Is Buick and Pontiac Next?

[hvychev]

Well instead of all of us sitting and shaking our heads about it actually try and DO something about it and BUY AMERICAN!! I know it is hard to pass up those Hondas and Toyotas but there is more than a car on the line here. The auto industry is a HUGE part of the economy and think of all our fellow Americans that rely on GM to feed their familys.

[budnate]

Frank settle down...most of us Run American rigs for drivers...Gm is where they are at because they are building Crap and also building stuff nobody wants...I thought there truck was coming around and my Cousine and I just went through this not three months ago He bought a loaded Duramax..well guess what he started it two days ago and was letting it warm up in the driveway...he was fiddling around in the driveway with something turned around to see the truck on fire under the hood...it had some kind of electrical fire and smoked the entire engine harness and the mainbody harness..gets better GM does not have a main body harness in the Country and has no idea when one will be availible...so how would you feal if ya dropped 40K cash on a rig and it does this to you..now you have a rig you married and have to drive it around after some monkey digs through the hole rig to replace the wiring...thats gonna be a nice quite interior after that...not...

[Xplantdad]

I can see Frank's point about supporting American companies...as way too many businesses are going overseas for cheap labor, etc., but I also know what Bud is talking about.

From 1979-1983 I worked at an Oldsmobile-Honda-De Lorean dealer in Southern California. The Oldsmobiles were CRAP! GM had the great idea to convert the 350 into a diesel...and those engines weren't worth a $hit. Those year cars were built to fall apart after 3-4 years...In fact, one of the selling points that DeLorean had in marketing HIS cars was the fact that HIS cars were built to last...not engineered to fall apart(so that the consumer would have to buy again in that time frame)

Unfortunately for Delorean, the engineering on his cars sucked, too! We had SOOO many people get stuck in their cars when the inner door handle latches broke off(in their hands, no less)when trying to open up the doors. Some people had to wait up to 3 months to get replacement parts for their cars...

Honda's on the other hand, were cheap, got great gas mileage, ran forever with regular oil changes and had great resale value!

Is it any wonder that Ford realized that "Quality is Job #1"? That wasn't just a marketing ploy, they figured out that the American consumer wanted a good value for what the paid for...and they weren't getting it(at that time)!

Finally, in defense of the American auto makers...they are "light years" ahead of where they were in the 80's. I own a 2003 chevy truck...and I'm happy with it. But it pales in comparison to our BMW528it wagon...in fit, finish, quality and reliability.

Bud...tell your cousin to get a hold of the zone rep for Chevrolet. Have him tell the rep to get a harness off of a truck that's on the new car lot, so he can get his truck running again. Have your Cousin stay on top of the rep to make sure that he gets what he needs. The squeaky wheel gets the most grease!

[budnate]

I was gonna call but he was still smoking around the collar when we talked two days ago..he knows how to get things done but when we talked the other day the dealer kinda told him we are doing the best we can but cant install a harness they dont have...fairly bad if they dont have a part in the whole Country not on a rig...the harness must be wound up overseas???

[Born30YrsLate]

[ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately for Delorean, the engineering on his cars sucked, too! We had SOOO many people get stuck in their cars when the inner door handle latches broke off(in their hands, no less)when trying to open up the doors. Some people had to wait up to 3 months to get replacement parts for their cars...


[/ QUOTE ]

Wow - that's a long time to be stuck in a car....sorry, had to say it....been a rough week at work.

[Xplantdad]

I hear ya...crappy day at work for me, too!

Actually, most of the time, we had to break the side door glass to get the people out. The inner window was the only part that rolled down. See picture!



The average wait time for parts to repair the cars was 2-3 months...as the parts came from Ireland, through customs and then to a big warehouse in Irvine, Ca...and then to the dealerships!

[Norm reynolds]

GM s problem is there engineers have their head in the sand # 1 they will never admit that Dex cool is junk a year ago we had four gms in my family One Pontiac Grand Am just fell apart every week it was some thing going bad Still have one 200 Grand Am Gt
It is now on it second intake gasket Dex cool eats up the gasket Last March my wife’s 2000 Lumina That just turn 30000 miles just fell apart all in two days First the radio was going crazy then the day I was take it back to the dealer for transmission problem the seat broke They tell me That all 20000 Luminas and a problem with a defect power valve and you have to pull the trans out They then tell me my warranty ran out the week before They then said it will cost 3,800.00 to fix I got in a heated battle with the dealership If they have a known defect they should have a recall on it So I left and stop by a Jeep dealer to look at a 04 Grand Cherokee I bought one that day Got a inline 6 with a 10 year 100,000 warranty Last summer when my sons Grand Am was acting up he got p--- off and also bought a Grand Cherokee with 10/100.000 then last Oct My 91 Blazer with 175, 000 miles the rear stated to go bad I can not complain with it It had been a good truck I did not know if I would rebuild the rear or replace it I happen to stop my jeep first to look at a used Cherokee I was not really looking to buy one That’s the best way to buy a car when your not really interested I ended up with a brand new 04 Grand Cherokee Columbia edition with all the bells and whistle It was the last day in Oct
Made me a deal I could not refuse every time I would say I will think about it and start to walk out They just kept making the deal sweeter and sweeter I also have 10/100.000 warranty I have all ways been a GM man but they just are not as good as they once were Heck even Hyundai’s give you 10/100.000 warranty GM has to get with the program So far I am very happy with my jeeps and I love that inline 6 that a 300.000 motor

[mmcporter]

I'd love to buy American but I'm not going to buy something that will fall apart in year one. It's too bad things have gotten as bad as they are. Outside of Cadillac, there are few cars at GM I would really buy. Uninspiring unreliable cars. It's really too bad.

[MikeA]

We have a '98 Regal and a '01 Venture. Both cars have givens no problems. I can not complain about the General so far!

[scuncio]

IMO, the quality of the GM cars today is because we've got 20-25% of the staff doing 99% of the work. There is an unbelievable amount of dead weight at this company. There's also a lot of job assignment transfers, usually someone who's unfamiliar with the new area he's assigned to, so at any time there are a bunch of technical staffers who are ramping up their skills and can't really contribute much to product development in the meantime. Suprise of all surprises, another issue is the near-universal lack of interest in cars themselves among the staff (obviously this doesn't include myself). GM's recruiting is missing the boat big time by not hiring enough people with an interest in its product. I wouldn't touch most of the GM cars today but I do like my 04 Silverado!