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One2One, you are right the Intrigue is not a Camry or an Accord and thank God it is not or I never would have considered one. Dull styling, puny engines, and tiny wheels, no thank you! I do agree that Olds probably should have priced the car a bit lower to create more attention, but with the discounts that are typically expected on domestic cars, it is priced about right.
white6, What is the deal with the headlights and what models is this affecting? The only time I've ever noticed this on mine is if it is a very hot summer night and the engine slows down for a monent such as when the A/C compressor engages. This is rare and is fairly common on many cars. Sorry to hear you are having problems with yours.
--Dan Cunningham
then buy a bravada or 2002 intrigue?
Happy Holidays!
How is this for depressing? Since GM announced the death of Old, I've seen almost daily stories at on line sources (I really need to get a life) praising Old for revamping its line up. A New York Times review of the 2001 Intrigue described it as one of the best GM family sedans ever made. This, of course, AFTER the car is slated to be offed. Why didn't GM make a real effort to market the thing?
dwg
dwg
Anyway, I don't really know which years are affected by the alternator problem. Mine is a '99 built in Sept. 98. It started as a very intermittant flickering of the lights.. it would come and go. About a month ago it got to be more rather than less of the time, then became pretty much a constant thing. The heater fan blower would slow, the lights would dim, kind of like flicking a switch on and off real quickly. The last time my wife drove the car, she had to turn everything off that she could so the car wouldn't quit (at least this is how she felt).
Okay, now GM pisses me off again! I bought a new Pontiac Firebird a month ago... in other words, missed out on additional $1,000 rebate by a month! Yeah, that really does help increase this owners' loyalty. NOT!
Really cold here in Cincy. Intrigue is handling well, body still solid as a rock, and no creaks despite the cold. Just need to wash to the poor thing.
Merry Christmas,
Bryan
Have a safe and happy holiday.
failed. In fact, and experts back this up, the car has NORE content
than its competotrs who are sim. priced (Accord V6,Camry V6, Passat
for a few). Thus why It was a tops on my list, but the problem is Olds and GM DID NOT market THAT fact well, if at all (except PCS). A shame really, but gald I have one anyways.
Have seen an article where GM/Olds says new Oldsmobiles will now get an extended warrantee std, 5/60, (sim to Hyundai's), too bad they didn't do that for me instead of the rebate coupon to come. I have no plans on replacing any cars for 5 years, so its of no use. An extended warrantee would have reduce my fears of factory support after they are gone.
American cars have always had a price advantage over the imports, in this case they don't. The market decides whether a car offers value,
it should be obvious that in this case the market chose vehicles other than the intrigue. The sales figures don't lie and neither does the fact that a year or two from now oldsmobile will cease to exist.
I'll take it in to my regular dealer tomorrow morning. Has anyone heard whether Oldsmobile plans to address this problem? Thanks.
With all the driving through messy conditions over the past 6 days, I noticed something really strange with my 2000 Intrigue. When the washer fluid gets to a low level, the engine temperature gauge rises and falls between medium and high every now any again. When I fill up the washer fluid, the problem goes away. Anyone else ever seen this before?? I figure either the sensor has gone back, or maybe this is just an Intrigue quirk. Thoughts?
Anyway... 1300+ ems over Christmas and no complaints through snow, rain and cold conditions.
Also i have a whining sound in the engine that i think is coming from one of the accesory drives.
I am taking the car next wednesday to the shop, will let you know what happens. If any of you know what it might be let me know. We are batting a 1000 and the dealership has mis diagnosed everytime.
I'm pushing 66k on my Intrigue. No problems aside from the steering and brake pads. But foreign owners need to be convinced of that. Places like Edmunds giving childish, biased and completely inaccurate reviews (I think someone at Olds pissed off the editor--they NEVER have anything good to say about Olds) didn't help. Olds needed to do something different to get them. Extend the warranty (as they're doing now), lower the price just slightly, raise the price and have owners drive away with ballowns like Saturn--SOMETHING that was different from the other mainstream divisions of GM would have turned the tide. And of course, marketing.
I threw this out before but another thread was more popular. But, what would happen if Olds sales picked up as a result of its recent marketing campaign and warranty? I've seen and heard some catchy ads for the zero down, zero payment program. And they've been fairly abundant, for Olds at least. If they advertise the warranty and don't focus on the fact that the division is slated to close, they might just sell more cars.
If that becomes true, does anyone think that Wagoner and his "boys" will call the govenor for Olds? If sales increase--regardless of the reason as long as a profit is being turned-- will GM issue a stay of execution, continue with the program that will have proven to work and keep the division alive?
I, for one, tend to think not. Mostly because if they did, it would show that GM did in fact NOT give Olds all the support it needed to be successful as Wagoner claimed. If he's like most execs, he'd never admit publicly that he made a mistake. The other reason I think they wouldn't is because they're already in the works with dealers to shut down the divisions. I spoke to my technican and he said they plan to sell another GM brand.
In any case, I'm taking advantage of it. 5/60 from the door, $1,500+ rebate and .09% financing? Can't pass that up. My first question to the dealer is going to be, "How much BELOW invoice are you going to sell me this car?" Who knows; he may go lower than what I expect.
-GM will pay $400 cash directly to each salesperson for every Oldsmobile he or she sells.
-GM will pay another $100 to the dealership sales manager for every vehicle the store sells. So if a store's 10 salespeople sell 100 cars next month, their sales manager gets a $10,000 check from GM.
-GM will repurchase unsold dealer inventory from the 2000 and 2001 model years.
If you order the car, the dealer will probably sell it WAAAAY below invoice. The salesperson gets $400 just because you signed the papers so they make out. The manager gets a fat check if you buy one. And the dealer won't take a loss on any vehicle not sold. If GM can keep the dealers happy, I might still be able to get my 2002 Intrigue.
The article says that during the holiday season no one really sells cars. So, making the announcement when they did might be a good thing for Olds. Most people are going to forget that GM announced that Olds was closing. The only thing dealers have to worry about is negative talk by the competition. If Olds gets a strong marketing campaign (like Pontiac's "Wider is better"), they may be able to ride the shutdown wave. I just hope 2002's are going to be sold Sept of '01. I can't find another brand I like or can fit.
I think that the intrigue has fit my needs better than the accord would have, so i have no regrets.
"Its not your father's Oldsmobile, ans soon it won't be yours either!"
"Start something, anything, just do it, we beg you"
"Performance.luxury.oblivion" (take off on new aurora ad)
...feel free to ad(d) yours!
I also agree that the Maxima is a wonder as to its popularity, esp. here in Chi town. I get behind it and I actually start to like the Impala(!). Get in fron and I assume its a Grand Am. Great car, and interior, but I refused to drive an ugly car.
I do hope a true import fighter makes it to Saturn then, as the stillborn Intrigue or something else.
The current LS (now the LS200 et all) is just a cobbled up Opel Vectra, and that car itself is not considered well in Germany or the UK at all.
GM really needs improvement in their interior design and materials.
Ketch: Great new ad campaign suggestions. How about "GM: The Mark of Obsolescence"?
I've mentioned this before, but has anybody else read the various business/car magazine pieces about the death of Olds. Almost uniformly, they state that GM had to kill off the brand while acknowledging that the Olds line up is GM's best from top to bottom. Talk about irony. It would almost be funny if the resale value of my car wasn't dropping like a dot.com stock with bad earnings reports.
dwg
The Automotive News article said that once dealers heard the announcement, many immediately cancelled orders for new Oldsmobiles. GM put up the incentives just to encourage dealers to order cars. I look for Olds to fade away quickly over the next two years, especially as the auto market heads south. At this rate, I bet another GM division expires during this downturn. GM wasn't exactly setting the world on fire when the market was booming.
While visiting home for Christmas, the topic of Oldsmobile's demise came up. My father jokingly noted that his first two cars were Studebakers - a 1951 and 1953. When he got married, the 1953 Studebaker was replaced by a 1959 Rambler Six wagon; my parents later drove a 1973 AMC Gremlin (what a dog!). And, of course, they owned Oldsmobile 88s from 1972 until 1999. As he said, "When it comes to picking orphans, I'm batting a thousand." Now they drive a 1999 Buick Park Avenue - I guess that's an omen.
The other day, while commuting to work, a deejay for one of the area's most popular radio stations was reading an ad for the local Chevrolet/Olds/Buick dealer. When he started talking about the Olds models, he remarked, "And they'll all soon to be classics. Think about that!" I guess when GM hands you lemons, you have to make lemonade.
grbeck: Though I don't doubt re-sales will fall a bit, I don't buy it will be as bad as you make it out to be. That being said, I see Oldsmobile for the most part disappearing a bit faster than GM has lead everyone to believe. I think Intrigue, Silhouette and Alero will be gone when the stand alone dealers have all settled and the Aurora and Bravada to go a year or two later. My next purchase is looking more and more like a sport-utility along side my Intrigue. When the Intrigue's days are up in 6-8 years, I'm thinking Maxima unless GM can come up with something similar to the Intrigue in another division.
bz4: I think the Grand Prix's exterior is very clean. It is the ONLY Pontiac I would consider. If they fixed the interior and made the 3.5L optional, I'd be all over it.
I have to agree that the grand prix is the most subltle of the pontiacs(if subtle and pontiac can be mentioned in the same sentence). This may be because it originally came out in '97. The grand am and bonneville are completely over the top.
The grand prix does have some pluses in that it is the more performance oriented w-body car, which appeals to my sensibilities. I wouldn't rule the car out either if it were toned down and made less boy racerish.
And from the aurora thread, I can't really agree with you, I have a '99 intrigue and it has lots of problems.
As for Grand Prix, I think it is probably the best looking sedan GM makes. They just have to fix the interior and add a 3.5L option. My fear is the GP redesign in 2003 will be over done like the Grand Am. The Bonneville SE isn't too bad but the SSE and SSEi are brutal. The Bonnevilles days are numbered as I see it.
Looked in the mailbox today and still no check. Who do you have to contact from GM to get this thing?
I also saw an article in my Jan 1st AutoWeek by Dutch Mandel that was bragging about Olds being GM's best division. Man..do I feel great now!
Idiots in Marketing should be strung up by their thumbs.
Also, Grand Prix sales are fine, why should GM dump Pontiac? Just because of the Aztec and that they are not "car-mag enthusiast correct"?
I would offer them $400 below invoice. The salesman makes $400 the general manager gets $100
and there is $350 left over from the holdback that will go to the dealership.
Remember this a car that has already depreciated about $4000-5000. I also think that there is additional rebates available other than the .9%
financing. Good Luck!