Ongoing General Automotive Thread 2.0

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Table 5

That is quite a homely looking exterior.

The front overhang is made even worse by the fact that's it's so squared off.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by photon

Looks like they hired a truck designer to design the exterior. That's the truckiest looking non-truck I've ever seen. Maybe that's the plan.

Given North American's lust for pickup trucks this is probably a good move. For good measure they finally added a modern interior design. Subaru has never done interiors well but the last gen was comically dated especially the UI. Still hard to get excited about the same tried and mediocre Subaru engines and CVT transmissions.

[curves2000]

Anybody know anywhere that may do tire shaving services for a tire to help balance out tread life for an AWD car?

I have 4 Michelins that are about 8/9/ 32's tread life. One of them was damaged and repaired but it may not hold pressure until put onto rims and able to test. Looked online and found a brand new tire of the same model on clearance for $200 that normally retails for $350+ as insurance.

Technically I am within the tire tread parameters I am told but I don't like gambling with driveline like that.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Originally Posted by photon

Looks like they hired a truck designer to design the exterior. That's the truckiest looking non-truck I've ever seen. Maybe that's the plan.

It's all the crap they bolted on that gets me, especially on the Wilderness trim. The faux plastic bull bar grill, the Raptor-esque S-U-B-A-R-U across the front grill, the weird C pillar body colored panel, and the 'gear rest' hatchback light bar that no one will use as you almost always have the hatch open when you gear up / down for the day.

I say this as someone looking for exactly this car - a smaller, moderately priced, reliable vehicle suitable for in town use and moderate FSR routes that has good ground clearance. This leaves me with what, a Forester or a Bronco Sport Badlands? Maybe a Passport Trailsport but that's bigger than I'd like, given it's Odyssey roots.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

It's all the crap they bolted on that gets me, especially on the Wilderness trim. The faux plastic bull bar grill, the Raptor-esque S-U-B-A-R-U across the front grill, the weird C pillar body colored panel, and the 'gear rest' hatchback light bar that no one will use as you almost always have the hatch open when you gear up / down for the day.

I say this as someone looking for exactly this car - a smaller, moderately priced, reliable vehicle suitable for in town use and moderate FSR routes that has good ground clearance. This leaves me with what, a Forester or a Bronco Sport Badlands? Maybe a Passport Trailsport but that's bigger than I'd like, given it's Odyssey roots.

Kinda sounds like you just want a Crosstrek - maybe with a roof basket for the odd time you need more cargo

[you&me]

So, for the first time ever, I received (or actually noticed) and participated in a JD Power survey and man, was it eye opening.

I had an opinion about the results of these surveys before, but after answering the entire thing (and it was very lengthy), I honestly think I'll pay them even less attention than before.

Has anyone else ever participated in one of these?

[nik-]

Subaru is now the current crown holder in the "tackiest looking plastic fenders" competition. Lets see who comes on top next year, this is a fiercely contested category.

[Nufy]

Recommendations for Rock chip repair and a front PPF for my truck ?

Should have done it when I bought it in November.

Will have to pay for both now I guess.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by you&me

So, for the first time ever, I received (or actually noticed) and participated in a JD Power survey and man, was it eye opening.

I had an opinion about the results of these surveys before, but after answering the entire thing (and it was very lengthy), I honestly think I'll pay them even less attention than before.

Has anyone else ever participated in one of these?

I suppose it's good for manufacturers that it's so thorough but there's so many questions and it takes forever. Not something you can just do in 10-15 minutes which makes it a bit of a slog.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by you&me

So, for the first time ever, I received (or actually noticed) and participated in a JD Power survey and man, was it eye opening.

I had an opinion about the results of these surveys before, but after answering the entire thing (and it was very lengthy), I honestly think I'll pay them even less attention than before.

Has anyone else ever participated in one of these?

Never, but now I’m curious what you noticed about it that makes you lend even less credibility / confidence towards them.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

I suppose it's good for manufacturers that it's so thorough but there's so many questions and it takes forever. Not something you can just do in 10-15 minutes which makes it a bit of a slog.

I was definitely (positively) surprised at how thorough the survey was, so that impressed me.

I was disappointed by the lack of questions about the buying experience with the dealer, as that was far and away the worst part of our experience with this vehicle and the biggest influence on whether or not we explore other options when the time comes to replace it... It would have been great to have an opportunity to share that.

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Never, but now I’m curious what you noticed about it that makes you lend even less credibility / confidence towards them.

The majority of the survey centred around questions about overall performance of the vehicle and features, durability / longevity of equipment / features / technology, etc on the basis of "choose 10 if your expectations are exceeded, 5 if your expectations are met and 1 if your expectations weren't met"...

Well, for the vehicle that was the subject of the survey, it's the third one we've had in a row with only minor revisions between each one, so if I'm being honest, nothing about the car exceeds my expectations because my expectation is for the vehicle to perform exactly how it has... So in answering honestly, the results would appear decidedly ho-hum, when in reality the vehicle is basically perfect for our exact use case.

I've always taken the ratings resulting from these surveys with a grain of salt and now having gone through one, I've only reinforced my previous suspicion that these surveys skew positive results in favour of cars whose owners have lower expectations.

Like, yeah, my Lamborghini is fast... but I expected it to be; that's why I got it - 5 stars. But #### me, if the bluetooth in my Bentley drops a connection - 1 star.

At the same time, the owner of a boring yet reliable econobox is probably overly pleased that his car just works and he hasn't had any expensive out of pocket repairs - 10 stars!

I don't know, it's hard to explain... It just seems strange to truthfully answer such a thorough survey and reflect back to realize I essentially gave this car a 5/10 score when it's been nothing but ideal

[Erick Estrada]

I think if most people answer properly and honestly there should be few vehicles that really get really high scores. You will have people that had a poor experience that will go out of their way bury the vehicle and manufacturer but that will be offset by the fanboy owners that have been conditioned to accept mediocrity such as lifelong blue oval fans or overly exuberant owners such as Subaru fanboys that believe their vehicle been amazingly reliable despite engine replacement, CVT issues, etc. Porsche, BMW, Lexus do pretty well in these so it seems that higher end vehicles can do well in these surveys and Lexus is proof that a bad UI (their UI was long one of the worst in the industry) won't bury a vehicle.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The complaints about the old Lexus UI were overblown anyway. Everyone hated the touchpad but it's not even that annoying, just suboptimal, and in most applications it only controlled what would otherwise be controlled by the touchscreen (e.g. not radio or climate controls), and touchscreens are often just as bad.

Every time a car reviewer complained about it it came across as "ah, I need something to complain about, here's a thing".

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

The complaints about the old Lexus UI were overblown anyway. Everyone hated the touchpad but it's not even that annoying, just suboptimal, and in most applications it only controlled what would otherwise be controlled by the touchscreen (e.g. not radio or climate controls), and touchscreens are often just as bad.

Every time a car reviewer complained about it it came across as "ah, I need something to complain about, here's a thing".

I know owners that hated it. The touchpad was always a bad idea. I don't think a bad UI should sink an otherwise solid car but from a day to day driving perspective it's one of those little annoyances that chips away at the experience like interior rattles.

[Hemi-Cuda]

The touchpad is what drove me away from buying a Lexus when I was shopping for a new car, same with Acura. Ended up with a Mazda, and while I was wary of their scroll wheel UI at first, it didn't take long to get used to it, and now IMO it's the best UI design of any car out there

[TorqueDog]

There is a metric fuсk-tonne to complain about with Lexus before you get anywhere near the infotainment UX. I haven’t sat in one yet that passes the fingernail test.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

The touchpad is what drove me away from buying a Lexus when I was shopping for a new car, same with Acura. Ended up with a Mazda, and while I was wary of their scroll wheel UI at first, it didn't take long to get used to it, and now IMO it's the best UI design of any car out there

The BMW iDrive with touchscreen, scroll wheel, and the programmable memory buttons were interior perfection for me. Best UI ever IMO. Of course now the programmable buttons are gone and so is the scroll wheel on most new BMW's. I'm not one to pine for past automotive trends but this is one of those cases where newer simply isn't better.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

The touchpad is what drove me away from buying a Lexus when I was shopping for a new car, same with Acura.

I don't drive my wife's Acura RDX very often, but when I do, using that touch pad drives me crazy. Not that I'm the intended audience for that car, but it would drive me away from purchasing another one (that and the blind spots and general boring driving experience).

Coincidentally we also have a Lexus in the family, although it's from the early 2000s (with an interface that looks like it's from the early 90s), so this was before the touchpad...which I'm glad it doesn't have. So glad it's still a touchscreen and mostly buttons. Physical buttons are the best.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The BMW iDrive with touchscreen, scroll wheel, and the programmable memory buttons were interior perfection for me. Best UI ever IMO. Of course now the programmable buttons are gone and so is the scroll wheel on most new BMW's. I'm not one to pine for past automotive trends but this is one of those cases where newer simply isn't better.

What?? No way, that sucks. The scroll wheel has taken a little getting used to but I like it much more than using the touch screen. It even has a touch pad on it so you can spell out letters when doing a deep search in Spotify (for example), but I never use it. And the fact I can have a radio station on memory button one and Spotify on memory button 2 is very cool.

That sucks they're going away, guess I got one at the right time.

[TorqueDog]

The funny part is that I remember when iDrive first came out and people absolutely despised the wheel and the iDrive system.

In hindsight, even though it was a bit rough in its infancy, iDrive got a LOT right very early on.