Cadillac SRX reliability

[mkaresh]

I plan to report repairs per mile in the future. But realize that I only start collecting data from when someone starts participating, not from when the car was new. This way someone who joins because they've had a lot of past problems cannot skew the result. Other surveys don't avoid this potential bias.

Because of how I collect the data, I often have just a few thousand miles per car at first. You can see how many months of data I have per car in the results table. The average car is driven about 1,000 miles per month, so that will give you an idea of miles per car, and even a rough ideas of miles per reported repair.

When those averages get to be 6 months or more, what you suggest will be more feasible.

It would be more feasible with just a bit of data per car, except I ask only for approximate odometer readings, to the nearest 1,000. So looking at short time spans this rounding would produce distortions. Over six months or more, not nearly as much.

I don't ask for exact odometer readings because then the response rate would drop big time. People can easily remember a two-digit number, but not a five-digit number. And if they need to write it down--forget about it.

[mkaresh]

Recently the odds of including the SRX in this research have started to look better. There are already five 2008s enrolled, which is pretty good this early in the model year. With nine or ten I'd probably start, since it's still fall.

In addition, there are now 14 2004s, 11 2006s, and 12 2007s. With those years 25 are required to get started.

Vehicle reliability research

[mkaresh]

Just a couple more since I last posted, so not there yet. A few owners keep asking me to get started on the SRX, but without enough participants signed up collecting the data would just waste people's time. So I don't start until 25 have signed up for a model year.

[cashmoan]

Just sigend up I would be very curious to see what is being said and how it may differ from what is shared here in the forums.

[robhersch]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

Recently the odds of including the SRX in this research have started to look better. There are already five 2008s enrolled, which is pretty good this early in the model year. With nine or ten I'd probably start, since it's still fall.
In addition, there are now 14 2004s, 11 2006s, and 12 2007s. With those years 25 are required to get started. Vehicle reliability research

Gee Mike, are we the only 2005 SRX owner interested in sharing our good fortune? We love our SRX N*V8 VVT 320 hp (with 5 speed auto & sport shift capability) although it uses ~ 10-20% (~ 19-21 mpg LA - Vegas) more premium fuel than our 1999 DeVille Concours N*V8 300 hp (with 4 speed auto & free wheel coasting going downhill) (~ 23-24 mpg LA - Vegas).
Another difference noticed: we use Mobil 1 5w-30 full synthetic oil in both; the SRX gets ~ 10,000 mi (indicated) oil life; the 99 gets only ~ 5,000 mi (indicated) oil life.

[mkaresh]

Good fortune, bad fortune, it is what it is. At least I try to keep the emotion out of it, or some people get upset and have to stop participating.

No, I'm not making this up. A few people (not SRX owners) have quit because they got upset whenever they thought about their car's problems.

But as for whether you're the only one, you're not. There just aren't 25 of you.

Current counts:

2004: 14
2005: 9
2006: 14
2007: 13
2008: 5

Total: 55

In comparison:

2007 Acura MDX: 92

2008 Buick Enclave: 79

Cadillac SRX reliability research

[RobVuk]

I signed up for it but I don't have a clue what I'm supposed to do. I never get any emails about it and I don't even have a link to to anywhere to make a report if I had something to report. Am I supposed to report if I don't have any problems?

[mkaresh]

Thank you for asking, Rob.

The SRX is not yet included in the main survey because not enough owners have signed up. So you won't receive the emails with links to that survey. If you did, you'd be asked to respond every third month even without a repair.

There are two other on-site surveys with no minimum sample size, for Repair Histories and Fuel Economy. You can participate in those at any time by going to the site.

This said, you should be receiving a monthly newsletter sent out to all panel members. If you aren't, your email provider or some software on your computer is probably shunting my email into a bulk or spam folder. Most don't do this, but some do, I think simply based on the volume of email I send out with 18,000 members.

If you can't figure out what is going on, it might be necessary to provide a different email address.

[RobVuk]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

If you can't figure out what is going on, it might be necessary to provide a different email address.

Well it seems that it's probably miscommunications like this that make participation very limited. Most just don't want the hassle. Although I appreciate someone taking the effort to start a project like this, implementation is key. Now you suggest I use a new email address that will probably filter just the same, instead of telling me who I might expect this mail from so that I can make sure that it passes through. Or for that matter, where i would go to change my email preferences.

I have now had my SRX for 2 months with no issues and I am one happy owner so far. I will already have more than 5000 miles on it this month and my wife and I both enjoy it very much. I would love to spread the word but it is difficult at best.

[mkaresh]

Where's the miscommuncation?

I have no idea which email program your are using or who your provider is. There are dozens, even hundreds of both, and I cannot be expected to know the ins and outs of all of them.

This would be like someone posting: "my car isn't running right," without providing any additional detail, and expecting someone to tell them how to fix it.

Most people have no trouble receiving the email. It gets through just fine to gmail, AOL, SBC, AT&T, and other large ISPs you have to pay for. Hotmail and especially smaller providers with unintelligent, crude filters tend to pose the largest problems. And if they're blocking my email, they're also blocking other email you'd like to receive.

In my experience, it's very difficult to tell someone who doesn't understand their email program well how to fix this problem. The easiest solution, by far, is to use a different provider with a smarter filter.

But, if you know how to instruct the program to whitelist an address, the email comes from michael at truedelta dot com

[RobVuk]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

Where's the miscommuncation?

I have no idea which email program your are using or who your provider is. There are dozens, even hundreds of both, and I cannot be expected to know the ins and outs of all of them.

This would be like someone posting: "my car isn't running right," without providing any additional detail, and expecting someone to tell them how to fix it.

Most people have no trouble receiving the email. It gets through just fine to gmail, AOL, SBC, AT&T, and other large ISPs you have to pay for. Hotmail and especially smaller providers with unintelligent, crude filters tend to pose the largest problems. And if they're blocking my email, they're also blocking other email you'd like to receive.

In my experience, it's very difficult to tell someone who doesn't understand their email program well how to fix this problem. The easiest solution, by far, is to use a different provider with a smarter filter.

But, if you know how to instruct the program to whitelist an address, the email comes from michael at truedelta dot com

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound inflammatory. All my email accounts are with gmail and aol. I have the ability to search my junkmail boxes and whitelist an address with my Mac email program. I have not found any emails from truedelta at this point yet. I will keep an eye open for it now.

Thanks for your help.

[mkaresh]

Sorry for being testy on my end. Email drove me crazy for a long time. I reduced problems as much as I could on my end, and can't tell there's much I can do about those that remain.

The problem is that spam is out of control, and email services are doing crazier and crazier things to block it, and catching legitimate emails in the process.

My highest response rate was with gmail, the last time I checked. They appear to have the smartest filter of any service. AOL can be a bit more of a problem, though I have no idea why for some people the emails can get stuck in filters when for most they get through. The response rate with email is still above the average.

You should probably PM or email me the address you most likely used, so I can check that it's in the database. Sometimes people remember signing up, but for whatever reason there's no sign that they did so.

[mkaresh]

Getting closer, but still need more owners to sign up before the SRX can be included in the survey.

Vehicle reliability research

[robhersch]

Originally Posted by mkaresh

Getting closer, but still need more owners to sign up before the SRX can be included in the survey.Vehicle reliability research

Mike,
Our 2005 SRX N*V8 RWD is still going strong with no problems except that we now have to add gasoline instead of draining out a few gallons per day to keep the tank from overflowing (in our dreams).
Still looking for a few more interested N*V8 owners to get "the facts" on these great machines before the "global warmers" either outlaw them or restrict ownership of them to retired political animals.

[mkaresh]

The 2004 is now 3/4 of the way to the minimum, and the 2006 and 2007 are well over half way. Getting there.

Vehicle reliability research