New Car 'lemons'

[GTR-N1]

Bronze Medal - Audi

Silver Medal - Ford

Gold Medal - drum roll pls *cough - Holden

And 15% of buyers cannot get a satisfactory repair nor a replacement.

[Ben C34]

Sounds bad. The rest of the article says the issues, and it's hard to say the cars are lemons based on, for example, blue tooth connectivity issues, which was the most common.

[GTR-N1]

More than 2/3 of Holden and Ford owners have repeat issues within 5yrs.

[Ben C34]

Oooooooh

[PranK]

Heard this on the news this morning. Yikes. Seems like as much as customer service issue as a car issue.

[Leroy Peterson]

at least with Holden and Ford there is info out there online and with local mechanics about possible solutions and repairs.

with Audi you are much more likely to be slapped with bills equal to the price of the car (over a period of time).

lots of unhappy Q7 owners around...

[PranK]

Yeah good point Leroy.

[Ben C34]

I hardly think having to get the stereo updated to have Bluetooth work with a particular phone makes the car a lemon. The article is sensationalist.

Keep in mind the cars are designed and part supply sorted well before the car is made, mobile phone technology moves way faster as they are heaps easier to make.

[GH05T]

always interesting, consumers are a funny bunch, we sold a clubsport to a gentleman which had a pourus cylinder head, holden fixed the car and he wasnt happy that it happened, so holden replaced the car and even shipped it interstate to where he currently was, (hes in the army) and as a dealership we bought his old car as a used vehicle and charged holden the depreciation.
the guy put in a bad report against holden as he wasnt happy... no explanation, even went to facebook and slandered them for not looking after him.

as a company i dont see how they could do anything more but still people think cars are magical things which never fault.

oh well.

[PranK]

always interesting, consumers are a funny bunch, we sold a clubsport to a gentleman which had a pourus cylinder head, holden fixed the car and he wasnt happy that it happened, so holden replaced the car and even shipped it interstate to where he currently was, (hes in the army) and as a dealership we bought his old car as a used vehicle and charged holden the depreciation.

the guy put in a bad report against holden as he wasnt happy... no explanation, even went to facebook and slandered them for not looking after him.

as a company i dont see how they could do anything more but still people think cars are magical things which never fault.

oh well.

To go slightly off topic, this is precisely why we don't allow business reviews on the site. Some people will never be happy and will want the business to pay for that.

[admS15]

All I got out of that article is that there are definitely too many whingers around. There is no way that 60% of new cars are lemons(stupid media). To me, a lemon is a car with issues that render it undriveable or not fit to do what it was designed for (to commute in everyday conditions) and the manufacturer cannot repair it to drive the way it should. Oh I forgot, if I cant connect my nokia 5110 through Bluetooth, it must be a lemon. There are definitely lemon vehicles out there and some dealers/manufacturers that may try to dodge responsibility but it is nowhere near the 60% mark. Having said all of that, my wife currently owns a car that some would say is a lemon with an unfixable issue. It has been stressful paying for a brand new car and getting something that started to drive worse than my 20 year old skyline within a few thousand km. It took the manufacturer 2.5 years to admit there was a fault and develop a fix that worked. We where ready to pull the pin on it and sell it but we are now quite happy with it and hope it gives us trouble free service from now on. Will I ever by another car from that company? good question, probably depends on the future reliability of the said lemon

[Leroy Peterson]

i speak to older folk when i go to classic car shows and they just carry on about how this car was a POS and everyone who bought one could never drive more than 200km without it breaking down... rovers, jags, alfas... i dont know if any of it is true, but car reputation back in the day was mainly word of mouth and peoples experiences. Now we have the internet to boost the hate a bit. Maybe we're returning to that era of motoring when major failures were a bit more common?

[niZmO_Man]

Jeep will be up there soon.

[GTR-N1]

Do we concur that the figures are magnified because...

a) as a society we're more litigious

b) members of society are more inclined to project blame

c) many people don't accept responsibility whilst taking shortcuts with servicing

d) people become more melodramatic when the net reveals a shortcoming on their type of vehicle

e) a combination of some of the above

......?????

[s2d4]

always interesting, consumers are a funny bunch, we sold a clubsport to a gentleman which had a pourus cylinder head, holden fixed the car and he wasnt happy that it happened, so holden replaced the car and even shipped it interstate to where he currently was, (hes in the army) and as a dealership we bought his old car as a used vehicle and charged holden the depreciation.

the guy put in a bad report against holden as he wasnt happy... no explanation, even went to facebook and slandered them for not looking after him.

as a company i dont see how they could do anything more but still people think cars are magical things which never fault.

oh well.

I don't believe this is a good example of a "funny" person, more of a disconnect from what the ignorant dealership think it's owed after their service.

Do better quality control, better manufacturing process so it wouldn't happen in the first place?

His experience sucked from the start, all you can do is make it better but it will most definitely leave a bad taste.

If I bought a new car and the same thing happened with the head, fixing it is not good enough. At this point, all trust is lost on the brand and the car model, the car is a pos so replacing it is just like receiving another pos of a product.

I didn't pay all the money to have a car that required a major fix, or the anger and hours of my time wasted dealing with it. Those hours are not paid but Holden employees were definitely paid to deal with it as it is their job. See the difference? Even if I can charge all the hours wasted, it still doesnt mean i should be happy about it. In this case, I can crap on the company due to the ordeal, you can not demand that I feel better because of your services.

Edited March 15, 2016 by s2d4

[GTR-N1]

Complaints on New Cars is still news...

Breakdown...

68% Holden

65% Ford

62% Audi

61% Jeep

...followed closely by VW, Suzuki...

Main repeat complaints include engines, brakes and electronics

One woman had her Captiva engine replaced and the replacement is still acting up. Same batch I suppose/wonder.

[admS15]

Craptiva then?

[luke gtr]

Have not read article(?) but have heard about this story on the radio.

By the sounds of it, they class any car with a malfunction as a lemon?

If so, I strongly disagree.

I class a lemon as a car that repeatedly faults.

Whether it be the same concern, or a new one.

Working in a stealer ship, I see some, and some genuine 1 offs.

I actually bought a new car 2 weeks ago.

Steering lock is louder than normal, but still works flawlessly.

I wouldn't call it a lemon.

Also, most one issues we see are iphail related. And most start after in iphail update.

Very rarley (but still happen) do we get complaints of android phones.

Seems apple just do what they want, and expect everyone else to sort it out.

[luke gtr]

I don't believe this is a good example of a "funny" person, more of a disconnect from what the ignorant dealership think it's owed after their service.

Do better quality control, better manufacturing process so it wouldn't happen in the first place?

His experience sucked from the start, all you can do is make it better but it will most definitely leave a bad taste.

If I bought a new car and the same thing happened with the head, fixing it is not good enough. At this point, all trust is lost on the brand and the car model, the car is a pos so replacing it is just like receiving another pos of a product.

I didn't pay all the money to have a car that required a major fix, or the anger and hours of my time wasted dealing with it. Those hours are not paid but Holden employees were definitely paid to deal with it as it is their job. See the difference? Even if I can charge all the hours wasted, it still doesnt mean i should be happy about it. In this case, I can crap on the company due to the ordeal, you can not demand that I feel better because of your services.

so, you've never made a mistake?

They happen.

Even with machines involved.

Hence you get WARRANTY.

In most cases, (with only going off the supplied story and nothing else), once repaired and proven to not fault again, the MTA and ACCC would be satisfied, and the customer would be taking their original car.

[s2d4]

so, you've never made a mistake?

They happen.

Even with machines involved.

Hence you get WARRANTY.

In most cases, (with only going off the supplied story and nothing else), once repaired and proven to not fault again, the MTA and ACCC would be satisfied, and the customer would be taking their original car.

Of course, and I'd do my best at rectifying the situation but I don't expect them to forgive me, I can understand that they will never use my service ever again nor will I think I am owed a positive review, and have thus gained a negative reputation. Edited March 16, 2016 by s2d4