Jump to content

What do you drive?


StefanAVFC

Recommended Posts

Second service for my mid range Hyundai today.

When I got there this morning, they were expecting me.

They offered me a lift to work (I walked).

They told me the price of the service and that the car would be ready at midday.

At midday they sent me a text saying the car was ready, did I want it delivered? (I walked to the garage)

It cost what they had said it would cost.

It had been cleaned, the service had been done. It's the second time it panned out that way.

 

Right now, I can't ever see myself going back to Mercedes or Volkswagen again. Absolute revelation on what a car dealership can be like.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 14/11/2018 at 14:25, Dom_Wren said:

Sorry @blandy only just seeing this as i was coming back to post in this thread. My used truck i bought is an old barge, 98 ford f-150 single cab, but i dont go over 50mph in it and it hauls all my footballs and trash etc.. when i go to the dump.

Now, its in the shop having a service and fix a problem, so my dealer mate, has only gone and given me the raptor for the last couple of days and till its fixed......

MY GOD. I want one, i know i said i loved my 98 ford, but this thing is different level. absolutely love it!!, looks like a tank and drives like a caddy. its stacked with more technology than the starship enterprise. If i could afford one, it would be a no brainer......I read you can import them from oz or states (LHD) and they are super expensive and super impractical for European roads, but, and you knew a but was coming........its effing unreal!!

When we were in Maine in the autumn, I hired a GMC Yukon XL for a week.  My god it was absolutely superb.  Seated 8 in supreme comfort, but still had a mahoosive boot.  Far better than anything you can get in the UK.  My wife's got a seven seat Discovery, but when the two extra seats in the third row are up, there's hardly any boot space at all.  Considering its extreme size, it was very easy to drive, and I could park it in the local supermarket car park with no issues.  I drove it up to the White Mountain National Park, where it was snowing and I saw a moose (or an elk, not sure of the difference!).  Only needed a rifle and a Davy Crockett hat and I'd have felt like a proper pioneer!

If you could get RHD versions in the UK I'd definitely have one or similar. For a family with 4 kids like me they'd be absolutely ideal.

Anyway, one of these:

 

2017-gmc-yukon-xl-denali-4wd-instrumented-test-review-car-and-driver-photo-671883-s-original.jpg

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not as wide as a Mercedes GL.  The length is more of an issue, but I was driving it round some fairly small Maine roads, which weren't really any different to those in rural parts of the UK.  It's not like I was just cruising down some 8 lane California Highway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 14/11/2018 at 16:31, mottaloo said:

On seeing the pics of trucks and cars american VTers post on here, I can't help but notice how much wider the parking lines seem to be. The only place I can relate to over here is the car park at Costco. 

Yeah, I get that American cars can be bigger but I wish we had their parking space sizes over here. I also used to think it would be great if all UK roads were as wide as the bit of jockey road between boldmere and leading up to Tesco.

.....this really should be for the boring thread, right ??

I remember the previous parking at Birmingham International Railway Station where they had crammed so many spaces in that it would be literally impossible to park ANY car side by side, even a supermini and open the doors so people ended up taking spaces and a half meaning you got less cars in the car park than if you just provided big enough spaces in the first place. 

It's changed now but you often find the same ludicrous situations elsewhere. 

It seem OTT but I genuinely think minium spacing should be enshrined in law if not commensense. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tiny little Hyundai i10, headlamp went.  Halfords said they couldn't fit the bulb, was a garage job.  Garage said it had to go up on ramps, this and that had to be removed, other makes are worse, can cost up to £200 to change the headlamp bulb.  £30 for mine.

As it happened, their computer system was down, they couldn't invoice me, so they did the job for no charge.  My lucky day.

But how barking mad is that?  It's like if a lightbulb goes at home, you have to call out an electrician.  Planned obsolescence,  they called it half a century ago.  Sick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, peterms said:

Tiny little Hyundai i10, headlamp went.  Halfords said they couldn't fit the bulb, was a garage job.  Garage said it had to go up on ramps, this and that had to be removed, other makes are worse, can cost up to £200 to change the headlamp bulb.  £30 for mine.

As it happened, their computer system was down, they couldn't invoice me, so they did the job for no charge.  My lucky day.

But how barking mad is that?  It's like if a lightbulb goes at home, you have to call out an electrician.  Planned obsolescence,  they called it half a century ago.  Sick.

It's been like that for ages with most cars.  It's not planned obsolescence as such, just making it unnecessarily impossible for anybody to do what used to be an extremely simple job "in the old days".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My new car from good old JLR is having to go back in on Monday.  The "infotainment" system (media player, Satnav etc) hardly works at all and has more bugs than a tramp's vest.  If they don't sort it out, they can have the car back.  No wonder they're doing badly, the quality control on their cars is almost non-existent.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Risso said:

It's been like that for ages with most cars.  It's not planned obsolescence as such, just making it unnecessarily impossible for anybody to do what used to be an extremely simple job "in the old days".

It’s gone past that now. That was definitely true a while back, in part due to the now banned thing whereby manufacturers could say fitting of non OEM parts invalidated the warranty, and in part because they could do the same for use of independent garages and so on. But now, for example in the case of “light bulbs” a headlamp assembly will be LEDs moulded into a casing which is made of various clear and opaque polymers all plastic welded together, with a nominal lifetime of perhaps 20 or 30 years. The whole front of the car, on initial assembly is designed for the most efficient assembly process and sequence, not how easy it is to get a screwdriver and take out a headlamp, for an owner.

but they’ll always find a way to turn a profit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, peterms said:

Tiny little Hyundai i10, headlamp went.  Halfords said they couldn't fit the bulb, was a garage job.  Garage said it had to go up on ramps, this and that had to be removed, other makes are worse, can cost up to £200 to change the headlamp bulb.  £30 for mine.

As it happened, their computer system was down, they couldn't invoice me, so they did the job for no charge.  My lucky day.

But how barking mad is that?  It's like if a lightbulb goes at home, you have to call out an electrician.  Planned obsolescence,  they called it half a century ago.  Sick.

I was away with work for a couple of days when a headlamp bulb popped.

No biggy, down to Halfords pick up a generic bulb pack. I had to replace the bulb, I wasn't going to do Kent to Cardiff on one light.

I've always carried a basic tool kit, so I popped off the back of the light housing, but it couldn't move out of the way as there was a cable tight across it. So I tried to unplug the cable but it had a moulded joint in to a little black box. I couldn't wiggle the box because there was a metal bar to hold something else across the top of it.

Anyway, 30 minutes later, its mid afternoon, I want to go home and I've deconstructed a whole load of the front of my (then) Merc C Class. Being quite a clever guy, I thought to myself 'shit, I'm in trouble here'.

So I rebuilt it as best I could, drove to Clackett Lane services and found an AA van. Parked alongside and asked if he'd change a bulb for me! It took the AA guy about 30 / 40 minutes and much use of the word 'bitch'. Which actually made me feel a lot better about my abilities.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Risso said:

My new car from good old JLR is having to go back in on Monday.  The "infotainment" system (media player, Satnav etc) hardly works at all and has more bugs than a tramp's vest.  If they don't sort it out, they can have the car back.  No wonder they're doing badly, the quality control on their cars is almost non-existent.

It’s a real shame to still read stories like this, the infotainment has been utter garbage for several model years. I know a lot of resource has been thrown at it (mainly Indian engineers from TATA) but not seemingly making headway into the issues.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 minutes ago, Genie said:

It’s a real shame to still read stories like this, the infotainment has been utter garbage for several model years. I know a lot of resource has been thrown at it (mainly Indian engineers from TATA) but not seemingly making headway into the issues.

I don't know much about Tata but I do know they use a third party IT  support company called Infosys who I have had recent experience with my own employer. Infosys are utter shite so if they have anything to do with the infotainment systems then JLR are well and truly in the poo long term.

Edited by mottaloo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, mottaloo said:

I don't know much about Tata but I do know they use a third party IT  support company called Infosys who I have had recent experience with my own employer. Infosys are utter shite so if they have anything to do with the infotainment systems then JLR are well and truly in the poo long term.

Sounds like IT support for the systems rather than the vehicle engineering?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Genie said:

Sounds like IT support for the systems rather than the vehicle engineering?

Well, it's going to be IT support for tata bespoke application systems used in the design of their products as well as generic support for other IT stuff, so it's all linked I'm sure.

Edited by mottaloo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, mottaloo said:

I don't know much about Tata but I do know they use a third party IT  support company called Infosys who I have had recent experience with my own employer. Infosys are utter shite so if they have anything to do with the infotainment systems then JLR are well and truly in the poo long term.

I was out with a mate last night who (still) works for JLR, and another who is the CEO of a major car sales group.  Apparently JLR have a customer retention rate of about a third, ie two thirds never buy a car from JLR again.  The chap who runs the car group says that if he could ditch all the JLR dealerships he would, as they give him much more trouble than the likes of BMW and Audi.  I'm about to cause their dealership a bit more agro tomorrow, as if they don't get it sorted, I'll be telling them they can have it back and refund me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...
Â