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Comments
I guess Lexus is just lucky. :P
DrFill
What GM and the other two of the once again, Big 3 domestics need to do is to quit this fixation on trying to be the other person (auto) and make what they do best. Don't believe me? Well look at the CTS and Chrysler 300 and the Mustang. Japan, and Europe are not building such cars. Those are NEW cars, and UNQUIE cars. Ford created the Pony car, and Chrysler the Hemi and the blocky car with the too tall doors, some people crave, while GM gave us the Arts & Science look. A Corvette sells for a good price. It is a consistant effort at being Americas number one sports car.
Why would I look at an Aveo, as there are so many other Korean cars with many models to choose between. What's the difference. Is the Cobalt more than an improvement on the Cavalier? If the Cobalt was a new car, as those described above, it would get 40 MPG or be all electric like the EV-1 or you get the picture, something Japan or Europe is not doing. How about a little car or mid-sized car which looks like a million buck, looks futuristic, or looks like a bit like a retro American built car of days-gone-bye? The Impala may be such a car, as in New. Hope it is New and Unique, and nothing like competition. Let them play catch-up on styling. The Camry style is the Bangle butt rear. They wouldn't dare copy the New Impala though -- well I guess not. For the small trucks, I would dump the current Colorado look in favor of a retro look, just like the '49 trucks or an HHR. Why not have a little fun with stylin' on those baby trucks?
Loren
If you're saying that GM's rep is worse than VW's in North America, I'm afraid lots of people aren't going to agree with you.
On a personal note, my sister wanted to buy a Passat to replace her new Beetle a few months ago. Loved the car, but the reliability concerns scared her off, even though her awful dealer did get a lot better in the last 2 years of ownership of her VW.
I happened to see a convertible Corvair tooling around this morning btw. :shades:
Loren
It was expensive to fix when something broke or didn't work right, but it didn't strand us except when it died for the last time at like 101K miles.
The Dodge was at least 100 times worse than the VW. So in my view, as bad as VW's reputation is, Dodge's is at least 10 times worse.
Reading about the new Dreamliner and Airbus's methods, we could very well see more cross use of completed systems in GM and other manufacturers cars. If that VW DSG transmission is so great, why not ship them to GM to use? Let the assembly line become the final assembly line.
Only if you are a Naderite. They fixed the problem by 1964, and had a retrofit kit for'60-'63. These cars actually sold real well.
In '65 or '66 the order came down to halt ALL development on a 3rd gen 'vair and improving the gen 2 (backlash from the book, maybe). It was then killed in '69.
Nader has played spoiler about a lot of things including a few elections.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
as I keep saying, it would help if those being critical knew anything about GM products. The 3.6L in the CTS will have DI and produce 302hp. That is only 4hp less than the IS and not enough to mean anything in the real world. I'm still waiting for Toyota to create a V8 with 400hp. BTW, Gm also used DI tech in the 2L turbo 4 used in the Solstice GXP.
The CTS has keyless entry and start. It has a twist start ignition just like the RL and several other cars. Its virtually the same as push button start.
Oh, that clears everything up nicely.
No, I doubt it. There isnt anything too impressive about a base model European car, not even in the US. When you take away the large wheels, navigation, leather seats, HIDS, etc. Euro cars seem pretty pedestrian. In Europe I suspect people dont get offended by their native manufacturers providing cars for use by companies and the government. Only in America do people think its embarrassing for native automakers to provide the vehicles necessary for getting business done. Fleet cars by nature are not "awesome" since they are typically sparesly equipped and have the weakest engine available.
BTW, in Philly we have fleet Pruis' and as some may know one of the rental companies has just committed to a major purchase of Prius'.
I know the 3.6L will have DI but I said duel DI. The purpose of the duel DI is not to increase the HP but to make the engine more fuel efficient.
The Toyota 400HP V8 is coming soon (late 07' or early 08'), it'll debut with the 2008 IS-F. A 500HP V10 is also coming with the LF-A.
Why twist start when one can just push a button? Cost saving I guess? :confuse:
A better approach would have been for GM to install the anti-sway bar from day one, which cost less than $15 per car, thus avoiding the need for retrofit kits. It would also not have given Nader any fodder for his book.
GM needed to learn that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing right. Unfortunately, as the Vega and the X-cars proved, GM still hadn't learned that lesson over 20 years later.
$123,130,110 in today's money.
GM failed to realize that the Corvair's appeal was not in providing basic, reliable transportation. The Corvair appealed to the enthusiasts who were interested in driving and could really appreciate the rear-engine layout. The success of the Monza coupe should have told GM this. If GM had taken the effort to get the suspension right from day one, the car could have been remembered as a big success.
It all boils down to GM's attitude at the time - that all small cars must be cheap cars. (An attitude that GM hasn't entirely shaken today.)
GM failed to realize what it had in the Corvair, especially the Monza.
I dont know, Ask Acura. If its good enough for the RL it's good enough for the CTS. Infiniti also has a similar system on some of its models. How lazy can one get anyway? You think twisting a switch is too much work? Push button start is one of the most meaningless gimmicks going right now. I'd rather have remote start than push button start.
The DI in the 3.6L does the same stuff as the Lexus system, trust me. All DI systems increase efficiency- the 3.6 with 302hp is supposed to get better mileage than the normal version.
"As for the "Perfection" of foreign cars, in a recent issue of C&D, a long term Acura RL was rated. Problems that occurred? Well, how's a sunroof that refuses to shut at just 6K miles? Electrical problems? Lots of them! Dimmed headlights, screwed up navi. screen, you name it. More than one loose door trim panel. All in less than 40K MILES! Really?!! And they were written off as "minor annoyances" and "a small price to pay for Acura luxury". Can you imagine the fire storm of hatred had that same vehicle been a Caddy or Buick. It would have been totally unacceptable! "No car built in the 21st century should have those problems" they would write. Yet, all is forgiven because it's an Acura. It's not perceived quality, it's sheer bias! That IS unacceptable, let alone the price tag cozies up to 50K. "
My sentiments exactly.
The DI in the 3.6L is single stage and the 2GR-FSE has duel DI. NOT THE SAME STUFF.
Hint to GM: When you debut a car 2 years after the competitor, makes sure it measures up on all the features AND SOME.
Was having a rear engine really an advantage or just a gimmick? I'm sure the rear-engined car gave great traction in bad weather given the stories I've heard of my Uncle Daniel's 1962 Corvair easily going up a snow-covered hill that left other car stranded. But what about the car having virtually no front-end collision protection or, from what I've heard of the VW Bug - poor heating in the winter. About the only advantage to the rear engine in both the VW and Corvair was that they were air-cooled.
It also seems most people preferred the very conventional Ford Falcon to either the Exner-styled Valiant or the Corvair. Chevrolet noticed this as it introduced its own conventional RWD compact - the Chevy II/Nova in 1962.
Cadillac is playing catch-up, as is GM. The CTS is a thumbnail of where they are in the landscape. Good, but should be better.
DrFill
Loren
Loren
The Corvair was strange car for the Midwest. Lots sold but they drove completely differently.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
:shades:
Loren
Just trying to be thrifty, Loren.
Someone emailed me last weekend looking for help with their car that wouldn't start. They were stranded in a NYC parking garage ($$$).
Turns out the key cylinder had worn out and none of the keys were working any more. They were able to get help from a locksmith and saved a tow.
I think I'd rather switch to a button or a device that's electrical instead of mechanical.
My father had a Valiant for a while. It threw a rod in front of a Ford dealership and was traded for a Falcon. If it had been a GM dealer, he probably would have gone back to a Buick. But he was heading to the lake to go fishing and didn't want to shop around - he was a bit irritated when they didn't want to take his check before the bank opened.
As for swing-axles, those can be trouble. Wasn't the Tempest, with a swing-axle a bit much for some to handle? Like any car, it is knowing the limits. I take it you have a turn though which appears to be under control, but just a slight way past the limits of hold all hell breaks loose. The rears tucked under is not a good thing. Guess that is why the VW was egg shaped. You roll the car and returns the the driving position again, or you just get a couple of guys to help right ya, and away you fly.... ummm, drive slowly.
Loren
At least in the compact SUV segment.
I would buy a Tacoma before a Colorado though. Rework the small truck.
Loren
Imidazol97, did you have a 4-cyl Skylark or a V-6? The 4-cyl models did tend to be more reliable than the V-6 versions, and by 1983 or so, the 4-cyl models were usually rated "average" by Consumer Reports, which is about the highest a domestic product could hope to achieve back then.
For some reason, the X-car stigma didn't seem to hit the Skylark as badly as it did the Citation, Phoenix, and Omega. The Phoenix/Omega were dropped early, in 1984, with only the Citation and Skylark making it through 1985. In that last year, Buick still managed to sell around 90-100,000 Skylarks, which isn't a bad showing considering they also had the similar Century, and the Somerset Regal had just come onto the scene. The Skylark was the only name to carry on after the X-cars died out, as the other three nameplates had been tarnished too badly.
Still, I think you might have just lucked out and gotten one of the good ones! :P GM did improve the reliability of the X-cars in 1981, but they still had a long way to go.
I dunno though, maybe GM put more effort into the Skylark than the other X-bodies? Back then, it seemed like with the bigger cars, at least, they put more effort into the Buicks and Oldsmobiles than they did with the Chevies and Pontiacs.
There are still some Citations around. I note one near the school campus that I saw almost daily. It was the coral color that was popular. It was rusted somewhat. I'd love to know how many miles were on it.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Unfortunately, quality was abysmal...they were most recalled cars in history, until the Ford Focus stepped up to claim that "honor."
So either this dude is like me and has a fetish for cars from an era that most people try to forget...or he inherited it from some deceased relative.
I see a 1985 Skyhawk in a med metallic blue driven by an older lady. Runs great. Don't see any rust without checking closer.
A friend of ours drives only older cars. Buys them from estates, etc.; I don't think any of his even have airbags they're that old.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Man, had I not known, this really sounds like a Toyota board.
I disagree with your position but I'll save my reasons for an appropriate board.
I have an old Consumer Guide used car book from around 1987, and it has a comprehensive list of the X-body recalls. I'll have to see if I can dig it up tonite when I get home.
A friend of mine had an 80 Citation with a 4 cyl and automatic and he slipped by almost all the recalls. The sixes had a lot of them and 4 cyl with sticks for some reason.
He only got about 80K out of the car before the repairs got too annoying and he ended up donating it but for maybe four years it did OK.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Actually that part was one of those unfortunate pattern that plagued GM for years - putting out a new offering with bugs in it, developing a lousy reputation for the model, fix the bugs so that the car is actually quite nice and then announce the models demise because the early glitches gave it a bad reputation.
I do hope they have overcome that. There are certainly signs that this is so.
Interesting you are ascribing that to GM only. Do you think there are foreign-based brands today that have done that?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Furthermore, they have to make more consistently "better than total crap" cars so that the reliability rankings come back positive on CR's annual reports.
If this does not happen GM will cease to exist by 2020.
Yeah Toyota does repect Honda but they do have respect for Hyundai and GM as well.