xr6me

If you're still looking for a picture of this, here's the back of mine:

Thanks for a great first cruise guys. Looking forward to the next one.

Any objection to an inexperienced last minute cruise participant coming along? I don't havea CB though.

Just wondering if there is an easy way to turn off the horn from beeping everytime I lock/unlock the car using the remote. Its only started since they restarted the computer on Friday. I don't see anything in the user manual about it.

Final cost was about $1100, which did include a full service, and I do understand why they would have to disconnect the battery (I work in HR and have a lot to do with OH&S, and the last thing I'd want is to have my car kill someone). My anger at the situation is mostly centred on the fact that they created an issue with my car and phoned me to accuse me of having done so, and implied that I would have to pay for them to correct what they had done. This was a risk which was never explained to me. I also take issue with the fact it took them over 7 work hours to determine how to fix this issue. If I'd been at a Mercedes specialist I might have been more understanding that they work with these cars less frequently and have a much lower knowledge base of issue resolution; but I went to a Ford dealership with specially trained technicians. They knew that if the battery is out for over 30mins the car shuts itself down. My horn now beeps when I lock and unlock the car. Is there anyway to turn this off? It never used to happen and I prefer the discreet lock/unlock feature. I've read the manual and can't find anything about it. Any ideas??

Well the day is ended and I have my car returned to me, fully operable. I am much poorer, but thankfully no extra charges for 'restarting' the computer thingy whatsit. I'm told the reason the battery was disconnected was a safety precaution while working close to the airbag in the steering wheel. I'm told also, that they had never experienced having to do a restart on the computer on a non-new vehicle. I left them with no misunderstanding that I was not happy with their progress to resolve the problem they created; and after being told that they had driven my car for 39mins requested their guarantee that my car had not been driven in the manner which I witnessed a police vehicle being driven in the yard when I arrived to collect mine. (Let me say no car should be driven at that speed so close to any building nor on ground full of pot holes and loose rocks!) Thanks to those who responded to my earlier entries.

My 'Service Advisor' has just called with the "good news" (his words, not mine) that he has done a full shut down of my car and restarted it (I didn't realise it was running Windows!) and it has now run for at least 10 mins all by itself and hasn't stalled once. He refuses to offer any guarantee that the fault has been corrected nor guarantee that it wont happen again. He has promised to call me later and let me know more about what's going on with it. (Oh, and apparently this restart thing is the same as what they do when they first turn them on after manufacture .... which has me concerned that my 3 year old 66,000km engine may now read 0kms, thanks to the Factory Trained Technicians.) I can't wait to hear what comes next, and I wonder if I'll have a car for Christmas or if I should put in a request for a 5 day test drive of an XR5T (Mondeo variety).

So I decided to give Ford Service one last chance after a number of poor customer service experiences at one dealership very close to the Sydney CBD, and took my T to another just north of the bridge where I used to take my EF sedan for about 5 years with mixrd but generally pretty good customer service and work. I booked it in a week in advance (and yes, I know, its close to Christmas and all the family people have their cars in so they can go on holidays etc etc and its busy), and dropped it off on Wednesday at 8am, explained the issue and went off to work with the promise it would be done for me by 4pm. At 3pm I received a call to tell me they hadn't started working on it yet and would I mind leaving it with them overnight and I could have it back the next day. A little disappointed, but not actually 'in need' of a car on Wednesday night, I agreed provided it was covered by their insurance etc etc. The work I request: ~ Service (I just clicked over 66,000 and have now done about 10,000 in it myself so I felt it was time) ~ Investigate the random operation of the wipers, and quote on repair ~ Investigate the electrical smoke coming from the steering column when the wipers are haveing their random slef activation experience Mid Thursday morning I get a call telling me the faults with the car. Cost to repair "about $590" for some sort of 'combination switch' (which is terribly descriptive!). To which I replied is it ok if I pay you "about $590 for the repair or do you want to give me the exact price for the part and labour and gst?" to which I get "oh, ok. Actually I've just checked and its $500 inc labour and gst." I confirm the price and proceed to ask what else requires attention. The list continues for a couple more hundred dollars (all overpriced I know, but its my fault for going to a Ford dealer and I had some mistaken belief I might have been paying a premium for quality service). By mid afternoon on Thursday I receive a call saying "we've completed the install of the new combination switch, but to do it we disconnected the battery. when we reconnected the battery and start the car, it runs for only a about 2 mins before it stalls. do you know why it might be doing that?" ..... it takes me a few seconds to comprehend the fact that a mechanic is asking me why a car he is supposed know backwards isn't working. I, somewhat politely, informed the gentleman caller that the car certainly did not have such a fault with it when I left with them the day before, nor had I ever experienced such an occurance in the 9 months since I had purchased the vehicle. I asked what they intended to do to correct what ever it was they had done to my car to cause this fault and was told "yeah, well we'll run some more diagnostics and when we can work out what it is we'll give you a call with a quote for doing the repair." my reply (according to my work colleagues, quite loud by this point) was that I had no intention for paying for bad workman ship and that they would repair any fault with my car that was not present when I left it in their care and promptly said good day and put the phone down. Later in the afternoon, 4.19pm to be exact, I called to find out what progress and if I should make my way across the Bridge to collect my car to which the 'service manager' told me there was probably no point as the car was in pieces in the workshop and the boys stopped working at 4pm. I asked when was someone going to call me and tell me this? When do you expect to know what is wrong with your work and when will it be fixed? to which I simply received "uh, I don't know but it wont be ready tonight." The saga continues today and I shall update throughout my phone calls during the day, but if you have any ideas on what might be causing it please let me know. Is it reasonable of me to expect that they should fix a fault at their own expense if it only occured after they had completed the service and repairs on the car (that is, it wasn't present before it went to them, and wasn't detected during the service)? Is anyone intersted in possibly buying a possibly not terribly functional 04 BA XR6T Ute in Envy? Only 66,000kms on it.

I'm wondering if any Mac users have Sat Nav in their Ts .... I'm looking for a device that I can set up and update via my PowerBook but seems all the products require a Windows machine. I guess I can run it on VitualPC, but that's even more annoying than a real Windows machine. I do have MissingSync for Windows Mobile 6 though for my HTCtouch which works really well. Any advice is appreicated.

Coopers Pale is my choice - and now it even matches my T! (do I get one of those big Coopers signature decals for the rear window of the ute and joing the Coopers Racing Team??) Alternates are Kilkenny and Guinness. But the ultimate is certainly Coopers Vintage Ale .... I still remember the first vintage.

Ford 'unhappy' over anti-speed ads Ford Motor Company is unhappy over the latest anti-speeding television ads, which show a late-model Ford Falcon losing control and rolling into a ditch. The Herald on Sunday said Ford wanted the ad, which cost Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) $2 million, axed and had contacted its lawyers. It shows a middle-aged man driving a late model Ford Falcon - with its insignia gone - and appears to be a car ad until the crash. Ford spokeswoman Clare Ponton told the newspaper the ad breached a Motor Industry Association and LTNZ agreement that the make and model of cars in road safety ads not be identified. "We do have concerns which we are raising with LTNZ and we are looking at our marketing, legal and PR options," Ms Ponton said. "We take customer safety very seriously ... the new XR6 will have dynamic stability control, the new Mondeo has knee bags ... that's why we are so concerned about this." But LTNZ advertising manager Paul Graham told the newspaper the ad would not be pulled and that the organisation was on "hugely solid ground". The ad had been well researched before and during production. "Car ads are all very similar, in showing the driver enjoying the moment, the curving road ahead of them... "We are after an audience that likes a performance car, enjoys the moment of driving, considers themselves a superior sort of driver - it's the area we want to be." Mr Graham expected the ad to screen for up to 18 months. Clive Matthew-Wilson, editor of the car buyer's Dog and Lemon Guide, said the ad was inaccurate and misleading. "Statistically, fatal speeding accidents tend to involve young working class males driving a Japanese import," he said. "Middle-aged men driving new Ford Falcons have comparatively few fatal accidents." Two key points for me: though not middle aged, I'm likely to have less accidents that are fatal (phew! ), and the new XR6 will have better stability control.

I also have had sh*tty service from City Ford (City) and will never ever take a car there or buy one from them. I last took my XR6T to them about 6 weeks ago to have the iPod thingy fitted at the agreed quoted rate on the Ford web site, have a wheel alignment and for them to fix the BA recall on rear breaks. When I booked in (3 weeks in advance) for the recall work to be done (prior to driving to Adelaide) I asked them to check that they had all required parts in stock and they assured me they had everything and would hold it for me til the car came in. (Conversation along the lines of "Hi, I have an 04 XR6 Turbo Ute and I want the recall on the breaks done. Can you do it on X date. " "Yes, no problem. We have all the parts for it.") I drop the car off, explain again the work I want done. They assure me it will be done by lunchtime which I ok, saying I'll be back around 5pm after work. I call at 3pm to ask how work is progressing and am told that they can't fix the recall because they dont have the parts. I explain that I had specifically booked in for the recall and was assured that the parts were available and on hold for me. Then I'm told that all 4 tyres need replacing and there is no point in doing the alignment if the rubber isn't replaced. I ask how much and they quote me $270 a corner for the stock tyre. I laugh and tell them I'll be there at 5pm for my car and they can forget replacing the tyres and the alighnment. I'll pay for what work has been completed that I asked for and I'll find another Ford dealer for the recall. When I get there I'm told my car doesn't actually require the recall because its a ute and I obviously didn't tell them that when I booked it in or they would have told me it didnt need the recall. I explained calmly at this point that I had been explicit in describing my vehicle down to the colour and VIN. I told them politely where to put their quoted price for tyres and then they offered me the bill for installing the iPod aux sound thingy, at no less than $50 above the quoted price on the Ford web site and earlier confirmed by their guy at the door who takes the keys when you drop it off. I look at the guy (and yes, I think it was Dimitri) placed my credit card in front of him and said, "this is the last time you will ever see me or my cash. Your service is aboloutely appauling, your staff have no idea what is going on, and I'm not going to argue with paying an extra $50 if it means I dont have to have anything to do with sh*ty Ford again". In contrast the customer service level from Alto Ford which as been improving over the last few years. Before I sold my old EF (which mysteriously appeard in my street on the weekend looking as wonderful as it did when I sold it) I took it to Alto for a rego inspection. Not only was in done within a few hours, they called me twice to say it had been done and sent electroncially to the RTA for me, but I received a follow up customer service quality call a week later wanting to know if I'd had any problems and if there was any way their service could be improved. Laughing I said, "well I did get two call to tell me the work was completed, which while not really a complaint was more a way of recommending they could save money by making less telephone calls." The girl on the phone laughed and thanked me for taking the call. I'll be going to Alto Ford in the future unless someone else can recommend another dealer (or quality service person) in the inner west.

Thanks for the contact details for Bob the Tinter guys ... another fantastic job done. I love my ute even more now!

I'd be in for one if they are right for a BA ... and someone with the skills to install it for me volunteers (happy to exchange beer for work!).

Name: Sean Age: 29 Sex: M Location: Sydney Inner West (Marrickville) Ocupation: Office/HR Manager for an insurance company Currently Drive: 2004 BA XR6 Turbo Ute, Envi Married: Nope and never will be. Kids: Hell No!! Oh, and looking for a new job so if anyone knows of something please get in touch with me. Happy to consider a career change too!