Not much, if you ask me.
The CC3 was delivered with six miles on the clock, so there can't be much of a road test.
I think the reason for that is new car buyers want their car to have as few miles on it as possible.
So a PDI is probably little more than what it says, an inspection.
(For non-motoring enthusiasts: PDI - pre-delivery inspection.)
|
|
I think you are being a bit hard on the garages - there is more to it than an inspection - they have to ---err --- errr- look at this and that and err --err - errr -- Oh yes they have to stick on badges - well they should have but forgot mine - had to go all way back after they found "Sport" badge in PDI package -- after a week I was looking round it closely and noticed where they had bumpers off to fit parking sensors the fixing screws were loose - like they screwed them in by hand to hold it while fitting other screws -- I am sure it couldn't be helped as they must be quite busy at moment.
|
|
Usually fit the radio etc.-not fitted at factory-too easily stolen.
|
|
|
|
|
I just wrote a 10-minute monologue on my M-B experiences but got 'timed-out' when I went to post! I haven't got the stamina to type it all out again...
|
In the case of my Mondeo IV, the PDI evidently didn't include ensuring that the rails the passenger seat is secured to were actually fixed to the floor.
3 of the 4 big Torx bolts were loose with 1cm of thread showing :-|
Still, a few firm words about safety and dealer reputations got me an extra £150 of accessories, so it wasn't all bad ...
|
My last new car - an automatic - came with all the boxes on the PDI sheet ticked including the one that said the operation of the clutch had been checked on the test drive. The boxes about the operation of the auto were not ticked.
The radio worked but the CD player didn't.
The tyres were inflated to what I was told was the factory pressure, ie well over the normal pressure for daily use.
The car went back to have the PDI re-done and I approached the dealer's head office and suggested they gave me the first service free. They did.
Edited by Optimist on 17/06/2009 at 10:01
|
The two bolts holding the centre console on the CC3 were finger tight, although I wouldn't expect that to be picked up on PDI as they only worked properly loose a few weeks later.
Just hope the same bloke in the factory didn't fit the wheels. :)
|
|
|
They looked at the (& misread) tyre pressures reminder on the door - 29 psi and 2.0 bar
The car tyres were set 30 psi rear and 20 psi front
|
sq
I thought all garages and tyre depots set tyres to 32psi front and rear no matter what the vehicle!?
Edited by Pugugly on 17/06/2009 at 12:10
|
Worked at Ford & Peugeot garages and the PDI was pretty simple. 45 min job or 30 mins if you had a quick technician.
Fit number plates
Take off all the protection i.e plastic seat covers
Fit parking sensors or any other dealer fit items
Check tyre pressure
Tune radio to local stations - radio was already fitted
Start the mileometer - they came from the factory not active.
Check all hinges are working.
Activate central locking/alarm - this was deactivate from factory
No test drive but car was started and linked to computer to make sure everything was ok. Only miles car had was up to the petrol station and back to put £10 of fuel in.
Sent off to valet bay to have the protection wax stripped and car washed ready for customer to collect.
I will add the most annoying thing I found with the valet bay was that the cars were never polished, just washed. I worked in 4 garages and it was the same at them all. The car looked shiny when the customer collected but if I was spending a large amount of money on a car I would expect it to be 100%.
Person spends £££ on new car and the car has little or no wax on it.
Although the state of some of the polish cloths they used were not the best, maybe its a good idea for them not to go near it.
Edited by audiA6tdi on 17/06/2009 at 12:34
|
PDI for my Megan resulted in a call from supplier saying - "sorry, but the car we have isn't black as ordered - its dark blue". Everyone else had ticked black on the various forms, but when he went to check it over he noted it wasn't black. As a result I let them source a black one within 2 weeks - result was that I got a slightly higher spec model for same money, just had to wait two weeks.
Not sure if they did check anything else, but nothing at fault, and nothing gone wrong in almsot two years and 40,000miles.
|
When I got a Golf GTi Mk IV brand new the gearbox made an awful noise - not picked up on a PDI. You'd have thought it would bearing in mind it made the noise at low speed only.
When I got a Passat 1.8T the turbo sounded like a fighter jet taking off. Again you'd have thought a PDI would pick that up even if driven to the petrol station and back.
|
When the garage fails to do things like set the clock and tune the radio, it makes you wonder if they looked at the important bits.
mdj
|
I wouldn't even want them to tune the radio! How do they know what I want to listen to? The Best of Gangsta Rap is not my scene, neither are local radio with boring phone ins and wittering presenters. A PDI often seems to consist of a sheet of A4 paper with 100+ boxes on it which are ticked by a YTS bloke during his tea break
|
|
They tuned the radio on the CRV and left a CD - sadly it was the winner of some reality TV show trying to sing so that went out of the window at the first traffic lights.
|
|
Although the state of some of the polish cloths they used were not the best maybe its a good idea for them not to go near it.
Most new cars I've collected have paintwork that is noticeably swirled. Daughter's flat red Mitsubishi Colt looked like it had hosted an ice-dancing competition.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I used to have a business relationship with a Datsun/Nissan dealer back in the early 80s. They assured me that the only significant things they did on a PDI, cleaning aside, were to fit the carpets which were supplied rolled up in a bag, and top up the engine oil as they were shipped with a part-fill only. There was never a come back, everything just worked.
Then came the "Cherry Europe", a version built in Italy by Alfa Romeo using Alfasud engines and transmissions. I think it was partly intended to overcome the then quotas on Japanese imports. The workshop had to learn to PDI properly after the first customers brought them back with seats that weren't bolted to the floor, windows that went down but wouldn't come up, and legion other mechanical and electrical glitches.
Eventually the dealers wouldn't take any more of them, and the residue were auctioned off unregistered with a reserve of IIRC about £2500.
|
|
See that's what you call "character" ! You're quite right it was to get around the EEC imposed quotas on Japanese cars - the idea (according to Motor/Autocar at the time) was to give the bland Japanese product some European flair - what a hideously bad plan !
|
I had an Arna, one of several eccentric jalopies I have had. I liked it. It was fun. The engine, 1350 cc with single-choke skinny Solex (I think) carb , was fairly gutless but zippy and of course unburstable. It had narrow tyres too and would oversteer entertainingly on slippery roundabouts.
Of course a nice rust-free Sud might have been nicer, but so what? The Arna was fine until the clutch thrust bearing disintegrated.
All you theoretical experts... I dunno. I don't think most of you like cars at all.
Loud and prolonged raspberry.
|
|
ine has a farg kicks the tyres and ticks some boxes usually
|
PDIs on Ladas used to take us around two to three hours - that's after around the same time, or sometimes more, spent at the import centre! BTW if you saw a Lada 1200 with a vinyl roof that was because the cars were so tightly packed on deck that the Russian sailors used to run across the car roofs to cross the ship! It was cheaper to put a vinyl roof on than to paint 'em!
Practically every Samara had its fuse box replaced at sometime in its life (the boxes were made in Romania and traded for oil or wheat I think)
The warranty claims were great - 90% of our hourly rate and parts at trade + 10%, IIRC ! Helped with cash flow no end!
Happy days!
|
|
|
|
>>All you theoretical experts... I dunno. I don't think most of you like cars at all.
>>Loud and prolonged raspberry.
Context is everything. Like the unbelievably excellent 9 star brandy you drink on holiday, that is nothing short of revolting when you get it home. The cars I've most enjoyed, loved even, were all seriously flawed, needed constant maintenance, and in some cases could have killed me. But they got me to places I'd only heard about, taught me how carbs, distributors and trunnions came apart and went back together, and were basically an adventure. I'm quite sure I'd even have loved an Arna or a Naples-built Datsun in the same circumstances.
I still pine for the first Mini I owned. If I thought I could recover the excitement that car gave me I'd buy another tomorrow.
|
I don't think most of you like cars at all.
I'm quite sure I don't like cars in exactly the same way Lud does.
I wouldn't want to.
I'm equally sure Lud wouldn't be interested in the maths and science of car design in the way which afflicts me.
|
I wasn't thinking of you NC, but it's true you don't like cars in exactly the same way as me. Very few people do. It's an affliction.
But you're wrong about my interest in the maths and science of car design. I'm interested all right. Just don't have the right sort of academic background to approach the whole question from that angle.
Just as well really, or we wouldn't have these entertainingly disagreeable common-room spats we sometimes have...
:o}
|
|
|
|
|
|
My late father picked up a shiny new Renault (4?), and within not many miles the engine had completely siezed. Reason? No-one had bothered to put water in the rad. This model didn't have a temp gauge, just a light - "why didn't you stop when the light came on?" asks the angry dealer... turns out that they never fitted the light bulb at the factory either...
Another vehicle from the same dealer, a Simca this time I think, nearly ended up as toast when the battery started smoking. The factory had wired up the regulator wrong so the dynamo / alternator just kept charging and charging.
He then changed his company car again to a Datsun - again same dealer. He did this after he'd had so much trouble with the other cars, and because the dealer showed him a store room chock full of Datsun spares "I don't know where to put all these things, they keep sending parts over, but nothing on these cars ever goes wrong" :)
My first new car I picked up in 1990 - a Cavalier. Got just 400 yards down the road and realised it had a massive misfire - annoying since they'd kindly driven it 50 miles to get the alarm I wanted fitted! Dealer replaced one spark plug, but there was still an intermittent misfire, and the dealer didn't want to know. Had to take it to another dealer who found out that the YTS mechanic replacing the faulty plug had yanked on the leads (exhaust side, so hot) and broken the insulation in at least three. The engine was so new, there were no lead sets even in the country - so they very kindly manufactured a set until a proper set could be found!
In 2001, I complained to MB that the fuel filler on my brand new C-class wasn't locking. Feedback from dealer - "sorry about that, we'll have to order the parts in... it looks like the parts were never actually fitted at the factory, Sir".
Edited by Dynamic Dave on 19/06/2009 at 01:58
|
|
|
|
