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OK, car is now a week old, and has done a whopping 150miles! OK, mileage is pretty tiny, but I've been busy with other things.
Likes:
Performance: Keeping it under 3k rpm at the moment, but flexibility and torque are awesome.
Handling. Leagues ahead of my '99 9-5 SE Auto.
LCD Mirror - outstandingly useful gadget - works really really well.
Park Assist - Very repeatable, and useful
The Dash
Dislikes.
The dash. Actually, I'm undecided :-) I'm possibly leaning toward changing it for Walnut in about a week. I have a new Dark Walnut dash reserved, and may have it fitted when I go in to have some teething troubles looked at. More in a mo.
Angle Down function of passenger door mirror. Actually, I like the function a lot, but it's execution leaves a bit to be desired. The problem is that it resets immediately you take the car out of reverse. That's not so handy if you have to drive back and forward a few times to get into a tight spot. It would be better if there was a 15 sec delay before it reset, with the reset overridden if the car was put back into reverse within that timescale.
The teething troubles....I've been making a list.
Slight Wind Noise Driver's Door above 60mph - this might be characteristic. It's only very slight, but I'm hypersensitive with it being a new car :)
Slight Metallic Clunk or click noise on (a quick) release of Brake Pedal. This I suspect is a "characteristic". I've checked all around the pedal area and nothing is loose, and believe the sound to be within the brake servo area itself. Heard this one mentioned here before.
Cold Tickover Speed seems higher than my old 9-5 SE. Not really a fault, but a characteristic. Fast Idles at about 1300 rpm for a while after starting.
5 spd auto transmission.
Initially, I wasn't that impressed with the shift quality between 1 and 2nd - it was sometimes a bit agricultural (a bit like an American Car :). On one occasion, at low speed, low throttle, I noticed it hanging on to 1st too long, and then it was slow engaging second, with an increase in revs in between the gears. ie, revs rose too high during the change,
then engaged poorly - it seemed clumsy. Agricultural is way too strong a word though - it wasn't bad, but my 4 spd was much smoother under the same circumstances. In fact, the 4 speed was smoother generally, and I was worried, because people on here were saying the 5 spd was as smooth as butter. However, now the miles are going on, it does appear to be getting (much) better. It might be the adaptive electronics optimizing the shift quality as time goes on. Dealer is suggesting this will improve as the box learns, but is inspecting it a week on monday for me - I'll have had time to bring the miles up to 500 by then. I'll emphasize that the clumsiness seemed to be at low speeds - 10 - 20 mph at very light throttle - ie in a very speed restricted housing area.
P - R - D quite stiff/lurches first thing in the morning. This might be the highish tickover when cold causing this - not sure, may be related to the shift quality issue.
Slight Vibration at idle in Drive. This was pronounced to start with. Again, either I'm getting used to it, or it's improving. Moving to neutral eliminates it, but it's still there in Drive. I'm not sure it's any worse than the 4 spd for that though.
Faint but noticeable noise. I'm positive this is transmission related. Imagine the muted noise a diesel engine makes within a heavily soundproofed cabin when it's ticking over. A low pitched rumble or thrum. I can hear a fairly quiet (but intrusive) thrum within the cabin just like that - it's the most noisy noise you hear when you are doing 10mph. (ie, above tyre noise). It isn't a harsh noise, and occurs when rolling or stationary, and is drowned out at higher speeds. However, I can make it stop by putting the auto in P with the engine running. After about 5-10 seconds, the noise goes, and all you can hear is the engine running. I've listened all around the engine bay, and that sounds just like a 9-5 should. (This is my 4th), so the sound is only really noticeable inside the cabin. It's almost as if some kind of vibration - either engine, or transmission is being coupled into the body. I'm used to the 2.0 engines, and I'm aware the 2.3 was always compared as more vibration prone than the 2.0, so I'm wondering if this is characteristic again. I'd emphasize, this is a fairly quiet noise, but noticeable by me, as I've not heard/felt it before on my previous 3 x 9-5s, the key variable being the engine size difference. I'm used to engine noise being almost inaudible, and such is the case when in Park. But in Drive, it is the dominant noise in an otherwise very quiet cabin. I'm going to have to get in another Aero to be able to compare I think. Can any Aero owners have a very careful listen please and let me know?
Slight, & brief Power Steering groan in the morning (not at full lock, but as transitioning the wheels round as I pull out of my drive - this seems to be intermittent, and I haven't heard it for a while - maybe air in the system getting shaken out?).
Groan on Shut off. Noise hasn't occurred for a couple of days now, but believe this to be an expansion valve issue commented upon by another user.
One Operator Error Gotcha. Thought the electronics were playing up, because on a couple of mornings, as I was setting off from home for work, I heard a couple of pip pips from the SID. I looked, and saw nothing. Happened a couple more times, before I eventually sussed it! I reverse into my driveway, and had the car parked in front of the Garage. As I was selecting Drive in the morning, I had necessarily transitioned through Reverse long enough for the Park Assist to kick in, and give a couple of pips to let me know I was close to the Garage door :-)
With the exception of the "noise" which may be something or nothing, I'm very pleased with the car so far. If any other owners can compare or contrast their experiences with the '02 car against my observations, I'd appreciate it. I'm taking it back a week on monday for a teething troubles troubleshooting session with the Dealer, so if I can identify characteristics from genuine problems before then, it would be helpful.
Regards,
Simon
posted by 62.64.232...
, Sun, 14 Apr 2002 10:20:17
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