Barrie Ford Really Disappointed Me

UPDATE:  This morning I received a message from Barrie Ford about my negative service review and it succeeded to make me more upset than I was.  It was from service guy Brian.  Brian was very upset not that I had a bad experience but that my review reflects badly on him.  Brian said, "I wasn't there when you picked up your car but I'm in charge of your service ticket so it reflects on me." 

The survey I received wasn't asking, "How did Brian do?" The survey asked, "How did Barrie Ford do?" If Brian is in charge of my service ticket then Barrie Ford must expect Brian to make it right either by calling the customer and apologizing &/or talking to the people that were there when I picked up my car and explaining they screwed up.  Brian should NOT be calling me up as if I did something wrong by giving a bad review.

I'm not asking for money back. I'm not asking for something free.  I'm just asking for Barrie Ford admit their fault and say they are sorry.  I'm not an elitist, I don't expect the dealer to kiss my butt when I come to visit because I have performance cars.  I just want them to care for the cars as much as I do.  I want to get my car back and have a feeling it was well looked after.  I did not feel this way when I picked up my car.  I felt like I was another person they needed to get out the door.

Last Wednesday I took my Focus RS into the Barrie Ford dealership because of the head gasket recall.  Barrie isn't close to where I live, it's about an hour from my home and several hours from my work. They had to do a pressure test and kept it overnight.  In the morning informed me that it failed the test and needed the head gasket replaced.  They offered a rental car but I said I’d just drive my Shelby.  Monday afternoon I received a call that it was ready for pickup  So they had the car 6 days.

I arrived Tuesday afternoon and when they brought the car around it was a mess, covered in dirt, water spots, and bird poop.  It also didn’t have a full tank of gas.  What they hell?  Where is the customer service?  I take my car in for a recall so something Ford screwed up.  I don’t use the rental service so saving them money and they don’t even wash off the bird poop??

Mechanically it seems sort of okay.  However since I got it back it seems to sputter a lot when you first start it until the revs drop.  We'll see if that develops into something bad.  Also I asked, "The head gasket change required they change the oil didn't it?" The guy said, "I dunno." "Well is there anything I need to watch out for or should a take it easy for a few miles?" He said, "I don't know. I didn't work on it."  WTF???

Barrie Ford is the only SVT dealership in my area so I suppose they suck up more to the higher paying customers but I bought the high priced Focus RS from them and I have a Shelby GT500 that I might want to trade for another someday.  But after this experience I REALLY don’t know if I will be returning to buy from them.

The GT500 has an airbag recall to fulfill and I haven’t decided if I’m going to take it there or not.  On the one hand it costs them money for free fixes so that’s nice but do I want them touching my Shelby??

My girlfriend has a 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander and her dealership in Newmarket is really awful.  They talk down to her, talk her into doing unnecessary repairs, tell her they fixed something when they didn't, etc but even they always wash her car when they give it back.  lol

The H3 Might Be Going Bye Bye

Back in 2013 I bought my '07 Hummer H3 after my girlfriend suggested that I move in with her.  She live further north and at that time my only car was an '07 Mustang GT.  Moving meant a longer commute in heavier snow.  There was no way I was doing that in a Mustang.  I saw the H3 for sale while I was getting some service done, it looked big and bad ass.  I thought, "There's the solution. A big Hummer would get me through any snow Ontario has to dish out, and I can park my Mustang in the winter. So I bought it.  I had big dreams with the H3.  I was gonna start off-roading, we were gonna camp more, go biking.  It was all justified.

Now it's 2017 and I did none of those things.  All I did do was drive it to work and twice a year to the States.  It certainly lived up the my first assumption that it would do well in the snow.  It hardly acknowledges any weather exists at all.  It effortlessly climbs through any snowstorm or flooding I encountered.  But I never did the cool off-roading or backwoods camping or anything.  I just ground away on those expensive tires commuting.

As it aged it of course started having issues, mainly electronic.  One day you start it up and there would be an message about some failure, then the next time you start it up it was gone.  I dumped an additional $4000 on maintenance and various emission sensor replacements.  Then last week I was driving to work and I got a message saying, "STABILITY SYSTEM FAILURE." What the heck is that?  I looked online and it said it's a blanket warning that covers many different things.  Okay that's enough.  With an exhaust leak that I was told could cost anywhere from $300 to $3000, new electronic problems, and big $2000 tires that need replaced I think it might be time to take a serious look at how much this vehicle was costing me.

I grabbed a pen, paper and calculator and was pretty shocked to discover that just in gas the Hummer was costing me $520 CAD a month!  Just in gas!  That's approximately $67 each time I fill and I was filling twice a week.  Pile on insurance and other expenses I was just $200 short of a Ford Focus RS payment.

Imagine a Ford Focus RS as a daily driver rather than an H3.  I figure it would at least cut the gas in half.  Most of my commute is highway and while the Focus isn't spectacular at fuel economy the H3 is awful.  Okay maybe I'm just trying to justify buying a Focus RS but it is better gas mileage than my Hummer H3.  It is AWD for snow, and it does come with a set if winter rims and tires along with summer rims and tires.

I've already talked to one Ford dealer that could get me the deal I wanted but only had a Nitro Blue care available and I'd rather have the Stealth Gray.  Today I spoke with a different dealer that says he can get me a Stealth Gray Focus RS.  If he can give me what I want for my Hummer I could be driving a Focus RS around as a daily driver.

The Hummer was awesome for what it was and I'm probably going to miss it but the expense and the fact that I never used it how it was meant to be used make me feel this is for the best.  I'm a speed guy, my brother is the offroad guy.

Newmarket Mitsubishi is The Worst Kind of Dealership

UPDATE: After posting this article I was contacted by the dealership's manager.  He feigned concern and claimed he wanted to help but they still have done nothing.

Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dud.  Sometimes when you buy a car you get a dealership that's a dud.  If you’re really unlucky you get a dealership and a car that's a dud.  This is what my girlfriend was unlucky enough to receive when she bought a new 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander from Newmarket Mitsubishi.

When we went out to look for a new car I stressed to her that we should look around at several cars before settling on something.  The first dealership we went to was Newmarket Mitsubishi and the first car we checked out was the 2014 Outlander.  When I saw the car I was instantly ready to keep looking because I’m sorry but that car is UGLY!  She however loved the 7 passenger seating, all the nanny controls, and the 0% financing Mitsubishi was offering.  Paolo the salesman seemed a little sleazy to me but aren’t most car salesmen?  So needless to say she came home with a 2014 Outlander.

When she left they gave her two key fobs.  One was a regular key fob and the other was a key fob with remote start.  I asked her, “Did they give you a second fob that I could carry?”  So we tried to get the car to work with just the remote start fob and it would not work, insisting that the other key be present.  So the two key fobs wouldn't work when separated?  Well one would work independently the other with the remote start would not.  It was like a completely different fob just for remote starts and nothing else.  What sense does this make?  So she called and they said, “Oh so sorry I could have sworn we gave it to you two that worked separately.  We we'll get you one.”  Great!

A second problem was that often when you remote start the car and then get out there and put it in drive it would die.  Then you have to put it back in park and start it again and it would be fine.  After a service appointment the problem still happens.

Now most recently the auto hatch no longer goes up and down but instead just beeps at you and waits for you to do it manually.  So for me the build quality for that car is bad.  It seems that Mitsubishi really can’t handle long term use of fancy and unnecessary electronics. 

So now talking about the dealership.  As I said above she called Newmarket Mitsubishi and asked for a second key fob for the car.  Weeks later still no key, months later, still no key.  She finally decided that she should resort to calling almost daily and rather than helping her they ignored her calls and just wouldn’t answer.  To test this she called on her phone and it would ring and ring forever.  Then she reached over and tried a company phone with a different caller ID and they answered instantly.  I was shocked to hear they actually refused to take her calls.  What kind of business does this?  You sell a car and then kick the customer in the ass and hope to never see them again?  I’ve heard of this asshole service from dealers when the person has a used car but never when it’s a new car is still under warranty.  What kind of bullshit is this?

So currently we still don’t have the correct key fob and the automatic hatch lid is still broken.  I would strongly discourage anyone from buying a Mitsubishi and even more strongly discourage them from buying it from Newmarket Mitsubishi 301 Mulock Dr. Newmarket.

The Problem With Mustangs

The problem with Mustangs is that they are so damn hard to find.  Sound ridiculous?  Sure it does.  Just going to work each day I must see at least 5 and that is minimum.  During the summer months that number can be well into the 20s in the Toronto area.  So what am I talking about?

I'm talking about the "special" Mustangs.  I'm talking about the Mustangs that people buy and keep a hold of.  I'm talking about the Mustangs that Ford produces limited amounts of and you can't get your hands on even of you have a pile of cash.  Mustangs like the 2016 GT350 and GT350R.  Here in Canada the GT350 costs $71,000 while the GT350R goes for $91,000.  That is if you can find a dealer that can order you one and you're willing to pay the 10k to 15k price gouge the dealers are handing out.

So I got the bright idea, why don't I go for a different "special Mustang" like a 2014 Mustang GT500?  They have 662 horsepower and there aren't lines of people trying to buy one.  However it turns out they are equally hard to find.  I found only one in Ontario for sale and they guy was asking $65,000.  The car sold new for $61,000.  Not to mention Royal Bank of Canada values the car at $55,000 which means you're not getting a loan for the full amount of the car.  Yes I went and talked to a bank about getting a loan.  What can I say, I'm weak.

I'd also have to sell my currently Mustang privately which could be an issue just to make the remaining money to pay for the car.  Although the loan officer talking to me said he might want to buy it. :P

In general it seems my previous post is correct.  I'm done with cars for this year.  Sigh...


Really seriously though.  I'm looking to buy a 2014 Mustang GT500.  I'm not just talking here so if you know of one in Ontario let me know.