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The Current State of the US Auto Market
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Honda and Toyota are still getting very high reviews with lots of red dots. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
At lease Customer Service improved for GM. That is saying a lot.
Regards,
OW
That sounds like more of the barnyard hoooey a few perpetuate to try to image those foreign makes as totally realiable and perfect: any recall is just someone trying to hurt the image. While the few still try to paint GM/F as total failures, never to be touched again in the caste system.
To wit there are statements like: "Honda and Toyota are still getting very high reviews with lots of red dots. The more things change, the more they stay the same."
Wonder how the auto transmission owners in Hondas with problems, VCM's with oil use, brakes that turn themselves on unexpectly, and CRV AC compressors that fail regularly. Many posts now about Honda's lack of forever replacements (like Craftsman tools), and instead people are being charged what sounds like double what should be the costs for replacement with the same failed-engineering parts.
I noticed a past coworker had switched from his usual toyota to a CRV after our monthly retired group lunch get together last week. People need to actually shop the cars rather than rely on old images and stereotypes perpetuated by GM brand or F haters. I much prefer our friend's Equinox to the CRVs I've been in.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Honda recently extended the warranty for the CR-V A/C to 7yrs/100K miles.
Our CR-V has excellent A/C after 4 years. No worries going forward!
Seat Belts
What evidence is there that the two Malibu strategy didn't work well?
"Maybe they should have labeled the new one a Caprice or something instead???"
I can't imagine that the marketing people didn't consider alternative names, but we'll never know whether they made the right call.
Honda has turned into a demagogue with all those followers. Sounds like a politician. They've had so many problems that people are happy to ignore. I was reading about cracking in Civic blocks on a forum the other day. The perfect car.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
They should be recalled for poor design, period.
Of course the Hondas and Toyotas are perfect! You've been saying that for many years on these forums. I don't remember anybody else saying that, though.
Probably some dumb union rules about keeping old factories open or something like that.
My brother (who can take a car apart and put it back together in the day) just dumped a '04 JGC for a Kia Sorrento....the warranty was what he was looking for and the value in it's class (between the CR-V and the CX-9) is hard to beat.
wELL, when the water pump, A/C compressor, shock absorber, air bag sensor, MAP sensor fail before 50K miles can a vehicle be designated as "Junk", AFAIC.
Nothing special, that would be part of your powertrain warranty, correct?
At 60K miles, I had a new thermostat and new five-year coolant done for warranty on my Cobalt. I was ribbed for that here. Frankly, I was happy as now I don't have to pay to replace the special coolant.
I might add, if Honda extended the warranty on A/C compressors, it should be no secret that they have experienced problems with them. Some here had said that those were made up stories.
GM extended the warranty to 110K miles, on the ignition switch of my Cobalt. I think it's a good thing. And hey, it was even built before the bankruptcy.
What year and kind of vehicle was it?
IMO that's GM's downfall, they didn't wow the market. Instead they just tried/hoped to meet the benchmark. Ford is trying to exceed the benchmark, they've succeeded here and there, but time will tell if they really make it.
I'm not minimizing your problem but there has to be some "exception to the rule" logic. I'll grant you GM has come a long way from the junk they rolled out in the 80's and 90's, but it's not like the Japanese manufacturers have suffered a major decline. The playing field has leveled somewhat, it isn't the runaway on quality that it was 20 years ago, but in this market "catching up" isn't going to cut it.
From a marketing standpoint I realize that Hyundai/Kia had to do this to regain some trust but a good warranty doesn't equal a good car.
It takes a lot of time to rebuild a reputation, I'll give Hyundai/Kia credit for doing that, but time will tell how it all shakes out. At the end of the day you still get what you pay for, they are econo cars. Not bad at all for what they are, but it's still an econobox.
we had a 1989 Chevy Astro that went 320K miles with very low maintenance/Repair cost. I wouldn't call that junk.
2020 Acura RDX tech SH-AWD, 2023 Maverick hybrid Lariat luxury package.
Honestly, having driven my wife's uncle's Astro, it could never need any service at all. Just on refinement, it was junk to me. Horrible driving position, cramped footwell, horrible steering, bad brakes. Perhaps his was worse than average.
Used to run Astros in my work fleet in the 80s, and I agree exactly with you. They were tough as nails, and dependable - but probably the worse design possible. Every knock you gave it above is completely accurate. I used them as cargo vans, which is what they were designed for - then with the Caravans and Aerostars coming, they switched it to a passenger van as an afterthought and offered them too. Still a nightmare design. Only good thing was their size, you could fit 8 passengers into them.
You forgot how inadequate the A/C was. Unless you are from Canada, they were a bread oven.
My wife used her Astro as a daily driver, as well as for her business. We later used it for my business. I had also driven it on a few extended trips. I agree about the cramped left foot area, but I found that it always tracked straight, ran great, got decent mileage, hauled a ton, and for a 1989 car had a smoother and quieter ride than some some recent Honda products I have experienced. Sure it was an old design and it didn't handle very well but it performed magnificently for its intended purpose.
One of my biggest issues that the relationship between steering wheel position and the direction the vehicle was going to go was only somewhat related. That alone made if feel unsafe. Combine with the poor brakes and it was scary. No Honda has ever been like that in my experience - in fact in those areas, Hondas have been among the best.
I can see the value of the Astro for utility purposes. It also seems that around here (CA), I often see Astros with *uh* lower income families who have lots of kids. For that application they are cheap and seat a lot, so makes sense.
The warranty/extended warranty is why I kept the 2004 Denali since parts failed regularly.
The AC worked great. We used it to travel to Chatanooga for a couple of days midsummer for a group visit to Lookout Mountain. Waaa Hoooo. Comfortable. Roomy. Rode great. Fair mileage on gas. They had even used it to haul a riding mower they got a great deal on at Lowes here in Ohio while they were visiting home.
They traded it for a bright red Kia Forté Koup with speaker lights that flash with the music.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
The Impala was once a stylish marquee name, a glorious tail-finned showpiece of Detroit’s golden age. Those days are as distant as Don Draper sitting alone at the hotel bar. Now it’s just clumsy, expensive department-store jewelry, dated and stale, desperately out of step with the times.
Chevy told us that about 70 percent of the current Impala is going to rental and commercial fleets, meaning that two-thirds of these cars won’t be purchased by individual humans. For the 2014 model, they said, those numbers are going to be reversed — with the 2013 model soldering on as a fleet-only special named, unironically, the Impala Limited. But you can’t just flip a switch. Not at these prices. The Impala may not be a budget vehicle, but soon enough, Budget may be the only place you’ll find one.
2014 Impala
I wonder what I'll end up replacing the minivan with. It's a great trip car, comfy, roomy, long wheelbase for great tracking. Probably couldn't go any smaller than a mid-sizer. You get spoiled pretty quick.
Then again I have a 2nd car as a daily driver, so I don't mind a big trip car.
He fixates on the price and really can't get beyond that. How many of them will be loaded up that high, and even if they are, how many people will pay over $40k street price? I bet very few.
305hp is plenty and that Reese's interior color scheme looks trick. The pop up hidden compartment locks in valet mode, and the tech works well. How can "total overkill" also be "dated and stale"?
Neal doesn't get the tech, fine, but then don't be so critical.
This is why you should not write a review when you're angry.
They had an MG when first married, 2nd marriage. So the Koup made sense to them with their GMC Jimmy. I viewed it as a late life crisis kar for both of them, although it was her pick. They happened to see it and liked the red Koup while walking a Kia lot next to a restaurant. I'd mentioned before the window sticker had a $2400 extra fee along with $90 for air in the tires. Don't know what they ended up paying when negotiating. Dealer did screw them on the trunk lid spoiler--didn't install it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Just try working on an Astro vs an Aerostar, I know some mechanics who wont have anything to do with the Aerostar, myself included, talk about a tight fit. With the Astro a tune up is easy, the Aerostar.......dont even want to know.
I like how he whines about how at $40K, you'd better put more than the 3.6 in it. Somebody needs to point out to him that the XTS can get MSRP'ed up to $60K, yet it just has the 3.6. The LaCrosse, Enclave, Acadia, and Traverse can be priced up pretty high, as well.
I think keeping the old Impala around as a fleet car makes sense, as the new one just has too much of a "premium" feel to be put into service as a police car, taxi, etc.