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Comments
Let me disagree in this point. There are circumstances when extra-bright lights may help, but in most cases the they reduce safety by blinding other motorists. A pair of bluish lights behind you is as bad as tailgating pickup or SUV.
jgriff : Go help legero buy a Honda, QUICK! I'll pay for your air line ticket.
Honda RULES!
I think the part about Legero's car being used wasn't meant to be an excuse for his problems, but rather a possible cause that shouldn't be dismissed so easily. Legero, is the A/C leaking into the passenger compartment, or is it leaking R-13a outside? What exactly is leaking? I assume your complaint is not that water is dripping from the A/C system, because that isn't a leak but rather condensation from warm, humid air on the cooled down metal. Also, it wasn't Oldsman who was rude to you, that was me... And I believe that was the only immature comment made by anyone here (excluding you).
I never said that profits were directly tied to quality, my point is profits is what business is all about. However if your product does lack quality, then repeat business may be a serious long-term issue. GM market share has shrunk over the years [not sure what the real numbers are], causing them to scramble to keep the numbers in line and keep pace with the competition. A lot of GM problems are that are once loyal customers switching to other more reliable brands, I think the term is "Brand Loyalty". I know a several old-time Caddy owners who've moved to Lexus, BMW, MB, Infinity lineup. And I see a lot of little old ladies driving Camry & Accords.
yurkam ::: Xenon lights are one of my personal preference, and I feel that once you have experience them as a driver you won't want to go back to standard lights [kind of like Antilock Brakes and Traction Control Systems]. And I disagree with the blinding factor, yes they are noticeable brighter, however I have auto-dimming rear view mirror therefore it has never been a problem from the rear or head-on for that matter.
dindak ::: Yes I know Honda rules no need to remind me. Alas, you have not answer my questions, have you ever owned an Acura? How many different brands have you owned in your lifetime? Or have you simply been a diehard Olds fan from the get-go?
Me, I never own or even driven a BMW [can't get past the price-tag], therefore I would even dream of stating how "Good" or "Bad" any BMW is or might be [always heard that they are pricey and a headache to maintain]. But I have had real experiences with Oldsmobile twice in my lifetime, GM several times, many foreign makes, that doesn't not make me an expert just one with some real-life honest opinions.
FYI, I know several business people in Canada that swear by Subaru. They love the AWD setup, and they feel they are virtually bullet-proof. Just passing that bit of info on to you, since you live in Canada.
Again if anyone spends $10-30k or more of their hard earn money, they don't want a rash of problems. Most people can live with one or two incidents as long as it is fixed right the first time, and not a series of on-going repeats.
honda rules!!
Also, when looking at the several CTS's that were at the local Olds/Caddy dealer, they were all loaded with various packages that pushed the price to about $38K. $29.9 is bascially a come-on. Salesguy said they were all coming to them like that, and that it was difficult to order them otherwise. I'm sure that will change over time. Probably could get some better discounts waiting to see what the demand is like. Would like to drive one someday. But if the price remains in the mid 30's, then we're talking serious BMW 325 territory, and Caddy will have a hard time dethroning that driving champ. The 325 is one of the best cars I have ever driven - but I would never consider owing one unless it was under warranty - you don't even want to think about the cost of reparing one of those, and they aren't all that reliable (of course, people do tend to drive the **** out of them!).
For those of you that mentioned buying an Alero, SLP (Street Legal Performance, the company behind the Camaro SS/Firehawk) has some STB's on clearance.
Quick 1000 mile update: The cars seems to idle rough; it shakes a little as if I'm parked on a bridge that is moving. Other than that it has been fine. I need to get rid of the GrandAm and start driving this for my short tips. I've only put on 800 miles since mid February!
Thanks
It works for my camaro, but may not help with the newer cars.
Perhaps your local shop is not great though. I know they vary across the continent.
BTW, I enjoy this group but there's been a lot of wasted bandwidth the last couple of weeks. No one is going to convince someone who had a bad experience with his Intrigue that it's a great car so why bother trying. It's unfortunate that Legero had bad luck with his but the sooner people stop arguing with him, the sooner he'll leave.
legero8, "getting an attorney". What did I say, cut your losses and trade your Intrigue for that Passat you've been dreaming of. Your getting an attorney comment makes you sound like a whinning kid. GET RID OF THE CAR!!! It's that simple. If mine were giving problems like that, I'd trade it too. But I and many others here have not had major problems and enjoy ours.
With regard to the drive belt, I did indeed have mine changed at 60,000 miles. For the record, with 61,000 miles on my '98 Intrigue it is doing great and I love it!
<<< There is little point in discussing anything with you. It's all just a re-hash of the same thing we did a few months ago. We all know you think the Intrigue sucks and Honda's are wonderful. It's all very old.
honda rules!! >>>
Wow, I must say is that the best you muster up? You really disappoint me, not even answering my simply questions. Although you must truly think that Hondas are not all bad, as you do have the new 2002 CRV on your current list. My guess is that you are very "price/financing" & "GM/brand" driven when it comes to your vehicle purchases, hence the recent Alero purchase at 0.9%.
Please rest your eyes and typing fingers, I don't really to care engage with you or anyone else for the matter.
I just want you to truly acknowledge the poor souls that have had more than their share of problems with Oldsmobile/GM products. And throw them with a little sincere sympathy and kindness their way, instead of pouncing on their misfortunate as nothing more than just a way to upset your good dispositions. Trust me, they are simply looking for a place to vent, knowing full well that GM may not be of any real help, especially along the Olds lines.
Dindak ,,, please re-read that last paragraph more than once.
Imacmil ::: I guess you want this thread to be only be for those who have had "POSITIVE" Intrigue experiences, all others should go bury your heads in the sand.
THE INTRIGUE IS JUNK! Today my passenger side floorboard was soaked in water. Probably a leak from the AC but now my carpet is discolored and smells like mildo inside. This sure doesn't help sell the car! The car is in the shop AGAIN and I have a rental car now a Dodge.
This IS the most unreliable car I have ever come across. My parents, friends, brothers have had many cars none this unreliable. A Ford Tempo is actually more reliable..A TEMPO!!!!!
Honda rules...I never said that Didak more like ANYTHING RULES...except Oldsmobile.
Other than that it is wonderful ride for any trip longer than 30 miles, especially between 75-90 mph.
I am not sure if people coming over from camcords, do really know the huge difference between Msrp and street price for domestics. Either that or price must be not be an issue for these folks. As for me, I consider the number 1 GM brand to be the GM card, followed by (for me) Saturn (after getting 160K+ on an 92 SL2 with mostly minor problems).
Like Dindak here I too could n't pass up on the Alero, with the Olds credit and Gm card rebate etc. Have an ecotec ,ruby red too, GL1 with sun roof and sound. The Ecotec is surprisingly smooth and quiet for a domestic. I used to think that only Toy and Honda had the magic ingredient for quiet idles. It is a good enough car for the commute(1500 miles so far in a month). I also get to drive a 2K2 PF or a 99 Passat quite often.
So my preference would be 1. Intrigue for fun and moderate high speed interstate driving, covering distance in least amt of time.
2. Nissan PF for relaxed family fun,conversations when driving etc.
3. Passat for short bursts of 'how fast can I go' and satisfying cleaning urges(those metallic pads and brake dust, and silver Audi/VW's really look classy after a good wash).
4. Alero for multi tasking, commute + music + save on gas + easy on the planet.
Is there a Hindu Accord in my future ? Maybe if I am forced to buy a car when my GM card $$ are under 1K, but I would probably go for the Nissan's - Alt,Max or G35 depending on how tight my hold on the wallet at that point. With >1 K of GM card $, It still is not easy, I have already bought all the GM cars that appeal to me, I like DOHC v6's but I would consider Impala LS, or the Buick Rendezvous nothing else from GM, F,or DCX.
legero8 : Intrigues are all junk. Sell it ASAP.
I sympathize with Legero (and you too I guess) who had bad experiences with their Intrigues. If Legero had come here and said "I've had bad luck with my Intrigue, etc." he would have received the appropriate amount of sympathy. His inductive reasoning which says "since my Intrigue is junk, all Intrigues are junk" not only flies in the face of logic and the available evidence, it serves no purpose other than to rile up the satisfied owners who feel compelled to respond, ad nauseum.
I don't want to see this forum deteriorate into name calling and whining like so many other internet forums and newsgroups have.
I know this is a technical question, but can you describe exactly what is leaking? Water or refrigerant?
I know my Intrigue a/c tends to leak a lot of water on humid days.
Some say that is a good sign but how do you replace that water? Does it have a little tube from the radiator?
Maybe there is a technical bulletin on that. ;=)
Folks, that is enough of this bickering that we've been all through before. It makes no sense - as most of you know - to categorize an entire line of vehicles by one experience - postive or negative.
Some of us need to calm down and understand that we have experienced different events in our lives and we are all entitled to form our own opinions based on those events, but we are not entitled to keep bashing others because they disagree with us.
The Town Hall is a place where folks expect to have polite and reasonable conversations about just about anything car-related (and sometimes not car-related) - and your Membership Agreementl requires that the conversation be civil and respectful.
So please let's get back to a friendly exchange of thoughts and opinions. If you are unable to post a message that is civil and respectful, then don't post at all. We are talking about the car, not each other.
Any further posts that are judged by me to be uncivil, attacking, off-topic in a disruptive manner or otherwise non-compliant with the Membership Agreement will be removed.
Pat
Sedans Host
Funny, I only had it once and most Intrigue owners didn't/haven't had it at all. The technician said decomposing leaves built up. On my street you could power a small town if you burned all the leaves that fall. legero8 is the first one in 2 years that has had this problem since I originally posted the problem.
I've done some measuring and have figured out that the Oldsmobile rocket emblem that is on the back of the Alero can fit above INTRIGUE on the rear (on the little lip thing). I'm thinking how handsome this would look. I've never liked the cheap looking oldsmobile on the rear and want to remove it. Not because I'm embarassed that it's an Oldsmobile but because I don't think it fits with the rest of the car. Placing the rocket emblem would announce it as an Oldsmobile with greater appeal. By the way, moving the rocket emblem from the hood to the front fascia was one of the best things I've done for the appearance of the front of the car. Only thing that would be better is to have an even bigger emblem that is on the current Bravada.
I've been involved with this Intrigue forum for almost 4 years [I think long before some of the other current regulars]. And within any given few months time period, the same items are being discussed over and over [heck, I speed read thru most of it]. Granted mostly "positive" and little stuff, but ALL over and over. Every 3-6 months I pop-up to make a statement or two, and then lay low for a while.
I'm only here for the "Free" exchange of personal opinions and ideas. Thus everyone is entitled to them, and in a lot of cases there is NO one right answer(s).
Trust me guys, I really did NOT want to sale my Intrigue 4-6 years prematurely. I didn't lose my shirt, but I also was not able to enjoy the benefits of 2-4 years of NO car payments. [I'm not a rich man, wish I was then I be over on some Luxury Car Forum].
There are more important things in life than one own personal car.
Take care, Gentlemen.
What I have not seen is a comparison between the 3.5 with stock gearing and a 3.5 with the PCS-gearing. It seems to me that all the 3.5 times I have seen are with the 3.05 gears. Has anyone seen 0-60 times listed for 3.29-geared Intrigues?
I would expect the gearing to help a good tenth or so.
0-60 is 8 seconds for the 3.05 cars.
0-60 is 7.8 seconds for the 3.29 cars. Those are the '99 cars and the 2000 and laters with PCS.
Interestingly, similiar numbers are posted for the 3800 impalas, but mine feels like its 0-60 time is about 8.5 seconds. C&d recently reported a mid 8 second number.
So ibelieve from my experience that the 3.5L is more powerful than the 15 hp increase indicates.
Prem. vs. Regular, lets do the math on the big bucks there. Say one puts about 15k miles in a year at an average of 22mpg. They would consume roughly 682 gallons annually. So at 10 cents per gallon difference between Prem & Reg that is a whooping $68, even at 20 cents difference we're only talk $136. That breaks down to about $2.60 per week or $11 dollars per month. Again I'm pretty tight with my money, but if gas prices are one of your biggest concerns in driving a family sedan, than maybe you should be looking at a smaller 4-cylinder vehicle, and step away slowly from the V6/8's on the car lot.
Where gas prices kills me, and everyone else is when it goes from 1.25 to 2-dollars or more per-gallon, but I'm still only 10-20 cents difference from regular fuel.
BTW: does the Intrigue come with memory seats and mirrors? The TL/CL do, and it is very handy when sharing with the wife. What about a standard 6/in-dash CD, or is it still single in-dash and a trunk mounted option. No heated mirrors, or locking gas covers. And "Heated" seats are optional not standard as well. Right?
Yeah, I know another cheap shot, but I couldn't resist. Shame on me.
If there is a reason to do a comparison between the TL or CL and the Intrigue, the Comparisons board is the place to do it.
Pat
Sedans Host
Intrigue with memory seat and memory mirrors? No way..An Aurora might but no Intrigue has such features. And I am glad it doesn't means more stuff to break. Intrigues are JUNK.
I am so mad at this car I can't take it anymore. Shop called and they say this so called $60 repair you people talk about will actually take 5 days to fix...which is no way $60.
Even so, I think the debate here has been stimulating. The Intrigue begs comparison between itself and imports because that's what it was created to do: compete with imports.
If you're not a rich man jgriff can I ask you why you bought a TL instead of a V6 Accord?
Getting back to the Intrigue... who was mentioning that stiffer springs and softer shocks would work? Was it oscarz? I'm thinking how right you probably are. On the way home last night I was swerving from side to side (on a quiet street) and could feel the springs give way and allow the car to sway, even with the STBs and next level rear sway. Problem is, how does one find a stiffer spring without it being a lowering one.
The badging on the rear has improved only slightly with the larger Oldsmobile moniker. It is still the same font (created in the 70s) and spread out a bit. It's still bland and doesn't match the Intrigue font at all. I, also am glad that the car isn't OVERbadged. I just happen to like the new rocket emblem and wish it was on the rear.