New car missing current year's standard features

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Mon 21 Dec 2020 21:17
New car missing current year's standard features - DJohn

After ordering a car a few months ago, it arrived and I've picked it up from the garage. However it transpires that a number of features that are usually included as standard on the trim that I ordered are missing.

After following up with the dealer, for one of the features, a CD player/media box, they have told me that this is because it's been removed from the newer 2021 model of the car. I suspect this will be similar for the other things missing.

The latest brochure on the manufacturer's website mentions these features are included in the trim i ordered so I did expect them to be in the car. Perhaps I should have checked each of them during handover but I only confirmed the extra features that I ordered were present and took the dealer's word that nothing else had changed.

Disappointed but wondered if anyone else has experience of this, and what my options are likely to be.

It was a 250 mile drive each way to collect the car so returning it would be quite an effort particularly during the pandemic affected times :(

Edited by DJohn on 21/12/2020 at 23:43

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Mon 21 Dec 2020 23:54
New car missing current year's standard features - Avant

They will wriggle out of this by referring to a small-print sentence that's somewhere in most brochures, to the effect that specifications may be subject to change.

You might possibly get something out of the dealer - e.g. an offer of a free service - if you'd made it clear when ordering that you wanted these particular items.

Out of interest and to help people considering it, what make and model of car is it?

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Tue 22 Dec 2020 16:14
New car missing current year's standard features - DJohn

VW Touran SE Family

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Tue 22 Dec 2020 18:11
New car missing current year's standard features - Manatee

A CD box sounds like something that might disappear in a dashboard or console tart-up. Especially as CD's are now regarded as old tech.

It's more usual to add features on a model year change than remove them. Have you gained anything e.g. Apple Car Play or other media playback options?

Has anything proper disappeared? Things like cruise control or the trip computer?

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 00:20
New car missing current year's standard features - DJohn

Not sure if there was any feature added which replaced the cd player.

There is an app connect feature which allows me to connect and use apps from my phone in the sound system but that was an optional extra that I paid for.

The USB ports have been "upgraded" to type C connectors instead of type A but tbh that's more of a pain as can't use any of my standard charging cables, (just like the collection of CDs I had for the car).

Trip computer/cruise control are present which is nice as my previous (rather old car didn;t have those)

Edited by DJohn on 23/12/2020 at 00:21

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 13:12
New car missing current year's standard features - alan1302

The USB ports have been "upgraded" to type C connectors instead of type A but tbh that's more of a pain as can't use any of my standard charging cables, (just like the collection of CDs I had for the car).

You can get convertor dongles for those

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 13:58
New car missing current year's standard features - _

The USB ports have been "upgraded" to type C connectors instead of type A but tbh that's more of a pain as can't use any of my standard charging cables, (just like the collection of CDs I had for the car).

You can get convertor dongles for those

Much better to buygood quality new cables, and in my case, short ones, as the phone stays in the cubby in the centre console, where the usb port lives.

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Tue 22 Dec 2020 22:17
New car missing current year's standard features - FiestaOwner

features that are usually included as standard on the trim that I ordered are missing.

After following up with the dealer, for one of the features, a CD player/media box,

I'm wondering if the dealer is correct!

Have a look at the picture in this link: uk.motor1.com/photo/1800109/2017-volkswagen-touran/

Does the flap above the glovebox not open? You might need to push it in at the bottom to open it.

Have you tried in the glovebox itself (VAG cars often have it there).

The CD/Media unit in the picture has SD card slots, have you found them anywhere. One of the slots will have the card for the sat nav in it.

Of course the dealer might be right, but they are often wrong!

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Tue 22 Dec 2020 23:36
New car missing current year's standard features - Zippy123

When SWMBO had a Touran the CD changer was in a box within the centre console under the armrest.

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 00:16
New car missing current year's standard features - DJohn

The brochures show and mention the media box as shown in your picture in the passenger side dashboard. Mine doesn't have that button and the dashboard doesn't open.

Not in glovebox either.

I'm afraid the dealer might be right but seems unfair that the manufacturer can just choose to remove features.

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 00:12
New car missing current year's standard features - Big John

The humble CD is being phased out of most cars these days. it's a big issue for Mrs BJ re our future new car. The other looming problem is the increasing use of touch screens for primary controls such as climate control. She's a fully paid up member of the Luddite society.

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 03:49
New car missing current year's standard features - expat

The humble CD is being phased out of most cars these days. it's a big issue for Mrs BJ re our future new car. The other looming problem is the increasing use of touch screens for primary controls such as climate control. She's a fully paid up member of the Luddite society.

You now need to load your music collection onto a phone and stream it by Bluetooth to your car audio system. Seems to me like a complicated way of doing things. Another alternative is a portable CD player with bluetooth or an old fashioned 3.5mm audio jack to connect into the car sound system if it has a headphone socket. Sockets will no doubt be missing in these modern times.

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 09:26
New car missing current year's standard features - Andrew-T

I have an easier solution - I leave my CDs at home and never activate a sound source while the car is in motion (although a passenger may provide some). For one thing the rumble of travelling ruins the pleasure of the music; for another it could distract from driving. And I always recoil from drivers who seem to enjoy 100 decibels with their window down.

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Wed 23 Dec 2020 11:55
New car missing current year's standard features - Avant

I don't think I would mind too much if I didn't have a CD player on the car. I do, but copying from CDs on to a USB stick and then transferring it to the car's hard disc doesn't take too long, and means that I can leave out any tracks that I don't like.

But the principle of deleting equipment and charging the same, or perhaps more, for the car while not telling anybody about it is highly objectionable. I might have guessed that the car maker in this case was VW.

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Sat 26 Dec 2020 14:45
New car missing current year's standard features - Simon

I'm led to believe that there is an issue affecting some of the new Ford builds where by because of the worldwide pandemic they have not been able to get some parts that you would normally expect to be on the car. I'm talking about minor things like sill protectors and trim pieces that they have had to do without due to supply issues.

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