Ask Honest John

Most recently answered short journeys questions
My retired mother is looking at selling her immaculate 1995 Mercedes-Benz C180C auto with 50,000 miles on the clock. She wants a smaller, more economical and manoeuvrable car for her short suburban journeys....
On April 17 2010 you advised a reader that a Hyundai i10 1.2 auto was a great little car. At that time I was 82 and with similar needs, so I took your advice and bought an i10 auto. It has proven to be...
I am a lady driving a Peugeot 3008 1.6 diesel EGC doing about 10,000 miles a year, mostly on short runs of between 10 and 15 miles with only an occasional longer one. I keep reading about the particulate...
Mazda does not seem to do a petrol auto 4WD like the CR-V auto but say they have this Skyactiv technology in diesel, which bypasses the particulate filter problems with low mileages. I only do 1000 miles...
Thank you for recommending the Mondeo 1.6 EcoBoost. Your review advises "1.6 EcoBoosts need idling from hot before switching off otherwise oil in the turbo bearing and oil feed to the bearing can carbonise....
We have a Kia Rio 1 CRDi, which we bought new in March 2010, and have had no problems at all with it and really like the car. We have now done about 15,000 miles and do not really want to change it. Our...
I own a Volvo S40 2-litre diesel, which is eight years old. My wife and I are both in our seventies and I think that it is now time to replace the car, as our average annual mileage is only 5000 and we...
My wife and I are looking for a car with about £20,000 cash to spend, now retired and having had cars supplied to us like Volvo, Lexus and BMW 5 series etc. during our working life. We have needs of automatic...
I have queries on two issues on which you have advised several times. Firstly you have warned that a turbocharged engine should be left idling before switching off to enable the turbo bearings to cool....
I wonder if you would be so kind as to give me some advice regarding my next car. I have been driving a BMW 530d since 2003 and using it to make very frequent long commutes to Scotland from Herts. It has...