Also, I agree each manufacturer has its problem areas. One has to do a little reserch before a purchase.
NOBODY builds the PERFECT car. Every manufacturer will build some car that has some design/manufacturing flaw. It’s how they handle this problem is what separates the GOOD manufacturers from the rest. And I find that’s what the MAJOR problem is with American manufacturers. They are ONLY concerned with next quarters profits. Every VP/Director and above…a good portion of their salary is tied into how well their unit does each quarter. Why invest in something that you won’t see any results in for 2-3 years…especially since you may not be there in 2-3 years.
My brother-in-law was a plant manager for Chryco…only 40% of their parts actually went to Chryco cars/trucks…The rest went to GM/Ford…Nissan and Toyota.
i did not have to much luck with the02 chevy montecarlo ss.the car was serviced as recomended in the owners manual.and alot of road noise.over$4000 in parts/labor. while it was under warranty.the other chevys i had were very reliable cars.this paticular car is what im having the problem with.
If anyone wants to see a good example of why many suspension parts fail prematurely then simply turn on the TV and look at the news coverage of the flooding in FL right now.
Cars lined up in droves and plowing right on through axle deep water with no concern at all about what water (and the mud in it) is doing to wheel bearings, chassis parts, U-joints, CV joints, etc.
The concern will come 6 months or a year later when their low mileage vehicle needs some expensive work and that’s when the screaming will start.
An '81 Citation? I had one, and that experience caused me to be a “one-time” GM owner.
My Citation was a problem from day 1, with issues such as the primer showing through the paint in more places than I could count, and an engine ping that they could never resolve. Within the first few months, it needed to have a rear wheel bearing replaced and the transmission (manual) needed to be overhauled.
The clutch and the e-brake system were also continuing headaches. After replacing the e-brake cable three times, due to rusting, I opted to forego that repair again. (Yes, that was very foolish, but money was very tight in those days). When I could no longer justify repairing the Citation, the Ford dealer refused to take it as a trade-in, and it took me about 4 months to sell the Citation privately, with my final selling price being ridiculously low, simply because Citation’s reputation was so bad.
But, I have to admit that the Citation wasn’t the worst car that I ever owned. That dubious honor went to my '74 Volvo, and my wretched experience with that car led to me being a one-time Volvo owner!
Agree; the GM X cars were real dogs! My brother bought an Omega V6 with all the options. The steering rack failed, transmission failed, paint peeled off, etc. He took a bath on trade-in for a Honda Accord, which he still drvies with some 350,000 miles on it. Another customer who will never go back to GM because of that model.
A guy down the street inherited a mid 70s Volvo from his aunt; I don’t know what was in her will, but it still sits in his driveway with 2004 plates on it. I have not seen him drive it for the last 10 years! He has 2 other cars as daily drivers.
You can tell how GREAT a car was…GM sold MILLIONS of those X-Body vehicles…Back then they were out selling Honda and Toyota…I see far more Toyota’s, Nissans and Honda’s then those x-body vehicles.
No I don't think you're just lucky. The early-80s Caddys weren't so good.. the 4.1 liter V8 for instance was quite bad. By later in the 80s though, the 4.5 and 4.9 are BASED on the 4.1 but fixed the 4.1's problems. (I think your Deville would have a 4.5L V8.) Not the power or MPG of a Northstar, but reliable (due to Northstar's tendency to leak and burn oil, I think the 4.5 might be more reliable than the Northstar.)
People LOVE to hate on GM because 1) They made many bad cars in the late 70s and 80s (everybody did though -- shoving more and more emissions components onto carbureted engines, and making them super-light to try to get MPG up without having to use any technology, made for rattly, slow, unreliable cars.) 2) "Low tech". People just figure "pushrod engine=bad" and "large engine=bad", even though GM's gotten good power and mileage out of these setups. Fueleconomy.gov shows the results -- the Prius and Insight are in a class by themselves, but other than them GM's right up with Toyota and Honda in MPG, and ahead of Nissan (and DEFINITELY ahead of VW -- what were they thinking dropping fuel-efficient diesels this year in favor of 2.5 liter gas engines?). Their reliability ratings have improved for years (and Toyota's *slightly* declined) so they are basically neck-and-neck reliability-wise too. It does vary by model, though -- I've heard the Aveo is not so good.
They discontinued the diesel vehicles for a couple years to allow the new fuel to get fully circulated around the country. Next year or two, they’ll be back.
Not lucky really. Every brand makes good vehicles and every brand makes some bad ones. Don’t ever fault an entire brand just cuz you get one bad one AND you can’t extoll the entire brand since you got a good one. I have had NO bad apples , all good ; 68 Dodge van, 75 AMC gremlin, 78 Chrysler cordoba, 80 Ford bronco, and currently in my driveway, 79 chevy c10 short stepside, 92 Ford explorer, and 06 Ford hybrid Escape.
Grammar-Nazi indeed, bscar. A quick glance at your reply to rrhoff reveals plenty of mistakes of your own. For instance, a space would be nice between a parenthesis and the last letter of the previous word. It occurs to me that rrhoff may not have English as a first language. Your excuse?
sorry to slightly change the subject, but i just sold a buick 3800 with the aformentioned intake issues. does anyone have any information on class action suits etc. i realize that a car is an expence not an investment. however i lost a bundle on this car in the 8 months i owned it. not to mention inconvienience etc.
thank you
The Aveo is a holdover car from the now defunct Daewoo Industries, which GM bought after it went bankrupt. The Aveo was designed for the SE Asian and Korean markets, and had adequate quality and reliability for those developing markets, since the competition was not much better. For GM, this is basically a stop gap car, since any new models designed by Daewoo for the North American market will be much better. Americans drive much more than Asians and Europeans; they also completely wear out their cars, going through 4 owners typically.
Past effort by GM to sell their British cars ( Vauxhalls) in North America have been disastrous. The only decent car they sold was the Opel GT, a neat German made sports car immortalized by Don Adams as Agent Maxwell Smart in the Get Smart! TV series.
The Honda Fit, by comparison, is built for world markets and meets the toughest use anywhere.