[C-Man]

My C made it to the dealer today. I am going to pick it up after work. I'll be taking it for a test drive and I'll do a walk around. Any suggestions what to look for?

 

[fatchance]

C-Man,
After reading tons of post, I'm going to do several things. 1.)Keep in excitement in check. After all the waiting reading and viewing of pic's, keep you emotions in check. If you can do that everything else will fall in place. Take it for a good test drive(no radio), see if it pulls to the right. Check the intereior and exterior (keeping your emoitions in check). 2.) Take your time, hey if you want to take an hour or more to look over and inspect, that's your right. Once you leave the dealership if you have issues, well you know how it goes from there.
Congradts, keep us posted

 

[jjs]

Any suggestions what to look for?

In a word....

EVERYTHING

 

[FAME2002]

When I got mine, I was stupid and very excited and I didnt notice SEVERAL little things that werent right. My emblem on the back was bent really bad, the trim on the window was messed up, the dash piece up by the windshield was bowed out, it had a bad pull to the right....oh I could go on. My car was bought the second day the cars were out so I got one of the first ones. Currently I have a region rep from chrysler overseeing the final repair attempt on my car for the alignment issue. All of the other "little" things that were messed up have since been replaced or fixd so it wasnt a big deal. But like jjs said check EVERYTHING! Take your time and look at the whole car.

 

[II kings 9:20]

Get on the freeway and check that the left drift is equal to the right drift, there should be no pull either way, these do not drive like fwd, they tend to be crown sensitive when hands are off the wheel. I thought I might have a problem until I checked on my X5 and it drifts the same. I will still have my alignment checked when due for svc. There is a fair amount of "feedback" in the steering i.e. there is some steering wheel kick on some broken pavement. You should check to make sure the fuses esp. in the trunk are fully seated, I got this from another member on some other thread. What ever happened to dealer prep. If you want it done right do it yourself, I would not even depend on the dealer to check the oil.

 

[joey]

I happened to be on a Chrylser lot yesterday and a new Black C was just delivered. It was really dirty on the outside with a lot of brown rain/dirt spots. Almost looked like acid rain. It appeared as if the car had been sitting outside for weeks. So check the paint job.

 

[C-Man]

Woohoo, I just finished washing my new C Car looked good. Took it for a test drive and if anything it might be drifting slightly, but it was hard to tell. Didn't have a freeway near by, but ran it a little on US19 - a six lane pain in the a$$ road. Definite drift in the right lane but I didn't want to get stuck in rush hour traffic since it was about 4:30 so all I did was run it in the middle lane momentarily. Other than that, paint looked good, interior looked good. My salesman said I could schedule an alignment, but I want to test it out more thoroughly. The drift was ever so slight that it might have just been road crown.

Talk about excitment, I forgot about my down payment. Luckily for me, my salesman saw the receipt in the file, after all the paperwork, and credited my Visa back the deposit. They did have a mishap on ordering my mudflaps, they were for the 300M. Luckily, I caught it before I paid for them. Off to read the manual.

 

[Chrome]

C-Man -

Was there any mention of the $500 increase in MSRP? Did you get your original deal?

 

[XCITsNU]

I'd like to briefly explore the other side of the equation. Say you get your car in and find some things that seriously concern you. What do you do?

1. Refuse to accept the vehicle
2. Accept the vehice with a commitment to fix
3. Scream at the top of your lungs

Just trying to get a feel for what everyone else feels like they would do in a situation where they felt that the car was going to be experience ongoing issues...

I am interested because I intend to be among the first in line to order a SRT-8 and I damn sure do not want Chryslers first real muscle car in recent history to be a new generation of worker piece meal production. I am concerned that Chrysler production may not know how to build a real muscle car anymore!?!?

For instance, if I special order a Corvette, I can go to the factory and actually watch it go through the production line if I want. I can even be the first one to start my new Corvette. The reason they provide this type of opportunity is because they want their customers to understand that the Corvette is a specially produced vehicle and is not built by the standard production line. It is a car that has a reputation to uphold. I do not get the same feeling about what very well may put Chrysler back on the map. The 2005+ 300 series.

Does anyone else understand where I am coming from?

 

[C-Man]

C-Man -

Was there any mention of the $500 increase in MSRP? Did you get your original deal?

Chrome,

I got an Employee Plan deal, so I payed the EP price stated on the invoice. I don't know if that had an increase. My window sticker did show a base price of $32,870 and the SG II was $635, which I believe both are an increase.

 

[C-Man]

XCITsNU,

If the car has major problems, I would think a refusal to accept the vehicle would be in order. I don't know if that would jepordize your down payment however. As for something minor, my dealer had a "Things to do" form that could be filled out for anything that needed work, for instance if I had desired, I could have added an alignment check for a right drift.

 

[AndyK]

XCITsNU:

My course of action when I recieve my vehicle is probably going to be to note whatever problems I can find and try to work the dealer politely to correct them before taking delivery, or get them to acknowledge the problems and a commitment to fix them (pref. in writing). Given the backlog of orders, you really don't have a lot of credibility in refusing delivery now.

I believe that the sheer volume of LX-platformers (300/Magnum/Charger confirmed, more possible) and price point would preclude the Corvette treatment. Perhaps the SRT-8 or the Charger Daytona, but the Bowling Green facility really is one of a kind.

Editied to add: my answer re: problems above is assuming that it isn't a major problem that would significantly impact long-term value.

 

[JonW]

XCITsNU:
My course of action when I recieve my vehicle is probably going to be to note whatever problems I can find and try to work the dealer politely to correct them before taking delivery, or get them to acknowledge the problems and a commitment to fix them (pref. in writing). Given the backlog of orders, you really don't have a lot of credibility in refusing delivery now.

I think your best bet is to refuse delivery until the items are fixed...as hard as that may be. The dealer is getting 100% of the holdback on the purchase of your ordered vehicle without expending any expense to floor your vehicle. If your vehicle has to stay at the dealership for more than a day or so, it will start to cost them money. Your ordered vehicle also specifically has your name on the window sticker. I wouldn't worry about them telling you to take a leap either and then selling it to someone else. I think Chrysler would be pretty severe on a dealer for selling your built vehicle to someone else because they wouldn't fix any delivery issues for you.

I'm sure they would work with you to get it done fast. If you are too impatient and want to take your vehicle immediately, be prepared to spend the extra time for the return trip(s).

 

[gotallthetoys]

C-Man, congratulations on taking delivery. When did you order and how long did it take to get your can. Many on the board have been waiting a long time still in BX status. I've been waiting 6 weeks and have no idea when it will move to D or D1. Dealer tells me maybe we'll know more in the middle of August.

 

[AndyK]

JonW,

I've seen other 'got my new Magnum/300 today'-type threads where people talk about buying 'built for Somebody Else' for MSRP off the lot, so I don't imagine that it would be a problem for the dealer. And I saw it on the internet, so I know it must be true.


I don't know what DCX's policy is on that.

I'm only paying EP price, so I'd assume that the dealer would be willing to give up part of that $1k holdback for the chance to get MSRP+ on the general market.

I'm not worried that my 5* will try to do something shady but there are other dealers I dealt with while shopping for my 300C that wouldn't hesitate.

Of course I'm still in BX right now so this is all academic.

 

[JonW]

AndyK,
No doubt some will be sold retail even after being built with someones name on it. This would usually be done if someone walked away from it for some reason. My point was just that I don't think they would sell it out from under you if you were asking for some issues to be resolved. If you were being totally unreasonable, sure they might tell you to walk.

I know where you're coming from on the shopping around. I'm buying under the DC Affiliate Rewards program and the 5* I'm buying at was the only one out of a bunch that I contacted that would take an order under that program. They were straight up on the deal and I think they'll deliver just fine.

BTW: I'm in D, but was told it would be completed by 8/20. I have no idea why sometimes they can give you the date and other times they just give you the status.

Good luck.

 

[C-Man]

C-Man, congratulations on taking delivery. When did you order and how long did it take to get your can. Many on the board have been waiting a long time still in BX status. I've been waiting 6 weeks and have no idea when it will move to D or D1. Dealer tells me maybe we'll know more in the middle of August.

GATT,

I ordered May 24th. Went D status about a month later and went D1 about a week after that. It was built the week of July 12th. Hopefully you will move to D status soon. My dealer told me that they are not taking any more orders on the Magnum and that they will soon stop orders on the Hemi. Since you are already in the queue, that shouldn't impact you.

 

[jeepgrady]

Chrome,

I got an Employee Plan deal, so I payed the EP price stated on the invoice. I don't know if that had an increase. My window sticker did show a base price of $32,870 and the SG II was $635, which I believe both are an increase.

Yes, you are right. These are both increases, $500. on the vehicle, and $100 on the sound group. However, I beleive you now get a cassette player included in the sound group.