Wow, where can I start.

For those of you always complaining about getting C230's for loaners when you bring your car in, be so fortunate you're getting such an awesome loaner.

I brought my car into the stealership this morning to get the Convenience Features thing fixed this morning, and the stealership gave me not another Benz for a loaner, but a............Nissan Altima. In the short hour I spent in it, this is what I found out.

1.) The car is the colour of gangrene.
2.) Never thought orange illumination in the instrument guages would be so distracting and obnoxious. Oh yeah, did I mention I can't turn them off? So yeah, bright orange light in my face constantly.
3.) Steering was inspired by a Carnival Cruise Ship
4.) Fit and Finish- What fit and finish???? Ask a Nissan engineer and he'll give you this face
5.) Engine at idle sounds exactly like a lawnmower. No joke.
6.) When I turned on the rear defroster, I also turned on the left turn signal. When I turn off the defroster, it turns it off. So now I have two ways to signal left.
7.) Suspension was again, inspired by an ocean liner. I felt like I was floating the entire time I was driving. Was the car even connected to the ground? I'll never know.
8.) Design of this car was clearly done in an period when "rice" was still cool.
9.) Brakes have two modes. On and off. Kinda like an SLR's. "Step on the brakes, and my face comes off.", as Jeremy Clarkson would put it.
10.) This is another soul-less Japanese car.

 

HAHAHAHHAHA

 

i feel the same way when i take my Touareg in and enterprise gives me a choice between a jeep liberty and an xterra hmm do i want to fold my 6'2" body into the liberty or bounce around in the xterra?

 

lol. i have never complained about my c240 loaners. i would take the cigarette smell over any car that isnt a benz.

 

Never liked Nissan.

 

Did you have a reservation? The service advisor told me that if you really really want a benz as loaner, make sure you call before taking your car in for service and this is the only way to guarantee that you are going to get a benz as a loaner. Works for me so far.

 

same here.... as long as you schedule your visit they will make sure you leave in a benz. i had some warranty work done about a month ago and they gave me a C320 sport coupe. I wouldnt own one but man, that little car was fun to drive. not to mention it was 1000 times better than a nissan!

 

My dealer doesnt have anything besides Cs and MLs. The manager gave my dad his E55 once!

 

Not necessarily true. Majority of dealerships in L.A. are very strict about loaning out Benz's. Some will say that you have to ask for a Benz in advance, however they still won't guarantee you'll be in a Benz loaner. Other dealerships will tell you flat out that it's not going to happen and that they only loan out benz's to those that purchased the car from that specific dealership.

 

im not allowed to get a benz loaner at my dealership because i didn't buy my car from them... psssssh! last time i got a nissan murano.. and yes, those orange lights are annoying, esp during the day time!

 

Nissan started to go downhill when they changed their name from Datsun. Then when Renault bought them, over the top styling and poor engineering were inevitable. Now they are moving their headquarters to Tenn. They are a lost cause. I think Chery will surpass Nissan quickly when Malcom Bricklin gets them going in the U.S. later this year. Sure it will have poor quality and enigineering like Nissan but they'll be half the price.

 

God I'm so glad I have my car back.....

Before I returned that hideous car, I noticed two more things.

11.) The Altima seems to be built for larger people. I'm 5'7" and I had the seatbelt height down to the lowest setting, and I was still being "choked" by the seatbelt.
12.) It was raining today in Dallas, so I turned on the wipers to "low". It must've taken the "low" setting too seriously. Imagine your wipers wiping in normal speed. Now imagine your wipers working in slow motion, for every single pass on the windshield. It was as if the wipers were struggling to make it across and back again cuz it was so tired and needed more rest. That was normal "low" mode. They should've labeled it "Slow-Mo Low"

I must say, just about everytime I got in the Nissan, I literally started laughing every now and then while driving. Not from enjoying what a great car it was, but more in the lines of how ridiculous the car was. I kept thinking how a car like this can even pass the "Green Light" and head towards production. And I'm amazed people voluntarily BUY Altima's.

And one more thing about the orange lights. I've seen orange lights WORK and work WELL on cars. BMW's have them and they kickass. But something about Nissan's tend to blind you, even during a bright sunny day! It's like all you're trying to do is concentrate on the road ahead of you, but still in your line of sight is this bright orange glow that is so f-ing distracting!!!!!

 

They didn't give me a Benz loaner for the same reason. Now that I think about it I was wondering why my Service Advisor asked me where I bought my car.....

 

That was pretty good.

 

YOU'RE COMPLAINING WITH A NISSAN ALTIMA? We've gotten a Dodge Neon before in the family for bringing in an E320.

 

That's even SCARIER.

 

Got a Ford Focus after that one too. We were feeling lucky with that one.

Total List:
Dodge Neon (white)
Ford Focus
Mercedes C240 (only so so according to one family member)
Mercedes C320 (pewter with lots of cigarette smoke)
Mercedes C280 (7G, not that good according to one family member)

All cars are from Enterprise car hire company. My dealer uses that company.

I'm lucky, I don't get loaner cars. When I get there, they either shuttle me home or my car is the number one priority.

 

I'm seriously jealous. If I were given an E55 as my loaner car, I'd never want my own car back LOL. Really wished I bought one of those W210 E55s. Too bad when we got our E320 (which has the black wood trim btw), the only E55 they had was a 2001 (it was March 24, 2002) and that felt a little weird, it was silver too, personally I prefer black.

That's a very nice service manager. Unfortunately, my service manager doesn't own an E55, at least I don't think so.

 

There one guy I know......... He took the SLR in..... and he get an S600 for a loaner........

 

was it park place? might have been the exact same ****ty altima i was driving the other week...

 

TA: Did they at least fix your car? And did you clease yourself before getting back into your car?

 

LOL! I nominate this post as the funniest one of the week. . . maybe even in a month. My teen-aged son and I laughed so hard we had tears in our eyes. Now I fear going to the dealership for servicing of my SL. What am I going to end up with??!!

Thanks for this post. It was very funny!

________________________
Sue’s 2006 SL500
European Delivery February 2006

 

I liked the C230 so much I bought the 2005 C230 SS-K the dealer had. My wife absolutely loves it!

This is one hilarious (and sadly true) post. Only my Audi (I have a TTQC) dealer and the wife's Benz dealers give what I consider a decent loaner. Lexus is supposed to be good, but I eschewed the new I just because.

 

lol.....yeah it was Park Place. What's weird is that at Ewing, I got a Benz loaner!

 

Sadly no, they didn't fix my car. Not entirely. I brought the car in for 2 reasons.

1.) Convenience Features didn't work-Said my car didn't have the feature where it moves the seat back. Just the mirrors and steering wheel, which works.

2.) Weather strip was coming off on my drivers side window-FIXED

I should have. That Altima car smelled like a FOOT.