The big 3

[jds]

You know, I'm getting inundated with junk mail from local dealers about how my cars are getting older and it;s time to buy a new Chevy or Dodge or whatever.

Thanks, but both my subarus are paid off, and the oldest one only has 115,000 miles. It's just getting broken in.

 

[EdWort]

The Tahoe must have had the rear brake shoes in constant contact with the drum or a fault in the cabling from the lever or something.

Yep. They had a 50 cent fix for it, and installed it AFTER in replaced the parking brake. They could have fixed it years ago, thus saving me the hassle and expense. My 10 year old Saturn still has the same parking brake, and the Tahoe is only 5 years old.

My point is that GM does not step up and fix flaws like this. Another example is the daytime running light. How many Chevy or GMC trucks or SUVs do you see on the road with one of the daylight running lights out? I see dozens every day here in Texas. Again, my 10 year old Saturn has DRL and none has ever burned out yet, but the Chevy Tahoe's are burning out within one year. Mind did while it was still in warranty and the dealer tried to tell me it was not covered. I told him that has to be BS bases on what I see on the road every day. He agreed and fixed for me anyway. The stuff GM gets away with and they wonder why they can't make any money.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

2000 Impala with around 85K and the transmission is on its way out. I babied the **** out of this car! I would have hesitated to buy a GM for this reason but I wont purchase one now because of this. Frustrates me to no end.

 

[sterling214]

Your Saturn is made by GM, and the brand will probably be becoming a specialty vehicle brand because of restructuring.
The EV1 (GM's first electric vehicle) was never sold, only leased. GM did this because replacement cost of the battery in the vehicle would have been almost as much as the cost of a new car. They shelved it until battery technology caught up with their vehicle design. They have also pumped a ton of money into battery technology. Money that they will not get a return on for at least 20 years because not enough people want to spend the huge premium to drive a viable battery powered vehicle.
I would love to see the UAW contract get thrown out so that the big 3 could eliminate some of it's waist, but in all honesty that isn't going to make a huge dent in the cost of a car. Eliminating all of the governments safety, emissions and fuel regulations would thou.
It sucks when a tranny goes at 85k, but sometimes things break. No car line, foreign or domestic is going to have a zero failure rate.
I'm not dogging the transplants, I do just about as much work for them as I do for the domestics. I am just sick of hearing people bash the big 3 as dinosaurs based on the last time they sat in one of their vehicles back in the early 80's when bean counters were running the show. There are good "Car People" in charge at GM and Ford right now. Chrysler was very healthy before Daimler bought them out, and may be once again if Cerberus can hang onto it Long enough to fix all the damage that Daimler did.

 

[wildwest450]

Hmmmm, I currently own 2 GM vehicles.

2000-Malibu, 174,000 miles just put an alternator in it. Only problem so far.
2005-GMC Sierra 190,000 miles only ever put oil and tires into it.

My last truck was a 99 S-10 that went 275,000 before I sold it to the neighbor.
2 heater cores and a clutch.

I likey my GM trash.

 

[BooneDocks]

Oh yes, the Big 3 created the severe credit crises that cut sales volume by over 50%.

 

[GroovePuppy]

The EV1 (GM's first electric vehicle) was never sold, only leased. GM did this because replacement cost of the battery in the vehicle would have been almost as much as the cost of a new car. They shelved it until battery technology caught up with their vehicle design.

Suuuuuuurrrrreeeeeee! 'cos they're nice guys and didn't really want to sell Hummers instead.

 

[curt656]

I am just sick of hearing people bash the big 3 as dinosaurs based on the last time they sat in one of their vehicles back in the early 80's when bean counters were running the show.

Sorry Sterling, but I take a little offense by this. I own a 2003 Cadillac CTS with 55,000 miles. I have spent $2000 in transmission repairs, $400 for a new thermostat and thermostat housing, $1000 for a new fuel pump, and $600 for new valve cover gaskets. AND the lens cover for the lights on the trunk lid fell off and costs $300 for a replacement. Because it's a cosmetic issue, I have not spent the money on that. All of this while being unemployed for the last year.

I am sick and tired of this piece of junk GM car and it's a freakin Cadillac. So I ask you not to lecture people who have damn good reason to bash companies who have been putting out inferior products for some time.

 

[sterling214]

Sorry Sterling, but I take a little offense by this. I own a 2003 Cadillac CTS with 55,000 miles. I have spent $2000 in transmission repairs, $400 for a new thermostat and thermostat housing, $1000 for a new fuel pump, and $600 for new valve cover gaskets. AND the lens cover for the lights on the trunk lid fell off and costs $300 for a replacement. Because it's a cosmetic issue, I have not spent the money on that. All of this while being unemployed for the last year.

I am sick and tired of this piece of junk GM car and it's a freakin Cadillac. So I ask you not to lecture people who have damn good reason to bash companies who have been putting out inferior products for some time.

Sounds like you have a legitimate bitch, I would be pissed also. My chevy equinox on the other hand has required nothing more than oil and a light bulb in the 42k miles I have driven it. For every person with a story like yours, you will find many more that haven't had any trouble with their vehicle.

 

[springer]

I have 2 GM products, A 1998 GMC Savanna 2500 12 passenger van with 104k on it . Three things done on it since new, The steering box was weeping a little and replaced under warranty , Water pump and a window lift motor.

2001 Firebird replaced the window lift motor drivers side thats it.


I actually have have very good luck with the American cars I have owned. 1998 jeep Cherokee with the 4.0 just wont die with 234k on her and I haven't done a damn thing to it other than change the oil brakes and tune ups.My 3500 Ram CTD 2 years not one issue. My wife gets a new company car every 3 years all Chryslers and only one went back to the dealer and that was a recall for the seatbelt bolt.


Now my son works for a Toyota/Subaru dealer(they just dropped Subaru) and he is super busy with warranty work bad trannies on Tundra's brakes that are shot in 15k, rear axles breaking. Shoddy PS pumps and lots of little crap on other models. their quality control went down hill as they pushed to become the #1 worldwide auto maker. You will hear as many if not more horror stories about imports.

Like the bandaid for leaking heads on Subarus . TSB states to use stopleak before doing service work ..They even make a stopleak for their cars

 

[superfluent]

And I am sorry, no more bailouts for any corporation until I get bailed out. I have been out of work for a year and can't find a job to save my life.

Amen to that. I think you (as americans) should focus more on creating sustainable, new jobs than saving poorly managed corporations.

It's just like in Sweden: Skewed perceptions of what "needs to be done" created by skilled lobyists.

Now, Sweden is a tiny country (10 milion people) with two semi-known car manufacturers -Saab and Volvo. How insane it might seem, the government is actually contemplating a 3,5 bilion dollar loan to the two "Swedish" car manufacturers (which are not Swedish anyway, since they are now owned by two of the "big three").

Just to put it in perspective:

Taking into account the population in Sweden vs the US, the 3,5 billion loan actually equals a *drumroll* 107 bilion dollar loan- translated to us figures it's an allmost incocievable amount of money -well over 2 *million* -well payed- man years worth of money.

It's sustaining jobs for people that is needed, not CPR for doomed corporations and its shareholders. F**ck! Saab has been doing red figures in bold for the last freeking 20 years (except 1995 when they did a whopping $600000)! Ever heard of the term "coyote ugly"? Cut it of and be done with it!

H

 

[sterling214]

It's a shame that Jeep no longer uses the 4.0L straight 6. From what I hear you could have shot that engine with a cannon and still drove it 250k miles. The car industry is different from any other industry that is hurting right now for no other reason than that buying or leasing a car is a huge investment that most people can't do without financing. In a couple of years, if the financing doesn't loosen up, people will get used to having to save up a large down payment to purchase a new vehicle, and new car sales will go back up. The Big 3 have already shelled out most of the money that they need to in buy-outs and re-structuring of contracts to become more competitive with the imports and transplants. More work is needed, but for the first time in decades the UAW and the Big 3 are finally moving in right direction. All of that work will be out the window if one or more of the Big 3 are allowed to go into bankruptcy, because they will take thousands of parts suppliers from all over the country down the drain with them. Not to mention that no one is going to buy a car from a company that may not be around in 2 years to make good on their warranty?

 

[sterling214]

Suuuuuuurrrrreeeeeee! 'cos they're nice guys and didn't really want to sell Hummers instead.

No, they wanted to sell Hummers because more people are going to pay 50k for a Hummer that will have minimal up-keep cost over 10 years and be able to drive all over the country if you want. As opposed to paying 50k for an EV1 and then paying another 30k in 6 years to replace the battery and still having a limited range. The EV1 was ahead of its time, and a lot of the work that went into it helped with the development of the Volt. But it was not a viable money maker for the company. The Volt may be, we have to see how much farther they can take the battery tech over the next 2 years.