forgotten_aria | Entries tagged with c-max

The dealer phoned saying the car was in (yay) but that we couldn't pay for it until tomorrow because both finance guys were out and couldn't have it until Monday.

Our "instant offer" expires today, so we phoned the dealer we had planned to sell it and they said they could take it today, but not pay us, because the right people left early.

So we phoned the other dealer who said they would honor the deal. He "texted" his manager and I waiting in silence for a long time on the phone. They wouldn't honor the offer from the other dealer (which isn't what they said when I was in.) They offered $337 less.

So I was about to phone the first dealer to tell them we'd bring them the car, even if they couldn't pay (they offered to do that) when the second dealer phoned me on my cell phone while I was waiting for the operator to pick up, and said they would honor the first dealer's offer.

So we are schedule to go to the second dealer (Ira toyota of danvers) to sell the car at 4:30. Here's hoping no more bullshit.

EDIT: so we do all the paperwork to sell the c-max to ira and they tell us after everything is signed that they can't cut a check today. ARG!!! but the c-max is sold and hopefully we'll have a check Tuesday (via fexex, hopefully no extra fee for choosing that option.) I feel so lucky we aren't depending on that money for buying the new car.

The car is leaking what we think is brake fluid since the axle was changed. Most likely gervais ford didn't put it back together correctly. I'm sure I could take it back to them, argue with them, make them try to put it right, but that would require driving 30 minutes on the highway with potentially bad brakes, so I'm trying a new mechanical local to me tomorrow. So far the reviews has me hopeful.

Oh, this is after the piece of plastic underneath started falling off, also likely because gervais ford sucks. I asked firestone to put it back on. They did so, for cheap, but kind of just added bolts until it didn't fall off. Not very... elegant.

I think what annoys me almost as much as all this car trouble is that there is NO other car on the market I would rather have, even with all this shit. A hybrid with cargo space that's not a prius or an SUV is basically nothing.

EDIT: took it to foxy. they didn't' find anything wrong with the new axle, they think they found a coolant leak and clamped it.

I took my car to Firestone today to try to resolve the issue that Ford said the tires were defective. Firestone found some wights in the tires, rebalanced them and said they were fine. I asked them to phone Ford and see if they could get on the same page, since Ford was so sure they were not fine because of the "road force" test. Firestone phoned said tires fine, ford said, road force test says NO GOOD!. And didn't get anywhere. I phoned Ford myself and said, "ok, now what?" Ford said "have Firestone put the new tires on the front again. Test drive it in the highway, you'll feel vibration." I asked, Firestone did, took it for a test drive themselves, said it was fine. I took it for a test drive myself, it was fine. I was convinced that this was NOT Firestone's fault and decided they had done enough and even offered to pay for the balancing, they refused. The whole time they listened to me and was super polite and sympathetic.

I went home and mentally prepared for a fight with Ford, phoned, said new tires on front, no vibration. He said, k, refund.

I'm gobsmacked that he backed down that fast. I might have to go in for the refund, but he's going to try to do it over the phone soon. He has to get it "approved" first though.

I got eh c-max back. The axle under warranty and was the problem. Quicklane charged me $108 for finding out the tires new tires were bad, which 1) wasn't the actual problem 2) not something I asked them to do 3) I had to PUSH to have them look harder. But I had no will to argue any more, so I just paid it, but I will never go back to Gervais Ford again.

Tomorrow I have to go argue about the tires with Firestone.

My car started to vibrate (the hood and the seats) at 60+ when the gas engine was loaded. I took it to firestone because they are close, they said "it's tires or rotors." I needed new tires soon, so I decided to believe them and get new tires. It was not the tires. The ford that is 20 minutes away from me (the closest one) doesn't do appointments and you need to drop off the car at 8am. There is a ford close to Shirley that claimed to take appointments. I made an appointment and then realized I never got a conformation. I phoned them.

"Those are just for quick things like oil changes. I don't know why it doesn't tell the customer that. We are booked weeks in advance, but I'll direct you to the quicklane guy and see if he can fit you in."

I HATE quicklane. At Stoneham ford you wait in an ACTUAL line IN your car. Once you are in the line, you can't get out (because it is a corral.) I've waited for hours. It is one of the stupidest ideas ever.

In this case I had someone to pick me up and I left the car with them. The good news, they test drove it, felt the issue and agreed it was bad. Bad news, it wasn't something easy like a spark plug. They left it for the main, non-quicklane service guy to hopefully look at it tomorrow. $108 just for the diagnostic, but I think my drive-train is still under warranty, so here's hoping this will be on their dime.

Luckily we are a two car family, so I can go about my life for an in determinate amount of time without my car.

I am super annoyed at Ford's bad service policy though.

EDIT:

ford: "it's the new tires"
me: "uh, no, I got the tires BECAUSE of the problem"
ford: "then it's your rims, we can't balance the tires"
me: (after a little discussion of the problem) "why does the vibration stop as soon as you let off the gas?"
ford: "good question, we'll go look at it some more."

EDIT:

Ford swapped the tires front to back and the problem still happened, but they are still asserting that firestone's tires are faulty, even if they are not the problem. They have no clue what the actual problem is, but most likely it will be covered by warranty, since they think it's either axle or transmission.

EDIT 20190301:
They determined yesterday it was the axle, ordered the part. It arrived this morning, but the technician who was working on the car is out sick today and they want him to complete the job. I agree, since this has been complicated enough. So no car until Monday at least. At least I have a back up car.

I have to take my car back AGAIN. They assembled it wrong and two pieces of plastic are touching that shouldn't be and they're fighting with each other.

I woke up yesterday with this pressure in my ear, half my hearing being muffled and this constant low noise that got worse when other low noises happen. The constant low noise seems to be gone, but I'm still missing a good part of my hearing in my right ear.

Driving to my student's taiko recital last night the "check manual" light which is actually the "somethings wrong with the power train" light came on, then the car overheated, so I pulled over, let it cool down and made my way to the recital (since I was running the show.)

I drove it very carefully home, pulling over any time it overheated. I just drove it to the dealer, being careful enough to drive it on the electric motor mostly, such that it didn't over heat, but the "check manual" and "check engine" lights were both on. They don't have an appointment for me until Tuesday, but they'll try to squeeze me in earlier.

I partly got a new car to avoid the aggravation of repairs (more to avoid the cost). So GRR!!! the car is less than 2 months old.

On the other hand, at least this happened with enough time to get it resolved before I needed to drive to Canada.

Found out that at least in my hybrid, it will turn on the gas engine to warm up if the cabin needs to be heated. This means very short trips in the winter time have the side effect of destroying gas mileage, because it will fill the battery and waste some of the gas engine.

I filled up for the first time in the new car today. The capless gas thing seems ok. I'm still a little disturbed that anyone can open the gas door. One thing I hadn't thought of is that a smaller tank, means a little less time at the pump. I've been running about 39 mpg (according to the car) since I do a fair amount of highway.

One weird thing about a hybrid is that since the power to the wheels and the sound of the motor is decoupled, it often makes me feel like the motor is slipping.

Ford decided on 1) windshield wiper connectors I've never seen before 2) hiding the wipers under the hood for aerodynamics but with the side effect you have to open the hood to lift the wipers more than about a half inch. None of that New England "put your wipers up so they don't get buried in a snow storm" trick.

Update on the car after a week of getting used to it.

Nice suprises:

Blind spot mirrors

reading text messages to me (haven't gotten to use this in practice yet, but gave it a test.)

voice controls for USB stick of music¹

hot day feature to lower all the windows from the key frob²

the regenerative braking reports and trip mileage reports.

( Usb with all my music )

Back when I got the mazda5 I took some pictures of me demonstrating the cargo space. I've tried to recreate that with the c-max. ( the results )

I want to write this now while I'm still upset so hopefully I can read back on this and laugh.

I gravely miscalculated how much cargo space I'm giving up. Not just all the little cubbies that the m5 had (Where I had the fire extinguisher and the first aid kit) but the fact that the read door slopes inward, such that even thought the measurement to the back of the seat is almost the same, the drum space is greatly reduced.

Now, I don't know if my future contains a car packed with drums very often, but this realization started to make me cry. So yeah, regret already.

Oh yeah, I bought the c-max.

Was ready to give up on car buying, dealer comes back with new trade in offer.
Go to get estimate from another place, they say "no one wants m5" gives me a low offer.
Waffle and discuss, decide to go in for the lower dealer trade-in offer.
About to put down a deposit, dealer says, "oh, btw, that includes the $1000 financing incentive, so you can't pay cash, but there is no early payment penalty. You just do about 3 months of payments." That enough risk to kill the already only barely ok deal.

Then I get a spark, could I just put down a HUGE down payment. I ask, and it's "well, yes and no, you have to finance at least $7500 of the car." So a mull over this for a bit, but my gut is telling me no.

This is gaming the system. Even if this doesn't come back to bite me, it's ethically unsound.

So I've said no, again. This time I think it might be the final no.