Mark: Hi, it's Mark Bossert. I'm here with Bernie Pawlik, Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, Vancouver's best auto service experience, and we're talking cars. How are you doing, Bernie?
Bernie: Doing very well.
Mark: 2016 Range Rover. Frequent appearance on the podcast. What was going on with this particular version?
Bernie: I like that frequent appearance on the podcast. It's like the Range Rovers are guests on the podcast. Hi, Mr. A Range Rover. Anyhow what was going on with this thing? These things have a very fancy gear shifting knob to put it into drive and reverse, and that unit was malfunctioning from time to time for the client. So brought it in. We diagnosed it found that the actual unit, the knob that you turn, needed to be replaced.
Mark: So based on what your research, is this a fairly regular occurrence with these or is this a rare occurrence?
Bernie: Well, it's the first one we've fixed in our shop, but I'd say it's not entirely rare. I think it happens on other vehicles.
Mark: All right. Let's go right to the pictures. Here's today's guest.
Bernie: Here's today's guest. Yep.
Mark: Lovely looking. Range Rover.
Bernie: So there's our vehicle.
We could just get right into the component replaced. So this is sort of a view looking down on the centre console, and if you see it sort of at the midpoint. Yeah, you got it marked there. That's the shifting knob.
It sits flush when the key is, yeah, you can see there the key's off. There's no power. That knob sits flush. As soon as you turn, the key on the knob raises up about an inch or so, so you can grab it and twist it. You know, it's a complicated piece of electronics and machinery. A combination of both.
Mark: This is kind of a cool feature that it lifts up, but when things go wrong, expensive to fix?
Bernie: Exactly. Yeah. It's a very expensive job to fix. Very labor intensive too. It's nestled in the console. They don't make it easy to change. And so a lot of items need to be disassembled just to access it and replace it. And then it requires a bit of programming afterwards to initialize it for the vehicle.
This is one of the side console panels that we had to remove. My technician was commenting, look at all these clips on this thing. And I just thought to myself, you know, this is why when you buy a Range Rover or you know, a lot of fancy European cars, you're paying a lot of money for the car because you've got really tough construction here. This is slammed together with a lot of clips, holds it in place. It's not gonna creak, it's not gonna rattle. It's a lot of work to take it off. But you know, that's the quality you're paying for.
I was gonna say, such other brands like Teslas, which are known to be kind of, their quality is in certain areas of their driving and their EV technology is state of the art, but their assembly is not. It's why you pay the big bucks for a Range Rover.
Mark: So what do we have here?
Bernie: It's the backside of that unit.
And then we have the side view of the unit as well. It seems very heavy, actually. Probably weighs a couple pounds. You know, there's a lot of metal and material inside there and the motors are robust. And if you look here on this picture, you can also see that side panel. It's kind of just beside the seat right here. Yeah. So all these things, all these things have to be removed to get at that console piece.
Mark: A bit fiddly, finicky work, but very important. 'cause if your car doesn't shift, it don't go.
Bernie: It don't go. Yeah, exactly. So sort of a simple podcast for a complicated repair.
Mark: Expensive repair because of the hours that it takes?
Bernie: For the hours, and the parts are expensive too. Like most things, like most things on Range Rover, you know, you'd expect a component like that to be expensive.
Mark: It’s very complicated.
Bernie: Yeah, it is. Yeah. There's a lot to it. It's amazing with some knobs. We could do another podcast on others, but I've seen some other, you know, knobs for radio dials and they're multifunction knobs. And if you have the radio on, it'll turn like 10 notches. But if you have it on the air conditioning system, it'll only turn five notches and it's all electronic. It's amazing engineering.
Mark: Until something goes wrong.
Bernie: Until something goes wrong, and then it's like mucho bucks.
Mark: All right, so if you're looking for service for your Range Rover in Vancouver, BC, Canada, the guys to see are Pawlik Automotive. You can reach them online at pawlikautomotive.com. You can book your appointment there and there's hundreds of videos on there, literally hundreds and hundreds of videos. We've been doing this for 13 years, all makes and models and types of repairs. If your car has an issue, you'll probably find us if you do a search in Vancouver. Pawlik Automotive. You can also call them at (604) 327-7112 to book your appointment. You have to book ahead. They're always busy. Pawlik Automotive in Vancouver, BC Canada. Thank you Bernie, and thank you for watching and listening.
Bernie: And thank you, Mark, and thanks for watching and listening.
