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Car owners getting more irritated with their repair experiences, study says

The J.D. Power U.S. Customer Service Index Study (CSI) is a barometer of a vehicle owner's happiness with the service experience. While it wasn't all bad in the 2023 study, the overall owner satisfaction score dropped. This year's tally of 846 out of 1,000 is two points down from 2022, the 43-year-old study's first decline in more than 28 years, and one point down from 2021. However, the overall score remains well up from the pre-pandemic scores of 821 in 2018 and 837 in 2020. The study claims the stumbling block is the horde of BEV launches. The flood into the new energy space has created a recall rate among EVs that's more than double the rate for ICE vehicles. Furthermore, dealership service department knowledge of EVs isn't on par with internal combustion engine expertise, leaving EV owners less satisfied with service advisors compared to ICE owners. Chris Sutton, VP of automotive retail at J.D. Power, said, "As training programs for service advisors and technicians evolve, EV service quality and customer experience must address both the vehicle and the unique customer needs. The EV segment has the potential to spur massive convenience improvements in how customers service their vehicles — but weÂ’re not seeing the benefits yet." Matters are slightly worse for all owners, though, with labor and parts shortages contributing to longer wait times for service appointments. The CSI study surveys owners and lessees of one- to three-year-old vehicles to gauge their happiness with service at franchised dealer or aftermarket service facilities for maintenance or repair work. The criteria in order of importance are service quality (32%); service advisor (19%); vehicle pick-up (19%); service facility (15%); and service initiation (15%). Lexus retains the top spot for luxury brands, giving it three wins in four years. The Japanese automaker won in 2020 as well, its run interrupted by Porsche in 2021. Cadillac, Infiniti and Acura complete the luxury top 5.  For mass-market cars, Mitsubishi wins again after a victory in 2021 and falling to fourth last year. It's followed by Mazda, Buick, Subaru and Mini.  Considering the different service needs and service experience of different body styles, the study has broken results out by segment for the first time. Lexus earned a second victory thanks to winning the premium SUV segment, and Mitsubishi earned a second victory by winning the mass-market SUV/minivan category.

Could the GMC Jimmy come back as a Wrangler fighter?

Every three or four years, two cars go into heavy media rotation in stories about supposed new competitors. The headlines go something like, "X automaker working on a vehicle to fight the iconic Y." The Y cars are the Porsche 911 and the Jeep Wrangler. For this story, the X automaker is GM. And since GM already has its 911-fighter poised for debut next month, we speak here of the Wrangler. Car and Driver writes that GMC might take another shot at a Jeep challenger, this time by rebirthing a body-on-frame Jimmy SUV. For any who don't know, GMC sold an S-15 Jimmy from 1982 to 2005, a twin of the Chevrolet S-10 Blazer. Those SUVs started their lives as the Chevrolet S-10 and GMC S-15/Sonoma pickups. The Blazer name has returned to the light, albeit without its old-school rugged manners. There's still an opening on the GMC side, though, so C/D says the idea would be to work that old magic on the GMC Canyon pickup. The report is more chaff than grist for the rumormill, with liberal application of phrases like "looking to come up with," "could be," "could take," and "could arrive." Having said that, a potential Jimmy model could come in a few years, could use the same six-cylinder gas and four-cylinder diesel engines as the Canyon, and could start around $30,000. The Jimmy could wear GMC's new mud-and-guts AT4 trim name, or become a mud-and-guts trim for the Canyon just as the ZR2 is for the Colorado. It's not an entirely crazy idea, however, when a body-on-frame Trailblazer SUV based on the Colorado sells in Latin America, Asia, and Australia and does pretty well in the mud and muck. GM's been on the edge of going to war with the Wrangler for at least 12 years, when a Hummer exec said the HX concept would debut at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show and go on sale in 2010 as the H4. In 2015, The Wall Street Journal said GM was canvassing GMC dealers about something to get in the ring with the Wrangler. And all that was before every other automaker had to watch Jeep open a money-counting operation to handle its Wrangler profits, and dealers started charging $20,000 markups on Gladiators. In May, spy shooters caught a sensor-laden Jeep running at GM's Milford Proving Grounds in Michigan. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported GM is considering a Hummer revival as an all-electric hardcore SUV. So we will not be surprised if GM rolls out a Wrangler fighter in the near-ish future. But we won't be surprised if GM doesn't, either.

Specialty Vehicle Engineering's 750-horsepower GMC Canyon fully revealed

GMC's celebrated Syclone will turn 30 in early 2021, but nothing suggests the company will mark the occasion by releasing a modern interpretation of the pickup. New Jersey-based tuner Specialty Vehicle Engineering (SVE) is taking the matter into its own hands by building a limited number of GMC Canyon trucks with Hellcat-like power. Although the original Syclone received a turbocharged V6, the 2021 model gains a 5.3-liter V8 normally found in bigger vehicles, including the Sierra and Yukon. SVE rebuilt it with forged aluminum pistons, forged steel connecting rods, high-lift valve springs, a custom crankshaft and upgraded fuel injectors among other aftermarket parts. It also added a supercharger to raise the eight's output to 750 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. Power flows to the four wheels via a strengthened 8-speed automatic transmission and a permanent all-wheel-drive system. For context, the first Syclone gave the Chevrolet Corvette a run for its money with a fuel-injected, 4.3-liter V6 turbocharged to 280 horsepower and 360 pound-feet of torque. These numbers were spectacular in the early 1990s since the Sonoma that Syclone was based on shipped with the 105-horse Iron Duke four-cylinder as standard. Even compared with the Sonoma GT that got a naturally aspirated 4.3-liter V6 with 195 horsepower and 260 pound-feet of torque, the Syclone was impressive. SVE installed six-pistons front calipers that clamp 13.6-inch slotted rotors, and it kept the factory brakes out back. It also lowered the suspension by two inches in the front and five inches in the back, upgraded the shocks, and added a heavy-duty rear sway bar. These modifications help drivers make the most of the extra power, but SVE hasn't published performance specifications (like the truck's zero-to-60-mph time) yet. Surprisingly, the eight-cylinder weighs almost the same as the V6 it replaces so the engine swap doesn't affect weight distribution. Visually, the Syclone can't be mistaken for a run-of-the-mill Canyon. It wears a deep front bumper, has cladding over the rocker panels and rides on 20-inch alloys. Edition-specific emblems round out the look, and the list of options includes a body-colored grille as well as a folding tonneau cover. SVE's images show a truck painted black, which was the only color offered on the 1991 model, but it's available in any factory hue. Inside, the modern-day Syclone gains special floor mats and a numbered plaque on the dashboard. Leather is optional.