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Comments
I'll check the defrost after work.
You would have to meet my father in order to know why he bought one...he is very stubborn when he wants something. He was the one that got me to look at the Equinox in the first place. He knew about the bucking in my car...and all of the issues that I had, but he thought the 2011 would have all of the bugs worked out. The bucking did not happen utill about 500-700 km...right about the time my car started to act up. He does not run the car in ECO mode, so he does not have to worry about the rough idle and stalling.
I am not sold on electric steering yet. Too many other cars have issues also with it, not frozen feeling but just lack of consistent feel after cornering and such.
Rear defrost is big draw cuz mirror heaters are likely also on same circuit.
Front defrost will turn A/C on which will throw off your test as there is a step-up solenoid in that setting. That is why I said vent.
Heater motor on high is next inline, then headlights on high, etc etc wipers on high not so much...the idea is to load the altermnator and see how poorly the ECM manages engine idle under those common loads.
I think/suspect ther e are two vibration issues here. One, a very real problem associated with the tranny and torque-convertor/injector shut off software, and the other possiblly normal 4 cyl vibes when an engine falls below a normal and accepted idle speed of 800 to 1000 rpm.
Honda uses special items and dampeners (even electronic) to mask or deal with this vibration. Since the engine should not be idling that low, it is moot basically.
I've never had the "sticky" steering problem, and I drive on a pretty long and straight highway at least twice a month.
When the car is out of ECO mode it usually sits at about 750-800rpms, and is quite smooth. But...when I turn on the ECO function, it drops to 550-600...which seems too low for the car to keep running. Should the dealership know that 600rpms is too low?
I'll let you about the other tests a bit later.
If you would like to e-mail me with your VIN I can look into updates for you. I can look into recall information as well. I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
I have emailed you my info. Please let me know if you did not receive it.
I turned on the interior light and then the indicator...as the indicator would blink, the interior light would flicker along with it, and the RMPs would dance up and down a bit.
I think GM was a bit too aggresive with the ECO mode setting. The RMPs are way too low.
I also have the rough idle at start-up. The car feels like it is back-fireing for the first 30 seconds.
I wish they would not insult our intelligence when making these ridiculous claims. Especially when they can't carry them out. I still think they should have offered this car with a 5 or 6 speed manual transmission. It would magically lose a lot of these issues owners are having and there are still many people who prefers manuals. Even women...although I don't mean that to sound sexist. It's just I happen to know women who are 'drivers' and bought a manual trans Civic, BMW, and even a pick up truck. Heavy traffic congestion and a lot of city driving is where the auto shines, but we pay for that one way or the other.
High way ECO also changed shifting a bit to optimize fuel economy. Highway beating escape hybrid is true. Mine has 15k on it, averaged 27.2. straight highway at 65, there is no problem maintaining 32mpg.
Suggestion to you, turn off ECO for the time being until you can have dealer to raise your idle RPM in ECO mode, not sure how they do that. Worse case, you turn off your ECO botton, and drive like everybody else who does not have an ECO botton. You may lose 1MPG at the end....
You won't find Nox owners getting average numbers this high. I've already looked.
The Escape doesn't shine as well at highway only figures, but since most of us drive a considerable amt of city driving, that higher average is fairly significant.
"I just recently purchased a new Ford Escape Hybrid. The car only has a few hundred miles on it, and already I am impressed by the mileage. First, I have light foot when it comes to the gas petal. In town with stop and go traffic (less than 25 mph), I am getting from 49 to 50.3 mpg. When traveling at 40 mph, I am getting 37 to 39 mpg on the average. At 55 mph which is my normal highway speed, I am getting from 31 to 34 mpg on the average."
I'm so glad I found this forum!! I thought I was going crazy. Been to the dealership three times on the pinging/rattling issue - their answer has been NORMAL for Direct Injection Operation. GM Customer Service hasn't been much help either, I can't get anyone to call me back. Kristy - Did you ever get a bulletin number or code for the "un-offical" update you received?
Had to laugh recently when a dealer questioned a quote I had shared with him (in an effort to get his price down). He said, "I don't know how they're getting down to that price". Well, the price the guy was referring to was the BEFORE doc fee price! The doc fee was $400 ! I told the guy, "NO - the price I'm going to actually pay out of my pocket INCLUDES the doc fee, so he's 'getting down' to just $300 less than you, not $700 !". Just goes to show you how these dealers view these fees. They're trained to act like it's not part of the purchase price of the vehicle, which is ridiculous! When I bought my Impala in '02 I had a sales guy on the phone repeatedly try to convince me that his deal was better because the price on the Impala was better. And YES, he was a couple hundred less, but his doc fee was a LOT more and the overall out-of-pocket price was therefore MORE money ! I'm sure the guy really didn't believe what he was saying, but he was relentless in trying to get me to believe it.
So don't fear the doc fee. Just ask what it is and add it to the quote. Now you've got the REAL quote (at least until the 'think tank' comes up with their next sales scam)...
I work with an engineer who's on his 2nd Prius. Bought the first one in 2000 for upper 20's, now drives an '05 or '06. He used to sit in meetings and brag about how it was only costing him $5/week to run his car ... to which I replied, "but John, you paid about $8000 more up-front for the class of vehicle you purchased, so you essentially pre-paid your gas to Toyota" (ie: he COULD'VE bought a Corolla for upper teens and gotten upper 30's gas mileage!). He never broke even on his first Prius partly because the fuel economy on those first generation models really wasn't that great (mid 40's), but also because it developed a weird electrical problem that the dealer could never solve. The car left him stranded a couple of times, he ended up losing faith in it, and finally traded it in for the '05 or '06 model (whichever it was).
Hybrid fuel economy numbers can look very good on paper, but because of the up-front additional cost, you have to drive the car a certain number of miles before the hybrid technology actually starts to pay off. Everyone I know who drives a hybrid is quietly praying for gas prices to skyrocket to $5/gallon so their payoff comes sooner rather than later.
It is amazing what people will pay to have that 'green' presence parked in front of the golf and country club.
I'm not a believer or fan of hybrids. For one thing, they are not suitable for the northern climates of which there are many.
I AM a fan of clean diesels. They do much more work on way less fuel, and do so consistently throughout the year in the varied climates that real North Americans endure. (we can't all live in Florida or California)
And while I am not positive, I strongly suspect that a VW TDI Golf or Jetta would. in a drag race, absolutely annihilate and turn inside-out any of the equally sized hydrids be them Toyota or Honda or whatever. I would wager you could put 5 people in the TDI and one lone driver in the hybrid and still accomplish the win. Even going up a hill. That is torque that turbo diesels provide.
Because the size and shape of the Nox is so appealing to me (but the auto tranny and much too much complicated technology cloudy's the waters too much) and it has a very quiet, comfy ride, I would buy one if it came with a std tranny and 2.4 litre turbo diesel. I wonder if GM exports them like that to Europe? I wouldn't be surprised. Europeans still drive manuals over there too. They are real drivers.
Getting back to Chevy, I'm going to be buying a GM product very soon because I have a need for a 3rd vehicle and I have GM "bucks" I've been rolling around for over a year now (and need to discharge). I've got an '02 Impala and '97 Taurus wagon that do what I need at reasonable fuel economy, but this next vehicle would eventually replace the wagon, so I've been looking at both the Traverse and Equinox. Neither is exactly what I want. The Traverse is bigger than what I really need with frightening long-term fuel economy. I could be looking at paying $100+ per fill-up toward the end of ownership of a Traverse. Sure, it's a nice-looking vehicle with decent features, but let's face it - it's the wrong design for these times given the volatility in the price of oil. The Equniox, on the other hand, SEEMS to be the better choice for us with its "adequate" interior space and fuel economy, but reading all the systemic complaints here have me afraid to buy one! Plus, there's also the cargo area issue with the Equinox. It's actually LESS functional than my Impala (at a much greater cost, of course)! This might sound weird, but my son plays bass and the bass won't fit in the Equinox when both back seats are in use (as they always are with car-pooling back and forth to school). There's also the interior narrowness of the Equinox that might make car-pooling uncomfortable. The Impala, on the other hand, handles both of these things very easily with it's wider interior and massive trunk! Maybe I should just buy another Impala, you say? Well, I really wanted something more wagon-like to eventually replace the aging Taurus. So I'm either going to buy the Equinox, save the $5000 up-front, and find some way to fit the kids and cargo into it (and hope it doesn't have all the problems detailed here), or fork over the extra $5000 up-front for the Traverse and then brace for AT LEAST $7000-$8000 more in fuel costs (over what the Equinox would cost to run) for the next 12 years or so.
Gimme another Taurus wagon. It's the best configuration out there for functionality and fuel economy. It has SUV-like cargo capacity, but in a car configuration without all the extra weight. All these SUVs are just profit centers for the manufacturers. They're wagons in a better-looking, and much more expensive, suit.
The other option would be to get the roof rack and rails option and fit the bass into a surfboard carrier.
I DO like the Traverse a lot, but it's really bigger than we need (and a lot more money than I want to pay over the life of the vehicle for what we need it to do). The majority of driving (80%) would be around town. For the occasional family road trips, the Equinox wouldn't be ideal with it's relatively cramped cargo area, but then I could throw the cargo box up top to remedy that. This vehicle purchase really needs to be optimized for around-town driving, and that's not the Traverse. Still, if I could get better numbers on the Traverse (best right now is $29,700 for an LT1 with Personal Conductivity, Trailering, Rear Camera), I'd probably pull the trigger. This is my last opportunity to splurge a bit before the kids leave ... and you DO only live once ...
Looks like the Equinox would work for us. Seems to be narrower than the Impala, but it's OK, I guess.
Need to come up with a checklist of things to look for when test-driving one of these things.
1.) ECO Mode vs. Non-ECO mode engine RPM and tendency of engine to stall.
2.) Downshifting for no apparent reason.
3.) Door and dash vibrations
4.) Window motor functionality (listening for any odd noises or misalignments)
5.) Center console functionality (or evidence of replacement)
6.) Evidence of software upgrade on PCM (computer)
7.) Electric Steering issues (notchy steering)
8.) Excessive engine noise (clatter, ticking, etc. ... compare multiple units?)
Can't think of anything else off-hand to check for right now...
apparently excessive oil consumption
"3.) Door and dash vibrations"
might be 'in' the speaker or even 'amplified' by the speaker. I haven't read enough reports to determine an opinion where to start trouble-shooting, but so far I suspect there is some USB, iPod or? etc compatibility issues. And possibly pumping too high an input signal into the amp, thereby distorting at the speaker level. But that is just a hunch..
I was making a list of things to check for during a test-drive. Excessive oil consumption is something that you'd discover after buying the vehicle.
Forgot about the stereo and USB/IPOD complaints ... Add that to the list...
Did you ever get the audio issues resolved?? I have the exact same thing, static and sound going in and out of the left channel speaker. They replaced the left channel speaker and door speaker so far and it didn't help. It seems like they don't even believe me.
I had the left speakers replaced twice and it fixes the problem for a very short period of time and then it comes back. I now think it either has something to do with with a wiring issue or the stereo amplifier. Either the left channel wires are messed up or the amplifier left channel is malfunctioning. I felt the same way when I told them about the problem, they didn't seem to believe me either. I got really pissed and let them know that this is an issue, it will be fixed and I don't care what they have to replace to fix it, because the parts are covered under my warranty. Then all of the sudden the manager decided to get interested in trying to fix the problem. I'll keep posting any updates on my progress towards getting this fixed. Let me know if you make any progress too. For some reason, it seems to occur less during the cold months then it did during the summer, very strange. The GM car designs are improving, but hopefully any GM employees watching these posts lets management know, your service departments are light years behind the competition in terms of customer service and car servicing.
Have you spoke with Customer Assistance over the phone? Do you have a case with Customer Assistance? If you would please e-mail me your VIN, current mileage, involved dealer, and complete contact information including a good number to reach you; I would like to further look into this for you.
Christina
GM Customer Assistance
I will push for a steering motor replacement, unless I hear otherwise.
:confuse:
Have you taken your vehicle in to the dealer? I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
I would definitely recommend taking it back to the dealer and telling them you are experiencing the problem again. Please keep me updated on your progress.
Christina
GM Customer Service
1. Pinging/Knocking. I have switched to premium gas the last two tanks, and although the pinging has quieted down a bit, it is STILL there.
2. Sticky Transmission. The transmission occasionally binds up as others have said. It even does it around town for me after I have been idling at a light.
3. Transmission slip. Sometimes the transmission slips/bumps/revs higher for a second after switching from a lower gear into a higher gear. It seems to be doing it when going from third to fourth gear.
I have called my dealership about these issues and they said they do not have any idea what could be causing the problems. Nevertheless, I am going to bring it in to make sure I have a paper trail down the road. I have to say, however, that if GM does not fix these issues I will be filing complaints with every government agency that may be potentially responsive. In addition, I will file a lemon law complaint.
I ultimately overlooked the overhyped EPA mpg estimates. These other issues I will not overlook, though. I took a chance buying American, and I am beginning to think I will be regretting this decision for a long, long time.
Will you please e-mail me with your complete contact information including a good number to reach you, the VIN and current mileage, as well as the involved dealer? I would like to look into this further for you!
Christina
GM Customer Service
It has been about 3 weeks and still no seat belt part in stock...still waiting. The dealership has said that this tinging, clanking noise is no safety issue it's just something loose and needs to be replaced, geesh I hope so...so far the seat still
clicks in alright I hope it's no safety issue!!!
only for a few seconds though not consitantly. I also went back to using the 87 grade gas. I am hoping with the 'official update" that even the slightest ping goes away. It really is a shame that the nox is having a series of sore spots arise.
I really love the car BUT I strongly feel if more and more issues come to light then I will have to trade it in. I surely hope that future models have all the kinks worked out and this vechicle makes me happy again, cause right now I am not so sure about this car.-it's a love/hate relationship
you should call my dealership that I have been working with
maybe they can help you with your situation, perhaps they can
give you or your dealership the contact info at GM.
The dealsership I have been working with is Commonwealth
Motors, in Lawrence MA...I think I can give that info here.
As far as whom I have been working with I can't give you his
name, I know that's not allowed here. Good luck, let me know how
you make out.
I am familiar with the unique noise a DI engine makes and this noise is not it.
If there is any company on earth that practices less communication within the company than GM, then I'd like to know which one it is.
That particular expression is the most abused reply any service advisor has ever used.
I would get a second opinion from a dif dealer. Call around if you have to.
Better still, on his PC right there in service, bring up this thread and let him see for himself it is well known out there. Good luck
Have you actually taken the vehicle in to have it diagnosed or did you just call the dealer? If you haven't taken your vehicle into the dealer I would definitely recommend doing so. If you have, and you are unhappy with the diagnosis, I would recommend taking your vehicle to a different GM dealer for a second opinion. I hope this information helps. I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Since you don’t agree with the dealers’ diagnosis, I would recommend getting a second opinion. If you need assistance locating a dealer in your area please let me know. Please keep me updated on your progress.
Christina
GM Customer Service