German Car Zone

Today my car's battery died with out any previous notice. I immediatelly phoned Volvo assistance: They said that a Volvo technician would be at my place within 15'. I gave them my address and waited. Surprisingly, at 18' sharp the guy was here. But he wasn't a mechanic, but a simple driver of a tow-track! He tried to boost the battery so that i could turn the engine on, but instead all we got was some sparks and the alarm shouting for 2' before dying again. So we had to tow it. But we had to push it from the garage out on the road (the tow-track couldn't fit in my driveway) with the hydraulic steering dear! It was a pain in the ass to do that, as we were three guys pushing the car, with me trying to steer it on a 3% sloped drive way! We managed to load the car and go to the closest Ford-Volvo service (they are really the worst service i've experienced, only a bit better than Renault one).

It took them almost 3 hours to get the job done. The car was at the shop at 9.45 and i left at 12.30. They had run out of Volvo batteries, and only God know where they found mine. As always, things were moving pretty slow and i had to pay 200€ for the battery. My big problem is that i didn't get what Volvo Assistance claims you get for 60€ per year. No technician, no on the spot repair, no friendly guys, too much waiting...

Anyway, i had the chance to take a look at the Volvo line-up and test-drive the new Fiesta and the Focus fl. I have to say that Ford has gone pretty much cheap with their latest models! The Mondeo plastics were crap and the doors of the Focus looked like they were glued there with chewing gum! Hard plastics everywhere.

On the other side, the Fiesta was very aggile and easy to drive, very usefull for such a car! Sadly not my cup of tea design wise! The materials quality is not my first priority in such a car, but the overall interior quality feel was pretty high for its price!

The Focus was very fun to drive! I loved the steering feel and the handling, but the interior/exterior design and materials' quality is a big step behind the (new) Golf! I guess that if it was a click better, then it would be the kind of the class!

I didn't have time to drive the Mondeo sadly, but next time i will!

That's all for today!

I'd like to hear some comments about the Assistance of other brands (BMW assistance, MB Mobilo Life, Audi ?)

I never needed Audi Assistance after 7 years as an Audi owner (A3+A4).

BTW i took my X-Trail for a regular service yesterday and the experience was light years ahead of i was used to in my local Audi-VW dealer. First of all there were virtually no cars for repairs compared to the VW dealer where broke down Golfs , Polos and Passats (even brand new ones) fill the entire service room. Second i was finished in no time (instead of waiting for several hours) and they even let me watch the whole proccess.

VW needs to improve their customer care and reliabilty cause i see myself selling my wifes Polo and getting a Nissan in a couple of years.

That's bad news Yannis, as i was thinking of buying a Polo or Golf, depending on my cash status in 3-4 months.

These guys a Ford Sfakianakis were slow as hell! There were 6 (max possible) cars in the shop at any given momment. They changed my battery in the back yard, and i was supposed to wait there in the cold! At least these time they were more friendly than last year. I can't figure if this is because of the change of the owner or because of the visit of my lawyer there last year

Audi Japan... a4 98 II, 2.4V6 tiptrothingy (never used anyway).
I don't know what hell look like. But it might be quite close to the ownership of this car.
When bought vw and audi where together. now the have separate showroom (cookies more expensive at audi). We went back for an oil change where we bought her, vw only. Parked her next to a B5 passat (that's on of the time where you see that you just paid a lot more for a different badge on a worse looking car). The mechanic refused outright saying they don't service audis anymore. And asked us to leave because the place was needed to park cars waiting for services. (which kinda was her case...).
Another garage... we ask for replacement of both front driveshaft who were clicking to death at every turn. Came back the week after... rubber boots replaced on the old driveshafts. Clicking sound back 2 days after.
Got rid of it 2 years ago. Still have weekly nightmare. Can't stop drooling everytime I see one on the street though... except for the new TT who finally managed to make me love the old one.

Bought the cheapest Nissan on the catalog. The mecanic come himself to pickup the car for scheduled maintenance (either at home or at work). No problem, no money wasted anymore...