car buying these days...

[Belwarrior]

Picked up the car on Friday.
Still very apologetic, and I have the impression relieved no accident happened because of their error. The excuse as to how it happened is a bit weak: they did not clean the springs well enough, which made the damages (which were right at the bottom of the springs) difficult to see...

They really managed to do it quite fast and gave me a big discount on the work. So I'm ok with how they dealt with it.

Good news then

[VJ]

Yup.
Meanwhile we are planning another big trip with the Subaru: from Warsaw via Bremen and North-Netherlands to Enschede (project meeting), then on to Belgium (family visit) and then back via Dusseldorf (another project meeting) to Warsaw...

[Umfriend]

Yup.
Meanwhile we are planning another big trip with the Subaru: from Warsaw via Bremen and North-Netherlands to Enschede (project meeting), then on to Belgium (family visit) and then back via Dusseldorf (another project meeting) to Warsaw...

Funny, I've lived in the Netherlands all my life but I think this means you get to go to Enschede before I ever do (and it's not a big town but not an out-in-the-woods village either). How many KM is that trip in total?

[VJ]

Haven't fully checked yet, but well over 3000 km. The longest section will be around 1000 km, but with 2 drivers and full highway driving it is well doable.

[VJ]

Next big dent in the new car... And quite a bad one... Several layers of the lacquer chipped off and are gone on something like a 1cmx1cm area, with small scratches leading away from it towards the back and a longer dent at the top of it leading up. It is surprising to see how thick the layer of lacquer is (car has metallic finish). It is almost dead center on the front passenger's car door, with the whole panel dented (reflections are different than they used to be). But the fact that those layers are visible makes me think it will be an expensive fix - but necessary to prevent rust...

No idea how someone could make such a damage; they really had to be either stupidly careless or just malicious. And of course no address card or anything. We will have to get this fixed as it is down to the bare metal. It is covered by insurance but of course it will increase or insurance cost subsequently so we'll have to check if it makes sense. (I'm wondering if it is not from a bicycle or scoot trying to squeeze between parked cars)

But the car is fantastic. We both love driving it, and my wife now has no issues with longer distances and actually considers driving it relaxing. The Warsaw-Belgium trip in one day is no problem with both of us taking turns (provided we plan it on a calm-traffic day), which is so reassuring in the current air-travel climate. We have already over 10000 km on the clock - mainly from long distance trips, and probably will make two long trips to my parents before the end of the year; so we may reach 20000-25000 km in one year.

[UtwigMU]

If it's any consolation: There was a bad hail storm a few weeks ago with grains up to 1" in diameter that created about 15 dents on the hood alone and more dents on roof and frames. Fortunately I have insurance for natural disasters and my costs won't go up (pay ~1000 EUR/annum for insurance). Since everyone in the area had had their car dented it's taken some time to schedule inspection but process is moving along.

I had a bit lesser dent on the door than you few years ago and when car was in the body shop for other fixes I also had them fix it. It was around 100-200 EUR, cash.

[VJ]

Sorry to hear that...

The damage on our door is one of the worst lacquer damages I've seen. Not a small chip or minor dent, you really see the different layers of lacquer that chipped of. The garage owner genuinely looked saddened by it, the mechanic's first reaction was "but it is a new car!", both had this look of desolation. It is the third damage, the first was small superficial damage on a rear door, the second a deeper damage on a side panel (plastic), but this is right in the centre of the passenger door. I have no idea with how much force you have to open a car door to create such a damage. Or it was some other thing that caused it - it is more or less at hip-height...

They say it is possible to touch it up, but it won't be as good as it was. The recommendation is to replace the door as the impact even damaged the bare metal. Insurance - which we have via Subaru - in such cases allow for a door replacement, so we've started the procedure.

I'm a bit puzzled that they would replace the door rather than the panel - or maybe that is just how they call it. The car will have to be at their place for a couple of days (either if it is for fixing or for replacing the door), the waiting time before we can make a replacement will depend on the availability of the door, anywhere between a few days and a few weeks.

I had a bodyshop once fix a bad dent in my Polo (partly my fault: with the front fender I hit a moveable concrete mushroom-shaped pole that was invisible from the driver's seat and that was not there when I arrived - since then I visually check all sides before getting in). It was also not too expensive and they even managed to make the right colour. But that was not on insurance or so and it was already an old car. Here we figured we pay for the insurance anyway and may as well use it to have it done properly: we don't want it to start giving issues 5 years down the line or so.

edit: Procedure is started, the dealer will take care of all administration. He did express hope that they won't have to wait two months for a door, given the current supply-chain issues. I was not so happy with the sales-person, particularly as he was not knowledgeable and gave wrong answers to our questions about some functionality (luckily he undersold it: it has more and better features than what he told us), but at least the after-sales service seems good (we had a first oil-change before).

[VJ]

Just curious... In the Subaru, when you open the fuel-cap, there is a short hiss/pfff sound as if there was a pressure difference (this appears at about 1/4 turn of the cap). It happens every time when opening it and does not lasts long. I usually fill it up when it is around 1/4 tank and fill it untill the filler clicks.

I haven't noticed this in my Polo, or my father's Volvo, but both those cars are of a different generation (>18 years old). I don't think my father's Opel does it (8 year old Mokka). But I haven't really fuelled other modern cars so I got curious: is this a change in modern cars? Or is it not typical for all cars?

edit: regarding the car door, the current expectation for the new door is up to 90 workdays, as the door is not available in Europe and may have to come from Japan.

[TransformX]

I sometimes have it happening with my 1997 Lancia.

[VJ]

I've found it is normal. It is just interesting that it is such a consistent difference.
(it actually sounds a bit like in Back to the future, when doc opens the uranium compartment in the Delorean )

[UtwigMU]

Happens on the Honda, didn't happen on Polo. I guess it's down to seal or maybe pressure valve.

[VJ]

Setting the appointment for the first service-interval. It should be at 1 year or 15000 km; we are at 13000 km and have two long trips planned - more than 3000 km - with the first one in October. Probably they won't have the door-panel yet... so we'll have to go again for that.

Overall, very satisfied with the car. It may not be that futuristic (no app control, quite classic looking dashboard with analog speed and rpm gauges, with a screen between them), but we are very happy and like the look, both inside and outside. We mainly had longer drives (often 400 km, but we did up to 1400 km in a day) and it is not tiresome. As intended, it became our number one choice to go from Poland to Belgium; esp. with all the ongoing issues with airlines. It of course has it quirks like any car (e.g. when there is a call ongoing, you no longer have the digital speed-gauge on the center screen, just a "call ongoing" message which you cannot clear; when you switch off the car there is no grace-period to fold mirrors or raise windows); but nothing very annoying.

[UtwigMU]

Put my car in service for hailstorm damage repairs this week.

It will take ~2 weeks. I got a Ford Puma as a replacement. Not a bad car: mild hybrid, 5-gear stick shift and real handbrake. Quite zippy in town.

Ford Puma costs 25k and is about the size of Golf. Car prices are crazy.

New features are a bit useless: If I use camera to reverse park it's not 100% accurate so I park too close or too far to adjacent car. So I have to ignore camera and use mirrors. Beeping all the time even when far so it's distracting.

Cars with no beeps, analog speedo and proper handbrake are becoming a luxury.

[VJ]

Yes, the implementation of the rear camera can make such a difference. In my parents' Opel Mokka, it also starts beeping very early; I've heard similar complaints about BMW, with the owner commenting "I don't need it to go full red at about 0.5m, I need it to judge closer than 10 cm". The Subaru has it very well implemented: the first time it starts beeping (showing green indicators on the screen) is probably around 30cm, when it beeps fast and shows red indicators, you really have centimeters left to spare.

I started forcing myself to use the analog speedo more than the digital one: the digital one is not available during a call, and I noticed it bothered me. So now I tend to focus less on the digital one - even having it show else than the speed, but then you loose the speed-limit indication (but I can have that one show on the center top screen).

[UtwigMU]

My Civic has digital only speedo but it's only speedo and cannot change, while display seems to constantly change on Puma. Today one girl who often car polls with me said the Civic is better car than Puma.