First-World Problems...

Heated steering wheels are great! I had an old car that had one, and while I didn't drive it much, whenever I did I would turn the heat on just to enjoy warm hands on a cold day. I have a touch of what is commonly called Raynaud's Syndrome (thanks mom!), which is an odd thing that happens to one finger every now and then...it gets freezing cold compared to all of the other fingers, and it's sort of unpleasant in a deeply spoiled and trivial way.

But almost two years ago I was in the market for a new car, and the one I chose offered heated wheels. Sort of. The chips supposedly weren't available, so I would have to wait until the fourth quarter of the year for a retrofit. Except that was a lie. It took almost two years to get the retrofit, which is amazing considering the fact that the car company has built millions of cars in the interim, and prioritized new builds over existing customers.

That's a big mistake, because although I am very pleased with the car, I will not buy another one because of that deeply flawed business focus.

In addition, they installed ANOTHER feature that was advertised but not built into the car...something that I find pretty irritating, although some people might like it.

Parking assist? I guess it is valuable in some circumstances, but does anyone rely on it as a primary bit of information over your eyes and driving skill? I take great pride in my parking, both skill and an almost uncanny ability to find parking spaces, so I am sort of offended by this!

Regardless...GM needs to figure out what they are doing, because they have already alienated me, and I can't be the only one with cold fingers and a long memory!

posted by CBD at 02:00 PM

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