SA Footy

A caller on 5AA brought an interesting situation up recently. Apparently he has a brand new Holden Commodore on which the air conditioning has recently stopped working. When returned for repair, the dealer has told him that the part needs to be imported as their is no stock of that part in Australia and that it will take several weeks for it to be fixed. In the meantime they are expected to drive the Commodore around without the airconditioner. If its 37deg, then too bad I suppose!

The caller then asked why they cannot use one of the parts that are stock for the Commodores being made at Elizabeth, yet for whatever reason that is out of the question - so is a loan car with working air conditioning!

"Just In Time" parts ordering is responsible - they hold so few of anything in large factories now that nicking one off the pile will cause a ripple in the whole process.

It probably took about 5% off the price of the car in the first instance though, some you win and some you lose...

The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

Psyber wrote:The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

my 1980 datsun sunny runs quite nicely, so no German army tanks for me just yet

mighty_tiger_79 wrote:

Psyber wrote:The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

my 1980 datsun sunny runs quite nicely, so no German army tanks for me just yet

I've only ever had small German cars. Currently, a 1995 Audi S2 - 2-door coupe.
The last Japanese was a Datsun 260Z 2-seater.

mighty_tiger_79 wrote:

Psyber wrote:The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

my 1980 datsun sunny runs quite nicely, so no German army tanks for me just yet

I bet the air conditioner works a treat in that

Psyber wrote:The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

german cars are only up market over here....in germany, they are used for taxis...

tigersupporter wrote:

Psyber wrote:The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

german cars are only up market over here....in germany, they are used for taxis...

Absolutely. I didn't say they were posh - just that they worked. My two relatively expensive Italian cars were much less reliable than the old 260Z.

Ian wrote:

mighty_tiger_79 wrote:

Psyber wrote:The moral of the story is buy German cars - they work - but I'd be careful about Mercedes which are very much geared to the US market.

my 1980 datsun sunny runs quite nicely, so no German army tanks for me just yet

I bet the air conditioner works a treat in that

it certainly does, as does the heating in winter

I have an old 1984 falcon with aircon it doesn't work I ask my great uncle who works for ford's can I return it and have it re made all he did was laugh. The aircon dun work in the ford except when you wind down the windows.

I have a 98 magna, I was originally leasing it, but the buy out price was so low and it was going so well I kept it, 190,000km later all I ever done is tyres, a battery and regular maintenance. Nothing has gone wrong, everything including air con works perfectly. It's bloody annoying I wouldn't mind a new car, but can't justify chucking this one until it gives trouble.

mick wrote:I have a 98 magna, I was originally leasing it, but the buy out price was so low and it was going so well I kept it, 190,000km later all I ever done is tyres, a battery and regular maintenance. Nothing has gone wrong, everything including air con works perfectly. It's bloody annoying I wouldn't mind a new car, but can't justify chucking this one until it gives trouble.

Thats why we have a 1995 Audi and a 1996 large 4WD - both about 140,000 Km on the clock and both working fine.

I think its crap that the car yard has even tried to get the part from holden. I work there and what do you think we do if we find something not working? we dont order another part from overseas and wait for it to arrive, we just get another one out of the box and put it in. Car yards dont give a dam about customers once they has sold you the car.

mick wrote:I have a 98 magna, I was originally leasing it, but the buy out price was so low and it was going so well I kept it, 190,000km later all I ever done is tyres, a battery and regular maintenance. Nothing has gone wrong, everything including air con works perfectly. It's bloody annoying I wouldn't mind a new car, but can't justify chucking this one until it gives trouble.

Knowing a few mechanics, a Manga that works for 30 days past the warranty is a very rare thing

pafc1870 wrote:Knowing a few mechanics, a Manga that works for 30 days past the warranty is a very rare thing

That may have been true with the first series of Magnas, but the TR (93?) onwards, particullary the V6 have been proven to be very good cars, and exceptional value as a 2nd hand car because they did not hold their value well, probably because of the reputation that lingered after the pre TR models.

pafc1870 wrote:

mick wrote:I have a 98 magna, I was originally leasing it, but the buy out price was so low and it was going so well I kept it, 190,000km later all I ever done is tyres, a battery and regular maintenance. Nothing has gone wrong, everything including air con works perfectly. It's bloody annoying I wouldn't mind a new car, but can't justify chucking this one until it gives trouble.

Knowing a few mechanics, a Manga that works for 30 days past the warranty is a very rare thing

I suppose thats why they were the first to offer a 5yr and 160,000km warranty The early ones were crap, you can't kill the later ones