2015 Subaru WRX

The all-new 2015 Subaru WRX was revealed at the LA Auto Show last week, and I love the new body style. Subaru decided to only focus on the sedan body style for this generation, and by doing so they were able to focus on making some exciting changes to the WRX. In past years, the WRX was built with the legendary 2.5L turbocharged Boxer engine, but with Subaru’s recent success in using the 2.0L Boxer engine in the BRZ, they decided to go ahead and start using it in the WRX. Not only does the 2.0L get better gas mileage, but the engine actually pushes a few more horsepower than the bigger 2.5 liter Boxer engine. Subaru has finally decided to offer the Subaru WRX with a CVT (continuous variable transmission) automatic transmission, something Subaru has never offered in a WRX. I have a hard time believing the CVT transmission will last under that kind of power, a few years down the road Subaru will probably discontinue it. More importantly, you can now get the WRX with a 6-speed manual transmission; this is something that was previously only offered in the upgraded STI version of the WRX.

Subaru has also increased the wheelbase on the new WRX, which gives the rear passengers a much needed extra 2 inches of leg room. The interior is much nicer than later models, and Subaru has finally included some of the luxuries that have become commodities in new cars including: Navigation, Bluetooth, sunroof, Harmon Kardon speaker system, and a push button start. The interior is smooth and black leather, and the flat-bottomed steering wheel gives it that race car feeling. The Subaru WRX is finally has that luxury sports car feeling when you drive it.

                Subaru has upgraded the suspension and made the handling much stiffer with a chassis made from high-strength steel. Car enthusiasts say that the stiffer ride will improve handling on the track, but rally cross drivers prefer a suspension that is a little more forgiving to keep all four wheels planted in the rough terrain. Subaru has included a differential “torque-vectoring system,” which provides power to each wheel independently, while preventing wheel slipping and under steering. Over all I am very pleased with Subaru’s release of the new WRX. Subaru has been making some pretty ugly cars within the last ten years, and I was concerned that they would do the same with the new WRX. Subaru has pulled it off again, they have created another beautifully designed car that I would be proud to own.

The Toyota Way

         

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         “The Toyota Way” is a set of beliefs Toyota established as their corporations operating principles in 2001. At the core of these principles is a dedication to continuous improvement of product, and respect for people. “The Toyota Way” prides itself in keeping the consumer’s long-term best interest in mind, rather than short-term gains for the company. Since “The Toyota Way” was put into place in 2001, Toyota’s success and customer satisfaction has put Toyota at the top of the consumer market. Since Toyota shifted focus from solely focusing on sales and company growth to customer satisfaction, other car manufacturers have had to improve the quality of the vehicles they make in order to stay in business.

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         In recent years, the principles Toyota uses have become a common area of focus for many large corporations that want to stay competitive in other consumer markets. “Keeping the customer happy,” and “the customer is always right,” was always talked about but never practiced by most corporations who were dominating the market. Companies knew that they needed to keep the customers in mind to an extent, but when it came down to customer complaints with poorly designed products, most companies would keep their short-term success in mind rather than long-term customer satisfaction. Within the last 10 years, the consumer market has been flooded with new companies making products to compete with the main companies dominating the consumer market. Since competition is much higher, companies have to increase quality and decrease price, ultimately shifting focus to customer satisfaction above all things.

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         Keeping the consumer in mind, Toyota has done a great job designing and building quality vehicles that the majority of consumers want. The Toyota brand used to be perceived as a club, and owners of other makes would compete against those who own Toyota. You still see that with a lot of other makes, a good example would be Chevy and Ford; die-hard ford fans have stickers of the Chevy emblem being peed on by Calvin (from Calvin and Hobbes), and die-hard Chevy owners have the same image, but with Fords emblem. It’s similar to the way fans of different sport teams treat each other (in friendly competition). Within recent years most consumers, whether or not they are die-hard fans of other makes would buy a Toyota without even thinking that they were supporting the competitor. Toyota has positioned their product as a commodity within vehicles consumer market.

         Toyota suffered criticism in 2009 after numerous cars and trucks were experiencing unintended acceleration. Instead of ignoring the issue, Toyota halted production and recalled more than nine-million cars to fix the issues and make it right with consumers. It’s only been a short time later, and most consumers hardly remember the defects some Toyota vehicles had four years ago. This is because the Toyota Corporation made sure that consumers were taken care of and the issues were fixed within a timely manner, no matter how much it cost the company. In 2012, Toyota issued one of the largest recalls to be recorded for a faulty window switch. This was a simple fix, but most car manufacturers would decide the cost to fix wouldn’t be worth the recall. Toyota is establishing themselves as a corporation that cares about its consumers. With any big corporation there are negative stories and experiences that consumers have faced, but Toyota has satisfied the majority of society with its quality product. I am happy with the quality in my 1992 Toyota pickup, which has a quarter million miles on it.

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The Nissan Titan Can Go Back To Uranus

My little brothers GIANT Titan next to my truck

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         In 2004, Nissan introduced a full sized utility truck named the Nissan Titan to North America in hopes to compete with the “Big Three” (Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler), who were dominating the truck market in North America. Nissan chose the name Titan to portray its size and power. If Nissan had researched the name Titan in Greek Mythology, they would have known that “the Titans” were the children of Uranus and Gaea. The Titans in Greek Mythology have a history of failing in battle. They ruled earth before the Olympians overthrew them, and after an attempt to overthrow Zeus in heaven, the Titans were banished to the underworld.

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         Nissan’s plans to go into battle against the “Big Three” with a name that historically defines a family of gods who failed and were ultimately banished, seems like an invitation for bad luck. History has shown that Nissan was not as successful with the Titan as they had hoped they would be. I spoke with a previous General Manager of a dealership franchise here in Utah; he told me that the Nissan Titan was their least favorite vehicle to take in on a trade. When any of his dealerships took a Titan as a trade-in, they made sure that they offered the customer well below value so they could turn around and list it at a low price and get rid of it as quickly as possible. When I asked him why they disliked the Nissan Titan so much, he told me that when they first started getting the new trucks into their dealership showrooms they had issues with them when customers would come in for test drives. The salesmen coined the truck as “the first truck they would sell that wont hit a hundred thousand miles”.

         The Nissan Titan has had numerous issues with reliability, but the main issues consumers have reported are related to the two most important factors in a truck: the engine and transmission. Reports show that Nissan has been willing to make repairs under warranty, but once the warranty runs out consumers are faced with paying for the expensive repairs out of their own pockets.

         In newer versions of the Titan, Nissan has supposedly fixed all of the defects and issues the earlier years had, but it’s hard to trust a company that created such a poorly designed truck for so many years. Nissan should have focused on fixing the reliability issues they had with the Nissan Frontier (a small version of the Titan) before attempting to take on the “Big Three” and building the Nissan Titan.

Would You Like A Crack With That Dash?

Third Generation Acura TL

            Acura, an automotive brand that is produced for the American market, is labeled as the luxury end of Honda. Surprisingly, the third generation Acura TL (2004-2008) has received a lot of criticism for its lack of reliability. Riding on the coat tails of Honda’s history and reputation for being well built vehicles, Acura has failed to ensure quality and reliability when making the third generation TL. Not only have they failed to ensure that they are making a reliable vehicle, but they also do not stand by their product by helping consumers with costly repairs of the defective parts on the third generation Acura TL.

            I am the owner of a 2006 Acura TL, as an owner, I have experienced the company’s unwillingness to own up to the defective design of certain parts of the car. They have, however, issued a recall on the power steering pump, which is the cheapest repair out of all the issues consumers have had with the third generation TL. Although my car has low miles, I have had to repair multiple defective parts. Because I performed most of the repairs myself, some of them were cheap, but some of the repairs were very expensive. With all the repairs I have performed on the car, the majority of them were due to poorly designed parts.

            When I traded my Mazda 3 in for the Acura TL, I thought I was getting out of a money pit, but in fact I was only trading up for a much nicer, more expensive money pit. Don’t get me wrong; I love my Acura TL more than any other vehicle I have ever owned, but I wish I wasn’t constantly putting money into it to make sure it runs and looks how it’s supposed to.

            In 2003, the third generation TL replaced the ugly second generation TL, and it is the most beautiful and elegant Japanese car ever made. I used to dream of owning an Acura TL, and when I found a manual Acura TL (manuals are almost impossible to find), I failed to do what every smart consumer should do, and that is RESEARCH CONSUMER COMPLAINTS on the car before you buy it! For all those years Acura was making the third generation TL, all I cared about was the elegance and beauty of the car. When I went and test-drove the Acura TL, I was sold. I brought the car home, parked it in the garage, and couldn’t stop thinking about it for weeks. All I wanted to do was drive that amazingly fast and beautiful Acura TL.

            The first issue I had with my Acura TL was the rear alignment, and it turned out that the stock camber Acura uses for the TL are not adjustable, and because they weren’t adjustable the alignment issue couldn’t be fixed. A few hundred dollars later I had an after market rear-camber kit that allowed me to get the rear alignment fixed. Since then, I have had costly repairs ranging from a new clutch, to fixing defective electrical components like the blue tooth hands free link system. The defective part that has put me over the edge is the stupidly designed, but very beautiful dashboard. The Dashboard is designed to expand in the heat, and shrink in the cold. In extreme temperature changes, as it shrinks and expands, it cracks. I have experienced this first hand, and let me tell you; when you’re driving this beautiful car around town, and look down at your cracked dash, it makes you feel like you’re driving around a piece of junk. I have researched multiple forums and consumer complaint sites, and found that this is a very common problem. It is so common that most third generation Acura TL’s have cracked dashboards. There is no reason that a low mileage “luxury” sedan should have these kinds of issues. I can get past the mechanical problems that I fixed on the car, but when it comes to a $2,000-$3,000 fix for the dashboard, I am done!

            There were a few consumers who were able to get Acura Corporate to pay for some of the repair, and in some cases, dealerships covered the remaining costs so the consumer didn’t have to pay out of pocket for the dashboard replacement. Over the last 6 months, I have personally escalated the defects of my dashboard all over Acura Corporate, and they are unwilling to offer me a cent towards the dashboard replacement. Acura needs to stand by their product, and they need to make it right for consumers who are dealing with the multiple defects the Acura TL has. Mechanical issues are one thing, and can usually either be blamed on “normal wear and tear”, or driver error, but the defective dashboards in these cars need to be taken care of. My hope is that eventually Acura will have to issue a recall on the dashboards just to show consumers that they stand by their product.

Back to just driving the old truck around instead.