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Is Qualtiy Of Av. Any Good?

M

Mxa

New Member
Joined
Mar 8, 2003
Messages
5
Location
Stanwood, Washington
Has anyone had any problems with all the electronic gadgets onboard? I was looking at some Avs this weekend and while I was in the drive seat(parked) I accidently touched the number 1 button on the door. This is for the driver 1 settings I guess. Anyway, I got really nervous when the seat started moving forward and pressing me against the steering wheel. :eek:
I quickly reached and started touching some of the buttons on the power seat and finally stopped the seat :rolleyes: Has anybody had problems like this or am I just new to all this high tech stuff in a car? ??? We're shopping around for one, but when we test drove another Av we noticed the brakes would go waaaay down too close to the floor. :eek: :eek: This wasn't the case with another Av we drove at the same dealership. However, they were both 2003 and brand new. I'm not so sure about the quality after the incident with the power seat and the spongy brakes :7:
 
yeah, seems like there are almost TOO many goodies. However, the pedals are adjustable, and you have 2 keys each for a different driver IE pedal distance, seat adjustment, mirrors, and other fetures, such as rear veiw mirrors lowering when in reverse...so on and on and on
 
This is the first vehicle that I have ever seen with so many gadgets :eek: :eek: I really like gadgets and toys like XM radio, heated seats, OnStar, etc., but I wonder if and when this stuff breaks down would I need to take loan to get it fixed or what :cry:

In the April issue of Popular Science (in the last page) there's an interesting short article on "Ancestral SUV, 1949". It talks about the Kaiser's Traveler double-duty sedan. The utility sedan that turns into a light truck. It compares it to Avalanche and says this was the early ancestor of Avalanche and Escalade. It's amazing that the idea goes back to 1949 :0:
This thing even had more space than the Avalanche with the rear seat folded down and the trunck door opened flat :D (y)
 
Gadgets...gadgets...gadgets.

I also pressed the driver #1 button. My son is still laughing about me being smashed against the steering wheel. You can set that to automatically adjust to your needs.

It's also true for the pedals. On the same console there are buttons to adjust the pedals. You can make the pedals go farther down for tall peeps and come up for shorter peeps.

Heck, I can remember when my father bought a new Ford F150 back in 1978. He didn't want power windows because "All they ever do is go out on ya". You would be hard pressed to find any consumer targeted vehicles without power windows, these days.

I would venture to guess that most of the underlying electronics and "gadgetry" are the same between the Chevy Avalanche and the Cadillac EXT.

Parts do break down, but not like they use to.

As for comparisons to an AV and a more traditional truck. I don't think you will find a traditional truck that rides, drives and is as versatile as the AV. On top of that, when you start pricing options for options on the two, I think the AV comes way ahead with the rebates.
Traditional pickups are not discounted as much.

In the end it comes down to what you want, what you want to pay, and how you're going to use the vehicle.
 
The default settings for the Driver #1 and Driver
#2 buttons I believe are full forward, etc.
My 2003 came set this way as well, and when
I first hit #1, the next thing I hit was the horn
button as I moved forward.

But, what you do is set the seat, the mirrors, the radio,
the climate, the pedals, etc. the way YOU want
them to be set, then hit and hold #1 button until it
beeps. Then, from that moment forward, every time
you hit #1 button, you get YOUR settings back
automatically.

It works very well.

And the pedals are adjustable, so that may be
why you noticed a difference between two Av's.

The truck is well built and well executed. I do
not think you will be disappointed.
 
I only have 5000 miles on my Av so far, and I have all the electronic goodies, with no issues. Even have the XM radio, which came with the vehicle. I did not want it, but the XM people called, offered free activation and 3 free months usage. I think they hooked me...

Also, as was mentioned above, once you set all your features for driver 1, (or 2), it is great.
 
Well all my gadgets are working great and I have had no trouble what so ever with any part of my AV - nor have I had any AV in my shop with any problems (and yes there are many AVs around where I live and work - Texas is the AV capital of the World - no offense to any other state JMHO. ;) :D ;D
 
My parents have always had a car with lots of gadgets and to tell you the truth we have had hardly any problems with any of them. I have a 93 Chevy Lumina Z34 with power windows and locks. We just started having some problems with electronics. If you think about it 10 years is a pretty good life for somethings. It was top of the line for 93 though. I think as long as you don't get violent with the electonics it well last you a life time.
 
The same thing that happened to Lando happened to me. When I went to pick up my Avalanche and was sitting in the front seat with my salesman showing me all the electronic goodies, he hit the driver 1 button and I slowly started to move towards the steering wheel/console. I could not stop, eventually with my chest up near the wheel with my legs spread and about to hit the console, I quickly jumped out of the seat. Luckily the door was open. What a sight to behold. By the way, I am about 6'1", 205 lbs. I can imagine what would happen if someone bigger than I was in that same position.

Eventually we found out that to stop it from moving, you had to hit the Driver 1 button again, or, I think the seat controls. We eventually stored all the seat/pedals/mirrors/radio settings in and selected Button 1.

Other than that, no problems so far with all the electronic goodies.
 
I can not tell you how glad I am to see that I am not the only person to hit the "button" and get my 275LBS smashed up against the windshield and panic. I reached for every button made. ha. My advise to any new AV owner is to read the book. I know this is not what we are used to doing, but I sat and pushed buttons and read. I punish a vehicle,and I drive my AV everyday downtown DC and can say that it is very reliable. I read things on this site, and when driving try to see if my AV is making noises or clanging or whatever. I can say it holds up to everything without a sound. Like others have said here before not everything is perfect. Thats why the General gives us a warranty! My advise, ride have fun and relax. The people here will always be around to help.
 
My AV has had her share of little probs, she was one of the first out. All I have to say after 42 thousand+ miles is I"M HAPPY not to have the 97 F-159 s/c long bed + topper, any more. I put 50 k on the ford and worried I couldn't put on another 50k. Not so with my AV, It only seems to get better with age.
Last week I went to my dealer for parts for the wifes 01 Impala, I saw my old ford being traded in again, don't know what the got but they dumped the ford as fast as I did ;D
 
I had power seats on my '02 AV but not the DIC and seat/pedal/mirror memory. My salesman showed me how to set the seats/pedals/mirrors before I drove off in my '04 Z71. I think you can have different settings in memory for radio stations for Driver 2 also but I am the only driver. I like my seat back and reclined some, I set Driver 2 so I can just hit it and the seat moves up just enough so I can fold the rear seat down.
 
Flint4x4 said:
I had power seats on my '02 AV but not the DIC and seat/pedal/mirror memory. My salesman showed me how to set the seats/pedals/mirrors before I drove off in my '04 Z71. I think you can have different settings in memory for radio stations for Driver 2 also but I am the only driver. I like my seat back and reclined some, I set Driver 2 so I can just hit it and the seat moves up just enough so I can fold the rear seat down.
Click to expand...

uhh, umm, uhh, flint4x4 what does that have to do with quality? :-[

Rxzruby
 
There's a few things I could see for improvement, however nothing major. That's some underside wiring harness runs.
[RANT]
IMO of a few things I didn't care for:
Scale of 1 to 10 (Major fault-no excuse (0) to minor (10) )

The Bozo UC6 radio: 2  Audio is audibly distorted at very low levels. Some systems are claimed to not be a problem, but mine was garbage. 2, because the radio itself is OK - just the bad audio.

Folding mirrors: 2 The tilt won't return correctly if folded for backing out of a garage, unfolded, back up further, then in drive gear to proceed. They never had returned up on theit own from that. 14 months ago, "We're working on that".

The power memory seats: 6 Usually work OK but they get confused at times. If the rear seat is folded down, there's nothing to keep it from binding but your settings, if it wants to "easy-exit". As a result, presses the dr. seat against the rear one if that is folded down.

BLI: 7 Way too bright, but they can adjust that. Mine is still too bright, but better.

Battery: 0 Intermittent POS. I won't ever trust them. Other's too have had problems with them, however not all of us.

The fact that they hadn't fixed some of these is discouraging.

I corrected the audio system problem. [/RANT]
 
rxzruby said:
Flint4x4 said:
I had power seats on my '02 AV but not the DIC and seat/pedal/mirror memory. My salesman showed me how to set the seats/pedals/mirrors before I drove off in my '04 Z71. I think you can have different settings in memory for radio stations for Driver 2 also but I am the only driver. I like my seat back and reclined some, I set Driver 2 so I can just hit it and the seat moves up just enough so I can fold the rear seat down.
Click to expand...

uhh, umm, uhh, flint4x4 what does that have to do with quality? :-[

Rxzruby
Click to expand...

The original post mentioned seats going forward automatically, uh I lost my train of thought. I meant to add I haven't had any real problems. First AV was fine but I wanted a loaded one.
 
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