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Comments
Regards,
OW
Sorry you take it so personally. GM is just another failed corporation on the mend and their products are subject to market forces, including the wave of great products from offshore yet again.
Like it or not, the competition will not go away even if the GM engineers smoke crack and design alien-age GM's.
At the moment, your God statement is the truth that GM is eating their hearts out for.
The statistics speak for themselves. Why do you think every post that proves GM has designed failing products offends? It's genuinely meant to enlighten and move GM out of the idiotic stage into the business of making the best products. At least from my perspective.
I continue to crave a Corvette. :shades:
Regards,
OW
I started that forum here. I find my twit filter very effective.
Notice my sense of breeding in talking about the Kia I checked out the other Sunday. I didn't rant and rave about its deficiencies, or the cheapness. I haven't gone to the Kia discussion to tell them how junky that little one is and the bigger one ain't far behind. Nope. Not me.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Cruze - first subcompact car I could ever seriously consider from any manufacturer.
Malibu - a competent Camcord fighter.
Camaro - awesome return of an American classic.
LaCrosse - most likely my wife's next car.
Cadillac CTS-V 'Nuff Said!!! :shades:
Cadillac DTS - Still #1 on my car shopping A-list!
I sure as heck hope GM doesn't start designing cars as if they were crack-addicted space aliens. I don't care if those Korean cars are sold for a dollar and insured for 50 cents, last 100 years without breaking, come with $100K stuffed in the glovebox, a pallet of 24K gold bars in the trunk, an ashtray full of large carat flawless diamonds, your choice of a beautiful actress or supermodel as a girlfriend, run on water, and buying one ensures my eternal salvation. I still think their stying is strange, bizarre, unsettling, and disturbing. Styling is my first priority when selecting a car, and that just about rules out everything from the Asian makes.
The Cruze is fairly expensive, that's my only beef with it - but it matters not as I don't have an automotive shopping list right now at all.
Both the Cruze and Focus seem to be expensive. I know they have a lot of features so maybe they're worth it. I've been thinking about test driving a Cruze, but my local dealer doesn't have one with a manual trans so I haven't bothered yet. I miss driving a manual.
I need to start thinking about our future vehicle needs. The Expedition is getting some miles on it. It will hit 90k this summer and honestly, I don't know if I want to own it as the miles pile up. I'm afraid it will become a money pit. My oldest will be driving in 4 years.
I've thought about buying something to drive around during the week, and park the Expe except for trips and pulling duty. The run around town car I buy know, I'd give to my daughter in 4 years. I don't know what I'm going to do, just thinking at this point.
I stopped an looked at the new Durango's the other day. Nice, but expensive. Hemi power, Benz DNA, and good looks along with a decent enough tow rating. Still lousy gas mileage though. But I would like to replace the Expe with it.
A part of me wouldn't mind picking up a clean used low mile pickup, plus a FE car. So I don't know.
Way to go. The highest death rate in those vehicles might be because the people that buy such poor vehicles don't care about life (sports cars excluded).
The taillights of the Malibu are boring, but I think in profile, it is by far the richest-looking car in that size category. I like it from the front, too.
Your pic is a 2008 model Malibu. I hated the side marker light on the front fender, a la Saab. I'm glad that was a one-model-year-only feature.
We are absolutely loving ours. 33 mpg EPA rating, roomy back seat due to 112.3" wheelbase, and we both think it's elegant. The fact that it was a great value is gravy.
I guess the difference between a Malibu or a Cruze and their Korean competition, is that restrained=not dated in a few years. I liken it to the '70-72 and '73-77 Monte Carlos. At the time I way-preferred the latter, but in hindsight they look overstyled and excessive. I much-prefer the earlier, cleaner, iteration today. It's stood the test of time better IMO.
I think that eternal salvation is listed as an extra cost option.
Daughter needs an old Camry or Volvo or something, and she can pay for it herself :shades:
GM has breeding we all like to remember....once upon a time. :shades:
Regards,
OW
Yeah, it seems Honda limits fleet sales and it shows in their resale value.
Daughter needs an old Camry or Volvo or something, and she can pay for it herself :shades:
Your right of course. With all of the extra curicular activities she's involved in, plus work restrictions on 16 year olds, I honestly don't see her being able to work enough to buy any type of car. But that's still a few years away, so I have plenty of time to figure it out.
Being that she won't be able to drive my wife's car, and quite frankly, I refuse to be stuck anywhere w/o a car. I probably won't mind buying her something to drive.
I have not seen anyone more biased than you. Where did you see the Cruze is behind the Kia? Cruze is the No. 8 best selling vehicle; I don't see any Kia even in the top 20.
GM is far behind making great cars? GM sold 98027 cars (not including trucks) last month, more than Toyota's 56919 cars, Honda's 48278 cars.
As I posted before, if GM is No. 1 in vehicle sales, No. 1 in car sales, No. 1 in profit and one of the fastest growing automakers and you still cannot see all these, you really need have your sense or mind checked.
You are the one who call everyone else spinning the most; but have you realized that you even have the spin in your name "circle"?
I've often been bragging in the Asian forums about how everyone is engaged in a fun and calm manner in the American forums. There are a lot ignorant posts and many cursing in Asian forums. We've seen an apparent India poster here just a few days ago. But I feel the quality of this forum is declining just like our overall economy; I have less and less interests of coming back.
Add these to your list:
Chevy Corvette, just "flat" out great
Buick Enclave, the best looking and smoothest SUV
Caddy STS, the most overlooked performer
GM is ahead for now but we will see if the Engine continues to perform. :confuse:
Guess where GM is pulling talent from in the new culture?
Dan Akerson is prepping General Motors Co. for battle. Nine months on the job, the 62-year-old CEO has shaken up GM's top management, hired engineers from rivals Hyundai, Honda and Nissan, and rattled the automaker's rigid, old mindset.
The crack-smoking foreign alien squads! How's THAT for some SPIN!!!
Seriously, I hope GM is finally getting it and from cars that have been RECENTLY posted here, they are on their way. I don't sit well with piling on accolades to a company who consistently failed their customers over a 30 year period except for Lemko.
They'll have to do a whole heck of a lot more on product improvement and pricing to gain any business from me. :P
Regards,
OW
Buick Enclave, the best looking and smoothest SUV
Caddy STS, the most overlooked performer
Yes, the vette is great until you have to get in it and look at the interior, but your views on the Enclave and STS are pure opinion.
Have you driven every SUV from Dodge to Range Rover to claim the Enclave is the smoothest SUV? I've sampled a few 3.6s to know it's not as smooth as MB's 3.5 or BMW's 3.0 v6 (haven't driven a lambda, so I can't comment on the chassis, but I have driven an ML) Looks are subjective, but from the domestics in my opinion the Durango is the best looking SUV and being on a Mercedes chassis can't hurt either.
The STS is all but dead and the monthly sales show that. Old and outdated. I think it's decent looking but it hasn't been upgraded enough to keep up with the competition. The Northstar is no longer competitive with the competitions 6 cylinders, let alone their v8s. Probably a very good car to buy used.
No Victory Lap
While Akerson said GM has more to do to improve operations, he also said that GM’s stock has not suffered any more than other carmakers.
“No one is doing a victory lap,” Akerson said. “The stock has performed on the same order of magnitude as our primary competitors. No one said this was going to be a layup.”
GM may earn adjusted net income of $7.72 billion this year, the average of 10 analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Profit on an adjusted basis may rise to $9.55 billion in 2012, according to 10 estimates.
Akerson told reporters in a briefing before the meeting that he is concerned about the pace of economic recovery.
“There is some concern about a jobless recovery,” Akerson said. “There’s some question about how strong this recovery will be.”
GM may not be able to generate much investor interest until the economic recovery gains more traction or until the company puts up a few more quarters of solid numbers, said David Whiston, an analyst with Morningstar Inc. in Chicago. In the first quarter, Ford made $2.55 billion while GM made $1.88 billion not including one-time gains for asset sales
GM’s shortcomings are highlighted in comparison to Ford, where CEO Alan Mulally kept his management team together and avoided bankruptcy. GM earns less in North America and Europe than Ford, which also has a large and profitable credit arm that is expected to deliver $2 billion in cash dividends to the parent company this year, Nesvold said.
One problem for GM is pricing. In the first quarter, GM led the industry in spending on discounts, which reduced profit by $300 million. Meanwhile, Ford raised prices on its cars, which added $700 million in pretax profit.
“That’s a $1 billion difference,” Whiston said. “I’ll be watching to see if GM’s pricing gets better in the second quarter.”
Just keeping it real.
Regards,
OW
Ya, there is no denying the performance aspects of the Vette, nor the value but interior is a huge letdown and the visibility out of the hardtop is awful. Then again, if your roof flies off, that may improve things!
link title
lol, I have driven a couple of vette's and I am not a fan of the squirelly nature and (call me crazy) I think they are actually too powerful. It's too easy to get into trouble if you are not constantly monitoring your speed and throttle input... But, I do like the plastic body panels other than being flabby in areas and come standard with "orange peel city". Then there's the Stigma of this:
link title
Just need some Raybans, a "Members Only" jacket, some Z-Cavaricci duds and replace my wife with a hawt bimbo named "Bubbles" :P
I'll admit that a red 'Vette is a caricature..and I hate the yellow ones too...but I'd gladly take a current coupe in a subdued (not popular) color and enjoy it for the value it is.
Would you take a Benz or BMW on Route 66? I mean I know you COULD, but it wouldn't be as cool.
IMO, the biggest negative to owning a BMW is being associated with most of the "wanna bees" that drive them. I want a BMW for how it drives.
Last I read, the vette still has a surprisingly old average age. Something like 61 or 62.
'I think they are actually too powerful.'
Never entered my mind....
- Ray
Top stayed on, too.....
Last I read, the vette still has a surprisingly old average age. Something like 61 or 62.
I wonder what the typical driver age is for a new BMW? I'd imagine it's somewhat low, because a lot of people probably lease low-end 3-series and such, just to show off.
I think the Vette might be an example where the driver age is up there, not necessarily because it's mainly an old man's car, but simply that it's expensive enough that a lot of young people can't afford one. Plus, I'm sure car insurance on a Vette would be a killer for younger people, who usually pay higher premiums anyway.
I'm sure GM makes a lot of other great vehicles, the Enclave among them, but I only listed the ones I could seriously see myself buying. If I were in the market for a truck, the Silverado would definitely be at the top of that list. It is easily the most attractive truck on the market.
Ford lost me forever when they dumped the Crown Victoria, Grand Marquis, and Town Car. I was hoping they'd redesign these cars to bring their design to the present while keeping the BOF, RWD, V-8 configuration, but alas, it was not to be. About the only thing they have that is decent is the Mustang, and I'm hardly a Mustang fan.
Shame you haven't tried on of these:
Only sold for a couple of years but I swear those cars you mention are exactly what Infiniti was going after when they offered them. The V8 is one smooth operator too. :shades:
I still like the Fusion, although I'm not crazy about the direction Ford seems to be taking with regards to interior materials. It seems like they're making the base models feel cheap on purpose, as if to force you to get into a nicer, leather-clad model. The base fabrics just seem cheap, coarse, reminiscent of a burlap sack or cheap outdoor lawn furniture, at best. To be fair, I'm sure Ford's not the only one doing it.
Personally, I loved it. It thought it was, heck even still, is one of the baddest, meanest looking sedans to ever come out of Japan. The frameless doors, the cushy cockpit and the no frills, minimalist styling could have fooled me into thinking it came straight from Pontiac
Unfortunately you're probably right.
He was in town visiting last week and his Fusion was parked next to my wife's Taurus. My God, you don't realize how big the Taurus is until it's parked next to the Fusion. It made the Fusion look like a Focus size wise. Ford really screwed up the interior packaging on the Taurus. Yes, the trunk is huge, but I really don't like how tight fitting the interior is. Though my wife loves it. She says she feels safe in it. I do seem to notice a lot of women driving them.
I would hope some of the interior material are better for the higher priced Taurus, as some are down right cheap in my wife's base model.
The Taurus is a nice highway cruiser though. If it weren't for CC, I'd be doing 90 all of the time. Though the ride is firmer than it probably needs to be.
I've never been in a first-gen M45, so I don't know how they are with regards to comfort. The EPA actually classifies it as a compact car, according to interior volume! I just looked up the specs, and it's about 197" long, on a 110.2" wheelbase. It's definitely styled to look like a much bigger, more impressive car than those dimensions suggest, though.
I believe it handled alot more nimble than it girth suggested as well. :surprise: I'm not a fan of big cars but if I ever get the hankering for one and I could find a well maintained, low mileage one for a good price, I'd buy it.
Tempting...
Typically not a big fan of the styling of Sting Rays, but a '67 with a 'stinger' hood--yeah, OK, I could enjoy one of them!
Um, ever heard of the "Toyota on the Mend" thread?
It's active with domestic fans who hate Toyota, very much so:
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.efda853/14087#MSG14087
Isn't that the pot calling the kettle black?
You do in the Toyota threads.
Yes you did, at least for Toyota:
quote: "The AC goes on with a loud buzz and the cooling fans sound like an airport for 20 seconds"
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.efda853/9954#MSG9954
Double standard?
Yes I have; better yet, I've compared the Enclave with BMW and MB on the same test course within minutes from each other in the GM test drive event when the memory was fresh. Enclave also has the best utility for people and cargo.
The STS is all but dead and the monthly sales show that. Old and outdated. I think it's decent looking but it hasn't been upgraded enough to keep up with the competition. The Northstar is no longer competitive with the competitions 6 cylinders, let alone their v8s. Probably a very good car to buy used.
That's why I called it the most overlooked car. GM did not have the money and just let it die. But STS was the first one to boost the V6 to over 300 HP without turbo and with regular gas in the 2008 model year in the mid luxury segments; most competitors had to play catch up to boost their performance in the next year or two. 4 year later, the STS engine is still one of the most powerful and fuel efficient one, and almost the only one to achieve so with regular gas. It's on the Ward's top 10 engines in the world lists in both 2008 and 2009. With the Direct Injection V6 so powerful, GM eventually dropped the Northstar V8.
I've also tested it against the BMW 5, MB E, Lexus GS, etc in the same test course and minutes from each other in the GM test drive events several times; and I was most impressed with STS.
Do you own a mirror?
You post monthly sales for Malibu vs Camry, yet don't mention year-to-date sales, which are behind.
Yes; do you want to borrow mine?
You post monthly sales for Malibu vs Camry, yet don't mention year-to-date sales, which are behind.
Yes, I specifically said Malibu was the best selling car that month.
Clear bias.
No mention of $3950 below invoice prices for Malibu, nor the fact that Toyota cut incentives for the month.