Listen, anyone that is as dedicated to Buick and Cadillac as you will never get my whip. I would promote you to fire all the idiots and whip those brands into shape again! :shades:
We will need to stay away from GM for years at this rate before they produce useful products that folks want to buy.
Not as long as they get bailouts. Now they're getting our money whether we buy from them or not. And as long as they stay in Ch11 reorg they will too...we're providing DIP financing.
I would promote you to fire all the idiots and whip those brands into shape again!
I'd bet that almost all of us on this board who don't even agree very often would support Lemko for CEO of GM. We know he's dedicated and would be passionate about restoring GM to its former sheen. Rocky, bpizzuti, md4, imadazole, fintail, marsha, others - we can all agree on this!
I saw a red 2010 Camaro pull into my workplace today. I went out later in the day to take a look at it. It was a beautiful car and flawlessly executed.
".....Also, I guess if a chain gets stretched out, it could let the pistons and valves slap. Or would the car get so far far out of tune that it would quit running, before that would happen? "
It would still run, but like S&%T. The telltale sign would normally be that if you put a timing light on it, the timing mark would be jumping all over the place.
"......What I get a kick out of though is the GM fansites that I've visited and those people claiming their GM vehicles are perfect and everyone who doesn't own one is an ignorant, biased idiot, yet after 2 -3 years they are trading it on a new one. They also own 4 or 5 GM vehicles so what do these things have for mileage before getting traded? 20k? Hardly a testament to longevity nor long-term reliability."
Boy, you sure know how to exaggerate. While I won't claim my cars are perfect, they are reliable. I've had my '99 PA Ultra for 7 (not 2) years with no major defects. It has 117K on it. My '04 Chevy dually has 90K on it, no major issues. My '04 Rainier has 55K on it (owned since new) NO OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES. My father is getting back his '88 Park Av soon from my cousin. It's been in the family for 19 years, has 175K on it, and needs a cat.
Speaking of cats, my '65 Wildcat purrs like a kitten, and is older that all the cars you own put together.
Speaking of put together, I have a '29 Buick I'm putting together. Anybody know how to pour babbits???
".....Apparently my 86 Suburban did not have this low pressure switch. Compressor froze up approx 1992 and bill for replacement was $800. How poor was GM engineering to not have this switch."
It did have one. My Mother's '77 Electra had one. Compressor clutch wouldn't activate when it was low.
Is that from the era where they had top oilers that oiled the upper part of the motor which was open? I recall seeing something like I described at a car show here a few years back. I never realized that some cars were oiled manually.
you better hope there are others, otherwise your list is 15 years old. My GM cars had problems. My '70 was unbelievable. Ran 10 years with gas, oil, and a cam gear, after being bought turned over. The original gear was part plastic for noise reduction. My '79 had a perfect drivetrain but lacked power and the clock died. My two F-cars were way better than CR ratings. First repair: Factory tires were in need of replacement at 65,000 miles and battery went at 83,000 miles in 1989. My payments were over in 'early '85, so by the time that even my '88 Firebird payments were over, I had to finally put the first $50 into my '84 aside from the tires and a $7 alternator belt. Only 2 new GMs since the '88 are my '98 and '01. The '98 has need something every 2-3 years to keep it looking and running like new. My '79 did not age well. I tended to have the cosmetic issues. Florida is tough on paint and interior plastic. It took from '78 till '07 to finally have a problem that was over $1000 to fix, and that was on one that I bought used and had 164,000 miles on it when it broke. Owning GMs has allowed me to have extremely small auto repair expenses through the years. I have owned 5-6 at once lately and if ETCO was accurate, I would be spending half my income to have them.
It did have one. My Mother's '77 Electra had one. Compressor clutch wouldn't activate when it was low.
What would make the compressor seize up, then? And while they're not GM products, I'd still imagine Chrysler was smart enough to put a low pressure switch in my 2000 Intrepid and my old '88 LeBaron, both of which had the compressors seize up. Now that I think about it though, both failed at around the 9+ year mark, so maybe there's a clue there?
Also, I remember my Granddad replacing the compressor on my 1980 Malibu, sometime in 1987. So maybe the things are failing for reasons other than low freon/lube?
I have owned 5-6 at once lately and if ETCO was accurate, I would be spending half my income to have them.
Oh, Edmund's True Cost to Own can be pretty amusing. I think I remember them estimating my 2000 Intrepid costing something like $44,000 over the course of 5 years and 75,000 miles. I can't find the memory stick I have the data on right now, but I think I'm into it about $51K right now, for 9.5 years, ~146K miles.
At 5 years, I was nowhere NEAR $44K, and I had it up to about 99,000 miles at that point!
I think all of us could band together and do a better job than the crooked cabal of GM execs has done over the past 30 years or so. It wouldn't even really need hindsight...just common sense.
>So maybe the things are failing for reasons other than low freon/lube?
I've never had a compressor fail on AC. Current is 160K and 11 years. Previous was 150K and 10 years. It was colder than the newer leSabre, in fact. I did refill the 1998 with 134a last summer. Darn thing leaked enough its pressure wasn't quite up to par, so I had to spend one Walmart can of 134a and a separate gauge.
Darn GM cars are just too expensive to maintain they're such junk! :P :shades:
I have to agree with you on that note. How will Ford or any of the other auto makers compete with Government Motors. They make the rules and can shut out the other auto makers in a very short time. That makes it easier to Nationalize all of them. You Ford will build 1/2 ton PU trucks. I get the feeling our government is going to be run very similar to Venezuela and Cuba.
When Obama says it will be GM owned by the government for a short time then sold. Just who would buy it? It will have multiple levels of bureaucracy being paid huge civil service wage packages. It will be the company from hell for anyone trying to make a profit.
Obama could also use it as a bargaining chip with our biggest creditor, China. He could give GM and C in relief of a couple million we owe them. Are they really worth much more?
I'd bet that almost all of us on this board who don't even agree very often would support Lemko for CEO of GM. We know he's dedicated and would be passionate about restoring GM to its former sheen. Rocky, bpizzuti, md4, imadazole, fintail, marsha, others - we can all agree on this!
Don't look at me...if I wanted to buy a Buick I'd go to a Lexus dealer. :shades: So long as he leaves Caddy alone though, I might be able to put up with him. :P
Shutting out Ford would be politically unwise for a lot of reasons...it'd be shutting out what is currently a very popular auto company, as well as shutting out a significant portion of the UAW (and the only portion not working for a company in the ICU). Not a particularly bright idea to mess with one's base to that degree.
When Obama says it will be GM owned by the government for a short time then sold. Just who would buy it?
First of all, that would be "New GM" or whatever it ends up being called. "Old GM" will go and get liquidated.
As I understand it, it would work like an IPO process, and the stock would be offered up for public sale via stock exchange. Until that time, the G-stake is supposed to be like preferred stock...non-voting. I think the UAW and bondholder's shares will end up with controlling votes on the board before the IPO, but we'd have to see how that goes, I might be wrong.
Interestingly, I read that Honda's spec coolant has 3 of the 4 chemicals of DexCool, so it must be okay since Honda uses it, right?
Don't know. Has Honda had the same types of problems that GM did?
The world will never know...Hondas of that era used a rubber band that had to be replaced every 5 years to hold the engine together. As long as half the car is taken apart to replace the belt, they just replace the water pump, thermostat and coolant since they are in there anyway. Oh at at a charge of $600-1000 depending on the dealer or repair facility.
I think all of us could band together and do a better job than the crooked cabal of GM execs has done over the past 30 years or so. It wouldn't even really need hindsight...just common sense.
Didn't the dexcool cause sludging in the block proper as well? I googled the problem and owners have been complaining about premature component failures for 10 years and are saying GM is ignoring the problem. There are many class action suits in the courts about it.
The Japanese will fix it quickly, and IMO as long as the problem's fixed I don;t care if the company admits it or denies it.
It took domestics ages to acknowledge the problems until recently, and they admit the problems fairly early nowadays, however they're just too reluctant to fix it.
I say to hell with denial as long as they fix it quick and right.
Any worker who doesn't want a decent lifestyle enjoyed by the average North American worker is masochistic at best and fatally stupid at the worst! Why allow yourself to be abused for some other person's profit?
Oh now you're insulting people's choices. Why do some people not want or even need NA workers lifestyle? Because in their respective countries a fraction of such lifestyle is enough to make them wealthy like hell.
Plus do you realize that this ideal NA lifestyle of yours is the one that put so many people under countless debt in NA itself?
What's with this irrational discrimination? Goodness....
I remember when Freon was only 99 cents a can. Now, the stuff is like gold thanks to the eco-weenies. Best A/C I had was in a 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis LS. You could actually see frost forming on the vents it was so cold. You cold probably keep ice cream in the car in the middle of a parking lot in July with the A/C on.
A co-worker of mine had a 1993 Honda Accord coupe with the timing belt. He was supposed to have changed it at 60K miles, but he let his car get up to 86K, never changed the belt, and traded it for a new 2004 Accord sedan. I think he said it would be at least a $700 job and he had no intention of paying that much for it.
Kept full-size Cadillac Fleetwood and DeVille with 425 V-8 until a suitable replacement could've been developed - CAFE be damned! I'll pay the fines rather than tarnish Cadillac's reputation.
Worked my damnedest to build a world-class small car. If I had to copy a Civic piece by piece, I would have.
Would've hired away Honda's engineers to build fuel-efficient 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines and gave them free reign.
Cimmaron would've never seen the light of day. Would've bench-marked a BMW 3-Series for my small sporty Cadillac.
Would've introduced smaller Cadillac DeVille, but it would've been RWD with a world-class V-8 engine. Realized that '70s styling doesn't work on a smaller platform and would've got rid of a lot of the gingerbread at the risk of upsetting my traditional customers.
Would've kept styling studios separate like they were back in the day. Would've resulted in more distinctive Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and Buicks helping them to keep their identities. No badge-engineered crap.
Would've further developed the Fiero before it was released. Better late than half-baked.
Would have tamed the UAW, even if I had to go "Ronald Reagan" on them. I would've greatly rewarded good workers and fired all the drunks, druggies, and slackers with extreme prejudice - heck even if I had to personally go into the plant with armed security and can them on the spot. Losers have no place in my GM! I'm sure all the good workers would be happy that I removed all these knuckleheads who dragged the UAW's reputation through the mud.
Would've kept the 1980s Buick Regal a RWD car and promoted its racing heritage.
Would've kept the big RWD Cadillac Fleetwood, Buick Roadmaster, and Chevrolet Caprice. Heck, there is STILL a market for big RWD body-on-frame cars. Witness the Mercury Grand Marquis. The only exception is that I would've never allowed them to become antiquated as the Merc.
Would've left trucks alone because whatever they were doing they were doing right. However, I would've never neglected the car side of my business in favor of trucks and SUVs.
I would have a world-class Buick that would shame Lexus. Others would be as proud to own a Buick as I am.
Freon was only 99 cents a can. Now, the stuff is like gold thanks to the eco-weenies.
All because of holes in the Ozone. Freon in AC works better than the new substitute. If a vehicle has a well built AC system you should never lose CFCs into the environment. I have have 20 year old refrigerator still working well. Our LS400 that is 20 years old still blows cold. It has never been serviced.
As recently as 5 years ago you could buy cans of Dupont Freon in Tijuana and get AC service very inexpensive down there. I took my ex's 1990 Camry down for service. Cost $12 to get freon added. Evidently they did not use the same quality parts in the Camry as the LS400. At the time it was $135 for the same service here due to taxes. How is taxing freon going to help the ozone layer?
Well the same mentality is now in charge at GM. Good luck ever getting a decent Buick or Caddy again.
Never would've downsized the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Riviera, and Oldsmobile Toronado to the point they became anonymous look-alike coupes. They would've remained at least Lincoln Mark VII sized.
Would've kept big RWD B and C body Buicks and Oldsmobiles. The FWD cars would've been my replacement for the Century and Cutlass Ciera sedan. They just weren't stately enough to be Park Avenues and Ninety-Eights but would've made excellent midsizers.
Would've never wasted resources on stupid exercises like the Buick Reatta and Cadillac Allante. In fact, they wouldn't have even been necessary in my GM.
Saturn would've never existed and wouldn't have been necessary.
Wouldn't have purchased Saab.
Would have Hummer, but it would be a tiny niche.
No Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile minivans no matter how much the dealers screamed! I wouldn't dilute my brands with that crap! If people want a minivan, they can go to Chevrolet!
Oh, Roger Smith? He'd be standing at Wal~Mart handing out smiley stickers and realizing how lucky he was that I didn't go "Hannibal Lecter" on him.
Do like Henry Ford II did right after WWII and got the best and brightest from all over - a new generation of "Whiz Kids." Heck, if I had to go to Japan and get them, I would have.
I'm convinced that GM hired their Whiz Kids after WWII also. Problem is that they're still there, and still think they're whiz kids instead of just whizzing all over the place.
I'm sure all the good workers would be happy that I removed all these knuckleheads who dragged the UAW's reputation through the mud.
That is absolutely correct. A slackard makes more work for everyone else. It is the Shop Stewards & UAW Foremen that should spot these lazy workers and correct the situation. Instead they cover for them like the Catholic church has with wayward Priests.
When you have old timers taking the new hires aside, and giving them instructions on how things work in the plant. You have to expect inefficiencies. I saw it happen first hand in the IBEW and Teamsters. There are documented cases of it in the UAW.
I had to replace a compressor in my '00 Suburban at 65k miles. It started sounding like a garbage disposal. It basically self destructed internally. The dealer told me it was an internal lubrication problem and it basically was chewing itself up sending debris through the system. Thankfully the little bits of metal didn't make it back to the rear air or it would have cost a lot more than the $1200 I had to spend to fix the compressor.
It always blew very cold air even up to the day it started sounding like spoons in a garbage disposal.
I graduated in '94 and I remember being scared to death of not finding a job before the loan payments began. All was well as I accepted an offer about two weeks before graduation.
Some fields are still in demand. My wife is still handing out $20k signing bonuses on top of $125k starting salary (plus o/t for work over 40 hrs) to the graduating pharmacists she has recently hired. It has slowed down a bit as a year ago the sign on bonus was $40k in some areas.
I remember a young man graduating as a pharmacist and getting $57,000 to start. This was 1987! My girlfriend used to work for Merck and recalls prospective pharmaceutical research and design employees being picked up for their inteviews in limousines. Merck would put these interviewees up in nice hotels and conduct the interviews over dinner at post restaurants! Heck, I recall one young man who just got offered a job at Merck buying everybody at the local bar free drinks all night to celebrate his success. The way he went on about Merck, you think they just signed him on for a million dollars, set him up with a penthouse apartment, and a supermodel as a live-in girlfriend.
I remember a young man graduating as a pharmacist and getting $57,000 to start. This was 1987! My girlfriend used to work for Merck and recalls prospective pharmaceutical research and design employees being picked up for their inteviews in limousines. Merck would put these interviewees up in nice hotels and conduct the interviews over dinner at post restaurants!
I remember stories like that. I had heard about 5-6 years ago CVS was giving BMW leases to new hires in some areas like Detroit, wonder if they also provided for armed security too.
IIRC when my wife graduated from RX school in 96 average starting pay was around $60k +/- 15k depending on which company and area you were working i.e. research, hospital, or retail etc.
> Cost $12 to get freon added. Evidently they did not use the same quality parts in the Camry as the LS400. At the time it was $135 for the same service here due to taxes. How is taxing freon going to help the ozone layer?
The freon scam on ecological damage is parallel to the global warming scam going on now with cap and trade. The only problem with the old freon was conservation of methods of use and that the patent was running out. They needed a new version that was under patent; hence 134a. It's like Claritin and Clarinex, which I was told was related to patents that we needed a new version of allergy drug so that it costs a whole lot more per pill for the version with the better efficacy.
I put last night's Letterman on our DVR and watched it today. For someone who has led his life "b@lls to the wall" Lutz did seem nervous. I suspect he didn't know if Letterman was going to skewer him or be nice - looks like Letterman let him off the hook.
I think Lutz was apprehensive about committing to a price on the Volt, as he's been slammed in the press in the past for comments like that.
When asked about pricing, he replied: "Our best estimate is right around $40,000 [and after a government rebate of about $7,500], the customer is looking at 32 and 1/2."
Nice math. Why one would want to buy this theoretical car for twice the price of an Insight I don't know. I'll wait and let them wow me. To me it's still a $40K car because I have to put the money out up front and wait on a rebate. No thanks.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
They put vehicles at about $7k a year. Owning 6 would be $42k a year. They pin an '05 accord at 43 cents a mile and a 4X4 from same year at 50 cents. My est for my 4X4 came out to be 31.5 cents a mile. 75 thousand times 18.5 cents is a big difference. Thats the fluff in ETCO for me. If there was 18 cents fluff in the Accord number, it would end up at 25 cents a mile.
The depreciation is about equal and the Accord ends up worth $200 more than the 4X4 after 5 yrs.
My estimated numbers for Volt aren't as encouraging.
Considering all the costs, including fuel savings, battery replacement, daily commuting, etc, then add the federal rebate (assuming there will actually be one), one will need approx. 12-15 years to recoup the costs over a $20k Honda Civic.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. In a long term GM maybe the technology they get from the project is worth the loss they'll take on the car itself. I just don't know that they have that kind of time.
Were I running the show right now I'd be poking into diesels and leasing already existing hybrid technology to get high mpg cars moving now.
2015 Mazda 6 Grand Touring, 2014 Mazda 3 Sport Hatchback, 1999 Mazda Miata 2004 Toyota Camry LE, 1999.
Were I running the show right now I'd be poking into diesels and leasing already existing hybrid technology to get high mpg cars moving now.
I agree 100%. The two-mode hybrid system should have been developed for something like a Malibu and maybe a Traverse or Enclave before worrying about a 2 mode hybrid Tahoe/Silverado. I'd rather develop a midsize (3-4 liter) diesel for the BOF truck/Suv so I could retain towing capacity while offering good fuel economy.
Comments
Regards,
OW
Regards,
OW
Not as long as they get bailouts. Now they're getting our money whether we buy from them or not. And as long as they stay in Ch11 reorg they will too...we're providing DIP financing.
At this point, I hope they go to Ch7 frankly.
The same way I keep getting a great Ford (most) every time - they meet your (& my) expectations.
I'd bet that almost all of us on this board who don't even agree very often would support Lemko for CEO of GM. We know he's dedicated and would be passionate about restoring GM to its former sheen. Rocky, bpizzuti, md4, imadazole, fintail, marsha, others - we can all agree on this!
It would still run, but like S&%T. The telltale sign would normally be that if you put a timing light on it, the timing mark would be jumping all over the place.
Boy, you sure know how to exaggerate. While I won't claim my cars are perfect, they are reliable. I've had my '99 PA Ultra for 7 (not 2) years with no major defects. It has 117K on it. My '04 Chevy dually has 90K on it, no major issues. My '04 Rainier has 55K on it (owned since new) NO OUT OF POCKET EXPENSES. My father is getting back his '88 Park Av soon from my cousin. It's been in the family for 19 years, has 175K on it, and needs a cat.
Speaking of cats, my '65 Wildcat purrs like a kitten, and is older that all the cars you own put together.
Speaking of put together, I have a '29 Buick I'm putting together. Anybody know how to pour babbits???
It did have one. My Mother's '77 Electra had one. Compressor clutch wouldn't activate when it was low.
Wow. Do you have pictures?
>29 Buick
Is that from the era where they had top oilers that oiled the upper part of the motor which was open? I recall seeing something like I described at a car show here a few years back. I never realized that some cars were oiled manually.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
My GM cars had problems. My '70 was unbelievable. Ran 10 years with gas, oil, and a cam gear, after being bought turned over. The original gear was part plastic for noise reduction. My '79 had a perfect drivetrain but lacked power and the clock died. My two F-cars were way better than CR ratings. First repair: Factory tires were in need of replacement at 65,000 miles and battery went at 83,000 miles in 1989. My payments were over in 'early '85, so by the time that even my '88 Firebird payments were over, I had to finally put the first $50 into my '84 aside from the tires and a $7 alternator belt. Only 2 new GMs since the '88 are my '98 and '01. The '98 has need something every 2-3 years to keep it looking and running like new. My '79 did not age well. I tended to have the cosmetic issues. Florida is tough on paint and interior plastic. It took from '78 till '07 to finally have a problem that was over $1000 to fix, and that was on one that I bought used and had 164,000 miles on it when it broke. Owning GMs has allowed me to have extremely small auto repair expenses through the years. I have owned 5-6 at once lately and if ETCO was accurate, I would be spending half my income to have them.
What would make the compressor seize up, then? And while they're not GM products, I'd still imagine Chrysler was smart enough to put a low pressure switch in my 2000 Intrepid and my old '88 LeBaron, both of which had the compressors seize up. Now that I think about it though, both failed at around the 9+ year mark, so maybe there's a clue there?
Also, I remember my Granddad replacing the compressor on my 1980 Malibu, sometime in 1987. So maybe the things are failing for reasons other than low freon/lube?
Oh, Edmund's True Cost to Own can be pretty amusing. I think I remember them estimating my 2000 Intrepid costing something like $44,000 over the course of 5 years and 75,000 miles. I can't find the memory stick I have the data on right now, but I think I'm into it about $51K right now, for 9.5 years, ~146K miles.
At 5 years, I was nowhere NEAR $44K, and I had it up to about 99,000 miles at that point!
I've never had a compressor fail on AC. Current is 160K and 11 years. Previous was 150K and 10 years. It was colder than the newer leSabre, in fact. I did refill the 1998 with 134a last summer. Darn thing leaked enough its pressure wasn't quite up to par, so I had to spend one Walmart can of 134a and a separate gauge.
Darn GM cars are just too expensive to maintain they're such junk! :P
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I have to agree with you on that note. How will Ford or any of the other auto makers compete with Government Motors. They make the rules and can shut out the other auto makers in a very short time. That makes it easier to Nationalize all of them. You Ford will build 1/2 ton PU trucks. I get the feeling our government is going to be run very similar to Venezuela and Cuba.
When Obama says it will be GM owned by the government for a short time then sold. Just who would buy it? It will have multiple levels of bureaucracy being paid huge civil service wage packages. It will be the company from hell for anyone trying to make a profit.
Obama could also use it as a bargaining chip with our biggest creditor, China. He could give GM and C in relief of a couple million we owe them. Are they really worth much more?
Don't look at me...if I wanted to buy a Buick I'd go to a Lexus dealer. :shades: So long as he leaves Caddy alone though, I might be able to put up with him. :P
In other words, it'd run like a typical Chevy?
When Obama says it will be GM owned by the government for a short time then sold. Just who would buy it?
First of all, that would be "New GM" or whatever it ends up being called. "Old GM" will go and get liquidated.
As I understand it, it would work like an IPO process, and the stock would be offered up for public sale via stock exchange. Until that time, the G-stake is supposed to be like preferred stock...non-voting. I think the UAW and bondholder's shares will end up with controlling votes on the board before the IPO, but we'd have to see how that goes, I might be wrong.
Interestingly, I read that Honda's spec coolant has 3 of the 4 chemicals of DexCool, so it must be okay since Honda uses it, right?
Don't know. Has Honda had the same types of problems that GM did?
The world will never know...Hondas of that era used a rubber band that had to be replaced every 5 years to hold the engine together. As long as half the car is taken apart to replace the belt, they just replace the water pump, thermostat and coolant since they are in there anyway. Oh at at a charge of $600-1000 depending on the dealer or repair facility.
You are absolutely correct!
The Japanese will fix it quickly, and IMO as long as the problem's fixed I don;t care if the company admits it or denies it.
It took domestics ages to acknowledge the problems until recently, and they admit the problems fairly early nowadays, however they're just too reluctant to fix it.
I say to hell with denial as long as they fix it quick and right.
I don't accept apologies, I accept results.
Oh now you're insulting people's choices. Why do some people not want or even need NA workers lifestyle? Because in their respective countries a fraction of such lifestyle is enough to make them wealthy like hell.
Plus do you realize that this ideal NA lifestyle of yours is the one that put so many people under countless debt in NA itself?
What's with this irrational discrimination? Goodness....
Kept full-size Cadillac Fleetwood and DeVille with 425 V-8 until a suitable replacement could've been developed - CAFE be damned! I'll pay the fines rather than tarnish Cadillac's reputation.
Worked my damnedest to build a world-class small car. If I had to copy a Civic piece by piece, I would have.
Would've hired away Honda's engineers to build fuel-efficient 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines and gave them free reign.
Cimmaron would've never seen the light of day. Would've bench-marked a BMW 3-Series for my small sporty Cadillac.
Would've introduced smaller Cadillac DeVille, but it would've been RWD with a world-class V-8 engine. Realized that '70s styling doesn't work on a smaller platform and would've got rid of a lot of the gingerbread at the risk of upsetting my traditional customers.
Would've kept styling studios separate like they were back in the day. Would've resulted in more distinctive Pontiacs, Oldsmobiles, and Buicks helping them to keep their identities. No badge-engineered crap.
Would've further developed the Fiero before it was released. Better late than half-baked.
Would have tamed the UAW, even if I had to go "Ronald Reagan" on them. I would've greatly rewarded good workers and fired all the drunks, druggies, and slackers with extreme prejudice - heck even if I had to personally go into the plant with armed security and can them on the spot. Losers have no place in my GM! I'm sure all the good workers would be happy that I removed all these knuckleheads who dragged the UAW's reputation through the mud.
Would've kept the 1980s Buick Regal a RWD car and promoted its racing heritage.
Would've kept the big RWD Cadillac Fleetwood, Buick Roadmaster, and Chevrolet Caprice. Heck, there is STILL a market for big RWD body-on-frame cars. Witness the Mercury Grand Marquis. The only exception is that I would've never allowed them to become antiquated as the Merc.
Would've left trucks alone because whatever they were doing they were doing right. However, I would've never neglected the car side of my business in favor of trucks and SUVs.
I would have a world-class Buick that would shame Lexus. Others would be as proud to own a Buick as I am.
Yeah, but after you get rid of the executives and middle managers what would you do? :shades:
All because of holes in the Ozone. Freon in AC works better than the new substitute. If a vehicle has a well built AC system you should never lose CFCs into the environment. I have have 20 year old refrigerator still working well. Our LS400 that is 20 years old still blows cold. It has never been serviced.
As recently as 5 years ago you could buy cans of Dupont Freon in Tijuana and get AC service very inexpensive down there. I took my ex's 1990 Camry down for service. Cost $12 to get freon added. Evidently they did not use the same quality parts in the Camry as the LS400. At the time it was $135 for the same service here due to taxes. How is taxing freon going to help the ozone layer?
Well the same mentality is now in charge at GM. Good luck ever getting a decent Buick or Caddy again.
Would've kept big RWD B and C body Buicks and Oldsmobiles. The FWD cars would've been my replacement for the Century and Cutlass Ciera sedan. They just weren't stately enough to be Park Avenues and Ninety-Eights but would've made excellent midsizers.
Would've never wasted resources on stupid exercises like the Buick Reatta and Cadillac Allante. In fact, they wouldn't have even been necessary in my GM.
Saturn would've never existed and wouldn't have been necessary.
Wouldn't have purchased Saab.
Would have Hummer, but it would be a tiny niche.
No Buick, Pontiac, and Oldsmobile minivans no matter how much the dealers screamed! I wouldn't dilute my brands with that crap! If people want a minivan, they can go to Chevrolet!
Oh, Roger Smith? He'd be standing at Wal~Mart handing out smiley stickers and realizing how lucky he was that I didn't go "Hannibal Lecter" on him.
I'm convinced that GM hired their Whiz Kids after WWII also. Problem is that they're still there, and still think they're whiz kids instead of just whizzing all over the place.
That is absolutely correct. A slackard makes more work for everyone else. It is the Shop Stewards & UAW Foremen that should spot these lazy workers and correct the situation. Instead they cover for them like the Catholic church has with wayward Priests.
When you have old timers taking the new hires aside, and giving them instructions on how things work in the plant. You have to expect inefficiencies. I saw it happen first hand in the IBEW and Teamsters. There are documented cases of it in the UAW.
In my experience, nothing clogged up a radiator like DexCool did!
I had to replace a compressor in my '00 Suburban at 65k miles. It started sounding like a garbage disposal. It basically self destructed internally. The dealer told me it was an internal lubrication problem and it basically was chewing itself up sending debris through the system. Thankfully the little bits of metal didn't make it back to the rear air or it would have cost a lot more than the $1200 I had to spend to fix the compressor.
It always blew very cold air even up to the day it started sounding like spoons in a garbage disposal.
I graduated in '94 and I remember being scared to death of not finding a job before the loan payments began. All was well as I accepted an offer about two weeks before graduation.
Some fields are still in demand. My wife is still handing out $20k signing bonuses on top of $125k starting salary (plus o/t for work over 40 hrs) to the graduating pharmacists she has recently hired. It has slowed down a bit as a year ago the sign on bonus was $40k in some areas.
I remember stories like that. I had heard about 5-6 years ago CVS was giving BMW leases to new hires in some areas like Detroit, wonder if they also provided for armed security too.
IIRC when my wife graduated from RX school in 96 average starting pay was around $60k +/- 15k depending on which company and area you were working i.e. research, hospital, or retail etc.
We drove Buicks back then. Actually he drove his '53 pretty much into the ground.
And that's about as topical as the rest of this last thread has been. :P
Did anyone catch Lutz on Letterman?
Lutz Tells Letterman That Chevy Volt Will Sell for Approximately $32,500 (Inside Line)
Note Lutz's "new math."
The freon scam on ecological damage is parallel to the global warming scam going on now with cap and trade. The only problem with the old freon was conservation of methods of use and that the patent was running out. They needed a new version that was under patent; hence 134a. It's like Claritin and Clarinex, which I was told was related to patents that we needed a new version of allergy drug so that it costs a whole lot more per pill for the version with the better efficacy.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Regards,
OW
I think Lutz was apprehensive about committing to a price on the Volt, as he's been slammed in the press in the past for comments like that.
Nice math. Why one would want to buy this theoretical car for twice the price of an Insight I don't know. I'll wait and let them wow me. To me it's still a $40K car because I have to put the money out up front and wait on a rebate. No thanks.
They pin an '05 accord at 43 cents a mile and a 4X4 from same year at 50 cents.
My est for my 4X4 came out to be 31.5 cents a mile. 75 thousand times 18.5 cents is a big difference. Thats the fluff in ETCO for me. If there was 18 cents fluff in the Accord number, it would end up at 25 cents a mile.
The depreciation is about equal and the Accord ends up worth $200 more than the 4X4 after 5 yrs.
Considering all the costs, including fuel savings, battery replacement, daily commuting, etc, then add the federal rebate (assuming there will actually be one), one will need approx. 12-15 years to recoup the costs over a $20k Honda Civic.
Not exactly what I'd call a good prospect.
Were I running the show right now I'd be poking into diesels and leasing already existing hybrid technology to get high mpg cars moving now.
I agree 100%. The two-mode hybrid system should have been developed for something like a Malibu and maybe a Traverse or Enclave before worrying about a 2 mode hybrid Tahoe/Silverado. I'd rather develop a midsize (3-4 liter) diesel for the BOF truck/Suv so I could retain towing capacity while offering good fuel economy.