New Features

[Guest gjconn]

Some very good points.

1. no lockable fuel cap

Will be looking in the aftermarket for one. hope hope.

2. only one remote key pad

My salesman thru in a second one. Saved me 80 - 90 dollars thank you very much.

3. the car jack just lies loose in the cabin

I moved my jack into a "tool box" in the back under the cover. Who'd steal a jack, right?

4. the 17" alloys could have had lock nuts

After picking mine up, I drove from the dealer to my local tire shop. Good locks, $40.00

5. traction control might be handy

Very true.

6. option for third brake light might have been handy

I guess so, but I never really even noticed or thought about it until this thread.

7. premium sound is a rip off (in a ute)

Agreed. I got standard sound and will soon be replacing the back speakere with Rockford

Fosgate 6 x 9 3 way speakers in the back. In a ute cabin, the sound and power is fine.

I do miss not having the sockets for the footwell lighting though.

8. could have upgraded the reversing lights

Totally agree here. One light on one side w/ tinted windows is not good. I'll be looking at

ugrading this as well.

Looks like some good lessons learned for series 2. Oh yea, add to the list, no one push down power window or illumination for window switches.

[svtang]

qjconn - petrol cap as per AU (Auger at Supercheap auto) fitted like a glove ....

got to love the ute

[mickq]

XR6T Sedan.

note this is things I would improve....I havent listed the tons of positives! Probably 2x as many positives I could have listed, or more.

1) TC on/off button and fog light button obscured by steering wheel in normal position.

2) Would like to adjust the accelerator pedal to make for easier simultaneous braking and accelerating with my right foot. Can be done, but not as easily as it should be. Accelerator pedal needs to be brought towards the driver by about 1cm or so. Not sure if the pedal is ajustable at all in this model. (Will ask when service it)

3) The manual gearbox sucks in 5th gear. Ive had a couple of instances where I was stuck out of gear when I went to go from 5th to 4th, and like being in a truck couldnt get it into gear. I was freewheeling. Had to do several rev matching attempts before it got into a gear finally. Its way too vague, and it is possible to not be sure if you are putting it in 3rd or 1st, or 4th/2nd. I find being in 5th and moving down to 4th or 3rd particularly annoying, and even potentially dangerous at times. Getting stuck out of gear at speed is not good.

3) Putting the footwell bulb holders in but no bulbs on cars with premium stereos...lame.

4) Not putting the window button LED's in...lame. Those pix people posted after doing it look awesome. At night, its hard to operate the window buttons because you cant see them!

5) The fact that they seem to consider 3+4 above to be some kind of "premium" or "luxury" feature: lame. I cant believe they would do such good work on this car yet make stupid choices like that. There must be better ways they can distinguish their luxury/premium models from this car other than 2 bulbes and 7 LED's!

6) As the redline (and resultant rev limiter) is variable depending on conditions at the time, I would have liked a series of LED's to indicate where the current redline is, as seen on some BMW's. I dont like hitting the rev limited when you dont expect it. Not good for winning the traffic light olympics

7) Roadside assist: lame. Its a basic towing service, outsourced to the local towing company. Not able to fix simple jobs on the roadside. I expected something like RACV with a guy who could lift up your bonnet and if its a simple job (reconnect a tube or similar) then could fix the damn thing. Not that big an ask. Some things can be safely fixed on the side of a road or in a driveway.

Rear wing (when closing the boot) is the only weak feeling part of the car in general. Feels/sounds flimsy sometimes when you slam the boot shut.

9) Plastic panels that run up the outside edge of the drivers door near the window are a little flimsy. I find that's where my hand goes when I slam the door shut, and it doesnt feel solid which is not good because its the part where I push the door shut.

10) A "+100kW" button on the steering wheel would be great Maybe it could be labeled "Kill Any HSV".

11) Adjustable traction control would be awesome. BMW are doing this on some models now (Z4). You can choose from normal TC, half TC and no TC, and several spots in between. Lets you get it out more sideways if you want, without losing it completely. Makes for some great cornering. Not hard to do as the TC is tied in with the main management computer. The existing TC is very very good though, I must say.

12) Id like the source code for the engine mangement system. The turbo wastegate is electronically controlled, and Id love to select the amount of PSI it pumps out!

13) I find it hard to believe after hard driving that the turbo doesnt need time to cool a little. The manual (only skimmed it once) didnt seem to say anything about this. Not good for average Joe if he drives hard. Now ay a turbo getting that hot can not need to cool at least a little. Ive had it still glowing red hot 3 to 5 mins after I parked the car.....it still gets DAMN hot even at the lowish boost it puts out!

14) Driver visibility isnt as good as it should be. My old mid 80's BMW has much better visibility of everything. The A pillar can hide lots of things particularly at roundabouts where you must be careful and even move your head to confirm nothing is hiding there. Rear visibility isnt as good as it could be. Visibility to the sides (such as when lane changing) also isnt as good as it could be. Takes more effort to ensure its clear than it should.

15) I dont believe the recommended tyre pressures are as good as they could be. Id like to see several alternatives: normal, towing, highway, performance. Altering from the recommended settings caused a big improvement in handling. On a car like the XR6T which is obviously aimed at the performance market, there should at least be a setting for those for whom performance is paramount.

And that's about it....not too bad for a first draft!

[Guest MercuryXR6T]

Overall the car is bloody good. But if we are nit picking ......

1. Warning noise for lights on come on when igintion is switched off instead of opening the drivers door.

2. Poor radio reception (especially as I have premium sound)

3. No heated wing mirrors

4. Uneven boot

5. Wait b4 loading in a CD

6. No CD rack in centre console

7. Space between driver seat and steering wheel

Apart from that nothing else

Apparantly the series 2 will have a mini antenna instead of glass

[XR6TK1W1]

Hey Merc ya know the steering wheel is fully adjustable in/out and up/down?

Ps A little off the topic here but wouldn't it be good for us auto owners to have a neutral button that takes the wait off the auto when in manual mode when your sitting at the lights. Its a bugger having to take it out of man and putting in N then back to Pef then to 1st again.

Just my 2cents.

[Turbo6man]

for series two I would really like to see MP3 compatability included with the sound systems across the range. For cars with single CD you still have hours of music without fiddling while you are driving

And they would never sell the 6 stacker again.......

Who amongst us would pay the $900 for the premium sound only for the sub woofer and the colour screen if the standard sound had MP3 compatability making the 6 stacker for the most part redundant. Perhaps it could be an additional feature on the premium package.......

I don't agree - they would still be able to offer the 6 stacker as not everyone has the equipment to make mp3 cds - and also there would certainly be some people who would even have 6 mp3 cds in their stacker. I still repeat it is also an important safety issue when driving that one is not fiddling around with changing CDs in the single unit setup.

[hammer007]

Dislikes

1. Area around the fuel cap

2. Black panel on door edge which feels flimsy when you shut it

3. Non lighting of auto windows

4. Side pockets are not that deep compared with EF/EL

5. Premium audio is a bit disaapointing - expected a lot more with a subwoofer / amplifier

6. Expected a lot more from the colour screen - dodgy cd icons etc etc

7. The area underneath the steering column should have a cover ie you shouldn't be able to reach up and grab the steering column

????

1. Range of the distress alarm - set my car off from over 100m by mistake when in a shop and ignored it initially as someones alarm going off then looked like a right idiot when I tried to work out how to turn it off.

Likes

1. First car that has made my heart go faster ( the holy sh*t factor that's quick feeling)

[Falchoon]

After reading other people's posts I thought of a couple of other things that I'm a little unhappy with.

Uneven boot floor

Paint finish (poor quality) in engine bay and fuel filler

The time it takes to change from one CD to another (Premium Sound)

I can't say I've noticed poor radio reception even though I probably listen to the radio 80% of time. Sure, I've found places where reception is patchy but I had the same problem/symptom in my previous car with Pioneer stereo and full metal antenna. Actually when I first bought my previous car it the aerial was broken off and then I got a new one put in ($60 later thank you) and reception was no better.