I love this car - but sometimes I think it wants me to hate it!

[carcollector]

We have a 2018 Calais V V6 AWD hatch in Darkmoon blue. Beautiful car to drive, optioned way above anything else in its price range, awesome colour, pampered all of its life so far, but we have a slightly fractured relationship. It has only done around 77,000 km, but in that time, it suffered the usual A/C hose leak (fixed at around 40,000 km), the thermostat started to fail at around 70,000 km (now replaced), the HUD died at 77,000 km (now working after the Holden Dealer investigated it, but they don't know what was wrong with it), and a noise we have been chasing in the driveline looks to be the auto trans, so it is booked in next week to have the 9 speed auto replaced.

The good news is that this all was and will be all covered under its 5 year warranty which ends at the end of October, but what happens after October? Please no-one mention the diff and curse it further!

I have older Holdens that have crunched out many hundreds of thousands of KM with far less issues.

PS: Maybe I should just buy a spare diff and store it, as there can't be too much else that can go wrong

 

[me_like_fuelBurners]

100% agree with your feelings toward the ZB. A real gem of a car to drive, surprisingly quick, plus at it's price point there is honestly nothing that even comes close.
Even though the issues with the car are worrying, in reality the 5 year warranty has seen no $$$ come out of my pocket to fix them (these long 5/7/10 year warranties seem to be the norm these days - and I don't think it's due to the manufacturers confidence in their ability to make a rock solid car, more likely that they just get them built as quickly as possible and therefor let the warranty period act as 'Quality Control' to iron out any issues that arise). So I guess time will tell once October passes and the ZB's issues becomes its owners financial responsibility alone. Lets hope it behaves itself as there is already enough hate in this world, and like you, I really want to love it

One thing that might be worth mentioning regarding the October warranty expiration; the lovely staff at my [ex] Holden Dealer said that although the warranty does expire in October, if something major were to fail after this date they have a 12 month leniency/grace period with GM to allow for repair/replacement costs to be still covered under warranty as long as the cause was not due to driver misuse blah blah blah.
Not sure how much truth there is to this but it's worth asking the question if something goes wrong.

All the best mate

PS: regarding the part that we shall not dare to mention, have a look to see if you can see any obvious sign of fluid leakage on the underside of the unit... I'm no expert but it seems to be a common sign that things are not as they should be (i.e sealed 4 life unit)

 

[hademall]

Regardless of your warranty expiring, there are some things that may break down that shouldn't.
Therefore you can claim that it was not fit for purpose, especially if your car has only done the kilometres you say.

‘Skylarking’ is all over ‘Consumer Law’ and has written many posts on this matter.

 

[carcollector]

Update. We picked up the car this afternoon, now fitted with a brand new auto transmission. Time to find a holiday destination for a test drive!

 

[Smitty]

ZBs have no longevity... 5 years and 120,000kms
and they are screwed
the VFs we had in the fleet (got rid of the last one in August) all went over 200,000
.. the last one 290,000 when i sold it. Issues??? out of 37 Vf's and a cumulative
180 years of ownership? one trans at 240,000 and another at 270,000 a radiator
from a 3 month prior kangaroo front hit I reckon was not replaced but patched.
Brakes ? getting 100,000 out of the fronts and NONE have had rears done.
That's it .

ZBs..?? naah, all have had their brakes (F&R)... rotors and pads done twice by 120,000
seriously 50,000 for front and rear pads and rotors?
A/con?.. all have had problems. more than 10 have gone for new compressors, all of them
have got new hoses (got 2 at present waiting on hoses and of course they are in Qld!... no aircon)
And 4 have had trans replaced before 50,000

Am working to get out of them by June next year, just NOT the car for our sales fleet!
Picked up 2 Mitsubishi OUTLANDERS ES AWD today for 2 NSW sales guys as replacements
for ZBs.

Final problem is ... ZB resale/trade-in values. it is in the toilet

 

[Skylarking]

Update. We picked up the car this afternoon, now fitted with a brand new auto transmission. Time to find a holiday destination for a test drive!

Ah, back to the love i see

Unfortunately modern cars are rather complex and can be an expensive PITA to find someone who can properly repair them when things go wrong. It's not so much the mechanical side but the electronics that controls everything so modern cars are like a double edged sword in one sense (they work really well until they don't).

Luckily we have some good laws (though they can be better as they need some punitive measures, some teeth so to say). They help to ensure we aren't at the mercy or some shitty retailer or manufacturer. And when bad things happen, our Australian Consumer Law can help thought it's all much less of an issue when the love is strong.

However, shite will hit the fan at times and it's always good to be prepared with an understanding of the ACL legislation and your rights in law. To get some basic understanding, it's best to read the relevant bits of the legislation as all aussies who buy products from any business down under have a statutory warranty that is nicely defined without a time limit other than what a reasonable consumer would expect for the product price and market position the product occupies. So the seller's notion that something is out of warranty doesn't actually apply so easily to your legislated statutory warranty period under law.

To gain a little understanding, read the sudden loss of power steering assistance thread as I've made lots of comments with lots of links to various bits (including to the legislation itself). It will also give you an idea why "reasonable consumer" seems such a hard thing to nail down (as some muscly blokes didn't see the EPS assistance fault as being a safety issue)....

Unfortunately the big problem we all now have is that Holden is a shell and GM doesn't care about us old bogan Holden owners. GM is targeting further up the market with their corvette, camaro and overpriced 4x4 POS's... as well as the new EV's supposedly they will likely bring to our market... Fcukem...

So GM/H often aren't helpful and fob you off. But it doesn't matter if the selling dealer is still in business and trading (as it's their primary responsibility in law to provide the statutory warranty on the shite they sell).

But enough of that, for now, enjoy the L UUU V and when you have time read the aforementioned VF sticky thread for your ACL fix so your better prepared for the H A T E

 

[VS 5.0]

Ah, back to the love i see

Unfortunately modern cars are rather complex and can be an expensive PITA to find someone who can properly repair them when things go wrong. It's not so much the mechanical side but the electronics that controls everything so modern cars are like a double edged sword in one sense (they work really well until they don't).

Luckily we have some good laws (though they can be better as they need some punitive measures, some teeth so to say). They help to ensure we aren't at the mercy or some shitty retailer or manufacturer. And when bad things happen, our Australian Consumer Law can help thought it's all much less of an issue when the love is strong.

However, shite will hit the fan at times and it's always good to be prepared with an understanding of the ACL legislation and your rights in law. To get some basic understanding, it's best to read the relevant bits of the legislation as all aussies who buy products from any business down under have a statutory warranty that is nicely defined without a time limit other than what a reasonable consumer would expect for the product price and market position the product occupies. So the seller's notion that something is out of warranty doesn't actually apply so easily to your legislated statutory warranty period under law.

To gain a little understanding, read the sudden loss of power steering assistance thread as I've made lots of comments with lots of links to various bits (including to the legislation itself). It will also give you an idea why "reasonable consumer" seems such a hard thing to nail down (as some muscly blokes didn't see the EPS assistance fault as being a safety issue)....

Unfortunately the big problem we all now have is that Holden is a shell and GM doesn't care about us old bogan Holden owners. GM is targeting further up the market with their corvette, camaro and overpriced 4x4 POS's... as well as the new EV's supposedly they will likely bring to our market... Fcukem...

So GM/H often aren't helpful and fob you off. But it doesn't matter if the selling dealer is still in business and trading (as it's their primary responsibility in law to provide the statutory warranty on the shite they sell).

But enough of that, for now, enjoy the L UUU V and when you have time read the aforementioned VF sticky thread for your ACL fix so your better prepared for the H A T E

When ASIC can't / won't prosecute insolvent trading (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10...-construction-companies-prosecution/102998460) what hope do we have ?

 

[Skylarking]

When ASIC can't / won't prosecute insolvent trading (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10...-construction-companies-prosecution/102998460) what hope do we have ?

I have relatives in Vic who have been pooch screwed by building company collapse, until govco refunded their deposit, but there are multiple failures occurring here.

ASIC ignored the criminal prosecution against directors for trading while insolvent. Administrator ignore the civil side of insolvency. Building regulators ignore ensorcing the laws and standards that builders are supposed to follow.

So it does seem that there is little hope.

[rant]
Yet in that latest case where building companies were collecting deposits while not having funds to pay the legally required building insurance, the administrators haven't taken the view that such failure is trading while insolvent. Oddly a business not having funds and failing to pay legally required taxes is considered a case of trading while insolvent. So the issue here is that if the administrators took the required actions against the directors, for trading while insolvent, the directors personal assets can be and should be seized to pay any shortfalls to the creditors. That way the government wouldn't have to bare the cost via taxpayer money being used to bail out private business mates allowing them to escape from their liabilities. IIRC > $50M of taxpayer $$ was spent on returning deposits from one builder alone because they didn't get the legally required insurance when required... And the building regulator knew about such pooch screwing for years and did nothing...

I don't know whether an insolvency conviction is required before the administrator can go after the directors personal assets but this home builder saga shows building regulators, ASIC and the administrators are all somewhat asleep at the wheel.

Its farcical Australia wide... trades people self certify, building standards are ignored, poor products (homes) full of defects are sold, building companies don't buy insurance as required (before deposits are taken), building insurance providers push buyers to get inspections before they by (knowing that will invalidate any claims on the building policy), etc, etc...

It's all fcuked up ..... yet i can't legally run a wire or a water pipe of even lay a steel roof and flashing... cause i'd fcuk things up according to the unions and regulators
[/rant]

Below is an interesting youtube channel that highlights some of the rsidential building fcukups that the regulators have been ignoring for years...

https://www.youtube.com/@Siteinspections

 

[VS 5.0]

directors personal assets

"Smart" business people have little to no assets in their own names with any assets worth anything owned by trusts, thereby protecting them from claim.

 

[me_like_fuelBurners]

Well hmmmmm..... this thread just went DEEP!!!!!

...wait, is that a rabbit hole i see???