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Speaking of silver & black, islandpete, I never paid any attention to the fact that part of the under-carriage was sprayed silver. I know I was under there quite a bit when I was having the tow-hitch put on but, I never gave it a 2nd thought; you raise a good point.
Mary: Is this the same Mary that was inquiring about the OnStar Concierge services a month or two ago??? Now that I would consider pushing the envelope a bit in terms of being beyond what most folks really need... As for the security/emergency feature, it sounds like a small investment for some "possible" security. As I mentioned before, we had reason to use OnStar when my 7 yr. old son locked the keys in the car after only 2 weeks of ownership. It would have been a tremendous hassle not to have had OnStar at that time because the Buick Premium Road service could not open our car at all. Since we have side-air bags they couldn't Jimmy the lock, and since the car was too new, they couldn't make a key via the "key code" - at least that's what we were told. If not for OnStar, I would have had to have my wife interrupt her schedule and drive about 4 hours to reach us w/ her keys. The reason I had to deal with Buick Road Service in the first place was that only my wife knew the OnStar code, and I could not reach her by phone. Initially OnStar was not going to open the car for me, even though the dealer could tell them that I was indeed the owner of the car. (After numerous phone calls leading up to the purchase of the car, the salesman obviously knew my voice.) After Buick Road Service threw-up their hands about getting us in our car, OnStar made an exception and opened our RDV. - Moral of the Story: make sure all drivers know the "secret code". So for us, OnStar has already proven itself.
Is the OnStar worth $200 to us? - Probably, especially since the RDV is normally being driven by my wife with the kids. However, I'll pass on the gift service that OnStar provides - we can shop for ourselves, thanks...
Also, in addition to the Buick roadside service, we also have Geico's 24 hour roadside service on our Insurance policy which covers our other vehicle as well. We've used Geico a couple of times, on our other vehicle, and they've been very good. Even with our one time lock out, they had no problem getting the door open.
As for the Buick premium roadside service, are these specifically Buick employees that they send out, or are they contracted services, similar to the ones Geico and AAA may call? Either way, I imagine they would vary on quality, depending on the area... and who they call.
Anyway, thanks again for your answer. You bring up some good points about how it works well for your family. In our case, it's my husband that's mainly driving the RDV to/from work. Plus he keeps a spare key in his wallet. Old habit. :-)
Mary
Mary: having the extra key in the wallet is obviously a great idea. I've enjoyed your photos, and I'm glad you and your husband our enjoying your RDV.
Ratox: you've definitely got me wondering. Tomorrow when it's light out, I'm going to have to stick my head up under the car. As I said to Islandpete, I just didn't pay that much attention to that area. But what you say, makes good sense.
BTW, tbrown4 & ratox, nice to see you guys on the board. I don't remember seeing any prior posts by you guys. Are you in the market for a RDV?
Fedlawman: Just saw your cigar post. It did have a nice ring to it, didn't it: "High-Tech"
. hmmmm.... In the meantime, stop bothering the On-Star Lady...
Islandpete1: wish I could shed light on the metal situation. I'm sure Tonychrys can... where are you Tony?
The signal is obstructed when the vehicle is in a parking garage, under a bridge, and possibly in an "urban canyon" where very tall buildings surround you.
As for wide open spaces, my experiences with GPS receivers are that unless you are in an area with 5+ story buildings all around you, they work great. It is true that if someone drove it into a garage, you could not get the current location. I would assume however that the OnStar system could provide the last location it could compute which would get it very close to where it is.
I guess if someone wanted it bad enough, there are ways to disable the system. My feeling is that most of the situations in which a major would be in an area covered by the system. The peace of mind is worth the investment. I'd hate to have something happen and wait for someone else to contact help if I couldn't do it. As for crash worthiness, I don't know.
I used WD40 and it helped a little. I also unscrewed the two black rubber bumpers, which helped some too. I still get the creak a little...
the mirrors were replaced and work much better. There was an annoying delay every time I tried to adjust them. The right mirror rarely came up up to the same position after backing up, so I was constantly raising it. There is a service bulletin on that one.
The other interesting thing they did was to flash the computer to put it back into learning mode. The RDV I picked up had been driven around so it had over 100 miles on it when got it. My complaint was the transmission wasn't responsive when accelerating quickly from between 10 and 25 mph. The service manager told me the computer learns how you drive and tries to anticipate what you're going to do. I does things like change the flow to the fuel injectors, etc. I'm a little heavy on the accelerator from a start and he said it will make a difference in performance.
He also asked if I was the primary driver, which I am. Apparently, if my wife drove it most of the time and typically accelerated slowly, it would perform well for her but I would be dissatisfied.
mmehan, I wonder if that may work for your transmission problem?
I don't know if it will change things for me yet. It takes a couple of hundred miles to completely retrain.
They also replaced the outdoor temperature sensor. We'll see if it settles down.
All in all the dealer did a good job but, It's clear being on the bleeding edge has it's downside. At least I had a loaner, a Hyundai.
Has anyone programmed their RDV for driver 1 and driver 2 with the remotes? not the key!
Spiritman
Spiritman
But from what I discovered, the two RDV remotes are already programed to be either driver 1 or driver 2. My husband and I had to switch remotes, once we figure this out, because we realized that my remote was always corresponding with his memory seating (1) position, and vice versa.
Also, when you begin to set up your driver information center, it will instruct you to hit the "lock" button on the remote that you have. Once you hit the lock, the DIC screen then shows whether that remote corresponds to driver 1 or driver 2. From there, you can set up all the personal preferences for that particular driver/remote in the DIC. Hope this is helpful. :-)
Mary
Spiritman
One other small cool thing that I came upon (which I believe I posted to the maintenance forum) is that there is a "fuse puller" in the fuse compartement under the hood. If you ever have to change one of those fuses, which I did, it's a real saver.
Then Sunday I was washing the RDV and found a dent in the hood, pretty small but it also has a scratch in the paint, however, the scratch doesn't look too deep, so I think I can buff it out. As for what caused the dent, I have no idea. (and neither does my wife)
Oh well, I guess its offically no longer a "new" vehicle.
BY
FWIW, it's also possible to track a person or vehicle with cellular signals, as long as the source, be it a personal phone or Onstar, is within range of three cell towers. If so, the position of the source can be triangulated. That's how they were able to locate OJ Simpson prior to his famuous 5mph Bronco chase. He made a call form his cell phone, and the police were able to triangulate his position. (Of course, this isn't done normally, but it can be done easily enough)
BY
CWJ
CWJ
BYM; Fedlawman set a record I believe; he had all 3 incidents (windshield, hood, & rear bumper) within about 18 days! I know he's a lot more relaxed now and now even takes it through the power car washes. As for me, although we too took a minor hit to the windshield (nat-size), I'm constantly reminding my wife to park in "safe places", whatever that is. CWJ - I hope your good luck w/ Gammera continues.
gildlb: Congratulations on your RDV! You & your wife will just love it!
Drew
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Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Kind of an odd lot of cars to be compared with. I just don't like the way CR tests cars and rates them. JD Power seems best for reliability/ quality issues and the car magazines are best for general evaluations IMO.
Toyota Highlander
Suburu Outback
Buick Rendezvous
1st three are recommended with a check mark, RDV is not.
The RDV is generally highly spoken of: "well thought-out,roomy interior,flawless transmission, generous cargo capacity, ride is reasonable, interior is quiet" Acceleration and handling are OK, but not outstanding. Fit and finish could be better.
RDV visibility to the front was described as "high upright driving position affords a fine view out". But then it says, "wide roof pillars partly block the view to the sides and rear". That PARTLY put "visibility" into the "Lows" list.
Yet, the Highlander says "Very tall drivers may find the wheel and pedals too close, and want more thigh support. Yet this did not affect the rating. One of the "Highs" was "Accomodations".
VW report is just GLOWING. Higlander and Suburu have flaws, but are still recommended.
The narrow width and lower height of the VW and Suburu put them in a regular car category in my book, anyway. I don't know why they are compared this way.
They totally ignored writing about the RDV in the "ShopSmart" ratings box. The others plus the Audi A6, Lexus RX300 and Suburu Legacy were spoken of.
I always feel that certain cars in CU reports have their good points magnified and bad points minimized. Then other cars have their few bad points magnified, and many good points minimized.
If you know what I mean.
John325: I have become so laid back about my RDV that I now use sandpaper to eliminate bug stains and HCL to get rid of tree sap!
Oh well, I should just consider myself lucky that the RDV is in as good a shape as it is, as my wife is kind of hard on vehicles. She's been known to drive 20 miles down a gravel road just to avoid traffic on a paved one. At least the RDV is better for that than her old Saturn. That sucker would start fishtailing just going down the gravel roads. If anything, at least she's safer now!
BY
Spiritman
I have over 3000 trouble free miles on El Trucko. I thought the Versatrak was a waste of money since I do not go "off road" but it has come in handy at leas 4 times already. Especially last week when turning around on a paved back road when the front tires went off in the soft mud, they did not even spin as the back wheels pulled it back onto the pavement.
The performance seems better at 3000 miles than bran new to me. Anyone else have that opinion?
http://www.cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,72161-412,00.shtml
http://www.junkscience.com/consumer/consumer_index.html
So why some people place so much value on their opinion is beyond me. Next.
cwjacobsen & john - Thanks for the welcome. Level headed? Sensitive? Not sure my wife would agree. <g> To answer your question about interior color: oak. Exterior is driftwood. The color choices were really the wife's department, however they suit me just fine.
One week after having our RDV, I finally took a look at the owner's manual, and was able to play around with the computer information. Sure a lot of choices. Does anyone here know much about the seat memory set up? If you set the remote entry to the exit seat position, is the seat suppose to go automatically into the driver memory position when you put the key in the ignition, or at start up? I believe the Park Avenue has that feature. Thanks for any info.
Re: the memory seat - exit position. We experimented w/ it when we 1st got the RDV. Our conclusion was, if you enter the car w/ seat in the "exit position", you have to push the button on the door to have it return to the "driving position". Since it was so cumbersome that way, we decided to leave my wife's in the driving position all the time. It would be cool if it worked as you say the Park Avenues do.
I think the general population believes pretty much everything they read in papers and publications. It's the "news" mentality. It was in the newspaper.. it must be true right? I know people who generally buy the "CR Best Buy" because CR says it's good. Scary stuff!
BTW, I finally saw an RX300 with a towing receiver (no hitch in place). Significantly, It was on my side of town.
CWJ
I did have a woman in a brand new black Aztek GT stalk me for a few miles the other day. She was a couple of cars behind me and one lane over and definately checking me (my RDV) out. Coincidently, she pulled into the same grocery store parking lot and I watched her as she walked by my RDV and checked it out before entering the market.
Here's a short desc. of each problem:
1 - At 1700RPM (or so), the A/C compressor was making some noise. Radio has to be turned off in order to be able to hear it.
2 - One of radiator cooling fans was making some noise.
3 - Making sharp (right) turns at low speed also produced a squeaking sound.
I was very impressed by the fact that ALL these problems have been fixed by the dealer in less than one day. (The fan had to be ordered and it arrived at 4PM)
To BUZZBO - I too, find that my RDV is running smoother than when I received it. I now have 2000 miles on it.
On the funny side now, the Canadian open (PGA golf) is being held within a mile of my house this week. There's a heavy advertising campain going on the RDV because Tiger is in town. I've never seen so many people staring at my car!!!
Local news showed Tiger coming out of his private airplane to embark a black RDV. He drove it to the golf course himself...(about 10 miles from the airport) It would be fun to meet him on the road.
This is cool stuff. I've never been so excited to own a new car
I really like the red I saw. Beautiful!
Also, I was thinking recently since some people around here have named their RDV, and due to our recent mishap with a Rock and the Windshield, maybe I should start calling ours Chip? Maybe not as creative as Gamera, but at least its appropriate.
BY
3,998 RDVs sold in August, 10,378 for the year so far. Not too bad! For comparison, other sales for the month at GM were:
Escalade: 2,491
Trailblazer: 11,114
Avalanche: 6,015
Envoy: 4,639
Bravada: 1,618
Aztek: 1,940
We'll see if those numbers get even better, but GM seems to be pretty happy with it so far. If you'd like to check out the numbers yourself, here's the link:
http://media.gm.com/news/sales/010904sales.html
BY
I found out that the special lease rate going on through the end of the month only applies to Versatility package RDVs (both CX and CXL). My rate was 3.05%.
My coworkers are congregating outside around the RDV, gotta go show it off!