I hate car dealerships

[Walt34]

Does anyone purchase American made cars? It’s not the 1980. There quality is very good these days.

I would take a look at some, but from all angles I look at it American car manufacturers still have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to quality and reliability.

We have a GMC 4WD pickup truck only because at the time (2003) the "Big Three" were the only ones that made full size pickups. That has changed. If I ever do buy a new pickup again I'll look hard at Honda and Toyota's offerings.

In fairness to the GMC, so far I'm very happy with the truck, it has had very little non-scheduled maintenance needed. But it's only got a little over 100k miles so it's still relatively new for a truck.

 

[Music Lover]

I think most newer ICE vehicles have this annoying problem/feature. I absolutely hate it, safety hazard when you need to pull put an accelerate but your vehicle needs to start first. DW'S Wrangler has it, if you have your foot loosely on the brake you can fool it.

Yup, I can fool it by pressing the brake lightly. However, I just disable it when I start the car. I also have to manually disable the heated windshield feature in winter as it turns on automatically at 4C...and stays on draining the battery. Obviously the person that designed that has never lived in a cold climate and has no idea that it doesn't need to be on all the time.

 

[JoeWras]

Yup, I can fool it by pressing the brake lightly. However, I just disable it when I start the car. I also have to manually disable the heated windshield feature in winter as it turns on automatically at 4C...and stays on draining the battery. Obviously the person that designed that has never lived in a cold climate and has no idea that it doesn't need to be on all the time.

Wow. That's wrong. My Subaru turns on the heated windshield and side view mirrors only when I turn on the defrost button.

 

[aja8888]

Does anyone purchase American made cars? It’s not the 1980. There quality is very good these days.

I have two of them and they are just fine.

 

[aja8888]

I think most newer ICE vehicles have this annoying problem/feature. I absolutely hate it, safety hazard when you need to pull put an accelerate but your vehicle needs to start first. DW'S Wrangler has it, if you have your foot loosely on the brake you can fool it.

My 2019 Dodge Grand Caravan GT does not have this feature, which I personally do not like either.

My Mustang Convertible is without it too, but it's a bit older than the van!

 

[braumeister]

Obviously some cars handle the start/stop better than others.
I've heard from some that theirs was much more acceptable after a software update from their dealer, so it can be tweaked.

Mine is a PHEV and the start/stop is completely unnoticeable as the electric motor is still available while the ICE starts up.

 

[jazz4cash]

Yup, I can fool it by pressing the brake lightly. However, I just disable it when I start the car. I also have to manually disable the heated windshield feature in winter as it turns on automatically at 4C...and stays on draining the battery. Obviously the person that designed that has never lived in a cold climate and has no idea that it doesn't need to be on all the time.

I hate the start/stop feature also. I had it on a rental and it had no override. After a few days I realized that I was subconsciously releasing and re-applying the brake every few seconds while sitting at a stop to reset the shutoff timer. I'm evolving!

 

[brett]

I still remember the business manager at the Toyota dealership where we bought our ne 97 Camry. He was insisting that we buy his $1000. warranty extension and his $600. rustproofing whatever service. I asked him if Toyota's were as reliable as the salesperson claimed why did I need an extended warranty.

We passed. He was not happy but we could have cared less.

Put 270K miles on that car. Never burned oil. Only one non mtce repair in 24 years...to the ignition key.

 

[travelover]

..........Mine is a PHEV and the start/stop is completely unnoticeable as the electric motor is still available while the ICE starts up.

I found the same thing on my Escape hybrid. It took off right away because it was launched with the electric motor and the ICE quickly followed. On my ICE only Highlander, there is an unpleasant lag, so I bought a device on line that sends an "off signal" to the start / stop function each time the car is started. I can still turn the function on if wanted, like in extreme stop and go traffic.

 

[Boose]

Re: engine auto shut-off: that's what turned us off (no pun intended) from the Subaru Forester. Found a Mazda CX-5 turbo which is great fun to drive and doesn't shut off at stoplights.

 

[braumeister]

I bought a device on line that sends an "off signal" to the start / stop function each time the car is started.

Nice! I haven't heard of those. Do you happen to remember where you got it? I have friends who would be very interested.

 

[travelover]

Nice! I haven't heard of those. Do you happen to remember where you got it? I have friends who would be very interested.

I bought it off a guy I met on the Toyota Nation Highlander forum. He makes them and sells them, though ironically, someone in China stole his design and also sells them on eBay.

 

[tb001]

We recently bought a new Volvo. I love the car, but the dealership was an exercise in frustration. I had emailed and asked for the lowest otd price, come to an agreement to purchase the car and asked them to have everything ready to go on pickup, as we didn’t want to be spending 60+ min inside with covid going on.

Unfortunately, when we showed up the price they had listed was several K above our agreed upon price. We spent 30 min going back and forth to get back to the originally agreed price. They said it was a mistake in one of their calculations, but it ticked me off. Not to mention nothing was ready like we asked. We ended up spending an hour in a tiny non ventilated room with their finance dept being with the attempts to upsell. It was unbelievably annoying.

That said, I love my car, so...

 

[braumeister]

We recently bought a new Volvo. I love the car, but the dealership was an exercise in frustration.

FWIW, there is an enormous range of variation among dealerships, just like with most other brands. You can find plenty of praise for some and brickbats for others on the forums. Swedespeed.com is a good one.

 

[Tailgate]

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BTW, I like Tailgate's avatar. Keep on Truckin'

Zap Comics, Fritz the Cat, Mr Natural and anything else by Robert Crumb. Cheech and Chong, Whole Earth Catalog, The 7 words you can't say on television, National Lampoon, National Lampoon Radio Hour. Keep On Truckin'!

I was an unapologetic hippie.

 

[Nick12]

We recently bought a new Volvo. I love the car, but the dealership was an exercise in frustration. I had emailed and asked for the lowest otd price, come to an agreement to purchase the car and asked them to have everything ready to go on pickup, as we didn’t want to be spending 60+ min inside with covid going on.

Unfortunately, when we showed up the price they had listed was several K above our agreed upon price. We spent 30 min going back and forth to get back to the originally agreed price. They said it was a mistake in one of their calculations, but it ticked me off. Not to mention nothing was ready like we asked. We ended up spending an hour in a tiny non ventilated room with their finance dept being with the attempts to upsell. It was unbelievably annoying.

That said, I love my car, so...

Car dealers are also trained to wear you down mentally. Don't fall for it.

 

[G8tr]

Thanks to all for your stories and advice. It's simply frustrating to be ready to buy, but having nothing that we want to buy.

 

[tb001]

Car dealers are also trained to wear you down mentally. Don't fall for it.

Oh, we would have walked with no issues. But it was just hugely frustrating that after having a conversation about wanting to minimize our time at the dealership because of covid and DH being high risk, there was still the back and forth. Zero effort on the part of the dealership to be more responsive and aware.

And braumeister, yes there are big differences in dealers, it seems for Volvo in particular. Our last dealership experience was wonderful. All service related, but they seemed to understand what Volvo wants to be. Ironically, one of the frequent posters who is exalted on swedespeed is at the dealership where we had the issue. After having a horrible experience on the service side with them I swore never again, but they were the only ones with the right car, option and price, so I caved.

 

[JoeWras]

Car dealers are also trained to wear you down mentally. Don't fall for it.

Oh, boy, are they ever! tb001's experience was a classic bait and switch. "mistake in calculations" my eye. Do they make the same "mistake" in the service department? Don't they have computers and templates in which they do this 100s of times per year?

Mistake my eye. At least tb001 powered through it.

 

[levindb]

New Year's Eve may be the best time of the year to purchase a car. End of month, end of quarter, and end of year sales targets all on the same day. Send emails to the dealers you are willing to drive, fly, or bus to. Provide vehicle details you want. Ask for best price, and tell them you will be purchasing with cash (you can change that later) and no trade in. This link explains the process in detail...

https://randylewis.org/so-you-wanna-buy-a-new-car/

 

[Music Lover]

Car dealers are also trained to wear you down mentally. Don't fall for it.

They're not all like that. I test drove a used Acura and made an offer. they countered and we quickly agreed on a price. The salesman offered the extended warranty and I refused. That was the end of it. In and out in less than an hour.

 

[Tailgate]

New Year's Eve may be the best time of the year to purchase a car. End of month, end of quarter, and end of year sales targets all on the same day. Send emails to the dealers you are willing to drive, fly, or bus to. Provide vehicle details you want. Ask for best price, and tell them you will be purchasing with cash (you can change that later) and no trade in. This link explains the process in detail...

https://randylewis.org/so-you-wanna-buy-a-new-car/

+100%. ... last week of the year dealers are competing against their sales goals and hold back $ from the mfg. Deal with the internet salesperson if at all possible.

 

[bzribee]

Does anyone purchase American made cars? It’s not the 1980. There quality is very good these days.

I've had great luck with new American "twins": A Chevy Nova that was identical to a Toyota Corolla; a Pontiac Vibe, a twin for a Toyota Matrix. So not fully American, though.



I keep cars ~20 years, 250,000 miles. My current Vibe is 13 years old, just 100,000 miles. The paint job was terrible--I"m considering having it repainted. I get notes on the car every few months--folks offering to buy it. I don't want to sell because I love the car (other than the paint) and it's a stick shift with very few electronics. It's so hard to find new stick shift cars. A benefit, though, is the stick shift cars I"ve found do NOT have all the gimmicky add-ons.



It's fun to watch young kids try to figure out how to (literally) roll down the windows, or lock the car door. All done by hand.

 

[travelover]

I've had great luck with new American "twins": ............ a Pontiac Vibe, a twin for a Toyota Matrix. So not fully American, though.
............My current Vibe is 13 years old, just 100,000 miles. The paint job was terrible--I"m considering having it repainted..........

Did you consider the terrible paint job to be part of your good luck?

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Does anyone purchase American made cars? It’s not the 1980. There quality is very good these days.

I don't know if you meant only cars in particular, or vehicles in general. Problem is, I want to buy a car, nothing else. A brief look at the Big 3 reveals only about 4 or 5 American-made cars. None of which is the size/style I want.

I would prefer to buy an American car, and every time I buy a new car and try to find one I could live with, but have never been able to.