thoughts about reliability?

[xmicro_Redline]

I disagree that because your dad is buying it you should let him choose, he is getting off cheap if you earned a scholarship, and he is only paying for a car! SO congrats on the scholarship.

As far as the car is concerned, My Redline is about 1 1/2 years old with just over 7000 miles. I had a problem with the stereo that they fixed, and a hood rub issue, which they fixed and the factory recall on the diff. Otherwise it has been perfect. If he is worried, spend the $1200-1600 and get the extended warrantee.

MORE FOOD FOR THOUGHT, Jealous college kids and vandalism!! There have been quite a few members that parked there car in "general" parking area's that have had the car purposely damaged. This car invokes many emotions, and makes some jealous. There are a lot of kids that may hate the fact that you are so lucky to have that car ....... just a thought!


Good Luck at College and with your auto decision!

[Blue Sky Redline]

You say sis has a Santa Fe?
You need to haul stuff around you ask sis to swap with you.
She will love it( you will never get that chick car back either)
Nuff said

[BlueSkyRL]

OK, I'm a father with two teenage daughters and one of them will be going to college in two years, the other one who knows . I'm a protective father...BUT I want them to live life and not be living in a bubble so I will be buying my daughter a Jeep simply because she loves the looks and driving them.

My advice...talk to your father and make sure he's really OK with the SKY. Its got to do with respect for one another and trust.

[pc34]

im not worried about my sister taking my car. she had a choice too she wanted the most practical (most boring) car ever.

my dad does trust me with the decision. actually i joined this forum so that i could follow up on what he said about researching the car. his main focus is on me being happy with the car and he wanted me to find out about reliability because he knows i wouldnt be happy living at a repair shop. but from what ive read from this thread it sounds like that shouldnt be a big problem.

[cerberus]

Getting to your main question, as you keep reading, you'll see the occasional glitch here and there, but you certainly won't spend all your time in the shop. Keep in mind as well, that folks don't post as often that they're having no problems, so issues can get magnified in this sort of venue. Reliability overall doesn't appear to be a problem. If you want to take your research a step farther, swing by your local dealer and ask around in service what sorts of problems they see. Just a thought.

[cincat12]

Congrats on your scholarships and best of luck to you in college.

My son is a senior, and he is a Cincinnatus Scholar, full ride, tuition, room, board books, fees at University of Cincinnati. We promised our children, get a full ride and we will buy you a car!

He has been driving a beat up 91 SAAB, and when I reminded him of the promise his Dad & I gave years back, he said he wanted to be a self made man. No car for him.

With that said, buy the Sky, just on the facts....it has a better warranty.

[Bogie]

Here are list of issues. Expect to experience some yourself. Most do not involve a trip to the dealership, but some do....and some may involve a wee bit of time there:

1. A "few" folks have had difficult electrical problems (see note a).
2. Wheel well bulges.
3 Multiple problems with the top (too many to list individually...search the board...you will likely experience some of them).
4. Trunk alignment.
5. Water/moisture in trunk.
6. Fuel gage inaccuracy below half a tank.
7. TRex window controls.
8. Leaks (see note b)
9. Noises; the fuel pump ticks (see note c)
10. A few folks have had seat anchor problems (there is a TSB on it).
11. NA gauges are hard to read in sunlight; RL gauges are better IMO.
12. Radio LCD can't be read in sunlight.
13. Speedo and Tach chrome fittings can become loose and rattle.
14. Door foot plate comes loose.
15. Cupholders suck.
16. Brake vacuum problem on 2008 RL (see note d).
17. Blindspots with top up requires adjusting side mirrors to a nonstandard angle....takes getting used to.
18. Rock magnet. Low car. Low slope. Lots of debris hits the car.
19. A few owners have experienced bad glass...stress fracture (covered under warranty).
20. Permagrin negates most or all of 1-19.


Note a: A very few folks here have had electrical problems. When they happen, it's often hard to diagnose and find. Statistically, you should have a very low chance of getting a car like this. But it is a possibility.

Note b: Some seals aren't good. Again, this is on very few vehicles.

Note c: This ain't a luxury car with a bunch of sound proofing. Some people can't stand the tick...and have even taken it to dealer to fix the tick...and when they find out that's how it is designed, they say "Geez, if I had known it was going to tick, I wouldn't have bought it". It ticks. If that bothers you, don't buy it. On the plus side, although CS states there is high wind noise, I've found the wind noise to be very muted with top up, even at high speed.

Note d: Varies from "no problem" to "Honey, I hit the tree". This can be very dangerous if you're not aware of it and don't take precautions. Search forums for more details.

[pc34]

Originally Posted by cincat12

Congrats on your scholarships and best of luck to you in college.

My son is a senior, and he is a Cincinnatus Scholar, full ride, tuition, room, board books, fees at University of Cincinnati. We promised our children, get a full ride and we will buy you a car!

He has been driving a beat up 91 SAAB, and when I reminded him of the promise his Dad & I gave years back, he said he wanted to be a self made man. No car for him.

With that said, buy the Sky, just on the facts....it has a better warranty.

i return the congratulations. full ride is pretty sweet. but at the same time, i think your son is insane! gonna be rich some day, but insane for the time being. i cant imagine turning down a car.

[BigSkyCountry]

Originally Posted by cincat12

Congrats on your scholarships and best of luck to you in college.

My son is a senior, and he is a Cincinnatus Scholar, full ride, tuition, room, board books, fees at University of Cincinnati. We promised our children, get a full ride and we will buy you a car!

He has been driving a beat up 91 SAAB, and when I reminded him of the promise his Dad & I gave years back, he said he wanted to be a self made man. No car for him.

With that said, buy the Sky, just on the facts....it has a better warranty.

Cincat: You have raised a fine son. He will far surpass kids who have had cars bought for them. We need more parents like you but more importantly, more kids like your own. Ray

[TINOONIT]

Bogie is the Best and has great advice.

I love my SKY R/L.... I test drove other convertibles and this was my fav by far. I hated the miata and I really hated the BMW Z4 believe it or not.
The SKY drives so nice and it feels good when everyone is checking out your car.
It's just a great overall feeling! I love this car.

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by pc34

i cant imagine turning down a car.

When a parent provides a car to a son/daughter, there is an implied dependency. In some cases, this is not a problem. In other cases, it can become the root or catalyst for significant problems. The degree of dependency depends on the legal and financial strings. Is the car titled solely in the child's name? Who carries the insurance? Who is responsible for payments and maintenance?

I'm not saying this is your situation, or that it will ever become your situation. All I can say is he who ultimately "controls" the car, ultimately has "control", and when it becomes leverage in support of other differences, it only adds fuel to an existing dissonance, with sometimes severe consequences.

[Rob the Elder]

Life comes at you fast. College is the time when you are learning your limits, testing your self and your ability to learn. You will get old, have responsibilities and too many bills soon enough.

The what you want and go have fun with it.

All this psyco babble about "please your dad" "let him choose" "be practical" is a total load of crap, in my humble opinion

If the old man said pick what you want, then do just that. If its a turbo diesel rabbit so be it but YOU choose.

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by Rob the Elder

If the old man said pick what you want, then do just that. If its a turbo diesel rabbit so be it but YOU choose.

Well geez, if it's just a matter of "choice", then why not a Bugatti Veyron. Hey pc34, did cost ever enter into the equation? This one runs for a cool $2 million.





Watch the vid. The engineering discussions are pretty sexy:

YouTube - Top.Gear 2007 Bugatti Veyron top speed test

[pc34]

well.. as long as i keep it under 3 mil its fine.. haha no jk but i cant go crazy and buy a really high class car. the sky is pretty much at the top of my range. but truly, that doesnt bother me; between an audi and a sky i would choose the sky any day.

[Bogie]

Originally Posted by pc34

i cant go crazy and buy a really high class car.

What are you saying? The SKY isn't a high class car?

j/k.

[pc34]

i just dont call it high class because they dont charge 80K for it. plus, all my friends are jealous already i wouldnt want them to try to assassinate me or something

[vschaos]

This is all good info as I am looking to buy one myself here shortly....think so at least. I am wondering though whats the story with the brakes issue? The one where you have to let the car idle for like 2min for vaccume to build up, etc? Is this still a problem?

[TulsaSky]

Originally Posted by Bogie

When a parent provides a car to a son/daughter, there is an implied dependency. In some cases, this is not a problem. In other cases, it can become the root or catalyst for significant problems. The degree of dependency depends on the legal and financial strings. Is the car titled solely in the child's name? Who carries the insurance? Who is responsible for payments and maintenance?

I'm not saying this is your situation, or that it will ever become your situation. All I can say is he who ultimately "controls" the car, ultimately has "control", and when it becomes leverage in support of other differences, it only adds fuel to an existing dissonance, with sometimes severe consequences.

I had friends that thought I the parent was foolish for giving my 21 year old daughter a car, I mean totally give her my 5 year old Chevy Prism. Sign over the title and its all hers. Friends asked don't you want to make sure she has insurance etc. NO for you see the point here it's not my responsibility any more, no strings it's all hers. If she robs a bank and they get the tag they will not come looking for me, speeding tickets etc. I no longer have to pay for anything she will have to pay for maintenance, insurance and all those tickets. If she gets a title loan against the car and defaults losses the car so be it.
If a parent has the car title in their name and they become upset at the grown child they can just pick up the phone call in a stolen vehicle, it really is that easy, for whomever name is on the car title owns the car. For us married folks it does work the same way if you don't jointly own that vehicle and your spouse leaves/dies/disappears you will have to get a lawyer to gain ownership of the vehicle, just being related is not enough of a reason.

TulsaSky

[cfjara]

Originally Posted by Bogie

What are you saying? The SKY isn't a high class car?

j/k.

i guess with the luxury tax on vehicles over $40K gone in 2003...we no longer have a luxury standard defined by our lovely law makers.....

But going to back to the 2003 standard...this car wouldn't have made "luxury" status.

We figure taxing the gluttonous gas guzzlers would make us feel better than taxing the rich.

[cfjara]

Originally Posted by vschaos

This is all good info as I am looking to buy one myself here shortly....think so at least. I am wondering though whats the story with the brakes issue? The one where you have to let the car idle for like 2min for vaccume to build up, etc? Is this still a problem?

it's all smoke and mirrors I say!!!.. just kidding. I guess there was some batch of cars with faulty brakes. Probably more a manufacturing quality issue rather than design issue. I received my 08 R/L back in October last year. Haven't had any issues what so ever. Brakes are great. It brakes hard and fast....just watch out for people behind you when you brake hard.


As for warming up the car. I always let it run for 30sec every initial morning startup. But even when i don't let it warm up ...i've never had any problems. If you turn it on right away and start driving and brake, they'll feel a little mushy...but thats an extreme case when you're actually trying to beat the vacum system from intializing.