# I pit the Chevy Captiva **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 15, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082 "2012-11-15T14:36:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/21 "2012-11-16T01:00:03Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > And really, guys, you can’t judge any car model from a rental. Most of them are gonna be extremely stripped down and a hell of a lot of people beat the _shit_ out of them (because they can, because they’re assholes, because it’s not theirs, because they drive their own damn car just as badly). Sure, the versions you can buy at a dealership may _also_ suck, but a rental isn’t a good way to determine that. God I would hope so. I don’t think I’ve ever rented a half way decent car/van/SUV except the one full sized van in 1996. We rented a Chrysler Sebring one year and pulled the whole front end off of it when the bumper got hooked on a nail in the curb. Had to drive around with it ducted taped on for almost a week. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/22 "2012-11-16T01:10:19Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > God I would hope so. I don’t think I’ve ever rented a half way decent car/van/SUV except the one full sized van in 1996. We rented a Chrysler Sebring one year and pulled the whole front end off of it when the bumper got hooked on a nail in the curb. Had to drive around with it ducted taped on for almost a week. How is that the car’s fault? ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/23 "2012-11-16T01:18:58Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > How is that the car’s fault? The front end should be attached far better than the amount of stress it took to back away at about 1 mph. And when I say whole front end, I mean every thing back to the doors except the hood and windshield. It all fell off in one piece. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/24 "2012-11-16T01:33:13Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > The front end should be attached far better than the amount of stress it took to back away at about 1 mph. And when I say whole front end, I mean every thing back to the doors except the hood and windshield. It all fell off in one piece. There’s no way you ripped off the fender, which is held on by half a dozen bolts. Shearing all of those bolts would take more force than tearing the fender itself, which would quickly have become a mangled mess rather than falling off in one piece. It’s possible that you ripped off the bumper cover, which is one big piece of injection molded plastic, but that only goes back to the front wheel wells, not to the door. The bumper cover is held on by some screws, but is designed to break away in instances like this so as not to destroy the more valuable bits of the car. In short, as much as I hate the Sebring, it performed as designed. You, on the other hand, are a car abuser. ---
**Author:** ![Uber\_the\_Goober](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/58956e/32.png) [@Uber\_the\_Goober](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uber_the_Goober)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/25 "2012-11-16T01:47:42Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > There’s no way you ripped off the fender, which is held on by half a dozen bolts. Shearing all of those bolts would take more force than tearing the fender itself, which would quickly have become a mangled mess rather than falling off in one piece. > > It’s possible that you ripped off the bumper cover, which is one big piece of injection molded plastic, but that only goes back to the front wheel wells, not to the door. The bumper cover is held on by some screws, but is designed to break away in instances like this so as not to destroy the more valuable bits of the car. In short, as much as I hate the Sebring, it performed as designed. You, on the other hand, are a car abuser. [Look closely](https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1360&bih=643&q=chrysler+sebring&oq=chrysler+sebring&gs_l=img.3..0l10.6508.9046.0.9166.16.10.0.6.6.0.75.581.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.hEOR2ZmTHY8) The bumper cover is all one piece all the way back to the doors. Shitpoor design that is. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/26 "2012-11-16T01:48:14Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > There’s no way you ripped off the fender, which is held on by half a dozen bolts. Shearing all of those bolts would take more force than tearing the fender itself, which would quickly have become a mangled mess rather than falling off in one piece. > > It’s possible that you ripped off the bumper cover, which is one big piece of injection molded plastic, but that only goes back to the front wheel wells, not to the door. The bumper cover is held on by some screws, but is designed to break away in instances like this so as not to destroy the more valuable bits of the car. In short, as much as I hate the Sebring, it performed as designed. You, on the other hand, are a car abuser. Shrug. Nothing I can do to convince you - I don’t even have the pictures any more. Perhaps it had happened before and been repaired, perhaps you don’t know as much as you think you do, whatever. I remember very clearly that it was back to the doors because we had to figure out a way to duct tape it without interfering with getting the doors open and closed. It didn’t come _all_ the way off, as in the whole mess dropped to the ground, but that whole section did detach more or less completely. I know it wasn’t just the bumper cover, because we take those off of our personal vehicles at some point in their lives while off roading. And, I wasn’t driving. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/27 "2012-11-16T01:52:02Z")
Didn’t see **Uber\_the\_Goober’s** post before mine, and when I clicked on the link I only saw a bunch of different pics of the Sebring, but yeah the whole thing was one piece. ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/28 "2012-11-16T01:58:13Z")
> [@Uber\_the\_Goober](#): > > [Look closely](https://www.google.com/search?num=10&hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1360&bih=643&q=chrysler+sebring&oq=chrysler+sebring&gs_l=img.3..0l10.6508.9046.0.9166.16.10.0.6.6.0.75.581.10.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.hEOR2ZmTHY8) > > The bumper cover is all one piece all the way back to the doors. Shitpoor design that is. I don’t know which generation it was, but they all had separate [fenders](https://www.google.com/search?q=sebring+bumper+cover&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=bJ2lUMyoKubG0AHEoIDQDA&biw=1920&bih=977&sei=b52lUISPD8LC0QGpqYGQBg#um=1&hl=en&client=firefox-a&tbo=d&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&channel=fflb&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=sebring+fender&oq=sebring+fender&gs_l=img.3..0i5i24l3.46385.47316.0.49306.8.8.0.0.0.0.207.1296.0j6j2.8.0.ernk_timediscountb..0.0...1c.1.IMiiheWNNuE&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=478aca3ca4c3e584&bpcl=38625945&biw=1920&bih=977)and [bumper covers](https://www.google.com/search?q=sebring+bumper+cover&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&channel=fflb&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=bJ2lUMyoKubG0AHEoIDQDA&biw=1920&bih=977&sei=b52lUISPD8LC0QGpqYGQBg). ---
**Author:** ![Caiata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@Caiata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caiata)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/29 "2012-11-16T03:21:12Z")
When I travelled to Turkey we rented a Renault, I think it was called a Laguna but I’m not sure. At any rate, it had an “AC Off” button. That you would press to turn the air conditioning off. And when you had done so, the button lit up, to tell you that the AC was off. You’d un-press it to turn the AC back on, and the light would go off. It was the most mind-bogglingly counterintuitive button you’d ever see. I took a picture of it to commemorate, but of course I can’t find it now… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/30 "2012-11-16T03:24:42Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > I don’t drive a stick, but yes, I like “old fashioned” controls. > > I finally read the manual to figure out the shifter, and it said “the vehicle will not allow a gear to be selected that could damage the engine” > > Ok given the number of people that can’t read a tach (but why bother to include a tach then?) and 99.999% of driving. But what if you’re going down a mountain and your brakes have failed and you’d rather redline the engine instead of going off a cliff? Similar as the incidents with people being unable to stop with a stuck accellerator with the new keyless igntitions. So what you’re saying is that a vehicle of a type that has been driven for millions of miles so concerns you that you feel the need to behave in a manner different from every other person that ever drove it, apparently out of concern that you will be the only person in the history of said vehicle to die in a flaming wreck when the brakes fail? Oh, and the “unintended acceleration” nonsense? User error. All of it. There is not a single passenger car on the road made (without brake defect) in the last quarter century that can overpower its brakes. Step on the damn pedal and the car stops. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/31 "2012-11-16T04:39:45Z")
My 2005 Corolla has mostly good interior design; its one flaw is the set up for the interior lights. It has some kind of rheostat, where I can have the lights off, on, go on only when the door is open, and dim them, but I’m damned if, after seven years of owning that car, I can easily figure out what setting is which. I mostly just fiddle with it until it seems to do what I want it to do. Something like that shouldn’t be that hard to figure out. I’d like more settings for the intermittent wipers and a ring around the ignition that lights up, but those are small deals. ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/32 "2012-11-16T10:34:20Z")
The people in this thread (not **jz78817** ) sound like shitty car reviewers. Yes, getting into a brand new car might be confusing for the first day you drive it. guess what, when you buy a car only the first day is your first day, after that, you know how it works and it’s not an issue anymore. Car makers don’t and shouldn’t design their controls for people who are only going to be driving it for a day or 2. BMW got a lot of unwarranted flack for their iDrive control interface when it was introduced, because it wasn’t very intuitive. iDrive was designed so the driver, once he’s read the manual and knows how it works, can quickly and efficiently use it without taking his eyes off the road and with a minimum of arm/hand coordination that will distract him from his primary job of driving the car. It wasn’t MEANT to be fucking intuitive enough so that any drooling toddler off the street can hop in and instantly know where everything is, why should it need to be? The controls in the cockpit of an F15 are probably confusing to people who aren’t fighter pilots, so what? I’m not a particularly big fan of BMWs but good on them for sticking to their guns. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/33 "2012-11-16T16:52:29Z")
> [@Mdcastleman](#): > > Thanks to fuel efficiency requirements, we can probably expect more stupid vehicles like this. Damn those liberals and their fuel efficiency. This is exactly why all those German and Japanese cars suck ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/34 "2012-11-16T17:08:16Z")
> [@curlcoat](#): > > The front end should be attached far better than the amount of stress it took to back away at about 1 mph. And when I say whole front end, I mean every thing back to the doors except the hood and windshield. It all fell off in one piece. I find it extremely hard to believe that snagging the bumper fascia on a parking block would pull the entire front clip off of a car. _Extremely._ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/35 "2012-11-16T17:26:45Z")
Especially considering the fenders wouldn’t even be attached to the bumper cover. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/36 "2012-11-16T20:25:44Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > BMW got a lot of unwarranted flack for their iDrive control interface when it was introduced, because it wasn’t very intuitive. iDrive was designed so the driver, once he’s read the manual and knows how it works, can quickly and efficiently use it without taking his eyes off the road and with a minimum of arm/hand coordination that will distract him from his primary job of driving the car. It wasn’t MEANT to be fucking intuitive enough so that any drooling toddler off the street can hop in and instantly know where everything is, why should it need to be? The controls in the cockpit of an F15 are probably confusing to people who aren’t fighter pilots, so what? I’m not a particularly big fan of BMWs but good on them for sticking to their guns. I thought most BMW drivers\* were\* drooling toddlers. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/37 "2012-11-16T20:32:02Z")
> [@corkboard](#): > > I thought most BMW drivers\* were\* drooling toddlers. Toddlers have a chance of maturing. ---
**Author:** ![curlcoat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@curlcoat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curlcoat)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/38 "2012-11-16T21:55:51Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > I find it extremely hard to believe that snagging the bumper fascia on a parking block would pull the entire front clip off of a car. > > _Extremely._ As I said above - shrug. Maybe it wasn’t the bumper fascia whatever that is since we didn’t know it was snagged until it fell off. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Especially considering the fenders wouldn’t even be attached to the bumper cover. Above were pictures showing that model having a one piece front end. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [November 16, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/39 "2012-11-16T23:37:51Z")
Arguing about whether or not the bumper or the whole front end fell off reminds me of my friend’s story. She was driving her few week old Dodge Caravan when the engine fell out. Plop, right into the road at a stoplight. She called her husband and asked him to pick her and the kids up. Told him the engine fell out of the car. He sanctimoniously explained that she must be mistaken because engines don’t do that and said he’d be right along with his little tool box to fix things. When he arrived he was rather taken aback that sure enough, the engine was sitting in the road. Turns out only one of the bolts holding the engine in place had been installed at the factory and that rattled loose pretty quick. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082/40 "2012-11-17T01:23:14Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > However, the layout is still quite intuitive, the headlight dial has a few clear settings on it, and changing the 3-2-1 part of the auto shifter to M +/- is a good call, at least IMO. Forgive me, this is the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing. Could someone please explain what “M +/-” stands for and what it does? (And how do you use it?) Thanks. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-chevy-captiva/641082.md?page=3)