Tag Archives: Holden

Jun 7 2012

As I get older I get different – the birthday gift from Holden – the update


Holden in Australia rang me today, well a spokesperson did, to talk about my 2009 Holden Cruze, someone in their PR department, who knows, I didn’t write his name down. Anyway…

According to the person I spoke to, and you’ll get that this is my version of his words paraphrased;

  • It’s normal for modern cars to have rotors replaced at 60,000 kms
  • The brake pads are in constant contact with the disks constantly wearing them down to keep them from warping. (for real)
  • Of course it uses rotors quicker than an older car, they’re modern, its a modern braking system. (for real)
  • Advised that the Mitsubishi Airtrek (which he’d never heard of as a model) has never had rotors and has 160,000 on the clock was because it’s older! And regardless must be lighter on the brakes because it’s a 4wd SUV
  • “Having worked for VW and other manufacturers I can assure you that this isn’t unusual” a pitiful plea from authority.
  • “You brought you car second hand, what can you expect?” (I’ve had it 2 years and done 40,000 kms, it been serviced 3 times at the same dealership, he tried to convince me that I’d only done 17,000kms nothing like research)
  • He did concede that he’d never heard of this problem, that it sounded unusual, but it was expected.
I did point out that it was a 1.8 litre, mid-sized car, not some V8 performance car. It’s a town car, a commuter car, it’s a shopping basket.

He did offer to pay 50% of the costs of the Rotors/Discs, on condition that I remove my FB wall post. I told him to email me and I’d consider it. I told him how miffed I was, and resentful that a new in-warranty vehicle was supplied from the factory with items that clearly were never going to make a warranty period. I told him that I wasn’t happy and that it was a poor excuse that he was offering up.

I will consider his email should it ever arrive. I’m happy to remove the Facebook wall post to their wall.

Really I’m ok with Tyres wearing out, I get spark plugs, oil filters, air filters, transmission oils. They’re what you expect to have changed. I’m even ok with brake pad wear at 60,000 km (although there was no indication that they were low), but I’m not ok with having to replace the rotors/discs because the man at Holden says that “it’s normal, and it’s the modern way”

Oh and Giltrap Holden North Shore are a super dealership, they really set a benchmark in customer service and go far beyond what you expect from a car dealer. Can’t recommend them enough.

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Jun 5 2012

As I get older I get different – the birthday gift from Holden


Today is my birthday, it should be a day to smile and indulge.

Last year we went to Queenstown for a visit, this year on the weekend we went to the beach house, where the weather was fine and dandy and I ate too much, drank too much and did too little. Had a great time of much relaxation, did some Gentleman fishing, and went to a party, had a BBQ breakfast and sat around.

But today I’m at home, taken a day off work to be communing with myself.

I also put the philmobile  into the Holden  garage for a service. Doing the right thing, keep the service plan unto date. It’s not an old car, November 2009 was when it was first registered, and I brought it in August of 2010. It’s now got 60K on the clock. And i presume it’s still under a manufacturer warranty. Like I said not old by any definition of old cars.

Things to do on your birthday include then not putting your car in for a service, since they rang me shortly after with the news that it needs about $600 dollars worth of brakes and rotors. It seems they rotors are made from tin foil or something, and of course are “wear and tear” and not faulty and therefore not warrantable parts. Farcical. Added to the other “parts” that you need for a service and I was in for $1,302 today.

I looked up the trade in value, and it’s worth between $18,000 and $23,995 depending on if it’s an auction or from a dealer. $600 would be about then 3% of the value of the car.

Quandary is to keep it, and be frustrated at the expense, or trade it  in a fit of pique for a whole new bunch of expenses, or having spend the money wait a year to get some of the value from the expenses. I’m not sure MrsPdubyah is going to be best pleased when she looks at the Visa card bill later.

You know I’ll still be driving it in a year.

Tempered with this is that I just brought lamb shanks and they’re in the slow cooker and about 8 hours away from being ready to eat. I might be in a better mood by then. Might. If not at least I’ll be tasty.

Aug 25 2010

I got a new car


 

A red one. A Holden one.

It has more frippery than I can list, including a trip computer, Leather (Heated Seats) and a connector for a MP3 player.

It also apparently has a fuel consumption guide listed as 8.5 Litres per 100 Kms.

HA! I laugh at you. I’ve managed a 9.4 so far. And I’m not exactly Schumacher – and I’ll tell you why.

The OCD part of me wants to (needs to) have some clarity and objective. So when the tip computer says my fuel consumption is 10.2 I need it to be 10.1. Then I need it to be 10.0 and then 9.9 and so on. Currently it is 8.9, and it’s also saying I have enough go juice to go 648Kms.

I drive 30-odd kms to work and the same 30-odd kms home. Mostly in heavy traffic on the motorway. Alarmingly the fuel consumption at idle is horrific (I base this on the way the L per 100km figure keeps getting bigger, not on any scientific basis.

As I get nearer empty the chances of me getting the current 8.9 figure down -as an average to 8.5 diminishes – woe is me – this is stressful.

Still as I ponder this whilst sitting in my comfy warm heated leather seats I wonder how in earth they get to an urban cycle figure of 8.5 which seems improbable. Short journeys – such as I take on the weekend – seem to be very punishing, lots of stop signs and car-parks.

The only thing I can think of then is to go the long way to get the magic 8.5 figure – which means leaving earlier and spending more on petrol overall.

I may just give up.

BUT on the other hand it does have a connector for my MP3 – just a simple thing not a flash usb one, but I’m working on it. This has allowed me to listen again to some goodly music in the car. Which in the last week has included things like Gary Numan, Siouxie and the Banshees, Joy Division, Stranglers, Sex Pistols and other stuff like Massive Attack, Gorillaz, Pheonix Foundation and Fat Freddy’s Drop.

Not all of this music is memorable or indeed much good, but I remember a goodly amount of the words so that must make them classics right ?

So there I am comfy in the aforementioned heated leather seats singing away – which is awesome but not as legendary as singing on the bus. I must be a sight to behold to the travellers – but I figured out if you wear a blue-tooth ear thingy you can at least pretend you’re on the phone :-)