Rupunzell
Bernice Loui
Comes down to what car folks expect a car to be.
Got a chance to yak with an Abarth 500 owner in the parking lot while returning from a shopping trip as he was standing by his Abarth and I asked how did he like it.
"Oh, poor quality." he said.. This prompted further conversation, "what makes the Abarth poor quality?"
He went on saying this Abarth is 1.5 years old from when he purchased it new and recently the driver side window motor died.. other than that zero has gone wrong with it. He like the go and everything else, his reported mileage at constant speed on the open road about 40 mpg. Generally, he liked the Abarth.
I went on to say, if the window motor died and it is covered by warranty with the dealer having ordered the replacement part and will repair it under warranty.. what makes the Abarth, "low quality?"
After all this, the response this time was a shoulder shrug...
Many car owners and drivers today have a very fixed expectation of what a car must be, any deviation from that often results in criticism or refusal to purchase, or satisfaction from the owner/drivers.
One litmus test has been the SAAB ignition key in the center, between the seats by the shifter. The usual criticism of this has been extreme and more flat refuse to consider a SAAB for this reason alone. Yet, this key placement is far better than having the key on the RH side of the steering column where the driver's knee can run into it or in a crash, the driver's knee can be injured by key puncturing the knee or other near by body part.
This is the kind of stuff car manufactures are up against today when designing cars for the general public. What they appear to want is a transportation appliance they are comfortable with and does not ever question their expectations of what a motor vehicle needs to be. Any deviation from this means no sale. Beyond this, techno-widget connectivity appears to be a prime feature these days with the actual dynamics of the motor vehicle being near the bottom of the list.
Then we get into the numbers game where zero to what ever speed means everything and actual vehicle dynamics means little.
And... the ragazines are driven to write and publish stuff that will sell the products that keeps their lights on and a roof over their heads and food on their table.
Bernice
Got a chance to yak with an Abarth 500 owner in the parking lot while returning from a shopping trip as he was standing by his Abarth and I asked how did he like it.
"Oh, poor quality." he said.. This prompted further conversation, "what makes the Abarth poor quality?"
He went on saying this Abarth is 1.5 years old from when he purchased it new and recently the driver side window motor died.. other than that zero has gone wrong with it. He like the go and everything else, his reported mileage at constant speed on the open road about 40 mpg. Generally, he liked the Abarth.
I went on to say, if the window motor died and it is covered by warranty with the dealer having ordered the replacement part and will repair it under warranty.. what makes the Abarth, "low quality?"
After all this, the response this time was a shoulder shrug...
Many car owners and drivers today have a very fixed expectation of what a car must be, any deviation from that often results in criticism or refusal to purchase, or satisfaction from the owner/drivers.
One litmus test has been the SAAB ignition key in the center, between the seats by the shifter. The usual criticism of this has been extreme and more flat refuse to consider a SAAB for this reason alone. Yet, this key placement is far better than having the key on the RH side of the steering column where the driver's knee can run into it or in a crash, the driver's knee can be injured by key puncturing the knee or other near by body part.
This is the kind of stuff car manufactures are up against today when designing cars for the general public. What they appear to want is a transportation appliance they are comfortable with and does not ever question their expectations of what a motor vehicle needs to be. Any deviation from this means no sale. Beyond this, techno-widget connectivity appears to be a prime feature these days with the actual dynamics of the motor vehicle being near the bottom of the list.
Then we get into the numbers game where zero to what ever speed means everything and actual vehicle dynamics means little.
And... the ragazines are driven to write and publish stuff that will sell the products that keeps their lights on and a roof over their heads and food on their table.
Bernice
