One BAD Marauder--and I do mean BAD! [Archive]

studio460

10-14-2003, 11:45 PM

Well . . . here it is again.

Well I don't mind people here knowing about the site at all really--I just didn't realize my real name was posted somewhere there too.

Just to clear up the record here . . .

Yes, I'm the idiot that took delivery of the car. It's a long f*****g story, and in any case let me just say that I am in continuing negotiations with Ford. As far as it being bulls**t, well Ford has all the documention. In fact, the next time I go into the dealership I think I'm going to wear a f*****g wire and a hidden camera. JohnnyB, are you telling me that Ford couldn't have sold a car that f****d up? What planet are you from? The build quality on this car is s**t.

Hmmmm . . . Do I sound bitter?

studio460

10-14-2003, 11:55 PM

By the way, no offense to 2003Marauder, I understand that you were just curious about the site. As you can see, this a bit of a sore subject for me.

studio460

10-15-2003, 01:05 AM

By the way, previous to my Marauder purchase, I took delivery of a brand new 2000 Ford Mustang, black. The paint was perfect. I mean PERFECT. The car performed flawlessly except for a power steering unit which failed at about 30K miles, and a valve spring that broke JUST out of warranty at about 38K miles ($500 repair).

Here's an excerpt from the first letter I sent to Ford regarding my Marauder purchase, "I had arrived at the dealership at 2:40 in the afternoon of Monday, 10 March 2003. Although there was no financing necessary (cash purchase), and the price was already contracted via the X Plan agreement [meaning, no time was spent on 'negotiation'], the vehicle was not delivered to the customer until 7:40pm."

I arrived in daylight hours. The car looked fine, but it was dirty. They delivered the car after it got dark. Who takes five f*****g hours to sell/prep a car that doesn't require financing or haggling?

RCSignals

10-15-2003, 01:13 AM

NBC, I can understand your upset.
Not all MM suffer poor build quality.
I still think the buffer burns are from the dealer, or from the transporter having something that happened in transit "fixed" to avoid penalty. That has happened before. Even sections of a car "repainted" by them.
It is still the dealers responsibility to inspect the vehicle before delivery, no matter what plan it is purchased under

Bigdogjim

10-15-2003, 01:17 AM

Shooter: that is crime in my book. I am also in a paint/clearcoat "war" with the selling dealer!
They (dealer) just do not seem to care? Again not all delaer are guilty but in case it sure looks that way.
When I was in Texas I noticed several car that were showing signs of paint-c;earcoat problems?
I have talked to other MM owners that are not happy with the paint.

I have parked next to black GM and the differance is noticeable!

studio460

10-15-2003, 01:25 AM

And another thing . . .

THERE WERE NO MARAUDERS AT LOS ANGELES LM DEALERS. Every local dealer was out of stock. I then called the largest dealer in the state and he told me that they stopped making Marauders in January 2003.

So I drove all the way out to this f*****g dealer in f*****g Duarte, California, about 60 miles from my house. They were the only AAA-approved dealer in Southern California except for another dealer way the ****** out in f*****g Riverside (which is REALLY far). I was originally planning to buy the car under the AAA-contracted price (no haggling). This was before I had found out about the Ford X-Plan deal I was able to get through work, just days before the purchase. Since I began the relationship with this dealer, I continued the relationship even after I found out that any dealer would accomodate the X-Plan pricing. When I got to the Duarte dealer, they had three Marauders on their lot. One was a 300A, the other two were 300Bs. The 300A had like 96 miles on it. The other 300B had something like 70+ miles on it. The one I chose appeared to have the least amount of visible cosmetic flaws on it. It also had only 4 miles on the odometer. The selling salesman also told me that he had seen it "come off the truck just last week" (which I believe in fact may have actually been true, but it was either a dealer trade, or a showroom model, because of all the f*****g scratches near the engine bay--you know, like the kind you would get if you leaned over the fender to look at the engine with some f*****g keys or something on your f*****g belt or some f*****g other thing).

So it's not like there were Marauders all over the place to choose from in this market anyway.

Hmmmm . . . do I sound bitter?

studio460

10-15-2003, 01:32 AM

Thanks for your posts, RC, BigDog . . .

Well, lemme tell ya about THAT. Here's me talking to the dealer a couple days after I bought the car . . .

NBC: "Someone must've used a buffer on this car. There are buffer burns all over the car."
LM Dealer: "Well, they must've done it at the factory, we don't even own a buffer."

Yeah, right.

studio460

10-15-2003, 01:41 AM

But wait there's more . . .

So I finally get Ford to send out a field service engineer to look at the paint defects. Well wouldn't you know, the very f*****g day he's to inspect the car, NBC pages me and tells me that I have a to jump on a plane THAT DAY.

So . . . the tech looks at the car without my presence. I circle all buffer marks and scratch areas with yellow grease markers. And you know what Ford corporate calls to tell me?

"The technician determined that those marks probably came from a detailing shop and that we cannot determine when those marks occurred."

Give me a f*****g break.

I'm like floored when they tell me this. This is the same person at Ford corporate to whom I've sent reams of documentation with photos, video, dates, times, places, of all customer-Ford communications which document when and where all of this was first noticed and when communicated to the selling dealership! Now, granted, that office is charged with sorting through both spurious and legitimate claims, as well as watching Ford's bottom line throughout the process, but sheesh!

Hmmmm . . . do I sound bitter?

studio460

10-15-2003, 01:48 AM

BigDog:

Once the deal's done, the dealer DOESN'T care. Ford DOESN'T care. Now, if I had something MAJOR go wrong with the car and it was out of service for like a month, Ford would care and would probably offer a generous cash or warranty incentive, or in some extreme cases, actually give the customer a new car. But if you don't fall in that category, you're on your own.

By the way, you won't get anywhere with the dealership, you have to write a letter to Ford corporate (the info is in your owner's manual)--[LOGAN/LML: feel free to edit this post/thread if it violates your TOS]. Even if the dealership does offer to "fix" your paint problems, I would decline, and opt to "fix" them myself. Since ANY "fix" will abrade your clearcoat another few mils, I opted to use the 3M Swirl Remover product and do the work myself. Of course, I did it with the utmost care and precision.

studio460

10-15-2003, 02:34 AM

By the way . . .

To balance out this thread with some positive words (unless this whole thing gets deleted by Logan anyway!), here's some kind words of advice . . .

You can't see buffer burns unless you're looking at a clean car in direct sunlight. If it's overcast, you can't see 'em. Here's my advice when buying a new black car. This all must take place PRIOR to actual purchase.

1. Have the car hand washed under your visual supervision (or do it yourself if permitted). ABSOLUTELY refuse the dealer's offer to wash the car unsupervised. Provide your own materials for the hand wash so that you can be sure that they are free of dirt and contaminates which may scratch the clearcoat/paint.

2. Once the car is clean, inspect the car is DIRECT SUNLIGHT at varying angles. That is, drive and repark the car so that the sun hits it from at least four different angles. The sun must be out, and not obscured by clouds or haze.

3. Wait until dark and drive the car to a brightly lit gas station. Inspect the car from all angles. You'll be surprised at what you can see under these lighting conditions in contrast to what you can see in direct sunlight.

4. If you really want to see how awful the car looks, get one of those million-candle power DC spotlights and inspect the car either at night or in an enclosed location. You will be able to see thousands of imperfections! I could see what I believe is rail dust fragments (metal flakes) embedded throughout the lower panels of the body. I don't recommend this last step--it'll make you crazy!

Believe me, when I'm shopping for my 2007 Marauder, that dealer will have one CAREFUL customer on his hands!

studio460

10-15-2003, 02:42 AM

Oh, and JohnnyB . . .

Didn't mean to start a flame war. You're a veteran poster here and I'm sure you're an okay guy. You probably didn't mean your post to be a personal attack (at least not on ME, hopefully). But as you can see, this IS a bit of a sore subject for me!!!

yorks

10-15-2003, 07:06 AM

WHEW! I feel like I just watched the first 20 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan" again.
Seriously though, I think most of us have paint problems to varying degrees (I know I do), and for every situation like this there is a best case/worst case. Somebody has to be the worst case and unfortunately Shooter, it's you. The great thing (if you can call it that) about this situation is that we as a membership couldn't have a better advocate for the crappy paint situation.
I don't think too many members would've or could've taken the time, or had the skills to put together the overwhelming evidence that you have assembled. You obviously love this car and are willing to go to extreme lengths to get what FLM promised us all.
More than one would've baled a long time ago. Stand by your principles, mate.

MAD-3R

10-15-2003, 08:02 AM

Damn Shooter...

Bitter? Naw, not at all.

Pissed beyong all reason? yeah, that closer... :)

Mercury sold that car to probebly one of the few people who have both the eye, and expertise to see and document it all. To bad for them.

I do hope they come through for you.

MMM2003

10-15-2003, 08:20 AM

Hey Shooter,

Let me add a little bit of fuel to the fire. Last August (2002), when I purchased my MM, I didn't know about this site and was sold an MM with some of the flaws you experienced (in addition to paying full MSRP, but that's another story).

After performing my first hand wash and wax, I noticed a lot of particles in the paint. They are under the clear-coat and the polishing cloth gets caught on them every-time.
They are still visible and obviously came like that from the factory (I'm talking dozens of those).

Another paint flaw, was a tear (or runner) on the rear quarter panel next to the gas tank. The dealer noted it when I took delivery and offered to repaint the panel. Not knowing any better, I agreed and had them repaint it. I never took a picture of it or have any proof that it was there, except the fact that I know have a sparkly rear quarter panel. In bright sunlight you can tell the difference to the adjacent painted parts.

If I would have known, what I know now, I would have never taking delivery of it, or at least kept it original with the paint flaw.

I'm sure there will be more buyers out there with the same issues, that just like me (and you) back than, don't know what to look for and believe the Dealer to sell them a new flawless vehicle!

Just my $.02 to the story. Hope everything will work out for you!

Good luck!

TheDealer

10-15-2003, 09:16 AM

Here's my take on NBC'S paint problems. I've worked for a Lincoln Mercury Dealer for 35 years. When a car come in off the trailer it's the Dealers responsibility to inspect the car and note all problems on the Bill of Lading. You need a very good person to do this. He must check all the features and make sure it's built properly, check for lighters, mats, hub cabs, and so on. He then has the driver sign the Bill of Lading with all problems noted. The Dealer then files a 3715 tranportation claim against the carrier. The missing items or damage is paid for by the carrier, not Ford Motor Company. As far as I can see, the paint is not defective in Ford's eyes. They painted the car and someone else scratched it and burned the paint. If the dealer didn't note this on the Bill of Lading then they can't get reimbursed from the carrier. So this leaves it between you and the Dealer. Ford Motor Company is out of the picture. RAY just my

Directedby

10-15-2003, 09:37 AM

After waxing my car, I now see many paint defects.

Some a small and I will accept them, only due the the fact that I don't want too many parts repainted.

The dealer in Valencia where I bought the car will repaint the hood. The hood has dozens of tiny raised spots. Almost like sand on the surface of the paint. The car was also delivered with a scratch on the hood, right down to the primer.

I have some hair/fibers and paint zits on the doors, trunk and fenders. One door zit is huge but the dealer assures me that their paint shop can 'fix' it. Before they do, I will need to find out how exactly they plan to fix it.

I had a BMW and after I bought the car I waxed it. I noticed may defects. I thought that because ti was a 'German made" car and was expensive that the paint was going to be perfect.

Nothing is perfect. As for the imperfections in my MM paint, I look at them as "birthmarks."

It gives my car individuality and character.

NBC, I feel for you - but sometimes the stress of all this isn't worth it. Go to M&S Autobody in WLA and get a quote on a new paint job or maybe they can color sand and reshoot the clearcoat.

Good luck,

Just my .02 cents.

deerejoe

10-15-2003, 09:41 AM

Expectations can lead to continuing disappointments when leaving the final solution to the 'other party'.
The old adage," if you want something done right, do it yourself" is not always feasible when accepting a new product from a manufacturer.

I am NOT an expert on auto line assembly/robotic paint booths...however, I HAVE built facilities for General Motors in the past and observed the operations after construction. More on this point a bit later.

LABOR: All employers (generally) have to depend on 'others' to do the tasks of production.
We have all probably heard the remarks made about not buying a product manufactured on a Monday or Friday, whatever, etc.
To accomodate this malaise or attitude of the human condition, the principal (employer) will allow a certain number of the 'producers' deficient tasks to pass to the consumer in order to keep the line (products) moving.

If we assume that there is no time (schedules, cost overuns, etc.) to redo the job for correction, how then can we allow the deficiency to persist??

Warranties, compensation, et al; come into play. These arbiters become the final solution to the problem of deficiencies in manufacture.

Problem then becomes whether the arbiters are capable of resolving the issue.
Auto dealerships TRY to staff knowledgeable and quality minded mechanics for the mechanical aspects of problems.
When it comes to PAINT problems...they are NOT and CANNOT do the work of the manufacturer!!

Thousands, perhaps millions of automobiles exhibit some minor to major paint flaws upon delivery to the selling entity.
It's unfortunate for the consumer; who on the most part does not have the eye nor the ability to discern a good paint job from one that is not. So they take the sale on face value at best.

What the buying public has to do is take a stand on QUALITY.
Hold the manufacturer to an acceptable level of workmanship and refuse to buy that which is not up to a given standard.
Too many consumers buy on impulse and immediate possession.
We (the consumer) have allowed the manufacturer to assume that we will accept sub standard products if we can have them 'yesterday' and at reasonable cost. We ARE too impatient to be meticulous in our desire to have the product NOW.

There is a well known shipper of parcels in this country who will acknowledge the full acceptance of a certain percentage of 'lost'
items as "just the cost of doing business"!!
Not that it matters to the consumer the loss being more profound than the compensation.

If I have a lemonade stand with sour, unsaleable drinks and don't do something to remedy the product, I will SOON be out of business.

In summary, preventive measures are far more effective than remedial actions...especially when one delegates the remedy to 'others' who may be LESS qualified for the solution.

WE pick the product...therefore, WE must dictate the quality.
Relying on the sales entity to choose for us is NOT in the consumers BEST interest, ever!!

Be smart...BUY smart...after all, its YOUR hard earned dollars.

studio460

10-15-2003, 04:01 PM

Yorks, that was funny! MAD-3R, MM2003 thanks for your support . . . Dealer, thanks for the 411. Directedby--sorry to hear your report . . . Deerejoe--NICELY SAID!

JohnnyB

10-15-2003, 05:07 PM

Originally posted by NBC Shooter
Oh, and JohnnyB . . .

Didn't mean to start a flame war. You're a veteran poster here and I'm sure you're an okay guy. You probably didn't mean your post to be a personal attack (at least not on ME, hopefully). But as you can see, this IS a bit of a sore subject for me!!!

My reply was not a personal attack on you or anybody else. I didn't know you were the author of that piece. It just seemed absurd that a buyer would accept a new car in that condition... And if everything you say went wrong, did go wrong, then it seems you got a lemon and you should consider investigating the "lemon laws" that govern under these situations. As far as build quality, Ford is on the decline and as long as Ford has to answer to Wall Street analysts and meet earnings projections, and continue to pump out SUVs for the yuppie crowd, Ford will continue to move pieces of sh** off its assembly lines. My car has an "acceptable" paint job, not the greatest but could be better. But every extra coat of paint they don't spray across total vehicle production saves a few $$'s and contributes to the bottom line, and you the consumer are the one who suffers. I

MarauderMike

10-15-2003, 05:46 PM

Well my MM also has a lot of dust and swirl marks and I think we all can appreciate the agony that NBC is in. My dealer is working on the car this week, color sanding the top panels and repainting the rear bumper as a result of the paint not sticking below the left taillight. If I didn't know any better I would say the car had been color sanded and polished at the plant. In my opinion the clearcoat didn't set up correctly allowing for easy scratching. The dust in the paint is just a poor painting enviorment. I have been around Ford products for more than 35 years and this is by far the worst presentation I've seen put out, heck, even my Tempo had a better paint job. I was at a dealer last week talking about trading mine in for a 04 and was surprised to learn that he had just delivered an 04 the previous week and it was heading to the body shop for paint defects, so I no longer see a point to make a change. Keep up your good work NBC and keep us posted.
It would seem that quite a few of us have the same issues and that it isn't the result of use or detailing by the owners, the ball is in Mercury and their dealers' court.

gja

10-15-2003, 06:03 PM

The paint on this car is crap. Simple and pure.
I will live with it for 2 years tops, than it is off to a pro shop and it will be sporting an Imron finish like a Learjet wears.

drobin

10-15-2003, 06:54 PM

Mike, what exactly is color sanding???

Donald
"drobin"

JohnnyB

10-15-2003, 07:24 PM

the worst paint job and it's a $35,000 car (sticker)...... go figure.

studio460

10-15-2003, 07:58 PM

Logan, do us all a favor and just KILL THIS THREAD!

studio460

10-15-2003, 08:20 PM

MarauderMike:

Thanks for your words of support, MarauderMike--sorry to hear of your troubles.

gja:

Yeah, what gja said . . .

JohnnyB:

Don't even get me started on lemon laws . . . I've been down that road already. I sent my package of documentation to the arbitration board assigned to Ford/LM products months ago. In response, I received in the mail a complete denial of SOMEONE ELSE'S claim! This poor guy bought a minivan or something and had MAJOR mechanical problems, and they refused his case. I mean, it was like a 30-page document of crap that went wrong with his car and all he got was this one-page letter from Ford saying, basically, "get lost and stop bothering us."

The California lemon law typically requires a major safety or driveability component of the car (e.g., brakes) to fail. The exact same component must fail twice after two failed repair attempts--THEN it goes to arbitration. If you have a lot of different things fail, it doesn't qualify under the lemon law unless the failures are extreme or clearly potentially catastrophic (at least from what I've seen from reading other claims).

Cole:

Got my FordChip tune already from Jerry. This is just temporary anyway, since I'm going with a Trilogy supercharger as soon as they get their CARB number.

MarauderMike

10-16-2003, 03:36 AM

Color sanding is a very fine sandpaper used to go over the clearcoat. In a lot of cases it will take dust particles to a smooth finish and then allow the car to be polished so that they are almost impossible to see. Hopefully it will work out good enough. I love the car but the finish is heartbreaking, one thing I have going at this point is the car is on a lease, keeps me from visiting Dennis or Jerry for the supercharger but if I want to come 2005 I can drop the car off and let Mercury get a lousy resale value for it.

01 Interceptor

10-17-2003, 01:27 AM

You know I am glad this has come up. (Or I missed it until now.) I have two almost identical fading areas on my rear doors of my CVPI. The LM dealer close to me refuses to address it and says it has been repainted(mind you this is the original factory paint.) He claimed "not trying to be a harda$$ and that there was nothing he could do." OK, fine...you just lost some business buddy. Because I will not buy anything there, nor will anyone I know. Funny thing was...as I was getting in my car one of the dealers had to ask the dumbest question about the panther cars EVER..."Is that a Marauder?" I laughed at him as I left. I mean the only thing that makes my car appear to be like an MM at all is the SS tips and the sound coming from them courtesy of the Flowmaster 40's. So I go to my Ford dealer a half hour away...totally different atmosphere. They told me it looks as though the clearcoat was burned off by a buffer. I get to thinking...well how exactly does this happen to both sides in identical areas. He told me to consult a paint guy and get back to him and he'll see what he can do. I am waiting to meet with a paint professional a friend of mine knows and will report the findings back to that Ford service dept. So I will let you know what happens.

Geo

10-17-2003, 03:58 AM

Funny you mention this NBC (well not funny). After I mentioned my ordeal about my Impala SSs woes for years at the dealer (where I stuck through it knowing I'd get a perfect car out of the deal) on another thread just yesterday (the one with the Marauder having alignment problems) I can say that I also had similar paint problems when my Impala was delivered. My car had been sitting for weeks in the back lot unprepped from the transport truck as per request of my salesman because he knew I wanted the car (nice guy; he just wanted his nice commision) When it finally got prepped, it had tons of scratches on it. I was quite upset and they could not get rid of them. I sais that their detail shop sucked and needed to go. I went to another dealer (to be fair I went to a Pontiac Buick GMC dealer instead of a Chevy dealer) where they had nightmare experiences when the new Buick Grand Nationals were being delivered. Then those cars had a laquer paint and not BaseCoat/ClearCoat and were prone to damage easier. Their PDI department had to fix almost all GNs all over again so I figured that they were the ones for the job. I got my dealer to pay the other dealer to do the work! And then came time to do the undercoating and they washed my car with some type of solvent (or whatever) and all those buff marks and scratches came back. So back to the Pontiac Buick dealer it went per the Chevy dealer's expense. Yes my car was cut-waxed, oh well. I've detailed the car once professionaly since those days (one of the best in my city) and then what happens only after I parked my car hundreds of miles away in storage. I notice buff gouges in the top of the C pillar where the pillar joins the roof! Obviously, the disc sander got caught in there (same marks on both sides of the car). Oh well, I am about to get my car out of storage and he had said that he would do whatever he neededto to do to fix it. We'll see.

Black! Imagine what's hiding under all those other cars with different colors. Yes, I've done allthose tricks too with the gas station lights (Shell has some nice ones) and I have a 400,000CP Q beam that has brought about some nice visuals.

I feel for you NBC but from all the pics I've seen of your car, it looks number one so you've come along way.

G _

studio460

10-17-2003, 04:17 AM

Thanks for the kind words, Geo! Interesting post!

Fourth Horseman

10-17-2003, 11:16 AM

For what it's worth Shooter, I definitely feel your pain. Though my build quality seems to be better than yours, my car has still had its share of problems: leaking power steering hoses, stuck throttle, popping rear suspension.

Now the problem I've got where I can't get parts from Ford to fix my car after the accident... I won't go into that again, you all know I'm bitter as can be about that.

It's just too many problems for a brand new $35k car. Ford needs to get its act together. They wonder why they're losing money and marketshare? Jeeez, I wonder. :rolleyes:

Good luck with everything, Shooter. I hope you can get it worked out.

studio460

10-17-2003, 11:22 AM

Thanks for your thoughts, Fourth. I know you've had your trying times as well. I guess what's partly to blame is the curse we all live with now with our Marauders--simply because it's a car we care so much about, every little thing wrong makes us crazy!

merc406

10-17-2003, 11:27 AM

No luck on the parts yet 4th?
Reminds me of a rolled Jeep Cherroke I repaired back when they changed the body in I think it was 84. Took 6 mths before all the parts found their way to us to make it new again. Was a great big pain in the -ss for all involved.

Fourth Horseman

10-17-2003, 01:09 PM

No, not yet. I'll post a full report once I learn where we are in the saga.

vaderv

10-18-2003, 12:28 PM

I cant say for sure that the St.Thomas facility has buffers in use but I'd be willing to bet a years salary that they do!!! I've worked at Fords for 16 years. I've been in 3 other plants on tours and we and all of them use polishers and buffers.

studio460

10-18-2003, 02:24 PM

Wow, vaderv! Finally some "inside" information on this issue! Thanks! NO ONE at Ford is admitting the use of buffers!

MarauderMike

10-18-2003, 02:33 PM

Heck, we had buffers back in 77' when I worked the Wixom Plant for a summer. Mine is in the paint shop this week, dealer is repainting the hood, roof and decklid under warranty. I took it in as a complaint of dust in the clearcoat and or color, they were going to colorsand but after further inspection they opted to repaint. Should have my baby back middle of the week, see how it worked out.

merc406

10-18-2003, 02:35 PM

Never seen a paint shop that didn't have 'em. Many cars are redone even before they leave the factory. The dealership's I have worked at, GM-Ford, we use to see their screw up's and we would redo them and shipping damage before the car was shown and sold. And we all know that Black is a tough color to get right.

studio460

10-18-2003, 02:44 PM

Interesting . . .

Hmmm . . . seems like a lot of members are getting under-warranty clearcoat resprays and dealer repaints of body panels. My selling dealership said, "No way are we gonna repaint the car . . . " Hope your repaint comes out good, MarauderMike.

MapleLeafMerc

10-18-2003, 02:44 PM

Shooter, I sincerely admire your tenacity. The easiest way to handle any problem is to give up and meekly accept whatever the seller offers, but it takes courage and character to fight for what is right. Thanks to your thread I've learned to NEVER again accept a car at night. I will make sure that I have lots of daylight time to check it out.

Is it just me, or is it fair to say that the more money we pay for something, the more trouble we seem to have getting satisfaction?

Fighting for what's right seems to have gotten more difficult in the last few years, no matter what the product or service. (Although I think the difficulty rises exponentially with the size of the company, as a general rule). Lately I've come to the conclusion that the more I hear about quality, the less I actually see. The more a company brags about themselves, the less inclined I am to do business with them.

I've started a poll about who's buying the next gen Marauder and when.

Regards

studio460

10-18-2003, 02:56 PM

Originally posted by MapleLeafMerc
Is it just me, or is it fair to say that the more money we pay for something, the more trouble we seem to have getting satisfaction? . . . I've started a poll about who's buying the next gen Marauder and when.

Thank you for your words of encouragement, MapleLeafMerc! All my friends and family are SICK of hearing about the problems with my car! And yes, I do think it's true that the more we CARE about a product, the more we obsess about every little thing!

I am PROBABLY going to trade my '03 in IF they reintroduce a performance model (Steve Babcock's mentioned "new" Marauder) of the redesigned Panther platform cars (which I believe was slated for a 2007 model year introduction according to AutoWeek). That's assuming I like the new body styling over the current one. And that's assuming they keep the price about the same. I will wait one model year after introduction (like I wished I did with the '04 Marauder) to make sure they've worked out all their manufacturing issues. I was actually fully planning to buy an '04 Marauder but was really spooked by all the rumor that there was not going to be an '04 model. Plus, after joining MM.net, I was infected with Marauder FEVER and just HAD to have one right away!

captJ696

10-18-2003, 03:10 PM

NBC Shooter, sorry to see you`ve had so much trouble with your ride dude! Myself, I`ve noticed how easily our cars get swirl marks in the paint after hand washing them:(

You know I`ve ordered micro fiber towels just to avoid scrathes on this car (which I paid MSRP for) and yet I`m still experiencing problems. By the way, everyone will agree.........you take great pics of the MM.

Joe.

Geo

10-18-2003, 05:56 PM

Yes, speaking about hoods. Once my Impala SS had an accident and I had to get a new hood. The dealer had to paint the hood 15 seperate times over the course of 1.5 years to get it right. It was either the color tint was more of a brown than the rest of the car or I would get cheap masking paint peeling problems on the edges. Sometimes scrathes and paint drippings. Terrible times. The grille was causing all sorts of problems where the grill meets the hood. The edges would peel and the metal would get exposed; lovely. This happened each and evry time the hood would get painted. Sometimes the whole top area that connected to the hood would peel from sensing the hood. This was a situation that clearly suggested that the hood and grille did not like each other and it wasn't because of driving movement either. Once I went over check out my car when it was ready but it was too late in the day so I checked out the paint around the grille and it looked good. I came back the next day (the car hadn't even been started from where it was the day before) and the paint along the edges (the top corners) had peeled back!

So they repainted the hood gain ofcourse because it breaches the paint downto the metal each time. And that time I left the grille off for 1 month to do a test. The paint was fine and then we put the grille on at the shop and a few days later guess what. PAINT PEEL! So now Technical Assistance at GM got involved and suggested to apply some material (some type of tape) between the high trouble spot areas (the 2 top edges) and the problem never re-surfaced (pardon the pun). I had an accident once again much later in time and I needed an new hood and we used the sticky material to buffer the vibration between the hood and grile again and never a problem. I used to go up to any Caprice or Impala that were either new or that I knew hadn't been in an accident and they too were starting to peel.

What we put up with for a decent car. I bet if we had a Lumina or Grand Prix we wouldn't even care to look.