Sadly I have some of my own cars :(
My beloved GTi6 has a 6spd, but the gearknob was replaced prior to my ownership and its H-gate is wrong. The indicated position for reverse is actually 6th, and the real reverse is on a dogleg next to 6th w/ a not-obvious collar lockout. Whenever I take her to a non-Frenchie workshop who may not be familiar with the model (eg- for tyres), I make a point of telling them how to get reverse. Or at least I try to....more than once I have been cut off, "yep yep no worries driven one of these before". Ok cool.
Five minutes later the same guy is pushing her backwards into the garage. On another occasion, I watched as a tech "just bringing it out" sat helpless on the ramps because he was trying to reverse out in 6th.
By far the worst was when I took her to a trusted French specialist for a service. The owner was a cool guy and knew his Frogs well...but he gave her to the apprentice. When I came to collect her the owner said that his tech had warned the gearlever had a bit of play, which it did and I knew about (18yr old car). When I went to drive away the gearlever didn't have 'play', it was a wet noodle and quite obviously completely disconnected from the linkages.
Owner facepalm'd and said the apprentice had complained about struggling with reverse, must have man-handled it a bit and popped off a worn linkage in the process. He reconnected it and all was fine, at least until I got home and tried to engage reverse....*CLUNK*....aaaand now I only have 3rd & 4th :|
Owner had to drive across town after hours to apply a more permanent fix, and I'm sure the apprentice copped it the following day. I ended up getting some aftermarket linkages fitted after that.
With my new car, I was in pain seconds into ownership.
When I test drove him the interior was nice & clean, smelled like leather, and had clearly been lovingly maintained.
When I took delivery, it appeared the interior had been """detailed""" by going over every surface with the cheapest Armorall they could find until a thick film had built up, and then they hit it again for good measure. Every single surface was greasy, sticky, or somehow a disgusting combination of both, and the windows were hazed over. I stalled it leaving the dealership when my foot slid off the clutch. It also smelled like an old lady's collection of potpourri had been detonated in there. After using my sweater to wipe down the wheel, pedals, and windscreen, I drove home with the windows down and sunroof open despite it being the middle of winter. Thank fuck for heated seats.
I soon took it a professional detailer, and thankfully no lasting damage was done :)
