2003 GMC Yukon Denali - Current 86,000 miles (dash still rattles from new)
Shock absorber - air shock failure @ 5K miles MAP Sensor Failure - 4 Visits and Lemon Law Submission @34,000 miles Power Steering Pump @ 45,000 miles A/C compressor @ 55K miles
Do you guys still have that 2003 Yukon? For some reason, I was under the impression you had unloaded it.
I hate to add fuel to the GM fire, but the other day I found something else wrong with my 2000 Park Ave. Rear window defroster's not working. With autumn coming on and the cooler nights, it's common now to have dew on the car, and it coats the windows enough that I need to turn on the defrost and defog. Well, the grid in the rear window's not working. :sick:
Not a major thing, I know, but mentally, here I'm thinking okay, this car only has 63,000 miles on it, and here's something else that's failed on it, that I never had to worry about with my 2000 Intrepid, which I still feel died a premature death when it got hit-and-runned at the 150,000 mile mark. The other thing was the swaybar links. One of them broke soon after I bought the car,and the mechanic replaced both sides, just for symmetry.
I'm not THAT worried about the rear window defroster. Heck, I own cars that pre-date the rear window defroster, so IMO it's not THAT critical...just keep a towel in the car to wipe the window! But, mentally, It's still sticking in my mind, that this $40K-when-new car, is inferior in many ways to my $20K-when-new Intrepid!
Still, the car does have its strong points. Went on a road trip today, and averaged 28 mpg, which is pretty good for something this size. While mostly highway, at one point we were stuck in gridlock, and I finally gave up and tried some back roads to cut around the mess. And it's roomier and more comfy than my Intrepid was.
And, for the most part, when things break on an older GM car, they're usually (but not always) fairly cheap to fix.
Good grief, I would hope you'd have no repair costs on a 2008 with 34K miles--it's still under warranty.
I have 39K on my '08 Cobalt. Zero repair costs, two dealership trips for minor warranty stuff, done during oil change visits.
I don't know, I have had GM's with stuff that broke outside of warranty and my dealers (more than one) fessed up with assistance outside the warranty. At the risk of irritating one or two regular posters here, I reiterate that I had $2K worth of warranty work done for free this year on my '05 Uplander...and I never, ever buy an extended warranty. Should the things have happened? No. Did it leave me stranded? No. But they sucked it up and took responsibility.
According to regular posts on edmunds, it looks like you should be on the lookout for A/C compressor issues on your Honda, and possibly AT issues.
2024 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray 2LT; 2019 Chevrolet Equinox LT; 2015 Chevrolet Cruze LS
Andre, my '93 Caprice's rear window defroster didn't work (grid), and it needed a fuse. That was it. Don't forget to look for that.
Wow, I sure overlooked the obvious there! I guess it's been so long since I had a fuse blow out in a car, the idea that it could be something so simple never even crossed my mind! I'll try to have a look at it after work. If I remember, that is. I tend to forget about it, until the following morning when I need it!
Yes, I understand the a/c was an issue on the CR-V. Judging by the excellent operation in the hottest summer on record, looks like I "Lucked Out" because the a/c in this CR-V was flawless.
BTW, no minor "warranty stuff" on this one. The GMC, however, blew the compressor quite early in it's life! :P
The GMC was a failure just like the company.
The CR-V is perfect so far.
Also forgot to add the $550 charge for the air bag sensor @ 75K miles on the Denali. The parts are junk just like the management and the union, imvho, of course! So much for "Professional Grade" unless it's GM-style professional grade junk they were referring to. :lemon:
Check where the grid attaches to the wire. It's possible you may have knocked off the connection while cleaning the rear window.
I remember aftermarket rear window defrosters. I helped a friend of mine put one in his 1978 Chevrolet Impala back in the day.
One of the things I miss most about my 1988 Park Avenue is the fantastic fuel economy. The Grand Marquis is a pig. I swear the Brougham gets better fuel economy.
Heck, remember the old tubular glass fuses? At least it was easier to tell if a fuse was blown with one of them than the colored plastic fuses of today.
I'm with you on how bad the build quality, refinement, and reliability was on the 00-06 GM fullsize SUVs. That's a big reason I decided not buy another.
That said, my '07 Expedition has been far from perfect. Besides a few relatively minor issues, the biggest has been Ford's spark plug debacle that cost me over $800 to change at 60k due to 3 breaking off in the head.
Now it seems Ford has a paint issue on the tailgates on the Expeditions. The paint on mine is bubbling in several different areas and will look like hell probably after this winter. The panel on the tailgate is aluminum, so I guess it won't rust through, but it's going to need repainting regardless. Great, makes me proud to own an American made vehicle;) I guess a positive side effect of owning a domestic vehicle is helping the economy. Seems I'm always paying someone to fix something.
FWIW, my 2004 Buick Rendezvous is still perfect after 71,000 miles. No defects, warranty issues, nothing falling off....The best CUV design, ever. Ditto my 2002 Buick Regal, in my nephew's hands, still fine at 102,000 miles. Both cars good on gas [regular], too. Just followed the owner's book for service on both cars. I know, that doesn't mean GM didn't sell a lot of badly designed, badly built clunkers even in the last 10 years, but I think they're cleaning up that act, however slowly...
My neighbor's Audi A4 is a beautifully made car - just a little pricey for me, and only better than the Buicks in the twisties. He always puts premium gas in it, too.
Yes, an Aztek twin, but a little longer and better looking, IMO. All Buick'd up inside, too. But what I really like about it is it's compact size, [smaller than today's Camry!] with seats for 7 adults OR up to 108 cu. ft. of cargo space [same as a Tahoe]. 30 mpg on the road, too. Sadly, it was "replaced" by the hugely successful Enclave - an excellent design although it's longer, porkier, thirstier and much more expensive.
There's no question at all about the Rendezvous looking better than the Aztek!
I remember being at the NY Auto Show when they were introducing the Rendezvous. The Buick guys did backflips to point out that this was NOT an Aztek! Not far from them were the Pontiac guys who had several Azteks there including one with the tent option which, if you could overlook the actual car, looked pretty neat.
Meanwhile, on Saturday I got talking with my BIL who is in the very preliminary stages of thinking about a new car. This turned into the do you buy a Ford Fusion made in Mexico or a similar Mazda 6 made in Michigan. Which is better for the US? We didn't resolve it by any means but it was fun twisting it around.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
Probably a trivial problem with the defroster. If it's wired similarly to a leSabre, there's a fuse, probably 30 amp; a relay, probably under the rear seat near the battery; and a separator next to the rear defroster lead behind the C-panel that separates the radio signals from the grid. I cleaned the contacts on the separator/isolator when mine acted up. You might try just tapping that area to see if vibration remakes the connection before pulling off the C-panel.
There's also a possibility of the ground lead on the other end of the rear grid giving a problem. I believe I've read of those occasionally not making good contact on other H-bodies.
Unbelievable...the paint should not be a problem at this point. I know it's extremely detailed to ensure quality at every part in an automobile but the USA auto world should be ashamed! I know quality has improved but it's been EXTREMELY painful...except for the Lemko's of the world, that is!
Goes back to the "brilliant" invention of planned obsolescence which at it's roots came from the good old USA....
Guess who latched onto it in the auto industry??????
Yes, the Rendezvous was assembled in Mexico. I learned that when I bought mine and could not use the $500 coupon the UAW had sent me because of that. The 3.4 is old, pushrod tech, for sure, but it's been trouble free and good on [regular] gas. Now, if only they'd put the new Enclave drive train in the Rondy - there'd be another 100 HP - that would have been great!
The 3.4 is old, pushrod tech, for sure, but it's been trouble free and good on [regular] gas.
Back in 2006, one of my friends was interested in the Chevy Equinox. I went with him to the Chevy dealer, and we took one out for a test drive. This one had the 185 hp 3.4. It's not the most sophisticated thing in the world, true, but I didn't think it seemed too bad.
He ended up getting a 2006 Xterra, which I think won out because it was "cooler" than the Equinox. Still, I don't think that Equinox was a bad rig. It would've been better if GM had put the more up-to-date 3.5 pushrod in there, like what they put in the Malibu, Uplander, etc. But still not a bad vehicle.
For the last 2 years of the Cheapuinox's cycle it got the 3.6 from the CTS but I think it was only for a select trim package.
Now, the new model drops the decent V6 for the mediocre 3.0 or a "hyped" 4-cylinder to claim top highway fuel economy numbers even thought real world testing shows it's almost impossible to come close to the rating.
I'd expect the 3.6 to make back in there for the mid-cycle refresh.
An interesting sentence is "The automakers, which have made cars together in China for more than a decade, said in December they would also sell low- cost vehicles in India."
If China should buy a large enough chunk to have some say in how things are run and received profits from the venture, how would the GM ( and buy only America) addicts feel about it, and would they still purchase GM products?
I'd expect the 3.6 to make back in there for the mid-cycle refresh.
I wouldn't bet on it. From what I've been reading, the Fusion and Malibu will lose a v6 option all together with their respective refreshes/redesigns. Looks like turbo 4s are going to getting more popular as an option.
Yeah, I've never read anything positive regarding GM's 3.0 v6. Seems they should have just saved money developing the 3.0 and use various tuned 3.6's as their v6 option. Granted, I'm sure it's better than Ford's Duratec 3.0. but that engine has been around for years.
This business about hyped EPA mpg figures always omits the most important factor in meeting those numbers - the driver's right foot! The car mags' testers have notoriously heavy feet - their constant harping on 0-60 times is just one example. Also, they're always driving new vehicles whose engines typically need 10K+ miles to break in. Few modern V6's can equal the effortless performance of old-time 6, 7, 8 liter [350 cu. in. to 460 cu. in.] V8's. I've gotten over it; now I just keep typical 2.5l 4 cyl. limitations in mind when driving a new car. And enjoy 25-30 mpg instead of the old <20 mpg.
Well, One of my close friends lost their job today. This guy is educated, skilled and has a great attitude. He also bought Acura's and had a BMW. As I sat down with him drinking a beer we had a discussion on what it means to "Buy American". What it really means, who it really has an impact on in the long term. By the time we were done with our conversation he had a whole new attitude on what it means to "Buy American". His job, out sourced to India. I guess you only really want to see the truth when its too late. Sad that we can only see the train traveling 100MPH when its 10 feet in front of us.. Demand American services and products. It just makes sense.
Couldn't say it better myself. I fail to see how our country can get back on its feet without jobs in America. Our blind president and his congress can borrow all the money China has for more make-work projects and when it dries up all we will have are a few nice roads and a big debt with no way to pay for it.
Japanese cars and Korean cars! PHOOOEY ----Where did the profits go? Made em here and shipped the $$$ overseas! Its late at night so will close for now
But it still comes back to the same point, over and over again...if the Big 3 car is junk (as numerous posters have written for years, about the junk made by the UAW) should be buy their "junk" just because our neighbor makes it???...in the past I had spoken to numerous UAW folks, asking them what should be done about Big 3 cars (new) that spend weeks in the dealership (this was the 1980s) and cannot be fixed, and they always said something like, "Once you buy it, it's your problem not mine"... that attitude, frankly, is why my next 4 cars were Hondas...
The American product must be equal to, or better then, the foreign import...simply blabbing "Buy American" when Americans make junk is another call for suicide, as the buyers cannot afford to buy a new Big 3 car every few years because the UAW made junk...
Marsha, this beaten horse is dead. You and many others, victimized by lousy D3 clunkers in the past may not believe it, but virtually ALL vehicle manufacturers today produce well-designed, well built products. And, as Toyota has shown recently, they ALL make mistakes as well, which they try to correct. In Toyota's case this year, and in the D3's case for so many years, the responsibility for those clunkers, and for the awful lack of pride on the part of too many of their UAW workers, as you describe, lies with the management of those companies. Said management pursued quick profits while ignoring their products, mistakes for which we, as consumers and taxpayers got to pay for. Therefore, its OK to at least consider a D3 car when shopping, IMO.
"Therefore, its OK to at least consider a D3 car when shopping, IMO"
It is ALWAYS worth considering a D3 car when shopping, amen to that...but there are TWO dead horses here...one is the argument I have posted, that has been stated numerous times...the other is the fact that numerous posters, other than me, have complained (severely, I might add) of D3 cars with so many problems with quality and workmanship in recent (very recent) years that one has to wonder if anything has changed since the "distant past" that I am criticized for writing about and beating to death...
My point is really simple...one should not buy a D3 product SOLELY because your neighbor makes it (the standard UAW argument)...the argument that it is "patriotic" to buy D3 is weak if the quality is not there...my point was that the neighbor who makes the car probably does not care one whit about you once you have bought the car, but sure wants his job, yet they fail to connect the two concepts, that vehicle quality would ensure their continued employment...
Hey, if you like Ford blue paint better than Mercedes, please buy the Ford...buy it because you like the look of the Blue Oval...
But the Buy American argument simply falls flat on "patriotism" when no one ever looked at the UAW and told them it was "patriotic" to make a better product and they didn't...until now...not 5 years ago...now...
And for those who recently spent many 1000s of $$$ on bad D3 products, that patriotic argument of yours will go nowhere...that's all I mean with my posts...
Hey, if you like Ford blue paint better than Mercedes, please buy the Ford...buy it because you like the look of the Blue Oval...
Well, no, but I sure like the color of green in my bank account by passing up a Benz or many other vehicles that I'd rather have, but not pay for;)
I'd love to have a GL series Benz, but they way I abuse my SUV's would be almost criminal to subject a Mercedes to (dog, kids, pulling boat, camper etc). Probably the best thing about my 07 Expedition is how cheap I was able to buy it when it was a year old. The same year used Sequoia was thousands more.
I don't know if I'll ever buy another new vehicle.
I don't know if I'll ever buy another new vehicle.
I'm starting to feel the same way. The one new car I ever owned was my 2000 Intrepid, and I'll admit, it felt really great, owning a brand-new car. But, they're not new for long. And a few months later, I felt kinda like a chump when the local CarMax had a used 1999 with 10,000 miles on it for a no-haggle price of $15,000, about 3/4 of what I paid for mine. And then it wasn't long before 1-2 year old models with 20-30,000 miles were showing up for $11-12K.
I guess with a lot of Japanese cars though, you're often better off buying new, as they don't depreciate as quickly? Also, used cars do seem to be ticking up in price of late, so they might not be *quite* the bargain they were. But for the most part, still probably a better financial bet than brand-new.
...the responsibility for those clunkers, and for the awful lack of pride on the part of too many of their UAW workers, as you describe, lies with the management of those companies.
I completely disagree that the problems are all management problems. The union also bears much of the responsibility for the issues.
You make perfect sense. Problem is that the American corporations have tons of legacy systems (pay scales included) and procedures that are STILL behind the best global players. The corporate and Union arrogance is muted but is lurking low behind the Government.
It is simple business that you need to execute at the top in ALL facets of design, marketing COMMUNICATIONS as well as manufacturing and procuring TOP-SHELF PARTS to become the best at building fine automobiles.
The jobs that are lost were meant to be lost. Hard to understand but that's how it is. Thank God for the job while it lasted and make sure you look FORWARD and not in REVERSE like the Big 3 has done for decades!
Believe you can get a better job and it will happen...cry about it and fugheddaboudit!
Frankly, the only abuse I can see is allowing children to ride in the vehicle instead of making them ride on the bumper...I would allow 5 dogs in my car before one child, from what I have seen concerning children and the way their parents raise them... :shades: :surprise:
Frankly, the only abuse I can see is allowing children to ride in the vehicle instead of making them ride on the bumper...I would allow 5 dogs in my car before one child, from what I have seen concerning children and the way their parents raise them... :shades: :surprise:
LOL
We have a 1 year old 70lb lab that can't sit still and on our weekend trips down the the lake, we inevitably eat in the car. If I had something like a GL, no one would be eating in it nor would the dog be allowed to stand on the leather etc. Plus we often have friends of our daughters' with us. So that means we'll have 4 girls 12 and under and a 70lb dog. Great fun, but hell on a vehicle.
You made a great decision with your BPA. One of the best cars GM made. They were probably pissed that it lasted so long and fired the design chief!
Hey, with any luck, it'll last long enough that I'll still be driving it by the time I'm drawing social security! :P Then I'll really be old enough to own a Buick!
I'm about 100% sure that I'll stick with buying CPO BMWs from now on. We bought our CPO X3 in December 2005 and the CPO warranty finally expired this month. That said, we had only one warranty repair in 100,000 miles- a passenger SRS sensor.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
We can debate all day on the reasons, but a big one is many in the middle class and below fail to save any money. I realize those w/o a job aren't going to save, but even during the boom years of the late '90's etc our savings rate was dismal. Ironically, I read lately that the savings rate is over 5% which if accurate would be the highest in years, possibly in decades. People in other countries simply save a lot more money on average than people here do. Kind of hard to acquire any wealth if you blow it on an overpriced house, a new car every few years, and constantly filling a shopping cart with crap you don't need.
The people I know that I would consider relatively wealthy, simply save a lot of money and live far beneath their means.
"Kind of hard to acquire any wealth if you blow it on an overpriced house, a new car every few years, and constantly filling a shopping cart with crap you don't need."
And THERE you have found the problem...it isn't that people don't make enough money, it's that they have to buy every new toy for each kid at Xmas, $600 iPhones for each family member, house they cannot afford, car payments to keep up with the neighbors, putting Grandma's trip to Europe on their credit card, yada, yada, yada...
I have actually had Chapter7 clients, usually around Nov-Dec, that I tell them that they must stop using the credit cards if they are filing Chapter7, or it will be viewed as approaching consumer fraud...their first question..."how will I buy toys for the kids for Xmas?"...my standard response..."It's time you taught your kids the REAL meaning of Christmas, and tell them there are no toys this year, but you have each other."
Even as they are going down in flames, all they are worried about is buying toys at Xmas...THAT is why they don't save money, not because they can't...
Comments
2003 GMC Yukon Denali - Current 86,000 miles (dash still rattles from new)
Shock absorber - air shock failure @ 5K miles
MAP Sensor Failure - 4 Visits and Lemon Law Submission @34,000 miles
Power Steering Pump @ 45,000 miles
A/C compressor @ 55K miles
Total Cost - $3,500
Go GM! :lemon:
2008 Honda CR-V - 34,000 miles
Repair Costs - $0.00
Visits to the dealer - NONE :shades:
Regards,
OW
I hate to add fuel to the GM fire, but the other day I found something else wrong with my 2000 Park Ave. Rear window defroster's not working. With autumn coming on and the cooler nights, it's common now to have dew on the car, and it coats the windows enough that I need to turn on the defrost and defog. Well, the grid in the rear window's not working. :sick:
Not a major thing, I know, but mentally, here I'm thinking okay, this car only has 63,000 miles on it, and here's something else that's failed on it, that I never had to worry about with my 2000 Intrepid, which I still feel died a premature death when it got hit-and-runned at the 150,000 mile mark. The other thing was the swaybar links. One of them broke soon after I bought the car,and the mechanic replaced both sides, just for symmetry.
I'm not THAT worried about the rear window defroster. Heck, I own cars that pre-date the rear window defroster, so IMO it's not THAT critical...just keep a towel in the car to wipe the window! But, mentally, It's still sticking in my mind, that this $40K-when-new car, is inferior in many ways to my $20K-when-new Intrepid!
Still, the car does have its strong points. Went on a road trip today, and averaged 28 mpg, which is pretty good for something this size. While mostly highway, at one point we were stuck in gridlock, and I finally gave up and tried some back roads to cut around the mess. And it's roomier and more comfy than my Intrepid was.
And, for the most part, when things break on an older GM car, they're usually (but not always) fairly cheap to fix.
I have 39K on my '08 Cobalt. Zero repair costs, two dealership trips for minor warranty stuff, done during oil change visits.
I don't know, I have had GM's with stuff that broke outside of warranty and my dealers (more than one) fessed up with assistance outside the warranty. At the risk of irritating one or two regular posters here, I reiterate that I had $2K worth of warranty work done for free this year on my '05 Uplander...and I never, ever buy an extended warranty. Should the things have happened? No. Did it leave me stranded? No. But they sucked it up and took responsibility.
According to regular posts on edmunds, it looks like you should be on the lookout for A/C compressor issues on your Honda, and possibly AT issues.
Wow, I sure overlooked the obvious there! I guess it's been so long since I had a fuse blow out in a car, the idea that it could be something so simple never even crossed my mind! I'll try to have a look at it after work. If I remember, that is. I tend to forget about it, until the following morning when I need it!
BTW, no minor "warranty stuff" on this one. The GMC, however, blew the compressor quite early in it's life! :P
The GMC was a failure just like the company.
The CR-V is perfect so far.
Also forgot to add the $550 charge for the air bag sensor @ 75K miles on the Denali. The parts are junk just like the management and the union, imvho, of course! So much for "Professional Grade" unless it's GM-style professional grade junk they were referring to. :lemon:
Regards,
OW
I remember aftermarket rear window defrosters. I helped a friend of mine put one in his 1978 Chevrolet Impala back in the day.
One of the things I miss most about my 1988 Park Avenue is the fantastic fuel economy. The Grand Marquis is a pig. I swear the Brougham gets better fuel economy.
I'm with you on how bad the build quality, refinement, and reliability was on the 00-06 GM fullsize SUVs. That's a big reason I decided not buy another.
That said, my '07 Expedition has been far from perfect. Besides a few relatively minor issues, the biggest has been Ford's spark plug debacle that cost me over $800 to change at 60k due to 3 breaking off in the head.
Now it seems Ford has a paint issue on the tailgates on the Expeditions. The paint on mine is bubbling in several different areas and will look like hell probably after this winter. The panel on the tailgate is aluminum, so I guess it won't rust through, but it's going to need repainting regardless. Great, makes me proud to own an American made vehicle;) I guess a positive side effect of owning a domestic vehicle is helping the economy. Seems I'm always paying someone to fix something.
My neighbor's Audi A4 is a beautifully made car - just a little pricey for me, and only better than the Buicks in the twisties. He always puts premium gas in it, too.
I remember being at the NY Auto Show when they were introducing the Rendezvous. The Buick guys did backflips to point out that this was NOT an Aztek! Not far from them were the Pontiac guys who had several Azteks there including one with the tent option which, if you could overlook the actual car, looked pretty neat.
Meanwhile, on Saturday I got talking with my BIL who is in the very preliminary stages of thinking about a new car. This turned into the do you buy a Ford Fusion made in Mexico or a similar Mazda 6 made in Michigan. Which is better for the US? We didn't resolve it by any means but it was fun twisting it around.
My SIL had one for a company vehicle. Seemed decent for what it was. A bit narrow IIRC. Though the 3.4 v6 certainly wasn't an impressive piece.
There's also a possibility of the ground lead on the other end of the rear grid giving a problem. I believe I've read of those occasionally not making good contact on other H-bodies.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Goes back to the "brilliant" invention of planned obsolescence which at it's roots came from the good old USA....
Guess who latched onto it in the auto industry??????
Regards,
OW
Back in 2006, one of my friends was interested in the Chevy Equinox. I went with him to the Chevy dealer, and we took one out for a test drive. This one had the 185 hp 3.4. It's not the most sophisticated thing in the world, true, but I didn't think it seemed too bad.
He ended up getting a 2006 Xterra, which I think won out because it was "cooler" than the Equinox. Still, I don't think that Equinox was a bad rig. It would've been better if GM had put the more up-to-date 3.5 pushrod in there, like what they put in the Malibu, Uplander, etc. But still not a bad vehicle.
Now, the new model drops the decent V6 for the mediocre 3.0 or a "hyped" 4-cylinder to claim top highway fuel economy numbers even thought real world testing shows it's almost impossible to come close to the rating.
I'd expect the 3.6 to make back in there for the mid-cycle refresh.
A Yahoo search turned up several. These two seem to pretty much cover it all.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2010-09-20-gm-foreign-investors_N.htm
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-21/gm-s-ipo-may-offer-chance-for-china-s-s- aic-motor-to-take-a-stake-hu-says.html
An interesting sentence is "The automakers, which have made cars together in China for more than a decade, said in December they would also sell low- cost vehicles in India."
If China should buy a large enough chunk to have some say in how things are run and received profits from the venture, how would the GM ( and buy only America) addicts feel about it, and would they still purchase GM products?
Kip
I wouldn't bet on it. From what I've been reading, the Fusion and Malibu will lose a v6 option all together with their respective refreshes/redesigns. Looks like turbo 4s are going to getting more popular as an option.
Yeah, I've never read anything positive regarding GM's 3.0 v6. Seems they should have just saved money developing the 3.0 and use various tuned 3.6's as their v6 option. Granted, I'm sure it's better than Ford's Duratec 3.0. but that engine has been around for years.
Japanese cars and Korean cars! PHOOOEY ----Where did the profits go? Made em here and shipped the $$$ overseas! Its late at night so will close for now
China Too Big For Aid?
The American product must be equal to, or better then, the foreign import...simply blabbing "Buy American" when Americans make junk is another call for suicide, as the buyers cannot afford to buy a new Big 3 car every few years because the UAW made junk...
It is ALWAYS worth considering a D3 car when shopping, amen to that...but there are TWO dead horses here...one is the argument I have posted, that has been stated numerous times...the other is the fact that numerous posters, other than me, have complained (severely, I might add) of D3 cars with so many problems with quality and workmanship in recent (very recent) years that one has to wonder if anything has changed since the "distant past" that I am criticized for writing about and beating to death...
My point is really simple...one should not buy a D3 product SOLELY because your neighbor makes it (the standard UAW argument)...the argument that it is "patriotic" to buy D3 is weak if the quality is not there...my point was that the neighbor who makes the car probably does not care one whit about you once you have bought the car, but sure wants his job, yet they fail to connect the two concepts, that vehicle quality would ensure their continued employment...
Hey, if you like Ford blue paint better than Mercedes, please buy the Ford...buy it because you like the look of the Blue Oval...
But the Buy American argument simply falls flat on "patriotism" when no one ever looked at the UAW and told them it was "patriotic" to make a better product and they didn't...until now...not 5 years ago...now...
And for those who recently spent many 1000s of $$$ on bad D3 products, that patriotic argument of yours will go nowhere...that's all I mean with my posts...
PS - I'm currently seriously considering a ridiculously cheap Toyota instead of a more expensive similar GMC model. Test drives, coming up!
Well, no, but I sure like the color of green in my bank account by passing up a Benz or many other vehicles that I'd rather have, but not pay for;)
I'd love to have a GL series Benz, but they way I abuse my SUV's would be almost criminal to subject a Mercedes to (dog, kids, pulling boat, camper etc). Probably the best thing about my 07 Expedition is how cheap I was able to buy it when it was a year old. The same year used Sequoia was thousands more.
I don't know if I'll ever buy another new vehicle.
I'll bite, what does Toyota have that competes with a GMC and is substantially cheaper when comparably equipped. A Tundra maybe?
I'm starting to feel the same way. The one new car I ever owned was my 2000 Intrepid, and I'll admit, it felt really great, owning a brand-new car. But, they're not new for long. And a few months later, I felt kinda like a chump when the local CarMax had a used 1999 with 10,000 miles on it for a no-haggle price of $15,000, about 3/4 of what I paid for mine. And then it wasn't long before 1-2 year old models with 20-30,000 miles were showing up for $11-12K.
I guess with a lot of Japanese cars though, you're often better off buying new, as they don't depreciate as quickly? Also, used cars do seem to be ticking up in price of late, so they might not be *quite* the bargain they were. But for the most part, still probably a better financial bet than brand-new.
I completely disagree that the problems are all management problems. The union also bears much of the responsibility for the issues.
It is simple business that you need to execute at the top in ALL facets of design, marketing COMMUNICATIONS as well as manufacturing and procuring TOP-SHELF PARTS to become the best at building fine automobiles.
The jobs that are lost were meant to be lost. Hard to understand but that's how it is. Thank God for the job while it lasted and make sure you look FORWARD and not in REVERSE like the Big 3 has done for decades!
Believe you can get a better job and it will happen...cry about it and fugheddaboudit!
Regards,
OW
Absolutely...but if you want the best, make sure you don't make the mistake twice.
Foreign or domestic.
Regards,
OW
JK!
Regards,
OW
Once you start downhill.........
Regards,
OW
Frankly, the only abuse I can see is allowing children to ride in the vehicle instead of making them ride on the bumper...I would allow 5 dogs in my car before one child, from what I have seen concerning children and the way their parents raise them... :shades: :surprise:
LOL
We have a 1 year old 70lb lab that can't sit still and on our weekend trips down the the lake, we inevitably eat in the car. If I had something like a GL, no one would be eating in it nor would the dog be allowed to stand on the leather etc. Plus we often have friends of our daughters' with us. So that means we'll have 4 girls 12 and under and a 70lb dog. Great fun, but hell on a vehicle.
Hey, with any luck, it'll last long enough that I'll still be driving it by the time I'm drawing social security! :P Then I'll really be old enough to own a Buick!
Income Gap Widens Between Rich and Poor
Uh, Maybe This Is Why America Is So Angry?
And wealth disparity is twice as glaring.
Mine: 1995 318ti Club Sport-2020 C43-1996 Speed Triple Challenge Cup Replica
Wife's: 2021 Sahara 4xe
Son's: 2018 330i xDrive
We can debate all day on the reasons, but a big one is many in the middle class and below fail to save any money. I realize those w/o a job aren't going to save, but even during the boom years of the late '90's etc our savings rate was dismal. Ironically, I read lately that the savings rate is over 5% which if accurate would be the highest in years, possibly in decades. People in other countries simply save a lot more money on average than people here do. Kind of hard to acquire any wealth if you blow it on an overpriced house, a new car every few years, and constantly filling a shopping cart with crap you don't need.
The people I know that I would consider relatively wealthy, simply save a lot of money and live far beneath their means.
And THERE you have found the problem...it isn't that people don't make enough money, it's that they have to buy every new toy for each kid at Xmas, $600 iPhones for each family member, house they cannot afford, car payments to keep up with the neighbors, putting Grandma's trip to Europe on their credit card, yada, yada, yada...
I have actually had Chapter7 clients, usually around Nov-Dec, that I tell them that they must stop using the credit cards if they are filing Chapter7, or it will be viewed as approaching consumer fraud...their first question..."how will I buy toys for the kids for Xmas?"...my standard response..."It's time you taught your kids the REAL meaning of Christmas, and tell them there are no toys this year, but you have each other."
Even as they are going down in flames, all they are worried about is buying toys at Xmas...THAT is why they don't save money, not because they can't...