Currently in Israel and spending time with some friends who bought a second hand Kia Sportage a few months ago. It is now about three months out of warranty and the engine had died. From what I understand, the engine has been 'surging' a bit when on the highway and this week the engine would lose power and stop. It would restart but when engaging gear the car move a bit (less than a few metres) and it would stop again.

They took it to their mechanic who seems flummoxed and his comment is something along the lines of "the crankshaft and camshaft are not in synch". This sounds like a timing issue, but do the symptoms bear this out? I thought maybe more of a fueling system problem??

Note that my friends have no mechanical knowledge and the mechanic probably speaks little English, I have trying to understand what is going on with fewer clues than normal!