2007 SRX4 V8 @ 26,500 mi. While I don't qualify as a new car owner (recently bought certified pre-owned from a Cadillac dealer), I hope my short experience with the car will help some one struggling with unresolved issues, ones whose symptoms are sporadic/can't be replicated at the dealer, or may be coming up to the end of their warranty and wits end and are wondering if they can get their problem(s) resolved once and for all..
Before I begin, let me say that to me there are few things in life more frustrating than to plunk down a rather large chunk of change (54 large sticker as a starting point, pick your number) and feel that they made a poor choice when there are so many solid options out there for this vehicle size/class in either the SUV or crossover vehicle market. Adding insult to injury, to have the unresolved issue(s) nagging you, staring you in the face, or ringing in your ears every single day, every mile driven. Personally, it amazes me that my 2007 SRX, which is the fourth year of the first generation SRX, has manufacturing and/or design issues that should have been long since eradicated on the front end, before the car reached the showrooms and the customers.
In their defense, the dealers and their service departments are stuck fixing mistakes not of their making. But they take on the entire wrath of those within a disgruntled buying public. We shoot the messenger so to speak. How many of us, for example, have had bilge water accumulating in the rear jack storage area? An uncooperative or rattling sunroof? Suspension issues well within warranty periods, some of which come and go and can't be replicated when we arrive at the dealership?
The complexity that defines a high end vehicle in today's automotive market is partially to blame. One only has to glance at the features and options, a 500 page owners' manual, or the 100 page DVD/NAV/entertainment system supplement to realize that the market has created a monster, and we can't go back. Yet some manufacturers consistently do a better job than others as one can clearly visualize when glancing at those solid black "much worse than normal" circles in a Consumer Reports owners satisfaction survey issue. No Toyota jokes, please. Even the top import dogs are no longer the bastions of "bulletproof", pick your continent, country of origin, or manufacturer.
Yet the solution for you and me is in the execution. We cannot fix the underlying issues that got the manufacturer(s) in a quality pickle, except to vote with our feet and our checkbooks. I could have picked a plethora of what appears to the casual observer and to the informed alike a vehicle with a better initial quality or long term track record than the SRX. But I CHOSE the SRX despite my research because this Cadillac offered me the price/performance/convenience/appearance/functionality that TO ME set the SRX apart from the herd. The solution to the shortcomings is now in my hands.
Forums such as this are a goldmine of "solution" information for the consumers. But so few of us on a relative basis take the time to do our homework and use these forums to our advantage, either before purchasing or after. I am guilty of that when my emotions take over and in exasperation simply dump the car off and demand: "Fix it!" I cannot comment on what sort of data base dealers use to diagnose and treat the automotive patient. I have read TSBs (technical service bulletins) and have concluded that those writing them need a serious lesson in communication. Management needs to categorize and manage the service data. And corporate types and the pencil heads need to bridge the gaps between numerical occurences, customer satisfaction, impact on market share, and their profitabiliy/SURVIVAL Better yet, have them (mandatory) spend a week in the service area of a dealership so they can go back to corporate and make a difference! The corporate vision and the realities of operations cannot be kept separate as isolated entities.....they should be joined at the hip, but it doesn't seem so to me.
Back to my vehicle, within 1,000 miles of delivery @26,500 miles:
1.) Front Suspension Clunks: Clunk diagnosed as worn insulators on the front swaybar. Replaced. Clunk gone.
2.) Front Suspension Groan: Groan diagnosed as worn bushings, lower control arm, driver's side. Replaced control arm assembly. Groan gone.
3.) Third Row Seat Does Not Fully Retract Flush to the Floor: Diagnosed as the "stop calibration." Recalibrated. Seat folds flush.
4.) Jack Storage Area Under Third Row Seat Taking On Water: Diagnosed as a gap in a pinch weld around hatch opening. Sealed. Leak gone.
5.) Utraview Sunroof Express Open and Close Not Functioning: Diagnosed as an alignment and lubrication Issue. Aligned and lubricated. Working for now......
Forums such as this gave me the answers BEFORE I took the car back in for resolution. I at least had the peace of mind knowing the answers to the problems going in, that they were fixable, thanks to you guys. I didn't share that knowlege with the dealer tech service writer, and the dealer technical service reps did a fine job by themselves without any "help" from me. But I was ready to "help."
Another observation. I was the customer from hell. I emailed my complete list of issues and a detailed description of the symptoms to both the sales rep and to the Service Manager before booking my first srvice appointment. First names, last names, titles, days/dates, vin #, stock #. Then I kept the email thread back and forth alive to and from the dealership, even documenting day/date/time/person spoken to/title phone calls. Was I gearing up for a war? One that could eliminate any discussion about the who, why, where, when, and how? One that could hold up in a lemon law action in a MA. court if necessary? You bet. Did that help "motivate" the other side to get rid of me. I don't know, but I would like to think it was unnecessary and that the dealer would have done the right thing by me without the spectre of an early and often full court press.
In another forum I read where a gentleman had his new 2007 SRX back to the dealer "20 times' over the first 24 months, mostly over recurring issues which he said his dealer could not make go away. And several of them. His take after driving Acuras was that the SRX was "junk" and that "no one should buy one." My take, he was far too patient and trusting. Naive as well because he stuck it out with the same dealer and service department and didn't explore the lemon laws at his disposal right out of the box. Was he wrong to expect more than he got? No, and no customer should be treated that way. You escalate, change dealership horses if necessary and practical, and press. And educate yourself through these forums. Summary: expect what you expect, and more often than not that is exactly what you are going to get.
My Cadillac dealer doesn't know me from Adam because this is my first transaction dealing with them. Was I aggravated over the certified pre-owned propaganda? You bet. A service that this dealership performed touting the words, and I quote, "impeccable condition," "thoroughly inspected," "110 quality points," peace of mind," "comprehensive," "scrutinized," "stringent guidelines," and "integrity." I had a face-to-face with the service folks over that one. "Explain, please, how any of these words describe what was performed before I took delivery? Or how all of these issues escaped your pre-certifion process but were found by a knucklehead know nothing like myself. By the way, the service technician who performed the pre-certification process on my vehicle......who was he? I don't want him working on my SRX."
But I will also give credit where credit is due. I'll give my Cadillac dealershp five stars for after-the-fact results so far because that is what counts at the end of the day. I am two thousand miles down the road since purchase.
Hope this blather helps someone out there. If nothing else, I got my wife off my case for the time being.
