Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/25 for details.
A reporter would like to speak with you about your experience; please reach out to PR@Edmunds.com by 7/25 for details.
Options
Comments
I'm glad to see that someone has confirmed the ramblings I wrote a while back. I think it also reduced road noise. Is that your assesment also? Folks just don't know what they're missing without those XGTs!!!
If you're thinking of spending the extra cash on a Bose radio for the Intrigue, I highly recommend taking a trip to Circuit City or Best Buy and listening to the Pioneer. Including installation it's still cheaper than the Bose. And sounds a lot better too. And if you've got a GL or GLS it will probably sound even better than mine... I've got a GX and it sounds great with only the 4 speakers.
Anybody else put an aftermarket system in their Intrigue?
You could get a lot of bang for the buck, as long as the quality is there.
How are gas prices for all you Intriguers out there? Here in southern Ontario, prices have dropped from a high of 77 cents/L to the low 60 cent range today.
If the same masterminds behind the shutdown of Olds funded that Pontiac Vibe, it's no wonder GM has the problems they have. And from the look of the Vibe and Chevy Borrego concept, I doubt there will be a sea of GM converts as a result. If that Chevy were introduced 10 years ago, it might have worked. But young fellas now don't seem to gravitate to machines that look like that.
If Pontiac starts making their cars look like the Vibe, they should be next on the chopping block.
Don't tell me you like the Aztek, Sunfire and Grand AM?? those cars are what are given GM such a bad name.
Another plus with the Vibe, is that it rides on the all new 2003 Toyota Corolla platform. This car has Toyota engines, transmission and other componetry. It will be manufactured at the NUMMI plant in Fremont, california. The Vibe will replace the slow selling Chevy Prizm as Chevy will be getting the next generation Opel Astra platform making the Cavalier a new upscale and upmarket German engineered contender against the Ford Focus.
If the Production Vibe will look like this, this vehicle very likely will be the next replacement for my wife's reliable but boring '97 Mercury Tracer sedan.
True! in fact, several road tests mention the MDX as perhaps
too minivan looking to those looking for an SUV. As great as it is, and it truely is, this could hurt it. Too early to tell.
#760 Have you seen the horrors GM unveiled in LA... by one2one Jan 05, 2001 (10:33 am) :
Also true, truely otherworldly in the worst way. Automobile magazine just did a write up on GM is back design wise, per thier new show cars. They previewed them in its latest issue. Thier back? More like what happened to those same designers from Olds, as they HAD IT RIGHT, perhaps the only GM to be so.
Are there any other 'fixes' for yellowing plastic?
Thanks,
jmazur
PS - anyone know if the new 5 year warranty applies to cars purchased before the big announcement?
teo::::::I think the folks in WestPB are still counting chads; for a couple times I have noticed front page stories in the Palm Beach Post along with pictures that appear to offer a glimmer of hope to those that the election is still undecided...crazy bunch!!!
Spent some time in Sarasota; in fact we transversed Gator Alley twice--boring drive but a heavy foot shortens the misery...
Intrigue update:::::after sitting in the garage for 3 weeks it fired up on the first spark; no gas pedal; no valve noise or piston slap...
Going back to Florida on 1/19 to pack up the odds & ends for the move to whereever. Closing is 1/29 and the furniture will probably go into storage. Made an offer on a house in Ocala this morning but won't know until Sunday..
Talked to my Olds dealer today and he said Olds sales were booming, Cadillac was sinking and the GMC trucks were so-so. They will start building the new 360 SUV end of this month and it will go on sale by mid-March. I have been shipping parts since end of Dec 00...
The upcoming week will have one 450 mile trip in the Olds and hope I can get time to look for a Z-28 conv.. or order one before final buildout...
Mich roads are chunking away due to the snow and salt combo...pothole haven..
Spent time with the Cadillac in Fla--great fun with the Northstar for it likes to rock and roll; but the basic suspension needs help--its a great straight-line missile; but is a little loose on curves...
We are in a recession:::::the joy ride is over; back to the old times of misery and hard work to make a buck...People will adjust; if not, then the next election they can put the handout party back in office...
About the time folks began mentioning alternator problems, I noticed my lights flicker a couple of times. I think it was when my heater was on. I guess I'll deal with that later as I haven't even reached 10k/1yr yet on my 99.
one2one- Still enjoying my Pioneer 4100.
1415- What's the latest on your front end? Had my car in a couple weeks ago for a jounce lube and rear right window fix. They fixed the window but said they couldn't pinpoint the noise. I told him what it was but I guess they didn't want to deal with it and said bring it back and they'd get the engineers at Olds involved. I didn't care, been there and done that a few times. No surprise. I'll deal with that one later too. I figure I have some time and maybe after a while they'll get their heads out.
Yesterday I too received my Feb issue of Automobile Mag. Included with it is a CD for the Buick Rendezvous with funding from NetZero. Perhaps Buick knows it's next on the block and doesn't want to suffer the same fate of Oldsmobile and is doing better marketing for its departure from the Buick norm.
Too bad the marketing company didn't do something like this to push the new Aurora or even the Intrigue. While I am an X-Files fan (but not a full-fledged groupie) I think the Intrigue ads surrounding it may have polarized the public. Some folks may never have looked at the Intrigue as a result. My mother-in-law isn't into sci-fi so she didn't pay the commercial or ad much attention. But when she saw my car she loved it. Multiply that one lost sale by 20,000 and maybe the RIP Oldsmobile topic wouldn't be here.
Haven't installed the CD yet. The Rendezvous' interior isn't inviting at all. The Japanese rivals have them beat. Therefore I'm not too excited to find out what's on it.
Just another GM quality issue. I guess they can't make power windows, and suspensions that don't squeak, makes you wonder.
See ya in a few-maybe??
This stuff bothered me so much I wrote a letter to the editor of Automobile (feedback@automobilemag.com) expressing my dismay at the sentiment expressed that GM design is back. I think they're back to taking drugs or something. They sure aren't back to designing an attractive vehicle. That GMC Terradyne might be the most grotesque thing I've ever seen.
2017 Cadillac ATS Performance Premium 3.6
GM can getaway with the wild deals based on the premise of a shutdown and phaseout of a division.. This certainly attracts car buyers to the showroom to pick up the deals or maybe another GM car that the dealer handles..Its a great traffic builder.
I have owned too many Intrigues already so a giveaway isn't my bag since it has the same screwed-up front end,brakes,and steering...as the 98,99,00,and 01....
The other division that is really causing problems is Saturn---suppliers spent lots of money tooling for high volume production which never came about and they are stuck with the bill.
oscarz2:::::::According to GM "No Fix" on the BANG-BANG strut...I talked to the Olds people on 12/14/00 and a gal named Shannon G. said all Intrigues go BANG-BANG. With 35k miles on the car why would I complain and what do you expect GM to do.
One thing I can tell you is that GM is in no mood to make anyone happy with a buyback or an expensive fix. I am so happy that I was able to push that 98 Intrigue to where the sun doesn't shine and I ain't finished with the 99. I started another file on 12/14/00; but this car will not qualify for BBB guidelines-arbitration sucks.
If you have a BANG-BANG strut or what I call the "upside down strut" get in their face and stay there until you are happy.. You have a low mileage car---go for it..
I am going after the Camaro; either Z-conv or SS coupe. Probably the SS coupe is a better deal and will retain its value. Besides its noisy,,,good noisy and lots of noise...
the closest mountains to florida, you see more florida license plates up there than Nc plates in the summer. When the leaves change in October it is as if half the state of florida moves up there. WE believe that real estate will be good this year. Last six months have been slow. Election and interest rates. Rates were 6.75% 30 yr. conventional with 1% origination on Friday.
I am still floating on mine and will be closing on MLK day Jan. 15th.
How is yours?
Intrigue is making lots of suspension noises with this cold weather. Had to cancel a wed. appt. due to flu. I am just turning up the cd player and drowning it out. Car is doing its non starting thing again, but always manages to start....eventually.
OMC has had problems for years. They are no longer the hot ticket due to reliability problems. Mercruiser and Yamaha are kicking their butts. Sad, because we were always a Johnson family. Kind of like you were either a ford guy or a chevy guy. We always have had Johnsons. How the mighty have fallen. (GM are you listening)?
1415: He lives! Welcome back. The roads here in the west Toronto area are breaking up back. another inch or two of snow tonight they say. This is going to be one long winter!
RE: Intrigue. They had a great article in this weeks Auto World on the Intrigue. Gave it many compliments. They also had a review of the new Rendezvous. Looks like Buick's first truck will sell a lot better than it's sister Aztek.
Still have the temperature gauge doing weird things in my 2000 GL. I will be bringing it in to the shop this week. I think the sensor has gone bad because the car is running perfectly!
I don't think the rust is a problem, it happens on unfinished metal, probably just surface rust spots that will grind off when you brake.
As for your other brakes problem/question, since you under warranty, might as well mention it to the dealer on your next visit. Doesn't sound like much of a problem.
In any event, nice to see you back 1415. I hope the replacement home search goes well.
Regarding the Buick comments above, does anyone else think that GM is going to try to position Buick toward a younger, import oriented buyer? I wonder whether the loss of traditional Olds buyers as GM repositioned the brand has chastened GM enough to bring along new products like the Rendezvous while maintaining traditional models like the LeSabre and Park Avenue. In other words, GM will keep the over 60 crowd happy with traditional offerings while attempting to attract new customers with newer products (e.g., the Bengal roadster). We'll see when the Buick mid-lux platform is introduced. Chrysler (pre-merger) was able to revive the brand with offerings like the Sebring and 300M. Perhaps Buick can do the same.
etharmon: I have PCS with my Intrigue. It engages without activation of any light or other warning. You don't really know it's there, which is the purpose I think.
dwg
I got a blue Y2000 GL for $200 over invoice. I knew about the $400 salesman spiff, but I didn't use that as part of the negotiating strategy... I figured they made a fair offer in the first place, and I wasn't in the mood to haggle them down a few hundred more.
Adding to comments I've seen here over the while:
The 3.5 is really too good an engine for American roads. I've tried that 70-90MPH "launch" too on an isolated stretch of Arizona. What a shame you can't experience that more places! :-) Maybe a little shorter gearing would have helped bring that power into a more useful range... Oh well, I guess GM wanted to tune the drivetrain for the best CAFE regs they could get...
I'm 6'5" (and a half) and I agree with the earlier comments about the Intrigue being a good tall persons car. It feels more like a "real" machine for a "normal" human than many cars do. ;-)
The Intrigue is a car that feels very confident and stable at speed. I'm used to taking curves 10MPH faster than those yellow "warning/advisory" signs say to, in my old car. (Mazda Protege). The Intrigue can take them at +15MPH, and often +20MPH without distracting body lean or uncertain steering response.
I remember someone here griped about the headlight illumination patttern. It *is* ia little odd (kind of like 6 or 7 "V" shapes close together) but I got used to it. Farther away from the car the light blends together well enough, and it's a pretty wide cone. I can say I like the effect better than some Ford and Chrysler rentals I've tried. It seems like manufacturers get a little carried away with "form over function" in this area!
That would probably get rid of the dip in acceleration on the 1-2 shift.
Did Jane Fonda and Barb Streisand leave the country as yet????they promised if the dubya won!!!
b4z:::::::Sorry about the Wisconsin slip; got you mixed up with htwired; who if memory serves me well also sell real estate.
That Intrigue of yours is not acting right..starting is a given, not an option. I would get in Old's face big time.
My desire for temperature spread/variation is 70 degrees like Detroit 0--S Fla 70. Can't afford the luxury of a 10-15 degree spread.
No word on the Ocala, Fl offer; not due until tomorrow, hoping they counter so I can avoid the bullet at this time. By April/end of March that Market will be soft and I redo my 12/1/00 offer.
dindak::::::The Canadian manufacturer who I represent has been complaining about the rotten weather; for they are about 30 mi from Buffalo. How are you and jgriff hitting it off??? Florida is full of Asian cars and one has to ask "who are we?", where did we make the wrong turn???? This current slow down will cost Detroit another 5-10% in sales..
vcjumper:::::Used Intrigues are a good value; however used Aleros are bringing a better buck. Saw a ad in the Sunday paper by a private party on a 98 Intrigue,90k miles, $11,900 such a deal!!I noticed the USD and the CAD are moving around values. On 10/22/00 1USD=1.573CADs and as of 1/6/01 1USD=1.499CADs.
Little off the car talk; the latest suit against Microsoft for $5,000,000,000 was filed by a group of attorneys that just shook down Coke for $200,000,000. One of the attorneys involved was the big gun in the famous OJ Simpson trial..These people are looking for fat plums to pluck, only the successful monied get penalized--sad state of affairs.
Back to cars::::the International Detroit Auto Show starts next Saturday; saw the OSV last year and probably some funny sounding rice burner will be displayed in place of Olds..Its sad folks that GM had to kill off a complete division to help overcome screwed up offerings like the AZTEK.
I see one Olds dealer in Detroit is offering $3500 rebates on all lines except the Bravada which is $4500 + the 5yr/60k mi warranty. You realize how tempting it is run up the numbers on the Aurora which I called a fat cat with a small engine yesterday---my have to swallow hard. After pricing the Camaros; I find them rather steep-the 71 SS350 Camaro..brand new was 3100, my 82 Z-28 new was 12,000 and a 01 Z-28 is around $27500 and the SS option adds another 3995 or 31,000..wow!
dwg
swagled/ shadow monkey :Congrats on your Intrigue purchases. Hope you like yours as much as I do mine. Aside from a faulty temperature gauge, trouble free with over 20K kms on it.
I think I hear the football game starting... got to go!
DWG, don't feel bad, I had numerous posts deleted. Was yours the post about hoping for the tax cut? Somebody mentioned that and with the slowing economy and increasing utility rates, a tax cut sure would help the country. Here in the south east, natural gas prices are up nearly 40% over last year. And the past 2 months here the average temp has been the coldest on record. So much for global warming:) As for PCS, is it worth getting? If I do another Intrigue later this year, I'm going to get either a GL with the leather package or bite the bullet and get a GLS. Trouble is, for 2001 to get a sunroof on the GLS you have to get the PCS package which includes chrome wheels and a spoiler. I could do without those two options and save nearly $1000. Also, Onstar should be optional rather than standard on a car like the Intrigue. I have a celluar phone in my car now and will remove it when I trade and if I get a 2001 with Onstar, does this mean if I want to put the phone in that car that I will have to have two antennas on the rear? Or can the Onstar antenna be used by a separate cellular phone?
For some reason, because I remove political posts from either side (though the vast majority here are from one particular viewpoint) I'm subjectively categorized as one of the "folks at Edmunds", commissars, censor, etc. If some of you had taken the time to read and respond to my email requests, you might be surprised. Please reserve judgement about my personality and political preferences based on my duty to my responsibilities here in the Town Hall. FWIW, I don't understand why some of you aren't voting Libertarian given your concern for freedom.
You are welcome to exchange political commentary offline via email or utilize a forum catering to political discussion.
Thank you,
L8_Apex
Host
Sedans Message Board
etharmon: PCS is one of those add ons that you don't really notice unless you pay special attention to how your Intrigue performs while cornering or on wet/slippery pavement. I foolishly thought it might enhance the resale value of my car when the time comes to sell it. That being said, I'd probably purchase the car with the feature again. It is nice to know it's there. I'm not a big fan of the spoiler look though. Too bad they're now bundled together as an option.
Who is John Galt?
dwg
With no marketing, and no effort by dealers to promote Oldsmobiles, I would not be surprised if 2002 is the end of the line.
Although, sometimes you will have the oddball dealer who does the opposite. I remember during the last year of the Dodge Monaco's run, there was one dealer who was ordering them by the truckload and selling them for $50 over cost. Chrysler had some really generous rebates in effect so the final price really stood out in print ads. (I think it was under $9000.)
I wonder what the quality of the 2001s are? do you think the uaw even cares at this point.
My lease is up March 2002 and i do not know what to buy.
BTW, to those looking at Aurora's... I drove a 2001 Aurora 3.5 that had 7,500 miles on it. Not impressed by the rattles and squeaks. Perhaps these cars are not as solid as first impression would give.
1415... At that price you must be looking at a convertible Z-28 SS. I have noticed that the 2000 models have rebates (all models of Camaro, not just 3.8), but finding one might be pretty tough at this point. Seems like to me maybe you could special order a 2001 and get exactly what you want. I usually get a better deal special ordering, since the dealer doesn't have to figure on paying for the car to sit on his lot; it's pre-sold. Also, at this point, you might just get the last of the production run; might be an instant classic. Of course, it could just as easily be a white elephant, I suppose. I wish I could actually drive my 2000 Firebird... we have had 3-inches of ice and 5-inches of snow in the last three weeks here in central Oklahoma. I guess I shouldn't complain, though, at least we didn't loose our electricity from trees crashing into power lines from all the ice. My wife only missed one day of work due to weather (she drives the Intrigue), and that was because the Intrigue was out of service waiting on an alternator and the Dodge Dakota wouldn't make it up the hill past our driveway (we live in a rural area... no road work for about 2 miles from our drive). With the Intrigue she had no problems. Something to consider when thinking about a Camaro for a daily driver. My Firebird hasn't left the garage for three weeks.
If you want to buy and you a current Olds owner you will get $1500 + they all carry a $2000 rebate except the Bravada at $3000.
What is still not discounted is the sticker MRSP; so take 10% off of it, and then you can use the cash bonus from your GM card to further reduce the price.
My dealer is ordering cars big time and they will sell as many as they can; so for some people this could be an opportunity.
Gotta run--will be back tonight...
Well, they are already stating as much, when the Buick Brand Mgr. , during intro of the Rendevous, said Buick's aim is the 35-44 year old segment, down from the 66 year olds they now average(!).
Good luck Buick, but it was "reach" for Olds to get me (due to its "invisibility marketing wise to import buyers like me, almost), and so Buick? Ya right. It would take the same makeover Olds SUCESSFULLY did to thier products, and a CORRECT marketing scheme. Oh, and rename it from Buick too, as if GM thinks Oldsmobile had negative baggage, for import buyers and those 35-44 age, in its nomencalture, imagine Buick.
Setting the "wayback" machine....Buick is dropped, and Rendevous is released as an Olds.
Interesting that they still introduced an Oldsmobile concept in Detriot. I guess it was too far a long to scrap. Perhaps it will become a Saturn.