Furor Grows Over Dealership CSI Scores

Michael Karesh, owner of TrueDelta, an automotive research firm, conducted a survey of his reliability survey participants last spring to gauge whether dealers were pressuring their customers to rate their salesperson and dealership with top scores in all areas on the customer satisfaction surveys that come from the manufacturer. I hadn't seen the survey results until reading the August 27, 2007 issue of industry publication Automotive News last night (I'm a little behind!) and saw an article about Mr. Karesh's research.

I think Mr. Karesh was onto something by conducting a survey about this. Not only did a major auto industry publication pick up on his work, but also today's Autoextremist article was about what a failed system CSI scores have become.

In the past four years, I've bought two new vehicles, and while my buying experience was a positive one in both cases (I bought a Honda and a Nissan), it helps that I didn't have to negotiate price, as a family member had a close business relationship with both dealerships and was able to get a great price for me. But toward the end of the delivery process, both salesmen mentioned the CSI surveys and that they need perfect scores, and that they'd be happy to address any concerns I might have before completing the survey. Needless to say, I gave them top scores.

Apparently, I'm not the only one who has been pressured to do this. Dealerships' allocations of popular models, their employees' compensation, and even factory to dealer incentives are tied to CSI rankings. Even worse, manufacturers have set such ridiculously high standards (anything short of "excellent" is a black mark, when in fact, outside of Lake Wobegon, not everyone is above average, and certainly not excellent.) "Exceeds expectations" might be a difficult rating to achieve if the customer's expectations are too high. And even if that customer's expectations are exceeded once, would they not expect the same treatment when they buy their next car from that dealer, so the same level of service that exceeded expectations earlier might only meet the higher expectations the second time.

If every car buying experience was excellent or very good, then why are there so many horror stories out there? Hmmm...

TrueDelta's research (with admittedly small sample sizes) found that at least 75% of all dealerships at least mentioned the survey would be coming, and many others took further steps such as allowing to preliminarily address problems before the survey (36%), asking for perfect scores without begging (28%), saying they wouldn't get a bonus without perfect scores (9%), begging for perfect scores (9%), offering to watch the customer complete it (2%) or allow the dealer to complete it (2%), or offering a gift in exchange for a positive survey (2%). Note that these do not add to 100% because multiple responses were allowed. It also found that among respondents, Nissan, Hyundai, and BMW dealers pressured customers the most to complete their surveys with only the highest scores.

Further adding to the furor is that GM announced in the past week or two that some dealers had submitted "fraudulent" CSI surveys and those results would be ignored, and the dealer would likely be penalized in some way.

So let's see: customers don't like being pressured, dealers and salespeople don't like having their livelihood tied to the whim of someone completing a survey who marks "very good" instead of "excellent" (or "meets expectations" rather than "exceeds expectations), and the manufacturers are suspicious of the process.

Part of my "real job" is working with employee compensation, and designing incentive plans to motivate employees to perform a desired behavior. I'd say that the current CSI system should be thrown out, because clearly begging, lying, and fudging should not be the behaviors that are encouraged.

Are there any other stories of dealer or salesperson pressure to give perfect scores out there?

Link to TrueDelta's research on this subject: http://www.truedelta.com/pieces/survey_survey.php

Memo To Porsche From Nissan- "Here's Your Daddy"

Source: Autoblog

The GT-R will be impressive when it debuts in just a couple of months, and from the numbers, it looks like it'll give a Porsche 911 Turbo quite a run for its (big pile of) money. The horsepower figure for both cars is 480ps, and while the GT-R gives up some torque to the Porsche, the GT-R rips off equally quick dashes to 100 km/h (3.9 seconds) and has been designed with vehicular balance as an overarching theme.

Okay, so it's all still rumour at this point. And at a rumoured weight of 3800 pounds, it's probably not going to eat the world for lunch as was rumoured a few years ago. But still, the rumours are continuing to point at the upcoming GT-R as essentially an AWD Japanese Z06 equivalent. And that's not bad at all.

Nissan To GT-R Buyers- 'Only We Can Gouge'

Nissan has come up with a fantastic way to win over potential buyers of their upcoming supercar entrant, the GT-R-

According to Jan Thompson, Nissan's vice president of marketing, in an effort to prevent buyers from selling their dealer-purchased Skyline GT-R immediately for a profit, Nissan is considering voiding the Skyline's warranty for the second buyer if the transaction takes place less than one year after the initial purchase.

So to make things very clear- Nissan dealers who will probably be taking thousands of dollars of markup on this car? Perfectly fine. People buying the GT-R to flip it immediately for a profit? Not perfectly fine. And finally, rich guy who gets bored of his cars easily and wants to sell his car? Not perfectly fine either.

Is option #3 a believable situation? Not in most instances. But it IS weird to hear of a car company essentially handcuffing buyers this way. A part of me hopes that the dealers fulfill their inherent greediness and mark up the vehicle so much that no one wants them at all... and are forced to come back down to earth... at which time no one will want to buy a GT-R anyways because of the idiotic warranty rule. Leaving, of course, all the models for me. For $2.99 apiece.

But of course, that's all just a dream.

(Source: Edmunds)

Nissan Develops Anti-Drunk Driving Technology

Nissan really wants to do something about drinking and driving, so it has come up with a system that integrates alcohol odor sensors in the front seats and gearshift, a facial recognition system that determines the driver's state of consciousness via eye blinking, and a driving behavior system that senses if the car is staying in its lane or not.

If the gearshift sensor (pictured) detects alcohol in the driver's perspiration, it automatically locks the gearshift and prevents the car from being driven. There are also visual and audio warnings on the navigation screen, and the seatbelts can be automatically tightened to get the driver's attention.

This might not be a bad idea; I'm sure many drunk driving accidents are caused when people think they're a little buzzed, but not drunk (but of course have no clue what their blood-alcohol level is, and how it impacts their reaction time and decision making abilities).

It's easy for me to see how this system could be a useful safety device. For example, I was at a wedding in June and was the designated driver. I was expecting to take seven people to the hotel from the reception, and many of my friends were really inebriated at one time or another during the night. Eventually, all but one drove themselves to the hotel (after several hours of not drinking, and assuring me that they were "fine,") and the one who rode with me only did so because I shamed him into it, as he was the one who had me unfolding seats, taking out the child seat, and going to the trouble of getting our SUV into maximum passenger carrying mode.

Once we were back at the hotel (thank God everyone made it there OK), one of the friends who was supposed to ride with me later said that he realized about halfway into his trip that he shouldn't have been driving. Lucky for him and everyone else on the road at the same time, he didn't have any problems, but obviously he could have at some point. He just didn't know objectively what his blood alcohol level was, but this system would have kept him in the passenger seat where he belonged.

I Think Nissan May Be Having A Tough Time Selling The Titan And The Sentra

Yes. It looks like only a few vehicles are being offered.
Yes. It's worth only about $200 a month at most for 24 months, meaning about $4800 total in 'cost' to the dealership.
Yes. It's just a clever way of not putting money on the hood.

No. It's not a good idea.

This Nissan Sunny Picture Predicted The Future Of The Altima

In news that may only interest me....

Carscoop says:

Nissan’s best selling 2007 US-model, the Altima is being recalled due to a problem with the air-filter that could result to a fire in the engine bay. More specifically, the recall affects 140.852 cars equipped with the 2.5-liter 4-cylinder engine.

How fantastic!

You know why?

They already HAD a massive recall on the last generation 2.5 liter 4 cylinder engine. Remember, the one that fixed the manifolds that had a propensity for blowing up? I actually had one of those manifold eating engines- a 2005 if I remember right... but luckily it was before the recall- they did fix it under warranty, but they also were quite the pricks about it. And now this.

See, the Toyota recall of the Tundra engine was crappy, but at least it was an all new design, and it seemed to be an outsourced part that caused it. This on the other hand, is another problem on an engine that has been out in one form or another in the Altima for close to SIX years now.

Hey Nissan- pull your heads out of your asses.

Infiniti Dealers Really Need To Just Shut Up And Sell Their Own Product

Was in an Infiniti dealership today, to get some information on the G35 sedan. It's a vehicle I've had my eye on for a bit now, and I wanted some comprehensive stuff on packages, features, and most importantly, pricing. It's all going fine at first. I appear to have a salesman who knows his vehicle very well, is very polite and courteous, and seems to have a grasp of the competition out there.

And then he started going kooky.

The first issue was that he wouldn't shut up about the most recent Motor Trend mag comparo that gave a victory to the G37 coupe over the BMW 330i coupe (mostly because the BMW was too expensive and needs an oil cooler badly). Umm excuse me, I'm not looking at a G37 coupe- I'm looking at the G35 sedan remember?

The second issue was that he kept bringing up residuals on the G35. The residual on a 2007 G35 Sport on a 48 month lease with no money down works out to be about 21k CDN. His argument was that most G35 sedans from 2003 (4 years ago) retail for around 28k CDN, making the G35 residual a great thing. But... he's wrong. A 4 year old G35 in good condition with about 100,000 kilometers runs, wait for it, about 21-22k. And he wouldn't shut up about this, heaping scorn upon BMW in particular for having such high residual values. I mean, who would want a vehicle that has a lot of value when you want to sell it.... right? Please note my sarcasm there.

Third, he tells me that the 2007 G35 uses the same VQ as the Altima et al. I even gave him a chance to backtrack on this, and he insisted (okay, so this is more me being a know it all bastard, but I digress).

And then this happens.

Him: So one of the other vehicles you're looking at is the Lexus IS?
Me: Yeah, it seems to be the Lexus most closely aligned with what the G35 is.
Him: Oh yes, but it's quite a bit more expensive.
Me: I understand that.
Him: It's also smaller.
Me: I understand that.
Him: Did you know that the IS250 is based on the Toyota Corolla, and the IS350 is based on the Toyota Camry? Why pay a premium for that?
Me: Huh?

He kept insisting this. In a way, I can understand the Camry thing- after all, the ES is on the Camry platform. But the IS? A rear wheel drive car? And bringing the Corolla into the picture? For the exact same vehicle but with a smaller engine?

At this point, I realized I was working with an idiot, and mentioned that I wouldn't want a luxury sedan so closely associated with the 350Z. And he flipped out, saying that the Z was on a completely different platform from the G35. And then I threw the Altima and Maxima out there just for shits and giggles to get him really riled up.

Needless to say, the domestic manufacturers are not alone in employing idiotic sales people.

2009 Nissan 370Z/400Z/WhateverZ?

The good people at GT Channel Auto News have this picture and are calling it the next gen Nissan Z car. I'll refrain from calling it a number at this point, because who knows what they're going to do with it- will it have a neutered (see: non turbo) version of whatever they're sticking under the hood of the GT-R, or will it have the exact same 3.7 VQ found in the forthcoming G37 Coupe? At this point, I have no idea.

Regardless, it's a nice looking evolution, and I know it sounds stupid to say this from just a picture, but it LOOKS smaller- which would fit the mule pictures from last week of what appeared to be a shortened 350Z on a track doing some testing.

We will see.

Everyone Take Your Tops Off And Jump In The Pool!

From Jalopnik by way of VWVortex -

Got damn!

Apparently there's a G37 convertible on the way, not to mention an Altima convertible, and a Lexus IS convertible. Nissan in particular is looking to expand their sales with their two 'halo' mass production cars (yes, I know the GT-R and the Z are the 'true' halo cars), and convertibles would be the next logical step since both now have sedan and coupe versions. As for Lexus, they play the BMW monkey see, monkey do game- expect a coupe in addition to the convertible too.

In the last year alone, that means the midsize convertible segment has gone from the Sebring, and uh, nothing...to the Sebring, the Altima, the Eos, the G6 and the Solara (assuming Toyota redoes it).

Of course, the tastier news is that the G37 and the IS will get convertible variants.

Something else to consider- if they're going to do a G37 convertible, does that make room for another model on the Infiniti horizon? I'm talking a 6 Series competitor as a pseudo-coupe and convertible, in both 3.7 VQ and 5.0 V8 trim- the rebirth of the J (J37 and J50 do sound good don't they?)?

Nissan Net Profit Down Fiddy Four Percent! O NOES!

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15423911/for/cnbc

TOKYO - Nissan marked its first drop in annual profit in seven years on Thursday, the first such setback under the leadership of Carlos Ghosn, who salvaged the Japanese automaker from collapse. He also acknowledged Nissan would need an extra year to meet a key production target.

So they're down in net profit, but still making about 600 million a quarter instead of 1.1 billion. Oh woe is them. Grasping at straws, I've seen many claiming that Nissan is fuxxored. While making over half a billion a quarter. Digest that for a bit. At their lowest point in their 'turnaround' right now, Nissan is screwed because they 'only' made 600 billion in the quarter.

Yeah, the internet is full of idiots.

Blast From The Past- Mags And The Altima

Another older review.

***



2.5S Altima with Convenience Package.

Black on black.

CVT.

The new ride.

Americans seem to get a convoluted mix of convenience packages for the Altima- in Canada there is but one, and it's offered on the 2.5S only. The convenience package adds a host of things to the base Altima, most notably 16 inch rims, heated seats, leather wrapped steering wheel with radio controls, 8 way power drivers seat, and one touch up and down passenger window control.

I'm coming from a G6 GT. Let's see how things stack up. Oh, and I'll post some pictures tomorrow or the day after, depending on if I remember to bring my camera out with me.

The Outside
Nissan, having finally made a splash styling wise with the Altima in 2002 with the 3rd generation, decided to play it safe this time around, but with a few neat touches. The greenhouse is very familiar, as is the upward character line running along the side of the car. Notable changes are a revised front end featuring the new corporate look and headlights (some rigamarole called a T-bar grille), a new back end featuring even larger Altezza style lights, dual chrome tipped exhausts out back (for all models) and a far smoother and more integrated ass end with distinct 'hips' in the character line that pays homage to the big brother Maxima. The base 2.5 comes with blocky plastic covers, so they're inherently shitty. The convenience package adds the same rims as found on the 2.5SL model- 7 spokers that are inoffensive.

These subtle changes make an overall positive difference to the vehicle, positioning it lookswise at least, in the mold of its big bucks Infiniti cousins the G35 and the M35/M45- the car definitely looks expensive and can be mistaken for an M if you're just glancing- pictures really don't do it justice because the rear especially has got some very nice curves. The only blandish aspect to the restyle is the front end- I have no issues with the new grille, but overall it's a little too plain, and will probably be the subject of a mid-cycle refresh, much like the 2005 was to the 2002.

Fit and finish is superb all around, but the paint shows some noticeable orange peel effect around the doors- whether this is because black paint really shows such things, or it's endemic to the model I'm not sure.

Does it look better than my previous ride, the G6? I really thing they're styled too differently to make a valid comparison- where the G6 goes for a sporty pseudocoupe look, the Altima makes a styling move upmarket. Different strokes for different folks.

The Inside
Nissan was slammed hard for the interior of the Altima in 2002, and it was fully deserved. I lived with one, and I can report that it was stuffed full of cheap and hard plastics, and the switchgear moved with the fluidity of a seized bolt. The interior refresh in 2005 addressed many of the interior quality concerns, but they had to play with the hand they were dealt and couldn't exorcise all of those demons.

For 2007, Nissan has quite obviously made the interior a priority, and it shows.

Here's the quote to sum it up- the 2007 Altima has the best interior quality and finish in the class, surpassing even the Accord, my personal favorite to this point.

Much like the recently released Aura, the entire dash is composed of soft plastic that has a lot of give. Furthermore, the grain will make you do a double take to ensure it's not leather. No joke. Nissan has also disposed of the sickly orange gauges of the past and replaced them with some BS marketing gimmick called Fine Vision. They look a lot like the gauges in the Infiniti line and are very bright and clear- a welcome change to the previous style. The center stack is laid out logically and is reminiscent of the Accord, and the stereo head unit is clear and legible even in direct sunlight, even including an AUX in port for the iPod heads and MP3 CD capability.

Storage is abundant in the car, especially when compared to my previous ride. A large cubby resides underneath the center stack along with a deep armrest bin and sunglass holder. The side map pockets include cupholders and have enough room to hold more than a few scraps of paper. And speaking of cupholders- the Altima features FIVE in the front seat area alone, including what appears to be an industry exclusive- bottle cap holders.

Although the Altima measures up almost identical to the G6, it has a lot more usable room in the front, mostly due to the style of the dash. Where the G6 is a tighter fit, the Altima lets you stretch out a bit. Seat comfort is top notch and there is a TON of headroom in this car without a sunroof. Trunkwise, the Altima features a SMALLER trunk on paper than my G6, but I emptied the contents of my G6 out into the Altima when I got it, and ended up with more space left over in the Altima- how does that happen? Well it's all about usable space, even with a full sized and rimmed spare- and the Altima features a low liftover, and a nice wide and tall opening.

Cool standard feature- Intelligent Key. No need to have a key in your hand. Simply walk up, push the door button and in you go. And once inside, press the brake, push the button, and watch things light up.

Issues are few.

A weird design decision was made to cover the door armrest in cloth. It's not bad, and in fact it's comfortable, but it looks very out of place. The tilt and telescope feature of the wheel is a pain in the ass to engage and set. And the trunk would have even MORE usable space if Nissan didn't decide to stupidly use gooseneck hinges AGAIN in the Altima. Even the new Sentra has hydraulic hinges. Go figure.

The Drive
With 175 HP and 180 lbs/feet of torque on tap compared to my G6 which had a V6 rated at 200/220, I was expecting the engine of the Altima to be the weak point. What I didn't realize is that the Altima has a 300 pound weight advantage over the G6. And this evens things up almost even according tomy scientific assometer analysis. The modified QR25 engine revs willingly up to its redline and has a nice growl to it. It's a welcome change from the thrashiness of my previous ride.

A point of contention among many in the media has been the CVT. Nissan has decided to move their bread and butter car completely to 6 speed manuals and CVT transmissions. I'd driven a Caliber a couple of months back and was underwhelmed by the DCX tranny. Same with a Ford Five Hundred CVT 2 years ago. So this was my biggest worry with this car. Luckily, it would appear that not all CVT transmissions are created equally. Nissan has 'stepped' this transmission with 6 speeds, and it makes for a seamless drive. The only time you know you're driving a CVT equipped vehicle is when you mash the pedal- the car immediately goes up to about 5500 RPM and just stays there, right in the heart of the peak horsepower. At first it's disconcerting, but the push you get in the peak of the power is great...and even better, it's sustained. The CVT also comes with a manumatic function as well, which is pretty much a pain to drive with. It shifts jerkily and constantly 'corrects' you if it thinks you're in the wrong gear. The G6 was much simpler and much more fun to drive. in manumatic.

The ride of the Altima errs on the side of cushiness in 2.5S trim. It is definitely geared towards comfort, and the suspension does a commendable job of soaking up road imperfections and noise. It's interesting to note that this does not come at the expense of body control however, as it felt far more stable at speed and over wavy high speed turns than my previous car, and better even than the Accord, which incurs more of a ride penalty. All of this occurs in spite of the fact that the Altima rides piece on shit Continental tires as original equipment.

Braking has no issues and pedal feel is great.

Steering is variable power assist and is governed by speed. In a parking lot situation it is WAY too light. Finger light. Like a feather. This I don't like. At highway speeds it's too touchy. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground here. It's easy to place the nose and to toss around, but in general it feels a little too much like a video game.

And So
The only other issue I can come up with for the Altima is price. In normal trims, it is right in line with everything else out there. A decently equipped 3.5SE will set you back about 33-35k CDN, and a 2.5S with the convenience package and the CVT will run you about 28k. There's even the value proposition in the 3.5S, which is more or less a 2.5S trim level with the big engine and CVT, for 29k CDN. That's a HELL of a deal. The issue though is when you start adding the goodies- granted they are more or less exclusive type goodies in this segment, but Nissan will make you add a host of other things before you can add the tech package for example... and this can drive the prices way up, very quickly. Tick off every box on a 3.5 model and we're talking 39k CDN folks. That's G35 territory.

One last thing- I took a 3.5 out for a drive in SE trim. With the sport suspension, the ride tightens up considerably, and the vehicle feels akin to an Accord. With the 3.5, it screams.

In 2.5 guise, the Altima is an almost perfect midsize family hauler. It has handsome and upscale looks, a fantastic and spacious interior, and a powertrain that has given me 35 mpg in my first tank of fuel. With a heap of standard features, the availability of Bluetooth, navigation, dual zone climate control and a host of other goodies, it has something for everyone, and at the present moment sits atop the midsize sedan heap.

The Ranking

1)Altima
2)Accord
3)Aura
4)Camry
5)Fusion/6
6)Sonata
7)G6
8)Malibu

So there you have it.