer arrangement to the factory-backed Chery and Omoda/Jaecoo operation.

The Jetour T1 is a mid-size SUV measuring 4705mm long, 1967mm wide and 1843mm high, riding on a 2800mm wheelbase. That’s actually bordering on a large SUV, and ROVER lists three powertrains: a 255kW 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid with a turbo-petrol engine linked to a single-speed hybrid transmission and front-wheel drive, an all-wheel-drive 1.5-litre version with 430kW combined output and, finally, a non-hybrid 180kW 2.0-litre turbo-petrol with seven-speed dual-clutch transmission. Keep an eye on carsales for more info coming soon!

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