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I have no idea why they made it smaller inside.
And, yes, you can't pump your own gas in NJ either. More than once I've had the bad gas cap message that merely required turning it another click to correct.
Given that 48 of 50 states have been allowing self-service for decades, what possible reason could there be for the govt. to interfere and require attendant pumping?
No perception necessary, agree?
Regards,
OW
Regards,
OW
As for why the new one is smaller inside, mainly it's because they switched it over to the same platform as the Regal. The previous one had been on the 112.3" wheelbase that dated back to the 2004 Pontiac G6 and the Malibu Maxx, and the Saturn Aura. The '04-07 Malibu sedan was on that same platform, but on a shorter 106" wb.
If it's any consolation, I think the 2013 Malibu is wider inside, at least. That was always a shortcoming of the previous model, IMO at least. I think the latest Malibu finally has as much shoulder room as most of its competition. But, moving to the Regal body, it gave up a couple inches of legroom in back.
I just tend to hate convention in anything. With a couple exceptions, I almost can't stand '57 Chevys or early Mustangs...just way too middle-of-the-road mainstream.
http://www.ktvb.com/news/i-wonder/I-Wonder-Why-cant-you-pump-your-own-gas-in-Ore- - gon-82256587.html
New Jersey's excuse:
http://www.google.com/search?q=new%20jersey%20pump%20gas
Creates jobs...
Still, car buffs will find it 4 minutes of entertainment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaS7n6qKQe4&feature=youtube_gdata_player
They should have just let the Impala die off.
When we bought this car, I would just look at it in the garage...I do it less over a year later, but I think it is just beautiful and elegant for a $19K purchase price. And Andre disagrees (he's a tall guy), but I think the rear seat legroom is excellent. Width doesn't bother me much since we put four people in it, not five (or six, of course). Legroom means more to me than shoulder room.
That 112-plus inch wheelbase is inches longer than other cars that were marketed against it.
I believe you've hit it on the head here, and a friend who worked on cars in the early to late '60's came to the same conclusion. They held up better than Fords or Plymouths of the same year, so there were a lot in the used car pool when people were buying cheap used cars into the '60's. As most people know, Ford actually outsold Chevrolet in the '57 model year.
I too dislike the dash. I much-prefer the '55 and '56 dash that had a passing resemblance to the Corvette dash of the same years.
I do like the Dusk Pearl color that year, and I could handle a Nomad. I also like that the One-Fifty model doesn't have that fanned-out trim on the rear quarter, just a straight trim piece. But overall, I'd much-prefer a '55 and even a '56.
Is it possible the 58 and 59 should have been reversed? Look at the sequence 55, 56, 58, 57, 59, 60... The progression makes more sense that way. Not necessarily good styling by today's standards, but it looks like a progression.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I tend to agree. I've always felt your vintage Malibu is a pretty nice looking car, but that tail just doesn't *quite* do it.... I sort of feel if they had just made a few changes back there then the car could have gone from handsome enough to gorgeous.
I honestly don't remember seeing a newer Malibu on the road here in SoCal yet, so I can't comment on the new style. From the pictures I saw I wasn't feelin' it - but real life is often a different perception.
But, I think the '57 Ford and Plymouth, which were then joined with the '58 Chevy, were associated as the cars your parents bought, and when they became used cars, that made them sort of un-cool.
Plus, high fashion usually becomes obsolete, whereas more conservative styles tend to wear better. By 1965, nobody really wanted those cars with their monstrous tailfins. My Mom's first car was a '57 Plymouth, purchased for about $75 in 1965, and she hated it! I used to work with a guy whose first car was a pink and white 1957 DeSoto Fireflite 4-door hardtop. He bought it in 1965 for about $500. It was considered sort of an old-man's car, and had a loser stigma attached to it because the brand was defunct. But, he did get a kick out of the fact that the 295 hp 341-4bbl Hemi in that loser car could embarrass plenty of hipper, more swinging, cooler cars when it came to a drag race!
Compare it to an equivalent '57 Ford or Plymouth though, and I think the Chevy interior was actually pretty nice.
I think the '59 Chevy is actually more modern looking than the '58, so there is definitely a progression there. But, GM was still reacting to Mopar by that time, and not in the most tasteful way. Still, strip off some of that excess crap, and the '59 Chevy morphs quite well into the tasteful 1960-64 models. the '58 Chevy was more rounded, still stuck in the 50's, whereas the '59 seems like a 60's car waiting to be born.
I agree that the 58 GM cars looked kind of old. They were really the end of the Harley Earl years. There seems to be contradictory stuff on Earl's involvement in the 59's. It appears that some of it was actually started behind his back and that it was the beginning of the coronation into the Bill Mitchell years. Harley Earl had finally been trumped. Many of the early and mid 60's GM cars during Bill Mitchell's heyday still look great today. There was some truly classic design during that era. Honestly, I think with a little wind tunnel fine tuning some of it could be successfully done in today's models.
Seems the main reason Oregon and New Jersey do what they do is that they are resistant to change and have a bad habit.
I bet you if they offered both (and appropriately charged more for full service) it wouldn't be long until all the stalls were Self-Service.
The Torsion-Level suspension in those cars provided a ride that no one else could compete with. A friend whose Dad was a Studebaker-Packard dealer at the time had a 'rough road' coarse mapped out to take folks for test drives, to drive home that point.
GMI has confirmed with several sources—both external and internal at GM—that the hybrid program surrounding the full-size trucks and SUVs has been shutdown. It is unusual for GM to cancel programs that are so close to launch, but many insiders GMI has spoken with are not terribly surprised by the move.
Will be interesting to see what they'll do to compete with the EcoBoost Fords and the rumored 2013 RAM's. There is also a new Tundra program in the works and Nissan claims to be going more diverse with the next Titan lineup.
IMO, as long as the gas prices don't scream out of control again, and there continues to be improvements in the housing market, the full size truck battle looks to be one to watch.
No it won't. What else are they going to do? Americans don't buy diesels. Bring on the 10 MPG V10s! :shades:
They sold tons of those vans so yes we hear lots of stories, but that's far from a high failure rate, folks.
Even if they are 1000% under-reported we're still talking about a failure rate of 2.4%.
Out of 48533 total posts in Ody threads, so they spend about 4% of their time singing the tranny blues.
Did you notice Dodge's has 2056 posts?
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ee93e7a/0#MSG0
2056 out of 11071 total posts, so they spend 19% of their their time singing the blues.
At least I like blues. :shades:
We need to apply these same analyses and requirements before condemning GM on problematic vehicles. :P
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
I wonder if Edmunds has a way to count unique members posting in a given thread. How do we know it's not one Buick owner posting again and again 78 times?
FWIW I read the threads for all the cars I own and respond even though I don't have a problem. Nothing wrong with trying to help folks out.
YES we should, no joke.
If that's all Edmunds members talk about in a given model's threads, you can be pretty sure that issue is common.
The lack of such evidence ought to make us suspicious when a fanboy/hater/whatever makes a claim that something is garbage as well. If there isn't even an active thread on for Part X on Model Y then what is all the fuss about?
On one hand, in the early 2000's, there isn't any escaping the reality that Honda transmissions were indeed failing at a much higher rate than that of the competition, or it's own past year MY 2004.
On the flip side, it's not like one could expect his Odyssey to fail before he drove it off the new car lot, either.
In general, my POV may be a bit different from others, in that unless manufacturers didn't take some chances with new technology, we would still be dimming headlights with a floor mounted switch, driving a 2-speed automatic (or 3-on-the-tree), listening to tube-type AM radios and no A/C.
As in everything, there's a learning curve, even with the best testing and R & D.
In these cases... What separates the manufacturers is how they approach customers when things don't succeed quite as expected.
Hasn't Dodge outsold Odyssey for many of the years they've both been out? And of course, there've been Dodge vans since '84. When was the first Odyssey?
Try it on any individual thread and you will get similar results.
Simply counting posting numbers is just a "measuring" contest that signifies nothing.
Not just you, I mean, for $19k?
A loaded Fit or Sonic would cost that much. $19k usually buys you the type of car that you apologize for. Sorry, I left my real car at home...
That's an amazing value without a doubt. I'm not sure GM can sustain profits at that price, but you're the buyer so that's a great deal.
They took a nose dive after 2003, though, and a lot of Honda Haters insist the problem is just as bad now. The data contradicts that pretty convincingly.
If we accept that data at face value, then the Ody hasn't been any worse than competitors for nearly a decade or more, so it's fair to say the trans issue is behind them.
We shouldn't cherry pick information.
It was bad. It is not bad any more.
Would be nice to have more charts like that, actually. The catch is complaints spike when bad news hits headlines, and that can skew complaint data.
I compared total posts so that's fair and levels out sales. If there are 10 times as many Dodge owners among Edmunds members then there would be 10 times as many posts overall.
In recent years the Ody, Sienna, and GC have been neck-and-neck in sales. Toyota won last year, but Honda was winning last time I looked.
No disrespect intended, but you simply cannot make that flat statement. Think back to your Statistics class.
I really don't care that I didn't pay enough for the car (LOL)--I think it was an excellent value. I paid cash and I never buy any add-ons or an extended warranty--and I mean never.
The rate in 2005 was not significantly higher than the rest.
In 2006 they had the lowest complaint rate yet you don't mention that at all. That's also the same year they added some cooling enhancements to their transmission, which trickled down from their Ridgeline.
NHTSA data seem to prove those worked.
No fair cherry picking one case, either, which (predictably) will be your next step. :P
That's simply not the case in Ody threads.
You don't need a calculator to see that.
Let it go - 2006+ Odys are no worse than other best selling vans.
Cherry-picking on this forum is legendary. I usually need to point it out.