allthatjazz wrote:I am about to take the plunge to order my EX35. I was also turned off by the scuff on the side of the seats on the Stone interior, at the dealers. The only problem is Blue Onyx does not come with graphite, and much as I rather a care free Graphite Interior, the Blue is just too sharp to pass up. I will just have to be carefull lugging around all my garden supplies.
Gardening stuff?!! In that case, DEFINITELY get the rubber cargo area protector. Our Subaru came with one and it's absolutely imperative ... with a light interior, even more so.
allthatjazz wrote:I did not plan on getting the Tech package with the AVM, as I figured it would not be of much use/value. However I noticed that both yourself and dividedhighw thinks it a great feature, but hated the lane departure feature.
So here is the questions, is it really worth the extra $1700 to include the Tech pckg or is it better to buy the extended warranty ($1859)?
The Canadian Tech pkg includes ICC, LDP and AVM.
I don't anticipate ever using LDP. In fact, I reconfigured so that LDW is in manual mode and stays off when I start the car (p.2-40).
AVM is awesome and I use it virtually every time I park. If you have any dyslexia though, it may freak you out because the various views mightn't be so easy to process. (I was told this by someone, so afflicted.)
I spent a lot of time using the ICC this past week and can confirm that it works well. You can select from three different following distances and it tries to maintain it, up to your maximum cruise speed. It's not as smart as a person when it comes to predicting that you just can't "charge" up to another vehicle going slower, but all in all, it's worth having. (If nothing else, it can save you from yourself because you're too busy fiddling with all the cool gadgets in your new car ... hard drive music box, MP3s on your CF card, XM stations, Nav, etc ... don't ask me how I know!!)
As for the extended warranty, I'm still considering it because I tend to hang onto a car, not flip it every 3 or 4 years. It takes me more than 7 years to log 100K kms, and each time I drive the EX, I like it more and more; so (even though I'm only in week 3), it's looking like a "keeper" for sure. With all the technology in it, maintaining a full warranty for an additional 2 years is very tempting.
(BTW, my dealer tells me that Nav map updates are NOT covered under any warranty, basic nor extended.)
I started a thread on this extended warranty question, but haven't had that many bites. Anyone else have opinions on this?
Thanks,David
Modified by dividedhighw at 3:15 PM 5/11/2008