Well, I decided to put my money where my mouth was, and drove down to Sacramento to buy this 2014 FFE. So......
The Good
Body: looked good. No dents or scrapes. A few small discolorations but otherwise ok. No signs of an accident.
Under the hood: A little dirty, but nothing a garden hose couldn't take care of.
The Bad
Someone stupidly armor-alled the complete dash and center stack. Really slathered it on. Every control was wet with the stuff. This all would have to be cleaned off. The key fob as well. Yeah on the instrument cluster and the touchscreen. Clean with alcohol?
There is some staining on the seats. Can't tell what, but it is leaving a black outline. Hopefully could be cleaned out with some foaming upolstery cleaner. $5
The rear package shelf has a broken pivot. To fix would require a new rear quarter trim piece. Checking the price - $55
The rear package shelf is also missing a hanger clip. $9
The RH rear seatback will not secure. The latch inside needs to be replaced. $72
The charging light ring does not illuminate. Worst case it needs to be replaced. $130
The Ugly
On Wednesday, I email the dealership about the number of keys, and if the vehicle had the charging cable and air compressor. A few minutes later, I received a phone call with no message left. Then I received the useless automated email reply to my inquiry. And then an hour later I get this email: "There are two keys" Nothing else.
Thursday morning, I both email and text: "Hello xxxxx, Thank you for the information about the keys. I would like to take an extended test drive this Saturday. Would you be able to have it fully charged by then? I am thinking around noon-ish". They write back: "yes that sounds good"
So no asking what an extended test drive is. I would have told them I was going to drive to IKEA if they asked. Eight miles as the crow flies. But I assumed they did not care.
Friday, I get an email as to what time I would show up. I reiterate 12:00-12:15.
Saturday, I leave the house at 10:10 and head south. At 10:30 I get a text from the dealership wanting to know if I am still comming in. I reply yes, and ask if the car is all charged up. The dealer says its all good to go.
I arrive at 12:15. Yeah its a long drive from Chico to Sacramento. Nobody is there. There is a shack and nobody inside. I walk around the lot, looking for the car and eventually find it charging. The keys are inside so I look it over.
A couple minutes later, the dealer greets me, and I thank him for charging up the car. He starts asking the usual questions and I endeavor him.
I then ask: "so it is ok to take it for an extended test drive?". The dealer says: "sure, do whatever you want", and takes a photo of my driver's license.
I get the laptop and OBDII interface out of my car and set off to drive to IKEA. This is about 12:35.
On the freeway, traffic is stopped, because there has been an accident and a truck has caught on fire and is burning profusely. No firetruck, police or ambulance had arrived. Fortunately no one appeared hurt.
When I arrive at IKEA, I see that I have a text from the dealer, asking how much longer am I going to take. Its 1:07.
I text back that the traffic has been bad and that it will be an hour. Over estimating the actual time, in case there are other problems. The dealer replies that they weren't aware that I would be gone for that long, but it was fine.
I use forscan to check the codes and there are plenty of them. Most being power loss type codes. I check the HV battery estimated capacity. At 74% 13.131 kW.
I use the car's GPS to direct me back to the dealership. It takes me on city streets all the way. I guess the traffic on the freeway has gotten worse, though the streets arent much better.
I arrive at the dealership at 1:45, take the car back to where it was charging before and plug it in. The charging ring does not light, yet the touchscreen says the vehicle is charging. I try a couple of things, but give up.
The dealer greets me and asked what did I think of the test drive. "Disappointing" I told him, thinking of the traffic.
Then he asked what I thought of the car, I started to tell him about the codes, but he was too pissed off to hear it.
He started chewing me out for having the car for so long and driving so far stating that I had it for hours, and that I did not tell them I was going to do this.
I explained that I asked 3 times (email, text, in person) if it would be ok to take an extended test drive, and they agreed. I took it to IKEA, and brought it right back.
The dealer walked off in a huff.
So, their poor attitude killed a sale that day. I had the money with me, but nope.
