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
General Motors discussions
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
Yep. The current Cobalt should be the last GM compact designed outside of South Korea. Everything new will be based on whatever replaces the Daewoo Lacetti: Suzuki gets a Forenza, Chevy gets a Cobalt, and and Saturn gets a rebadged Opel Astra. The only thing the locals get to do is choose which body styles and engines they want to sell, then play with the interior and suspension tuning.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
1) Given that Toyota makes a better car than GM, but doesn't have quite the history:
a) Toyota buys GM.
i) Sells off the parts business. This would be a great cash cow! GM cars break like a twig in a hurricane, so there's big money to be made in replacement parts.
ii) Take the "Corvette", "Camaro", "Electra 225" :-) "GTO", and whatever other few car names have any credibility. I'm sure Toyota would be able to do them justice. Perhaps that new $170K Lexus could be named "Corvette".
iii) Sell everything else to Hyundai, so they can
change their name to "Chevrolet", or "Pontiac". They could rename the "Azera" to "Cadillac" or perhaps "Sedan deVille", since those names, while not sufficiently useful for Toyota, probably still have more panache than "Azera" for Hyundai.
That's it! Simple, no?
Ya know that BTS in a coupe may be kinda neat idea, but I think it is FWD. Needs to go RWD unless they shoot for the Audi and Jetta market.
Loren
Loren
Chery are GM designs that its Chinese partner basically swiped.
As it is, GMDAT has such low development and production costs that GM and Suzuki are making money building kits in South Korea then shipping them for final assembly in China and India.
Clever engineers in those countries will eventually figure out how to reverse engineer the kits. But it makes things harder than when GM sets up the whole process in China.
I think GM will always design and build Cadillacs, Corvettes, and probably even next generation Kappa cars in the US.
Compacts and possibly mid-sized (though less likely - even Toyota and Hyundai are doing some mid-size design here) definitely will come from Asia. Watch Russia as well. A lot of very well educated and underemployed young people there currently waste their time developing computer viruses. A vast untapped resource.
Also, how do you think what's going on Delphi going to affect Dana, other companies under Chap 11 and future filings? - yes, do believe there are going to be more filings.
Are there any more Steve Miller's out there that need to be watched?
jae5,
Pal unfortunately Delphi is just the tip of the iceberg. If the judge rules in favor of the company on March 31st and the workers get the shaft then it will encourage even more filings in my opinion.
Rocky
Rocky
GM plans to unwind its 20-percent stake in Japan's Suzuki Motor to raise much needed cash —
Not my words,but as taken from the Edmunds news site.
To those suddenly hidden posters who liked to brag that GM was not in trouble and had all the $$ they needed. I have to say, your silence is deafening. :surprise: Bill C.
I remember when Iacocca sold off Chrysler's Tank division, which was a cash cow for them, in order to make payroll. You have to do what you have to do.
Yeah $2 billion is much needed when you lost $8.6 Billion.
Rocky
Hell Dubai is proof that when you give a little you can get alot in return. :surprise:
Rocky
The 4 cyl has decent pickup and actually seems spunkier than my firebird....maybe, because it's smaller. I know I have to keep an eye on the speed, cause I seem to be going faster than I realize...also figure it's because it's smaller. Going from t-tops to a sunroof has it's pros/cons...but whatever the case..it's better than none
Oh..and yes...wasted "bells'n'whistles" radio controls on backsides of stearing wheel...actually for the SUV too. Actually made me laugh at how silly the option is...just as assinine as a hand held remote that comes with new car stereos. Yep...actually have a remote for the stereo in the firebird...used once when 1st put in..then filed in glove box like rest of useless items....hehehe
Price wise, was exactly what is shown on the Mitsubishi site. Guess cause it's the 2006, but not complaining. Didn't have an interest in the V6 as long as I could get all options wanted in the 4. Besides, the 4 isn't as painful on the insurance as the 6 is and shockingly didn't increase too much over what I paid on the firebird.
The SUV we got was a 2005 Endeavor...and that we did get a pretty decent reduction on...but that was most likely due to buying 2 new ones and one of them being a year old..so to speak.
LOL..and don't feel bad...I babble too at times..usually when it comes to computers thou
...no more having to sell rebadged Daewoo's in the US.
:P
Rocky
I'm not playing politics but am stating facts about what it takes to get government handouts on K-Street. :sick:
Rocky
Rocky
Unless your somone with a disablilty...like me with muscular dystrophy...who don't have leg muscles stronger than their arm muscles!!!
Suzuki itself, whoever that represents, bought the shares back from GM.
Rocky
If you're coming up to a stoplight and apply the brake and NOTHING HAPPENS, which is easier and more intuitive? to push with your foot on a pedal that applies the rear brakes or use one of your arms as you're trying to steer and think where to steer to miss the cars stopped ahead of you and pull backwards and upwards on a lever under the front seat or between the front seats?
I vote for the foot pedal leaving your arms free to downshift into LOW or first for engine braking and to steer around objects if possible!!!!
Remember you don't know your brakes don't work until you push on the pedal and there's a little or no braking--hurry, you have two seconds to get stopped. Decide which to do: push with your foot or let go of the steering wheel and reach for a level which you pull backwards. I had one of those in the past and didn't like it. Counterintuitive.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Rocky
BTW, I was driving my '79 New Yorker last night, and the whole foot brake versus handbrake thing was on my mind. Now it's a bench seat car, so naturally it's going to have a foot brake, but it did get me thinking...the emergency brake is so far over to the left and mounted so high that I'd never be able to apply it instantly if I suddenly had to. In contrast a handbrake, which would be mounted about where the armrest is, would be much easier to reach.
Now on my Intrepid, the footbrake is in a much better position.
I guess with me, I'm just used to cars with a foot emergency brake (or with older Mopars, the handbrake lever mounted on the left side of the dash that you pulled toward you to engage) so with the console-mounted handbrakes, I have to fumble around for them more.
Picture the ergonomics.
A person pushing on the steering wheel with one hand to steer onto the should or around a stopped car or ???? and trying to pull backwards and up with their right hand. They are pulling on the steering wheel with their left to provide opposing force for the up and backward pull with their right.
A person holding onto the steering wheel with both hangs and using their left foot to find the pedal along the left side of their footwell and then pushing on it using the seatback (and steering wheel) to balance the forward pressure they're applying to the pedal
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I accidentally did it to my grandma's '85 LeSabre once, too. I forget why, but as I was coming up to a traffic light, I wanted to shift it up into neutral, but accidentally parked it instead! I was probably only doing around 10 mph though.
Of course, doing something like this has an excellent chance of messing up your tranny and engine too I guess. But if it comes down to sacrificing your driveline versus having a bad accident, it might be worth it. Of course, accidents are usually so spur-of-the-moment that people just don't have time to think and react, even WITH good brakes!
Which foot do you work the clutch pedal with?
Rocky
Maybe it depends on the kinds of cars a person has driven in his/her lifetime. If someone only had experience with cars with automatic transmissions and shift lever mounted on steering column, then left floor foot brake is most likely how those cars were equipped. On the other hand, if one has driven foreign brands (Euro, Japan) with manual transmission shift lever on floor with emergency brake next to shift lever, then it is second nature to reach for the emergency brake handle when needed.
Another thing about manual trans foreign cars is that you are most likely to "always" engage the emergency brake when parking the car. I think that many drivers with auto trans merely put the trans in Park and not engage the emergency. Our current foreign brand cars have auto trans with center mounted brake lever and we always engage the brake when parking. This provides a familiarity with the brake and probably would help our brains to send our right hand to the brake instantaneously in an emergency. This also keeps the emergency brake mechanism (levers, cables, etc) moving and not get corroded or otherwise gummed up. For those with auto trans who only use Park on trans to park car, it could be that their car if older has a somewhat inoperative left mounted foot brake pedal mechanism.
Finally, you don't necessarily need both hands on the wheel at all times. After all, it is still legal to own and drive cars with manual transmissions requiring right hand on shifter at times. Would be no different in using right hand to pull on emergency brake lever.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11677325/site/newsweek/
Rocky
So, yes at one time the parking brake was a backup in the event that your primary braking system failed. Now, there is a double system and complete failure is quite unlikely.
What's a clutch pedal?\
Actually I have an automatic. I guess manuals need to downshift and then hit the emergency brake?
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Rocky
But, with even half a failure, you will probably need the emergency brake.
I had a Pontiac that had the dual system and a brake line corroded through and popped as I was coming to a traffic light stop on a 50 MPH road. I recall that the stopping deceleration was reduced quite a bit, as would be expected, and I had to use the emergency brake. I was close to home and then was able to drive the car quite gingerly to my garage. The failed line was going to the rear and I replaced it myself.
If both braking systems fail at once though, why would the emergency brake also be useless? The E-brake is cable operated and simply pulls the leading rear shoes forward into the drum, or in the case of disc brake cars activates the mini-drum in back.
If a brake hose dry-rots and leaks, won't that disable the whole system? Even a dual system? I had that happen on both my '68 and '69 Darts.
We never did figure out what made the brakes fail on the LeSabre. That car had other issues at the time, and I was considering getting rid of it eventually anyway, so the brakes were just the final straw.
Dual master cylinders were mandated in 1967. Side markers were 1968.