Cars have never been more dependent on their electrical systems than they are today. Sometimes, changing a dead battery can lead to the sorts of problems you've noted, and while it could be something more mechanical, there's one thing you can try at home before phoning the mechanic.

Disconnect the battery and leave the car for at least half an hour. Then, reconnect it, start the engine and go for a drive of at least 30 minutes. That will usually be enough to perform what's called a reset and may solve your problems.

If not, you need to have the car scanned at a workshop to see what problems the on-board computer has identified.

Capped price servicing is a good way to keep a lid on running costs, or at least know in advance what those costs will be. In the case of Hyundai and Kia cars, they come with capped-price servicing as part of the deal, so provided the car has been servicing correctly by its original owner, you should be able to tap into the capped-price schedule. The catch will be if the car you buy has any gaps in its service history as this could easily render it ineligible for the capped-price package.

But really, Jason, what you need to consider is whether cheaper and less frequent servicing is actually going to save you much money. Then put those figures into the context of what it will cost you to change cars in terms of stamp-duty, registration change-over and perhaps even higher insurance costs, and see if it still makes sense as a strategy.

If dealer servicing is getting your wallet down, don’t forget that you can change to an independent workshop that might be cheaper than a Mazda dealership. Provided the workshop has the correct certification, it can still stamp your service book and keep your maintenance record (and, therefore, your warranty) intact.

Generally, I'd say the highest spec model you can afford. However, in the Mazda3's case I'd actually say the Maxx seems to provide the best bang-for-your-buck over the far more expensive SP25 variants.

It will come down to whether you find the hatch or sedan more practical, and whether you can live without the extra goodies on the higher-spec models. If you're doing a lot of country driving, I would give extra consideration to the 2.5-litre SP25 models as the 2.0-litre is fine for around town but a bit breathless on the open highway.