2013 Toyota 86 Part 2: The Checklist
Inspection time for our little coupe
By Imthishan Giado
So I’ve signed on the dotted line and watched with great sadness as a giant wodge of cash worked its way out of my bank account. For most people, the next time they see their new car is when it’s ready to be driven out of the showroom.
But not this time. We’re pulling back the curtain to show what actually happens when your new car is delivered, and it starts with the Pre-Delivery Inspection, or PDI.
Many are under the mistaken assumption that every car arrives completely perfect from the factory, pristine and ready to drive off into the sunset, from shop floor to Sheikh Zayed Road. That’s a very carefully constructed illusion by manufacturers because your car passes through many hands before it even reaches the dealership.
Consider this; someone has to drive it from the factory into the port with thousands of other cars, where malicious birds are waiting to poop all over your prized possession. Then another man drives it onto a ship – quickly not carefully, because he’s got to do this runaround hundreds of times a day – where it’s lashed down and hopefully doesn’t move around on the long, rolling journey from Japan.
Then it reaches Dubai where another man drives it off the ship to the Customs yard to wait for paperwork to be processed – remember those birds? They’re not just indigenous to the Japanese isles. Next, it transfers to the Al Futtaim Logistics Yard where the car is officially inventoried and checked for any surface damage or scratches thus far. Keep in mind – they’re not checking to make sure that everything works, just that it’ll move under its own power without issue. The car has still only covered a handful of kilometres from its birth.
Finally, the car is put on a truck and transported to the showroom for PDI, where everything is checked with a fine tooth comb before finally transported to the stock yard. When the car is sold, it is brought back from the stock yard, washed, polished, plated and ready for delivery, assuming the customer hasn’t requested any additional modifications which require additional installation at the workshop.
So what exactly happens during this mysterious PDI process? That’s the job of DFC showroom supervisor and quality control specialist Padz who armed with his little clipboard and an inexhaustible supply of fresh white gloves checks every inch of car for potential problems in the underground holding area.
It’s not a short job. Padz has to check every inch of the external body for nicks, scratches or misaligned panels, ensuring that all the lights and indicators work, the wheels are correctly inflated and so on.
Next he opens the hood and scans the engine bay for anything that might have come loose during shipping, double checks all the hoses, clips and connectors to make certain they’re seated properly.
During this time he’s also listening to the running engine for signs of any unusual running. Millions of engines are made every year and issues are not unusual, if rare.
In this case, everything’s fine so it’s just a case of making sure that all the oil levels are correctly topped up to spec – not overfilled – and then it’s time to move on to the interior.
For Padz, the 86 is an easier job than usual simply because there are far less gadgets than in your average Land Cruiser. Nevertheless, he’s still got to test every single element of the cabin from the radio to the wipers and windows for correct operation. That also means he has to make sure everything required for GCC spec is there, including a fire extinguisher, safety triangle and of course, the all important warranty booklet.
This is the part of the car that the customer – ie, me – spends the vast majority of his time so everything has to be just so for the pickier among us – ie, me.
Poke, pull and push is Padz’ mantra and if he’s satisfied, the car is finally ready to move on to the next stage. Which isn’t the holding yard, because remember those modifications I told you about? Time for some rustproofing.
Read more here!
Part 1: The Deal
Part 2: The Checklist
Part 3: The Workshop
Part 4: The Delivery
Part 5: First Service
Part 6: Clever Vs Dumb