GMC buyers are typically more affluent, so I would think the Acadia might retain its value a little better just because of perception. Saturns are not known for their luxury, so the Outlook might be seen as a value vehicle.
AWD might be a good selling point if you live in the snow-belt. Otherwise, I'm not sure that the typical SUV buyer will care. More and more luxury cars are coming with AWD, so people who buy these cars might expect it. But I wouldn't consider the Acadias "luxurious" at this point: the Denali will probably the luxury model.
TIP FOR GM CARDHOLDERS Be sure you are going online to your card account and filling out "GM vehicle preferences". I just got a coupon for $1000 off an Acadia or $1500 off a Yukon. This is apparently in addition to any rebates and GM Card Earnings. I am pretty sure it came from GM Card data, because of the way my name is written on the coupon.
When do these coupons expire? I have a GM card but I don't plan to buy until around September/October. Should I wait until then to fill out the preferences?
I would go ahead and fill it out. The one I have now is good for 2 mo, but I had a similar one before (I think that was Feb; it was good for $500 on Acadia or $1000 on a GMC truck).
I don't know how often they send these (I may be a target because I haven't used the GM dollars since 2001), but it is clearly targeted towards what I have put on my preferences.
Anyway, it's worth a shot in case they send something you need.
Hello. My wife and I have been looking for a new vehicle to replace our 2001 Chrysler Town & Country Limited minivan.
To date, the leading candidate is a Mazda CX9. It looks sharp, and has just about every toy that I am looking for. This biggest problem is that the closest dealer is about 40-minutes away. There is a GMC/Buick dealer less than 2 miles away - so I ike that. I looked at a GMC Acadia tonight. It was nice, and I loved the 2nd row captains chairs for ease of access to the 3rd row. But overall, the Acadia didn't excite me as much as the Mazda CX9.
Some of the features that I have come to like are bluetooth, backup camera, iPod connectivity, second row captains chairs (rather than a 2nd row bench seat).
I was wondering if any knows if the Buick Enclave will have any of these features as available options?
The Enclave will have the backup camera available if you purchase the package that has the DVD based navigation. Enclave comes standard with the captain chairs, you can get the bench seats and get $495 taken off the sticker. I believe there is a aux jack for an ipod. Bluetooth you are out of luck for 2008 on the Enclave. I'm probably going for one with just the ultrasonic rear-parking assist.
I went to the Buick web site as well as GMBUYPOWER.COM and tried to search for the Enclave...well, the Enclave is not listed yet and the locate feature at both sites only allows searching for 2006 & 2007 models... The Enclave is a 2008. I have not stopped to look for them yet at my local GM/Buick/Pontiac/Hummer dealer...they do have a large stock of Acadias.
I did a search with Gm dealerworld today and there were only 32 total units delivered within 1000 miles of my dealer. They are showing up now, there were 2 on a semi last night but he did not drop them off.
I have found the build your Enclave, current offers for your area, etc. Everything but a way to check inventory at a dealer. Not any place I can find to "locate" one...build, price, watch movies, look at pictures, talk about them, but not to see if they are on the lot.
If I really needed to know I would call the kid from the neighborhood that works at the Hummer part of the dealership...he could find out in 5 minutes. (Not really a kid anymore since his wife just had twins. He is probably 25, but I remember his more 10-15 years ago when he was really a kid.
Thelease on my Terraza runs out in Feb.'08. I'm so glad to see GM with the Enclave...I'm definately a customer. There's a lot of websites with good pictures...Buick.com/Enclave, Car& Driver, Road & Track...just key in Buick Enclave and see what comes up. Now, if we can just get people to try it instead of thinking it's 1973 and trying foreign cars. My Terraza has 28,000 miles on it, and is still the BEST car I've owned...I know the Enclave will be even better.
Issue is GMC vs. Saturn brand equity. GMC is a well known brand with an excellent rep. Saturn is not as well known and is not known for selling excellent vehicles. Saturn needs to advertise and let people know they are a real car company. It is happeniing but it will take time.
Thanks to everyone for your comments. Looking at the buick.com website, I too was able to see that the Enclave will have a backup camera, AUX connection for iPod, and 2nd row captains chairs. I am gettign very excited about this vehicle. I am going to the Pittsburgh auto shwo this weekend, and hope they have one there.
One followup question regarding the captains chairs.... on the buick.com website, it looks like there is a center console between the captains chairs in the second row. This means the only way to get to the 3rd row is to move the seats forward and squeeze through.
I really like the 2nd row captaisn chairs in my minivan, and the way you can go between them to get to the pretty easily 3rd row. I also saw this same configuration the other day in a GMC Acadia.
I was wondering of anyone knows if there will be an option to exclude the console between the second row captains chairs? and if so, if you can then get armrests for the captains chairs?
My wife and I had been looking at the Outlook and Acadia for a couple months. We first saw them at the local auto show back in February. We really liked the style and interior layout. The second and third row seating in very roomy. An adult can actually sit in the third row seat comfortably. The 275 HP engine is very responsive and the gas mileage is about the same as our 2002 chevy venture. We ended up ordering a Buick Enclave do to the fact we could get the base model (CX) with more standard features and a few options at a cheaper price then we could get an Acadia LT1 trim package. Plus the styling was very nice. We got the supplier price which was $80 above invoice. Now we only have to wait 6-8 weeks for delivery!!!
Yes, got one $1000 rebate. They will not combine rebates on these CUVs. We will probably use the Conquest rebate. We did receive a $1000 rebate coupon in the mail which states it can be used with other rebates. But when one of the rebates is entered into the dealers system, it kicks out any other rebates listed. We got the GM Supplier price plus the $1000 rebate. The Enclave does have the best supplier discount out of the three models.
More affluent??? I priced out an Acadia and it was within $1000.00 of the Outlook I ultimately ordered.
If you're concerned with a vehicle holding it's value maybe you should check out the BMW or Porsche SUV or maybe a Landrover. After all, certainly if you own one of these vehicles you are perceived "affluent".
As for "luxury", I don't think GMC vehicles are known for their luxury either. Actually, most of the features in the Acadia are identical to those in the Outlook.
Hi, I'm planning of buying an outlook this coming wednesday, but my family is hesitant about buying it since it's a saturn, an american made car, and they would rather me go with a toyota (my family is asian, btw...lol). So the question i'm asking is the quality and reliability of saturn vehicles in the past few years really dependable or should i look elsewhere? Thanks a lot...
The Outlook is Saturn's first "expensive" offering, while GMC has always had very expensive vehicles. So yes, the typical GMC buyer is more affluent, but maybe the Outlook will change that for Saturn.
GMC has the Denali vehicles, which are well selling luxurious versions of their "lesser" brothers. Saturn has nothing like that. Not sure if the Outlook will get the equivalent of a Denali. If it does, it could be good for Saturn.
I don't think that a "Denali" version of the Outlook is a good idea. Each GM brand needs to have its own identity and Saturn's is more entry level. While GM appears to be taking Saturn upmarket a bit, I don't think having a $50k+ Outlook and an Ion in the same showroom is a good mix.
You can't be all things to all people, a fact that even Toyota acknowledges with their three brand offerings (Scion, Toyota and Lexus).
OK, here we go again! Perception is not reality. I can only offer data.
There is a survey done by JD Power, a huge company that surveys owners of many different products. For Autos the most germane surveys are the Initial Quality Study (IQS/problems within 3 months) and Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS/problems at 3 years of ownership). Latest data was released for 2006 vehicles.
First is is kinda worthless to look at the Saturn data since all they basically had were a couple older models that were long in the tooth and today all Saturn vehicles are made in the same plants as other GM vehicles.
If we look at the IQS overall we see that the range is from .91 problems per vehicle to 2.04 with an industry average of 1.24. For reference Toyota is at 1.06. In looking at GM mainstream vehicles they range from 1.17 to 1.34. So the worst GM vehicle is less than .3 problems away from the vaunted Toyota. By the way those older Saturns had a 1.29 problems per vehicle. Not a lot of difference. why? All makes have increased their quality and now are basically the same. Basically the average vehicle will have one complaint at 3 months of usage.
For 3 year the data is just about the same except the problems per vehicle range from 1.36 (Lexus) to 3.26 (Saab) with an industry average of 2.27. Toyota is 1.79 and again the GM's are near the industry average (Buick/Cadillac are better than Toyota in this case).
The data shows that most of the industry are merging together with very similar quality attributes. Everyone should be comfortable in using other attributes to make their purchase decision, i.e. price, size, mpg.
You can't be all things to all people, a fact that even Toyota acknowledges with their three brand offerings (Scion, Toyota and Lexus).
You just disagreed with yourself! Toyota models range from a cheap Yaris to a $56K Land Cruiser. So Saturn could be the same. However you are right that every brand needs to keep it's niche and Saturn does not need to be selling Lexus priced vehicles. I think the issue is that SUV's are in a different place price wize.
Your data is amongst the kind of thing that people should look at. But many of us will also nonetheless choose the brand we are comfortable with, and refuse to buy a brand that sticks in our brain as cheap, or unreliable. How many people refuse to buy a certain car just because of color?
So... trying to resell a car with a better "perceived" reputation, is likely to get you a higher resale value.
I have been lurking around here for the last couple of minths and decided to chime in on this question. My wife and I ordered an Outlook and are awaiting it's arrival. We have owned 2 other Saturns and here are the non-maintainence repairs we have made to them.
1996 SL2 160k miles: bad coolant temp sensor $10 to repair and did it myself alternator died $300 to have repair done
2001 L200 100k miles: nothing
This is only my experience, so I don't expect every car to be this trouble free. This is also a big reason why we chose another Saturn. This is only things that would cause the car not to run. Do they rattle more with age? Yes. But most do. I don't expect a car to be in showroom condition after 11 years and 3 kids.
Keep in mind that we do our routine stuff like change the oil every 3 months, do tune-ups every 2 years or so, etc... Also, Saturns tend to consume oil a bit more than other cars. I was told that this was due to the drive chain (not a belt) that is lubed witht he engine oil. Because of this I check the oil weekly on the old car and it needs a quart between oil changes.
You are right but data and time changes peoples opinion and that is happening much quicker than I thought it would. Perhaps most buyers are not really as stuck on thier perceptions as some posters here?
I want to confirm that you received both the $1000 conquest rebate plus supplier price. Did the dealer formally use the supplier pricing system or did they discount to the equivalent supplier price? I ordered an Acadia that just came in today and the dealer is saying that they can't do both. Anyone else have experience with supplier price plus conquest rebate?
The JD Power study is pretty good. I think it was 62vetteefp who originally referred me to it on this forum. I've been skeptical about the perceived quality of Japanese vehicles for a while. You'll see lots of testimonials on message boards like this one from people who bought lemons or love their cars, but the real world data just doesn't back up the notion that all Toyotas and Hondas are better made than all American made cars.
American cars had an uphill battle (and still do). Our experiences fuel our perceptions and many of us had bad experiences with American cars in the past. That, coupled with Toyota and Honda's reputation for quality, some real and some hype has increased sales, increased their resale value, and increased the perceived gap in quality.
I think the reality today is that there are still some specific American made models that are poorly made. However, the same goes for Japanese cars. There are also many very high quality American cars that are on par or superior in build quality and reliability of any Honda or Toyota. You definitely can't lump an entire brand into the poor quality or high quality heap though. This is simply not true.
I just leased an Outlook XR and noticed that the exhaust and muffler on the passenger side of vehicle is covered with small dots, about an inch in diameter, of what looks to be rust. I took the XR back to the dealership where the salesman showed me the same spots on 3 different Outlooks and told me its just a reaction of the coating to the heat of the exhaust. Is this guy blowing smoke?
the outlook has stainless steel exhaust. Could not be corrosion so it must me something else. Perhaps an oil that is getting splashed on the exhaust and then cooking with the heat.
I'm glad for the info... this is what i predicted. this is really assuring cause i was trying to find the data in the first place. I'm looking forward to my new outlook this wednesday.
Last night I went to the Pittsburgh autoshow and got a chance to see a Buick Enclave. Unfortunately, it was up on the rotating display, and not on the floor, so I could not sit in it, but it looked very sharp. The woman working the display was very knowledgable. I have not been abel to find any at dealderings in the Pittsburgh PA area yet, though.
I had looked at a GMC Acadia last week, and a Mazda CX9 the week before. The Mazda wins that battle for "coolness" - it looks very sharp, inside and out, and drives great. The GMC/Pontiac/Buick wins for location - as the GMC dealer is 3 miles away, while the Mazda dealer is 25 miles away. But I want to wait and drive an Enclave before making my final purchase decision.
I like the fact that the Adadia and Enclave have the second row captains chairs - much easier to get to the third row when needed, and a little more "open" feeling for anyoen riding in the 3rd row. (maybe its just because that is more like our manivan, and it is the experience we are now used to).
I was glad to see that the Enclave will have the backup video monitor - not available on the GMC Acadia (according to my GMC salesman). After using one in my wife's new Murano, I really can't imagin getting a new vehicle without one.
I wish they would add intergrated Bluetooth, though.
Who needs Bluetooth with OnStar? OnStar is much more reliable, and works anywhere... at least it has for me. I've driven my 2005 Terraza from Canada to Florida and OnStar has always worked... more than my son can say for Bluetooth.
I think you're confusing Bluetooth with Nav. Bluetooth is used with your cellphone so that you can make calls without holding it, i.e. it would use a built-in microphone in the car and the car speakers. This has nothing to do with OnStar.
If you did mean NAV, then I would agree that OnStar and its new features are neat. Although it does cost $299 a year, so that's one of its negative...
Comments
AWD might be a good selling point if you live in the snow-belt. Otherwise, I'm not sure that the typical SUV buyer will care. More and more luxury cars are coming with AWD, so people who buy these cars might expect it. But I wouldn't consider the Acadias "luxurious" at this point: the Denali will probably the luxury model.
Be sure you are going online to your card account and filling out "GM vehicle preferences". I just got a coupon for $1000 off an Acadia or $1500 off a Yukon. This is apparently in addition to any rebates and GM Card Earnings. I am pretty sure it came from GM Card data, because of the way my name is written on the coupon.
This is a lot better than a grocery store coupon!
I don't know how often they send these (I may be a target because I haven't used the GM dollars since 2001), but it is clearly targeted towards what I have put on my preferences.
Anyway, it's worth a shot in case they send something you need.
To date, the leading candidate is a Mazda CX9. It looks sharp, and has just about every toy that I am looking for. This biggest problem is that the closest dealer is about 40-minutes away. There is a GMC/Buick dealer less than 2 miles away - so I ike that. I looked at a GMC Acadia tonight. It was nice, and I loved the 2nd row captains chairs for ease of access to the 3rd row. But overall, the Acadia didn't excite me as much as the Mazda CX9.
Some of the features that I have come to like are bluetooth, backup camera, iPod connectivity, second row captains chairs (rather than a 2nd row bench seat).
I was wondering if any knows if the Buick Enclave will have any of these features as available options?
Thanks in advance!
http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070424/FREE/70424001/1004
On the Buypower site, if you select Buick it then lets you select 2008 and then the Enclave. Not many on lots yet but you can price them.
If I really needed to know I would call the kid from the neighborhood that works at the Hummer part of the dealership...he could find out in 5 minutes. (Not really a kid anymore since his wife just had twins. He is probably 25, but I remember his more 10-15 years ago when he was really a kid.
Now, if we can just get people to try it instead of thinking it's 1973 and trying foreign cars. My Terraza has 28,000 miles on it, and is still the BEST car I've owned...I know the Enclave will be even better.
One followup question regarding the captains chairs.... on the buick.com website, it looks like there is a center console between the captains chairs in the second row. This means the only way to get to the 3rd row is to move the seats forward and squeeze through.
I really like the 2nd row captaisn chairs in my minivan, and the way you can go between them to get to the pretty easily 3rd row. I also saw this same configuration the other day in a GMC Acadia.
I was wondering of anyone knows if there will be an option to exclude the console between the second row captains chairs? and if so, if you can then get armrests for the captains chairs?
Thanks in advance.
If you're concerned with a vehicle holding it's value maybe you should check out the BMW or Porsche SUV or maybe a Landrover. After all, certainly if you own one of these vehicles you are perceived "affluent".
As for "luxury", I don't think GMC vehicles are known for their luxury either. Actually, most of the features in the Acadia are identical to those in the Outlook.
GMC has the Denali vehicles, which are well selling luxurious versions of their "lesser" brothers. Saturn has nothing like that. Not sure if the Outlook will get the equivalent of a Denali. If it does, it could be good for Saturn.
You can't be all things to all people, a fact that even Toyota acknowledges with their three brand offerings (Scion, Toyota and Lexus).
There is a survey done by JD Power, a huge company that surveys owners of many different products. For Autos the most germane surveys are the Initial Quality Study (IQS/problems within 3 months) and Vehicle Dependability Study (VDS/problems at 3 years of ownership). Latest data was released for 2006 vehicles.
First is is kinda worthless to look at the Saturn data since all they basically had were a couple older models that were long in the tooth and today all Saturn vehicles are made in the same plants as other GM vehicles.
If we look at the IQS overall we see that the range is from .91 problems per vehicle to 2.04 with an industry average of 1.24. For reference Toyota is at 1.06. In looking at GM mainstream vehicles they range from 1.17 to 1.34. So the worst GM vehicle is less than .3 problems away from the vaunted Toyota. By the way those older Saturns had a 1.29 problems per vehicle. Not a lot of difference. why? All makes have increased their quality and now are basically the same. Basically the average vehicle will have one complaint at 3 months of usage.
For 3 year the data is just about the same except the problems per vehicle range from 1.36 (Lexus) to 3.26 (Saab) with an industry average of 2.27. Toyota is 1.79 and again the GM's are near the industry average (Buick/Cadillac are better than Toyota in this case).
The data shows that most of the industry are merging together with very similar quality attributes. Everyone should be comfortable in using other attributes to make their purchase decision, i.e. price, size, mpg.
You just disagreed with yourself! Toyota models range from a cheap Yaris to a $56K Land Cruiser. So Saturn could be the same. However you are right that every brand needs to keep it's niche and Saturn does not need to be selling Lexus priced vehicles. I think the issue is that SUV's are in a different place price wize.
So... trying to resell a car with a better "perceived" reputation, is likely to get you a higher resale value.
1996 SL2 160k miles:
bad coolant temp sensor $10 to repair and did it myself
alternator died $300 to have repair done
2001 L200 100k miles:
nothing
This is only my experience, so I don't expect every car to be this trouble free. This is also a big reason why we chose another Saturn. This is only things that would cause the car not to run. Do they rattle more with age? Yes. But most do. I don't expect a car to be in showroom condition after 11 years and 3 kids.
Keep in mind that we do our routine stuff like change the oil every 3 months, do tune-ups every 2 years or so, etc... Also, Saturns tend to consume oil a bit more than other cars. I was told that this was due to the drive chain (not a belt) that is lubed witht he engine oil. Because of this I check the oil weekly on the old car and it needs a quart between oil changes.
American cars had an uphill battle (and still do). Our experiences fuel our perceptions and many of us had bad experiences with American cars in the past. That, coupled with Toyota and Honda's reputation for quality, some real and some hype has increased sales, increased their resale value, and increased the perceived gap in quality.
I think the reality today is that there are still some specific American made models that are poorly made. However, the same goes for Japanese cars. There are also many very high quality American cars that are on par or superior in build quality and reliability of any Honda or Toyota. You definitely can't lump an entire brand into the poor quality or high quality heap though. This is simply not true.
I took the XR back to the dealership where the salesman showed me the same spots on 3 different Outlooks and told me its just a reaction of the coating to the heat of the exhaust.
Is this guy blowing smoke?
I had looked at a GMC Acadia last week, and a Mazda CX9 the week before. The Mazda wins that battle for "coolness" - it looks very sharp, inside and out, and drives great. The GMC/Pontiac/Buick wins for location - as the GMC dealer is 3 miles away, while the Mazda dealer is 25 miles away. But I want to wait and drive an Enclave before making my final purchase decision.
I like the fact that the Adadia and Enclave have the second row captains chairs - much easier to get to the third row when needed, and a little more "open" feeling for anyoen riding in the 3rd row. (maybe its just because that is more like our manivan, and it is the experience we are now used to).
I was glad to see that the Enclave will have the backup video monitor - not available on the GMC Acadia (according to my GMC salesman). After using one in my wife's new Murano, I really can't imagin getting a new vehicle without one.
I wish they would add intergrated Bluetooth, though.
I am hoping some dealerships will get some soon.
I think you're confusing Bluetooth with Nav. Bluetooth is used with your cellphone so that you can make calls without holding it, i.e. it would use a built-in microphone in the car and the car speakers. This has nothing to do with OnStar.
If you did mean NAV, then I would agree that OnStar and its new features are neat. Although it does cost $299 a year, so that's one of its negative...
How much do updated disks for navigation systems cost? How often are they released?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,