Connecticut Auto Repair Shops

CT Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Elantra clutch problems [stephen987]

by bhmr59 on Mon Dec 01 19:05:41 PST 2008

If I had gone to a dealership, I would have had more leverage when the problem recurred. Or, stephen, the problem may have never recurred. :)

Re: Lease vs. Finance [gator5000e]

by bingoman on Mon Dec 01 15:34:30 PST 2008

First of all what are you getting for this money. A basic car, a fully loaded car, or something in between. Are all of the deals offering the same car and equipment. Could you buy this car for cash. If so how much would it cost, how much interest would you lose, or how much would you have to pay for financing. How often would you like to trade for a new car (the current CTS will probably not change appreciably for the next four or five years.) All of this needs to be taken into consideration before you can decide on the best deal.

Re: Car Pool to Washington [anythngbutgm]

by explorerx4 on Mon Dec 01 15:07:27 PST 2008

i'm not a big gm fan, but i drove an 02/03? chevy pickup owned by one of my brother in laws over the weekend. has 135k on it and it ran fine. never anything other than maintenance, as far as i know. he uses it every day for work and would hear about it, if it was off the road. his last one, a 1992 had over 200k on it when he bought the current one.

kind of ironic

by explorerx4 on Mon Dec 01 14:47:42 PST 2008

i drove by a closed ford dealer a few days ago, and there were 2 model t's in the showroom. :surprise:

The New GM

by boomchek on Mon Dec 01 13:52:16 PST 2008

If I were in charge of GM here would be my plan: First and foremost eliminate as much rebadging as possible. There would be very few identical products sold under different names. In my opinion it's just a waste of money producing and marketing such duplicate vehicles with different names. Get rid of Hummer. Even if Hummers get developed into decent and affordable offroaders, the name still has that anti-environment stigma attached to it that might take years of losses to overcome. As for Saab, as Shifty said, sell it, or raffle it off if necessary. Keep GMC Truck division only for heavy duty commercial products, but not for selling light trucks and SUVs. Instead all light duty trucks wold be sold under the Chevy name. SATURN Make Saturn into GM's exclusive importer of foreign products such as the Opel and Vauxhall lineup from Europe, Holden vehicles from Australia. Astra: keep it as is Aura: replace it with a mid size European import from Opel Sky: keep it as is Vue: keep it as is Outlook: axe it as it would be sold under Chevy anyways New Saturn models: Saturn Ute, which is the Holden Ute car based pickup. Price it starting at under $20k. Saturn G8, sold currently under Pontiac but now would be sold under Saturn. European "cargo cars" , basically tiny vans based on current cars such as Astravan and Combo. BUICK As someone pointed out early, get rid of the brand's geriatric image. I'd make it into GMs power and style division. This would mean vehicles with mega horsepower, bold styling, and heritage. Lacrosse: axe it as it intrudes onto the Lucerne's price range and size Lucerne: keep it as an entry level Buick sedan Enclave: keep it only in it's most potent and loaded form (leather with all bells and whistles) New Buick models: Grand National: RWD coupe based off the G8 sedan platform Special or Super: make it Buick's halo car, a full size 4 door convertible sedan, similar in style to the Chrysler Phaeton concept of the 90s but with updated looks and technology. Also make a 2 door convertible version of the car. CADILLAC CTS: keep it as is but add a CTS wagon, convertible, and a coupe to compete head on with BMW 3 series and MB C Class STS: keep it as is but style it slightly differently so it doesn't look almost like a CTS, and also add a wagon to the mix DTS: rename it to a Fleetwood or Deville Concours (or other glitzy name it deserves), give it a RWD platform, and as many mentioned before, make it the best that it can be so it can compete with the likes of the MB S class, Lexus LH, and BMW 7 series. Spare no expenses and make it the standard of the world again. Make it more reliable than German counterparts and maybe you can win over some MB and BMW buyers. XLR: Axe it SRX, Escalade, Escalade ESV: keep as is. Escalade EXT: axe it, as it's almost the same as an Avalanche PONTIAC Get rid of the entire division. Waves are sold under the Aveo name which would be replaced anyways. The G5s are rebadges Cobalts. Move the Vibe to the Chevy lineup. G6 sedan, coupe, and convertible, as nice as they look axe them as they overlap into other similar products and price ranges. Axe the Solstice as it's the same as the Sky. Axe the Gran Prix too. CHEVROLET Make Chevy the bread and butter lineup ranging from the most affordable car in America to the quickest (Corvette). Aveo: axe it, after it's replaced by new Chevy Beat Cobalt: update it until a suitable replacement to be brought to market asap HHR: axe it Malibu: keep it Impala: make it into an affordable fun RWD sedan once again Corvette: keep it Equinox: axe it Traverse: keep it but make it in twot wheelbase lengths to replace the Equinox Tahoe: axe it Suburban: keep it but make it in two wheelbase lengths to replace the Tahoe Colorado: keep it but offer a base $15k model with a 4 cylinder motor. Silverado: keep it Avalanche: keep it Express: keep it New Chevy models: Chevy Beat: fast track it's development so it can be borught to the market faster, price it at starting at under $12k. Chevy Vibe: trnafer over from Pontiac's division Chevy Volt: bring onto ther market as scheduled Within 5 years offer the Volt powertrain on most small and mid size Chevies, just like hybrid powertrains are becoming a common option today. Summary of casualties: Saab lineup Pontiac lineup (excpet the Vibe) GMC Light duty trucks Buick Lacrosse Saturn Outlook Chevy Aveo Chevy HHR Chevy Equinox Chevy Tahoe Cadillac Escalade EXT Cadillac XLR As for the dealer network, it would go through some reorganization, and some smaller ones will be bought out, other will get revised brand to sell: Dealer networks would be divided into Buick/Cadillac (GM's luxury vehicles); Chevy only dealers since now the lineup is big enough; and Saturn only dealers since the lineup is large enough as well. The sale of Saab wouldn't hurt Saturn dealers as they'd have more imported stuff to sell now. The Buick, Pontiac, and GMC Truck dealers would lose 2 brand but gain better Buick lineup and Cadillac line, so that they can focus only on luxury. The Chevy Cadillac dealers would lose the Caddy franchise but gain a broader mainstream Chevy line.

Cooter

by marsha7 on Mon Dec 01 13:23:41 PST 2008

So many posts since yours, I may not even be responding to your point...but, hey!!! what the heck!!! that never stopped me before.......:):):):):) I am not sure about your "water under the bridge" comment, but I'll give it a shot... I think what I am trying to say is simply that the import "scandals" do not seem to be (perception, again) as numerous as the quality problems with various Big 3 models over the years...this stands out to me because we know autos better than anybody, yet we seem to let quality slip from our grasp over the years...do I have statistics???...none that I can quote, except maybe one... American buyers have been deserting Big 3 cars over the last 20 years, and there HAS to be a reason...too many doors that don't fit, too many hoods that do not meet the fenders, too many Pintos and Vegas, and too much junk manufactured well after the years of the Japanese junk... No one has pointed a gun at buyers collective heads, yet they have deserted Big 3 cars in droves...why is that???...I do not need to quote you statistics from JD Power or whatever...I simply need to point out that a large portion of the buying public has left the Big 3 to switch over to imports, so, regardless of how you respond to ME, it is THEY that have passively moved away from GM, Ford and Chrysler...there has to be a reason... Since the average buyer would not know UAW from the Pilots Union, they are fleeing SOMETHING...and they don't know who runs the companies (until now, of course, but not in the last 30 years) so we know they are not deserting management, and not deserting labor by name...one can only assume they have been burned severely, or multiple times, and felt differently when they sat in an import...they sure didn't switch to Honda and Toyota just because of the colors offered... So, is it water under the bridge???...I maintain that the Big 3 abused so many people over the last 30 years that you are now looking at the last chickens coming home to roost, and they are some mighty big chickens...am I right???...I don't know...but apparently more people are willing to forgive Toy and Honda than are willing to forgive the (probable) junk they bought from Big 3 dealers... Now that they have a ready alternative in the imports, the Big 3 will NEVER regain their lost market share, simply because they aren't enough buyers of CTS and Malibu, and there aren't enough "lemkos" to keep DTS/Lucerne alive... There are many more stories out there of buyers who bought American junk than there are who bought Japanese junk, and the import growing market share, IMO, is the only statistic I need... They ain't buying American because too many have an image of poor quality that will NOT go away, so it may not be "water under the bridge" for Big 3 buyers, if they were burned multiple times in just the last 10-15 years, let alone the last 25-30...