Tag: Long Reads

we just bought at used 2008 prius from koons toyota in tysons, and have already had two vaguely disturbing experiences about the on-going “unintended acceleration” recall already.

first, before we even bought the car, we asked them about the recall … and the salesperson said that, since our car didn’t have all-weather floor mats, it wasn’t subject to the recall.

unfortunately for that claim, the next day we did a quick “check your VIN” search on the toyota recall site which reported that the car was not only subject to the recall, but that the remedy work hadn’t yet been completed.

fine, no big deal — especially as the car was missing its floor mats when we test drove the car. no harm, no foul.

we pushed the issue with koons, and they replied that it was just a misunderstanding, that the accelerator pedal recall on the 2008 Prius was “just issued late last week” and that they would certainly fix the issue before we came back to buy the car the following night.

(according to Toyota, the 2004-2009 Prius was part of the November 2, 2009 announcement to address floor mat entrapment — but i’m not an expert in the nuances of the recall, so i’ll give them the benefit of the doubt.)

the next night, we went back, asked if they had done the work. they replied they had.

we asked for documentation, in case there were questions if we ever tried to resell the car. they said that they couldn’t print it out that night because the service department was closed, but that we could pick it up the following week.

we asked if they had found the car’s floor mats. they replied they had.

fine. great. we bought the car, joined the cult of the hypermiling prius, and were happy.

fast forward to yesterday, when we got around to taking up the paper, temporary, “we respect your car” floor mats up from the floor.

first, i noticed that the floor mats were the wrong color, and has wear that was entirely impossible for a two year old car (worn all the way through the carpet to the rubber backing) so were obviously from an older model year.

(koons seemingly grabbed some other floor mats they had lying around, and tossed them into our car. that’s borderline scummy in my book, but not out-of-line for what i’d expect from a used car dealership — even for a car with the “certified pre-owned” label.)

but then i noticed that the floor mats were unsecured — which is what led to the recall in the first place.

(did i mention we have a 6 month-old child?)

now, either of these situations alone — saying our car wasn’t subject to the recall vs. “fixing it” with incorrect, unsecured floor mats — and i’m thinking it’s just a bad day at the car dealership.

put the two together, and koons doesn’t seem to be taking the toyota recall very seriously.

now i’m nervous that maybe they didn’t even replace the accelerator pedal — i mean, heck, how the would i know if the work was done or not? — and am more than a little nervous asking for the documentation that the recall work was done.

so, i’ve sent emails to one of koon’s managers and to our sales consultant — haven’t heard back yet — and we’re going back into koons on monday for some light repairs the agreed to make during our test drive.

with any luck, they’ll have our floor mats waiting for us. i hope to god that they aren’t going to give us any grief — give us our proper floor mats, and actually secure them this time.

until then, we’re removed the floor mats and are again using the (now oddly ironic) temporary “we respect your car” paper mats.

we’ll see what happens — and report back once we hear back from them.

based on what i’ve seen so far, i’m not particularly optimistic.

UPDATE: after some legalistic-sounding resistance (saying they were only obligated to fix the pedal, not do anything with the floor mats) they have agreed to get us the correct floor mats, and properly secure them. yay!

part of our thinking in selling the jetta now, is to unload it while it might still have some value … so we trucked up to CarMax, where the jetta was appraised for whopping $1,200 more than any independent car-value-resource would give for the car if it was in *excellent* condition.

bear in mind why were were selling the car in the first place — transmission, bushings, air conditioner all failing — and that we’ve done ~$8,000 worth of work on the car in the last 24k miles.

so, armed with a ridiculously overvalued appraisal — and one that’s set to expire in 7 days — we went shopping as quickly as our little legs would carry us.

while we needed a car that wouldn’t die in the next week and a half, we wanted some more room in the back seat (even if it meant giving up some space in the trunk) and we liked the idea of a hatchback (for ease of access and maximum flexibility).

once we started looking around, we quickly tossed a ton of models due to fuel economy / street parking concerns (including the mazda5, any SUVs, and all minivans) and then ruled out dozens more with headroom issues (including the hyundai elantra touring which we otherwise loved).

and then there was the prius.

we test drove a brand-spaking new 2010 prius on sunday afternoon, but it was a little toooo space-age-y for us, and a *lot* too expensive for the features we wanted.

we liked the headroom, and all the space in the back seat, and the fact that it was a hatchback. and the fuel economy wasn’t bad either.

of course, we didn’t much like the seemingly incessant “unintended acceleration” recalls washing over the Toyota product line. or the fact that there is a de facto “prestige” tax, not unlike when you buy anything that everyone else seems to want (ie. something from Apple).

but, it turns out that prius batteries don’t degrade with age, so there is actually a market for used priuses (priusus? prii?) — who knew?!?

we found a couple from 2008 that looked more like a car (and less like a spaceship), that had all the right bells and whistles — bluetooth/hands-free phone interface and satellite navigation to eliminate any lingering need for my iphone while driving, and the lady sparkler wanted leather seats that are easy(er) to de-babyify.

there was still, however, the matter of the recall.

unfortunately, the dealer denied (at first) that the 2008 priusesus cars-we-were-looking-at were subject to the recall (for accelerator pedals getting stuck on improperly installed floor mats). when we pushed the issue, and pointed to their own website, they “discovered” we were right, and quickly replaced both the floor mats and the accelerator pedal.

and so, we now welcome our new prius overlord.

it’s hard not to feel like we’re joining some kind of cult (likely because i think that’s exactly what we’re doing).

i’ve already been honked at / passed angrily / verbally abused because i was “hypermiling” (maximizing gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s driving techniques) by pulling out of a stoplight without the level of lunacy Virginians deem proper for the streets of their Commonwealth.

it almost makes me proud.

• 1978 Oldsmobile Delta Eighty-Eight (burgundy) — a big hunk of classic detroit metal that regularly seated eight for late tuesday night college trips to the beach. mostly totaled when it had an untimely meeting with a 12 point buck on the highway one sunday afternoon. the survived, the car not-so-much.
• 1994 Dodge Spirit (maroon) — a graduation gift from college from my parents (above, right) the little spirit-that-could survived ridiculously long commutes up and down both sides of I-95. effectively totaled with the transmission, steering and a/c all collapsed at the exact same time, after almost a decade of service.
• 2000 Mazda 626 (silver) — the first car i ever bought with my own money. sexy. looked like a jaguar from the sides (above, left). my ownership was tragically cut short when i met/married the lady sparkler, and it became ridiculously clear that we only needed one car between us.
• 2001 Volkswagon Jetta (silver) — the car that killed my beloved mazda. the good: it was newer, had less miles, and was fully paid off. oh, and *fun* to drive. the bad? made soon after VW exported their manufacturing to nafta mexico, and a complete lemon in every sense of the word.

so, what’s next? a car that works would be nice …

right now, the jetta’s transmission is failing, the front bushings/suspension is creaking, the air conditioner only works at highway speeds, knobs are falling off the dashboard, both wing mirrors have broken off/are held on by duct tape, the stereo occasionally stops working for days-on-end, one of the fold-out cup-holders doesn’t fold out anymore, and we’ve done ~$8,000 worth of work on the car in the last 24k miles.

outside of that, the lady sparkler wants a car where i can sit farther from the airbag in the steering wheel (because the seat is jacked forward to make room for the big child seat in the small back seat).

personally, i’d like something with better gas mileage, so i feel less guilty about driving to work everyday — i stopped bicycle commuting not long after the lady sparkler got preggers — a guilt made worse by working for one of the planet’s largest conservation organizations.

oh, and we’d both like a car that we don’t have to panic/worry/gnash-our-teeth about over the next, say, 6-8 years.

the excitement starts tomorrow.