I’ll assume it’s a Hyundai dealership that wants to charge you to assess the car. And I hear what you’re saying about the car’s service history and the fact that some of these engines have been fixed by Hyundai because they were faulty from new. So, the best advice is to forget about the dealership and go straight to Hyundai’s customer service department at head office.

That cuts out the middle man at the dealership and should get you in touch with somebody who knows whether your car was one of the affected ones or whether you’ve just been unlucky in this instance. My experience has been that Hyundai takes this stuff very seriously and has helped other owners in the past. However, your case will still be assessed according to the service history and how many kilometres the car has covered.

Hyundai has had a few problems over the years with some of its engines developing piston slap, scoring cylinder bores and consuming excess oil. The later engine fitted to your car should be better, but it seems perhaps the problem is still occurring in some cars.

The reality is that two litres of engine consumed over just 1200km is way beyond the pale. I would be contacting Hyundai Australia's customer service division to see what can be done. The company's response will have a lot to do with how many kilometres the car has covered and whether its service history is complete. But in my experience, Hyundai takes its responsibilities in this area very seriously.

There’s clearly no point in talking sense to you, your head is in a complete muddle. You want a fix for your mid-life crisis, yet you talk about resale value, warranty, fixed-price servicing and boring stuff like that. You need to think about what it is you want from your “sporty-ish” car, do you want a performance car that will be thrilling to drive, or are you a park-and-poser and just want to look good when you stop at the café for a latte. The VW Golf GTi is a thrill-a-minute hot hatch; you like the i30N, and both would be good buys. Buy the Lux if you decide on the i30N. You could also think about a BMW M3, or an older Porsche Boxster. I wouldn’t suggest a Commodore SS or a Falcon XR6T ute, they’re a bit boring.