The problem is that your level of satisfaction with your car has little or no connection with someone else's level of satisfaction with their car. Over a decade ago, I researched internet forums and the like prior to buying a brand new car. Eventually I settled on a Skoda Yeti, a car which had glowing reports all round - the Top Gear road test had Clarkson talking about it as "one of the best cars in this range that I've ever driven". Admittedly nowhere near the top of the list of stupid things Clarkson has said, but you get the idea...
It turned out to be a total nightmare; not so much a "Friday afternoon" car as a "New Year's Day morning with a near-terminal hangover" car. The only good thing about it was that the eventual resale value was excellent. But that's only because by this time almost every single component had had to be replaced and I was trading in a virtually brand new vehicle. But I accept that loads of other folk had a great experience with their (theoretically identical) Skoda Yetis.
What the specific car that you end up with is like is what really matters. And ultimately there's a significant part of that that you can't influence. Sorry.
Oh, that is
so true. I said to Bowfer a couple of weeks ago that I believed if he'd got my car, he'd still be driving it. But he didn't, he got a lemon, and the rest is history.
My main point really was about the
probability of getting a car you're happy with. If you read the forum you might get the impression that practically everyone has had an oil leak, has been locked inside their car, has an undertray that drags on the road, and regularly has the power to their engine cut back when they're in the middle of overtaking a lorry with a blind bend coming up.
This is no longer true, if it ever was. Most - pretty much all - people getting their cars now are not getting locked in, experiencing oil leaks, seeing undertray bulges or having their power/speed cut. These issues, which are serious, seem pretty much all fixed. So if that's the cause of the cold feet, maybe don't worry about it. The chances of getting a rogue car right now seem to be very low.
The software glitches I was moaning about are constant in all cars, or at least in all SEs. Someone buying a car now
will experience these. The question is, is the rest of the package attractive enough to make one prepared to accept these with a wry shrug of the shoulders? For me, yes. Everyone's mileage will vary though. I just think it's good to let prospective buyers know that happy campers exist, if you're prepared not to get bent out of shape by the small stuff.
