The questionable reliability of the latest generation of Corvette is a undeniable fact of life. However, there is another fact that is outright funny: seemingly mandatory breakdown of the latest Corvettes tested by the automotive press. C7 Corvettes broke down for the Car and Driver and Road and Track magazines, now it is Automobile's turn to experience the reality of the newest Corvette.
Automobile Magazine decided to name the C7 Corvette its car of the year back in 2014 and then proceeded to subject the Stingray to its long term test. As the 12-month test comes to the end, Automobile got to taste its own medicine and experience the part of the car evaluation that apparently was not used to name the Stingray its car of the year: +General Motors dealer service. Although it is unlikely that this experience will outweigh GM's advertising donations in naming Stingray a car of the year, it is certainly quite revealing, exposing the true worth (or more specifically lack of such) and credibility of those car of the year exercises.
Apparently, before experiencing the C7 trademark, CEL, Automobile reviewers attempted to resolve the issue with the fuel pump control module in the past, waiting for two weeks for the parts to show up and then supposedly having the car of the year fixed.
Unfortunately, the first dealer attempting to fix the Stingray lied to Automobile about replacing the module. This part came up rather quickly after the Stingray broke down once again, exhibiting the exact same symptoms. Somehow, the second dealer was able not to just get the needed part and complete repair within one day but the dealer also managed to determine that the original dealer never replaced the defective part and decided to lie to Automobile reviewers.
Lying to the press is outright stupid considering that the press is press and this puzzling occurence will not be a secret for long, as demonstrated by the article published by Automobile.
Overall, this is a very uncomfortable and embarrassing situation for both, GM and Automobile, clearly showing that not just the quality control of the Stingray assembly is a guessing game but the same thing can be readily applied to the dealers servicing the newest Corvette. Unfortunately, this spotty quality of dealer service is already well known to the C7 buyers, with many dreading any necessary visit to the dealer but now, Automobile writers got the dubious honor of experiencing the same thing as well.
Should the quality of GM and its dealerships customer service be accounted for when chosing a car of the year? Absolutely but then, C7 Corvette would never become a car of the year and corporate donations to the automotive press would dry out rather quickly.
http://www.automobilemag.com/reviews/12_month_car_reviews/1504-2014-chevrolet-corvette-stingray-april-update/
Now, if
if it wasnt for Garbage Motors paying for awards no one would look their way.all of the major mags,see gm puts out junk.
ReplyDeleteHahahaah.....the dealership lied to Automobile magazine!!!??? Must have been following Tadge Juechter's "How to Service and Sell a C7 Corvette for Dummies" . I would think each dealer is required to attend a weekend of Kool-Aid drinking and learning how to spew bullshit to their customers. I mean really, you don't want to throw those poor souls to the buying public unarmed do you? They probably have speed drills on excuse making. The dealer is presented with a typical customer complaint or issue about the C7, and the dealer is then required to fire off 5 of Tadge's authorized preformed standard excuses, such as, "That's perfectly normal", or "Whatcha doooo?". And if that doesn't work, then they just blurt out "Track Capable" for no reason, and hopefully this confuses the customer long enough that they have time to think up more excuses. Brilliant Tadge, truly brilliant.
ReplyDelete