I've been saving this one up for some time now. I think it's been aged long enough that it really needs to be enjoyed.
A few weeks ago Steph and I drove up to Vermont to do some wedding related "stuff". It was a wonderful trip filled with all sorts of wedding goodness :( The trip there and back, while four hours, could have been worse. There was no traffic to speak of. We got home Sunday evening and parked the car on the street, where it sat for about a week or so, through a small snow storm and some rain. Come Sunday night, in preparation for alternate side of the street parking (a pleasure that we under privelaged automobile owners of New York City share) on Monday, I went out to move the car.
No sooner did I turn the car on did the interior lights start flickering on and off. The doors were closed, the rear gate was closed...all was buttoned up tight, yet the lights would not go off. At this point I'm a bit ticked off as one would be when one's relatively new car (only 1 year old and 11,500 miles) begins to suffer a bit, but I ignored it and proceeded to get out of the spot to move the car. No sooner do I put the car in gear and start backing out, easing on the brakes, do I hear the most god awful grinding noise ever. Immediately I'm thinking shit...that can't be good. I new right away that my breaks were shot and that the noise I was hearing was the sound of rivets that hold the break pads on, cutting into the rotors. I'm thinking SHIT!!!...this is gonna be expensive.
I must pause to mention that when I bought the car, it was a dealer demo with 5,900 miles on it, so I specifically asked that the breaks be checked. And so they were, a thumbs up was given by the dealer and off I went with the feeling that no matter what I did I was going to wind up eating shit for new break pads.
So, I went back into the house to call Land Rover road side assistance because I didn't want to do any damage to the car by driving it to the dealer, Manhattan Land Rover, who is on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. Road side assistance was very pleasant actually and asked if I needed the tow right away or if it could wait. As it was late on Sunday evening, and the dealer was closed, I said that it could wait until the morning. The tow truck came in the morning, loaded up my little rover and off it went. I called the dealer on my way to the office to let them know it would be arriving and to also let them know what was wrong. No problem...
Day one: nothing
Day two: no call
Day three: no call
Day three.5: call the dealer...errr...
Me: hello...what's up with mi coche?
LRM: Well sir...we've fixed the light and alarm problems.
Me: Alarm problem?
LRM: Yes sir, the problem with the alarm...
Me: there was no problem with the alarm when I brought it i.......never mind.What about the noise from the brake area?
LRM: Well we haven't looked at the brakes yet.
Day four: no call
Day five: no call
Day five.5: call the dealer
Me: What's the story with my car?
LRM: Well, the car needs new brakes.
Me: New brakes?
LRM: New brakes...and rotors.
Me: New brakes AND ROTORS!?!!!???!! WTF!! (I'm already tasting the shit and it doesn't taste good).....and how much is that!!??!
LRM: Five Hundred and nintey six dollars and unfortunately it's not covered under your warranty.
Me: @#$%^&*() followed by one or two expletives...but not too many. Why isn't it covered by my warranty..I've only had the car for 6,000 miles. Shouldn't brakes last more then 6,000 miles?
LRM: Well, yes sir, but the car was purchased used....
Me: Umm..no...it was a dealer demo..certified pre-owned. LRM: Unfortunately that doesn't make a difference...there's nothing I can do.
Me: Let me speak to the manager?
LRM: Ok..his name is SO AND SO but he's not hear right now. Can I get you a car for the weekend?
Me: Sure....I'll be by in 20 minutes to pick it up and talk to Mr. So and So about the service.
To be continued....
Technorati Tags: LandRover, Freelander
Recently in Auto Category
Just catching up on some old news that I never got to write about.
We got some new wheels and damn am I happy about it.
I know what all of you are going to say..."But you live in Manhattan...why do you need a car!?!?!?!" I know...I know...but listen, I've lived in New York city for almost 4 years now and ever since I moved into the city and gave up my Audi A4, I've longed for a car. I miss the days where I could wake up in the morning and decide where I was going to go that day. I love getting out of the city and heading upstate, or to Brooklyn to see my family, or New Jersey to see Stephs family, or to go look at apartments (you can read about that experience here) or whatever. The bottom line is that having a car is having freedom...spontaneity...and thats what I missed.
So, we got a car, and what a fun car it is. The 2004 Land Rover Freelander HSE - Zambezi Silver2004 Land Rover Freelander is one part Luxury Land Rover, two parts bad ass SUV. Just about everyone who has ever driven this car will tell you how fun it is to drive and what a serious SUV it is, taking after its big brother the Land Rover Range Rover.
I won't bother to bore you with the details of HP and Torque and all that fun stuff, all I can tell you is that this is a fun car and it's a shame that it doesn't get more traction (no pun intended) in the US market.
