2011 Great Wall SA220 Pricing and Specs

You’re dead right that this is a serious problem. Not being able to accelerate briskly when pulling out in traffic (for instance) is a huge risk to you and other road users.

The problem could be a simple adjustment issue, an electronic glitch or a major mechanical issue, but whatever it is, it needs to be fixed before you try to drive anywhere else. But here’s the good news: This is definitely a warranty issue, so make sure it becomes Great Wall’s problem, and not yours.

It's not uncommon for diesel engines to give a little shiver as they start up. There's a fair bit going on inside a diesel engine, with some heavy bits and pieces moving around inside it that can cause vibrations. This is why – along with the way either engine ignites its fuel - a diesel engine is, typically, not as smooth as a petrol engine.

But the sensation should last only a second before the engine settles to an even, relatively smooth idle. You may also find that as you put more kilometres on the car, the engine will smooth out a little.

But if you're still concerned, log this behaviour with the dealership. Your GWM has a seven-year/unlimited kilometre warranty, so if there really is a problem down the track to do with this vibration, you'll be covered as you've recorded a pre-existing condition.

Like a lot of relatively modern vehicles, the X200 doesn't use a throttle cable, but is instead what's known as throttle-by-wire. That means that the accelerator pedal tells the car's computer what position the driver has placed it in, then the computer tells the throttle to respond accordingly.

It all works on electronics and position sensors and if anything goes wrong with that arrangement, you can get erroneous messages being sent to the throttle with the symptoms you've mentioned. An electronic scan of the vehicle should reveal what's wrong as the computer will have recorded fault codes with any of this electronic gear.

Beyond that, it could also be something rather more mechanical such as a sticky stepper motor (that physically opens the throttle) or even a vacuum leak. It could even be a fault with the electronic protocols that tell the engine to increase its idle speed when, for instance, the air-conditioning it turned on. Again, though, a scan at a workshop should reveal all.