Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Fedlawman - I have an appointment to have my Check Traction Control light fixed on Thursday so I don't know what the problem is yet. Will keep you posted. Don't you also own a CX?
Sedona Bronze was my first choice all the way, but my wife would have lobbied harder for us to order the Indigo Blue, except for one thing. With an Oak interior it would be too close to Maize and Blue for comfort. In other words, she'll have NOTHING to do with a University of Michigan car.
Go Badgers! as well as Packers!
CWJ
P.S.: I did my graduate work at the University of Chicago (the "Maroons") so maybe it makes sense that I picked the Sedona Bronze after all.
LOL!
R5
Fed - You dare to write over my license plate? However good the message, that is BLASPHEMY!
J325 - I'm not sure about your problems with the twist in the belt however, our RDV also had one on the passengers side front seat. We just folded the belt in half and fed it through the buckle. It took all of a couple minutes.
Et al - We are getting WAY too creative on this board. I was ROTFLMAO at the Gammera concept and prototype vehicles. Way to go BY!
Go RAIDERS!
R5
drew - thanks for your help.
cwj - nope, wasn't a typo. I just forgot. I still think it looks great.
mmeehan - nope. I ordered a CXL with 1SD, moonroof, heated and memory seats.
ra1der5 - I've been waiting for that. Thanks!
bertoli - are you still around? I just pulled a 17 hour shift having some fun with a bunch of your comrades. Don't you wish we got holiday differential pay for AUO?
Goodnight all...I'm going to bed. ZZzzzzzz.
r5: All right, I'll bite. Although the last time it resulted im me, & a few of the rest of us here, being labeled "sucker". Whasup w/ ROTFLMAO? I suspect it's a movie thing??? And as the guy in Dirty Harry said, "I gots to know". - - Also thanks for the seatbelt tip... I'll give it a try when my wife comes home w/ the car.
Go 9er's,
John B.
R5 - Glad you ROTFLYAOed at the Gamera spoofs. It took me a while to find a Gamera fan site from which I could download the images. BY's a great and generous guy to share his website with us, but this time he was just kindly posting and passing on what I had sent him.
CWJ
And as for the Indigo Blue, I do really like the color, esp on a sunny day, like when I took our pics, however, I must admit that I almost posted when fedlawman gave my RDV gold highlights. Not that he did a bad job, just that I went to a certain other school here in Michigan located in East Lansing, and suffice it to say, I wouldn't have gotten a Blue and Gold vehicle. If the RDV had a nice Green color, however, I would have considered it!
Happy Independence Day to all you posters from the USA!
BY
That is all.
R5
Brian
I hope you were not insulted by my belief that you may have been UofMish. It was your location and the blue vehicle that had me concerned. Thanks again for posting my Gamera photos and all the help you've given the posters to this board over the last several months.
I still remember how we were all in the middle of some discussion or another when you first posted here and how we almost forgot to welcome you in the shuffle. Man, I'm glad you've stuck with us, Brian.
CWJ
I still haven't ordered, and haven't even picked out a color yet. I'm loving all the pics lately. I'll probably get to finally buy one this fall.
Go Spartans!!
And while our CXL RDV may not be very "Spartan", and it may be blue on the outside, rest assured that its pure "Green" on the inside.
And thanks for the kind words CWJ. I think the quality of people we have here really reflects on the quality of the vehicle as well. It's quite nice being a part of the little community we've created, and hopefully we can keep it going for a while!
And Boondocks, good to hear from you again! Go Spartans!
BY
Here it is! Rendezvous Owners Club is now available on Edmunds.com Owner's Club board. Please stop by and introduce yourself in Meet the Members and let me know how I can help build your club.
I have linked this discussion into that folder, but it will always reside here in SUVs.
Looking forward to meeting everyone!
KarenS
Host
Owner's Clubs
CWJ
What a coincidence that boondocks was "stalking" your RDV. It's a small world. Gamera breathing fire would have surely been icing on the cake for him and his friend.
I'm looking forward to reading your posts and everyone else's posts at our new forum. - Plus the idea of a RDV chat hour seems pretty cool too!
Go 9ers,
Johh B.
I just got the call that my RDV is in. I'm going to pick it up tonight (got to give the tax paying public their full 10 hour duty day).
Brian
I forgot to mention how cool the towiing hitch is. It is made to fit around the exhaust pipe so the hitch receiver tubing is offset and the receiver hole if dead center of the bumper.
I am heading out for vacation at Key West, so I will see what is going on at the owners board when I get back.
Go Raiders!!!
R5
#2: It's totally appropriate. I'm so charged for you.
#3: Welcome to Ownerworld!!!
CWJ
By the way, thanks to you both for taking the helm.
btw, as cwj said, your recent post was rather brief; we'll all expect further details/feedback on your new RDV. Once again, congratulations!
Go 9ers,
John B.
When I first got home, I programmed the seat/mirrors (Shelly did it at the dealership) and the homelink transmitter. I can't decide if I like the seat higher or lower yet and I find myself moving it around a lot right now.
We own a 40 year old house so the garage door opening is just big enough for the RDV. Unfortunately, the rear lift gate opens so high that it hits the bottom of the open garage door. I had to wrap a towel around the inside garage door handle to keep from dinging the rear door. We'll also have to duck our heads when unloading groceries inside the garage.
Now to the power. It is just fine around town and passing on the freeway. I do have some steep grades in my neighborhood and the RDV definately needs to down shift a gear or two to climb them. I found that shifting into 3rd gear prevents the transmission from hunting for gears as I climb hills. It's the same with my Honda Accord so it's no big deal.
It's attractive. I wasn't too sure about the stark contrast of white with dark grey but I am impressed now that I've seen it in person. It looks sophisticated without being "Eddie Bauer" trendy, if you know what I mean. I also drove it a little at night. I LOVE the instrument lighting! It is classy and crisp; very clear and handsome.
I got more than a few admiring looks from other drivers around town today. Mine is the 1st Rendezvous in the area so I'm sure no one has ever seen one before.
I think the Rendezvous styling is handsome but just "modern edgy" enough to stand out and look distinctive and sophisticated. It won't look out of place at the country club next to the prestige imports. I'm glad I didn't get a breadbox SUV or minivan!
Thanks for the rats and the welcome to the club!
Brian
You are a patient man. I have never ordered a car, but I think if I was waiting that long I'd go crazy. I'm an impatient guy though.
Keep us updated with your progress.
I'm dying to know how the headlights seemed......my 94 Dodge van which I sold 2 wks ago had very poof headlights but my Lexus LS400 which I intend to trade in if I can't sell it on the street below book has FABULOUS headlights......did you feel the distance lighting and quality of the low beam spread was good? Oh yea....how about the backup lights....they seem huge...
thanks
Spiritman
The headlights on this vehicle are defintely the best I've ever had on a vehicle (they definitely give the most coverage).I live on a road with no street lights and I've always had to use my brights at night to drive down the road. Not so with the RDV!
Took my RDV in yesterday to have my "SERVICE TRACTION CONTROL SYSTEM" light checked out. Waited for 4 hours to hear them say that they didn't have the new tool required to get into that area of the system. (I guess this is one problem with owning a brand new model)
(one bright note...I was the youngest person in the service lounge:)
I still haven't seen any RDV's on the road down here in South Florida!!
I don't know how bright the headlights are as I live in a well lit suburb. I did notice a unique shape to the headlight pattern. They are like "bowls". flat on top and arcs on the bottom (like a half circle).
BTW, anyone else wondering whether this type of stuff is for this board or the owners board? We should get the other one going too.
Well, that's it for now. Got to say goodbye to my baby until tonight...never thought I'd regret having a company car!
Back on topic ...
We're still enjoying our RDV, my wife prefers driving it to our RX300. So far no problems or complaints.
My four year old actually spotted the first RDV we've ever seen on the road a couple of days ago. We were down in Naples for the 4th and the little guy started shouting and pointing towards a RDV pulling up to a stop light as we were driving by. It was the driftwood/bronzmist combo and looked quite nice.
I'm glad your RDV arrived and that you and your wife are happy with it. We have quite a tight fit in our garage as well and I almost banged the back hatch into the retracted garage door the first time I popped the hatch inside. After a bit of juggling I can just barely get the rear hatch all the way open without it resting on the garage door.
I'll be checking out the owners forum and look forward to the comments there.
later guys,
Tony
The RDV can't pull off being a "luxury" vehicle, and in all honesty I don't think Buick is trying real hard to convey that it is, but it does offer a lot of bang for your dollar. We like the 3rd row seat option, the larger interior/cargo area, the extra storage space for all the junk we seem to have, the steering wheel audio controls, the rear seat audio controls, the parking assist option, the better gas mileage, which the wife appreciates more than I do, (I want extra oomph), etc...
All in all I like 'em about the same but for different reasons. My wife finds the the RDV to be more practical and she'll choose to drive it over the RX300 for most of her daily activities.
I'm paying $49 per month for 400 min with Verizon with no roam or long distance......I'm wondering if any of you lucky folks riding in yer new RDV has tried the hands free phone dialing service......is it slick? does it recognize your voice saying "Dial 845-679-6789" OK?
Multiplying out the numbers tells me I'd be spending $200 for the service and about another $200 with my usage for the prepaid phone minutes.....not too bad if the Onstar system works well with its integration in the RDV.
Thanks for any input..
Spiritman
Drew
Host
Vans, SUVs, and Aftermarket & Accessories message boards
Gotta go now, as there's some other pressing family business to take care of. I'll post more when I get the time.
BY
drew : I remember people looking got MB M-classes back then. I also remember a co-worker going to a smaller city where they were available. I know Toronto area dealers were sold out at the time. No shortage now. Local Oakville lot has about 30 sitting.
You can program automatic dialing such as "call home" to phone your residence or say "dial" and then speak the numbers you want to dial. All in all I've been pleased with the system. It is more expensive than normal cell phone plans. I would suspect that they might lower their prices to compete more effectively in the future. Because of the voice recogniton limitation I mentioned, I still have to carry another portable cell phone to retrieve voice mail messages. Perhaps they will have a solution for this problem as well in the future.
I use the phone to talk to new prospective clients while I am driving and I'm curious how the sound quality is of person listening to you.....do they say that it sounds as good as a regular phone or that it is like a cheap speakerphone? boomy?
I called the Onstar people and the premium service Route Support sounds very interesting for me also as I am constantly driving to new addresses. They say they will stay on the phone as long a necessary, sometimes 90 minutes. As soon as you contact them , they see your exact location within 60 ft and can direct you to your destination turn by turn.
Waiting for the RDV islike waiting for my first date....sheesh...how times change.
Spiritman
hitch fit on your vehicle and I am wondering if it came from the factory as a part of the trailing
package. They do not mention a hitch as being part of the package in their literature?
Also, in other Buick news, I just read that GM announced that they are going ahead with production on the Buick Bengal concept car, and it should show up in showrooms in either late 2003 or early 2004. Good news as far as I'm concerned, as that is one of my favorite GM concept cars in recent memory. Hopefully it'll make the transition to a production vehicle gracefully and still retain a lot of the styling and content that makes the concept so cool.
That's all for now!
BY
Saw the news on the Bengal. Rendezvous and Bengal should really do wonders for Buick's stodgy reputation. I wonder if they will have a Tiger Woods edition?
As Buick says... "it's all good".
Seriously though, that could be pretty cool. That'd be one way for Buick to really capatilize on having Tiger as a spokesman. It'll be interesting to see what Buick does...
BY
It wouuld be great to get this data on other vehicles.
Thanks -
I noticed the questions about playing MP3s over the stereo system. Check out this web site: http://www.soundfeeder.com. I use the model 120 at work. I sit towards the center of my floor and most radio stations are distorted by all of the Emus that are probably frying my brain. I hook up 1 walk man to the Sound Feeder and position it near a window. I use another walk man and head phones to receive the signal and listen to my favorite talk radio.
I got the unit from Best Buy. It runs for weeks on a single AA battery.
Matt
btw, your use of the sound feeder sounds pretty cool.
Go 9ers,
John B.
http://media.gm.com/news/sales/index.html
From there the link for Jul-03-2001 will show you sales numbers for all the GM vehicles for June and the Year-To-Date sales as well.
And Matt, thanks for the link to the Soundfeeder web page. That looks like the perfect solution. We'll have to remember that if someone else asks again in the future. (Heck, I might even consider it for my Bonneville at some point)
BY
Bonabill: How much did you determine the phone usage costs? I know you said it's more expensive then standard cell phones.
Sprintman: your idea about using a second phone for making dial tones sounds interesting... I wonder if it'll work.
Exactly what I was looking for.
I emailed Drew the Host to explain some of Onstars hands free phone features.....the convenient one being able to speak the number you want to dial......I'm still curious about the quality of the sound going OUT of the vehicle which is why I started the Onstar board....many other vehicles than RDV have it and maybe we can get some input from them.
Spiritman
2002 RDV in Sedona Bronze