We truly are in the golden age of automobiles. These days there’s more choice, more models, with more option packages than ever, giving consumers more chances to have an almost limitless supply of new vehicle experiences. Drivers are abandoning their sedans and hatchbacks for SUVs, CUVs, pickup trucks, convertibles, sports sedans and hybrids. And they can come with driver assist features, collision mitigation systems, navigation displays, and a full slate of connectivity electronics. But in the heat of the emotion-laden process of buying a new vehicle, key things can be ignored, omitted, or glossed over leading to some unpleasant surprises. Here are some of the most important.
• If the top comes off, water will come in. While most of us realize that taking a soft-top vehicle through an automated car-wash is just asking for trouble, the water volume and pressure that these convenient services offer can overcome the weather-seals on removable hard panels and metal folding roofs. If you’re not a fan of hand-washing your auto, or drying out soaked carpets and seats, stay away from these units.
Read more: Top 10 smart questions to ask your used car dealer
• Pick-up beds are dirty places. One of the most popular accessories for pickups is a tonneau cover. This gives ex-sedan owners the convenience of having a very large trunk. Problem is pickup boxes are never water or dust proof no matter what type of cover you put on them. Truck tailgates have no weather-seals, so a drive down an unpaved road or on a snow dusted highway will leave two distinct dirt/snow tracks on the bed floor as the aerodynamics of the truck create a vacuum that sucks in grit and snowflakes. If what you’re carrying has to be dust or water free, keep it in the cab or in a well-sealed, bed-mounted tool box.
A woman looks at new Toyotas with a salesman in this file photo.
Justin Sullivan, Getty Images
• Original tires don’t last. If you’ve owned, say, brand X tires all your life and easily got 80,000-km wear out of them, don’t expect that same brand to deliver the same life when they’re supplied by your carmaker on your new ride. Automakers tend to focus on a quiet tire with great grip or fuel economy and their tire suppliers manufacture this rubber accordingly. Unfortunately, great grip and a silent ride seldom make for a long lasting tire. For the vast majority of mainstream vehicles, lower your expectations to less than 50,000 km for the original tires.
• Navigation isn’t cheap. You’ve been using portable navigation units for years and finally decide it would be nice to have a factory built-in unit on your next ride. Keeping that system updated isn’t free. Many consumers are shocked when they learn that it will cost $200 or more to update the maps on a $1,000 factory navigation option, while off-the-shelf portable units priced as low as $100 come with free “maps for life.”
• All-wheel-drive doesn’t mean off-road capable. Many car companies market their SUVs and CUVs (compact utility vehicles) as rough and tough warrior transports. But try to take them off road or even down a rutted cottage lane and you’ll be hearing some expensive undercarriage scrapes and bangs. If you can’t slide an eight-inch block under the lowest part of your SUV, it shouldn’t venture off the beaten path.
• Your sunroof needs a little plumbing from time to time. All factory power sunroofs have water drains to remove water that may collect in the exposed channel-tray when the roof is partially or completely open. Some have two and some have four. If these drains, which are basically narrow gauge rubber hoses (think windshield washer lines) become plugged, they can cause water leaks which may go undetected until electrical systems start malfunctioning. Once or twice a year, open the sunroof and pour a litre of water into the surround channel to see if it drains. The water should drip out near the wheel wells. If it doesn’t, you may be able to perform a quick DIY plumbing repair with a few gentle shots from an aerosol can of compressed air (the type used to clean computers).
Buying a new car is not a process to be taken lightly. Research and test drive the heck out of any car before signing on the dotted line.
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• Restricted and expensive for those 18 and over. Big shiny chrome and alloy wheels look great, but the tires that fit them can get expensive. Generally speaking, anything over 17-inches in diameter (denoted by the last two digits of the tire size) can get pricey, and the selection becomes smaller. If you’re a budget-minded tire shopper, stay away from larger tires.
• Shake, rattle and fold. The push toward better fuel economy (the U.S. government is still promising to mandate a Corporate Average Fuel Economy of more than 54 mpg by 2025) means increasingly lighter materials and components in vehicles. The down side is less sound insulation and more rattles. Rear folding seats on SUVs and crossovers can be a major source of these annoyances. Vehicles always ride silent when new, but can quickly develop a noise or two early on. Check the rear seat back attachment on your shopping choices. If the latches are high up on the seat backs, chances are good they will remain quiet when locked in the upright position. But if the latches are mounted halfway down or lower and the seat back is thin and light, the seat will likely rattle even over the smoothest roads if it’s not occupied. If small rattles annoy you, leaving this type of seat folded down is the only solution.
Also read: Six smart tips to help you while shopping for cars online
• Turbocharged engines mean a faster ride to the gas station. Even though NRCan overhauled their fuel mileage rating system last year, the disconnect between the new vehicle window label and what drivers experience in the real world is still a major source of contention. Smaller displacement turbocharged engines are on the top of these disagreements. Fuel mileage testing never seems to take into account the effect of the turbocharger, and drivers can’t turn these power boosters off or on (unless they have an extremely light right foot).
• Big Brother is weighing in. Truck manufacturers are always bragging about their products’ towing capacities, and commercial operators always seem to be pushing those limits to the edge. Almost all of today’s pickups will set a very specific diagnostic code if the transmission overheats due to towing a load in excess of the truck’s capacities. In most cases when this happens, the transmission control computer will lock the transmission in second gear until the code is cleared. So if the truck goes into the shop for this code and there is no cooling system problem that would cause the transmission to overheat, be prepared to foot the bill even if the vehicle is within the warranty limits.
