why are american cars generally so bad? (esp gm)

[Stealth5]

?

i feel terrible for my friends that have chevys. they are just such total pieces of junk

they fall apart prematurely, everything is poorly designed, engineered and assembled.

the only thing i can think of is those idiots out there that are so against imports and so 'patriotic' that all they will buy is an american car, so the american car companys dont really have to make a good product.

a friend and i went to a chevy dealership and sat in an avalanche. omg it was hilarious. he used to have a 95 (i think) monte carlo and the interior look EXACTLY the same. they use the same bad radio in every car, theres a million interchangeable parts that will work with pretty much any car.

then we sat in the corvette. not quite as bad, but still nothing like a nice 2 seater from someone like nissan or honda (which are about 15-20000 cheaper i might add).

another thing i dont understand is the '4 speed automatic'... when is GM going to engineer a 5 or 6 speed auto?!?!
i mean the corvette, practically a bargain racecar, is available with an automatic...how many gears does it have? 4! its ridiculous

we then checked out some cadillacs. the interior design on those is about what a low end american car SHOULD be. i mean theyre kind of nice, but still not well designed and kind of cheap feeling.

when is gm going to step up and make some products that will make people who normally enjoy the quality of import cars to take the plunge and buy an american car?

 

[Fai]

well... cause they are all american scrap metal.... I rented the GrandAM GT V6 for 3 days when my msp is at the dealer.. they sux like s***.... and drink gas as if the gas tank is leaking... but one of the good stuff in those scrap metal is they have more torque than horsepower... and thatz it.... everything else is junk on 4 wheels...

But if you think the other way... If there is no american s*** how do you know import cars are good cars?? rite??...

 

[PaulMP3]

i have a 92 GMC sonoma, 190k on it still run and shifts perfect.

some minor things are broken or need fixed, but it is an old truck.


When buying an economy car i would never buy an american car, but for a cheap full size or a truck i would buy a GM in a second. My family has always owned chevy trucks/vans and they have always ran great.

Dodge, thats another story... i had a dakota b4 the mp3.. POS

 

[mp5jeff]

my dad had his old ford van around 350k miles on the original motor, doesn't get much better then that lol, not sure how many miles he has on it now, havent been there in a bit.

 

[Roywhitep5]

when i was getting my p5 detailed, the dealership gave me a chevy malibu. it was so bad. the seat was actually so uncomfortable that they gave me a headache. power was bad. styling was terrible. i think gm finds the most bland people on earth to design their cars

 

[Notorious]

well my speed went into the body shop finally on monday and I got a malibu for a rental. It has 3000 miles on the clock and the thing was beat to hell. I mean I never heard a car rattle so much, handle so poorly, and had such lousy fit and finish. The grand am i had earlier was better than this. So I asked for a 'foreign' car at enterprise, they couldn't get one so I went to hertz. I was originally gonna get a mazda 6 but they were fresh out of those, so they upgraded me to an eclipse spyder. The eclipse is just worlds better in fit and finish and quality. It's hard to believe that GM, the largest car manufacturer in the world can't make a decent car, even if it is for the rental fleet.

 

[mp5jeff]

a malibu, you guys are talking about one of the lowest gm made cars, what'd you expect, a luxury vehicle?

 

[Notorious]

hardly, i expected a decent vehicle... one that didn't strike fear into my heart everything i tried to change lanes, stop, or go. especially since the thing is the same class of car as the camry, 6 and accord. You pay the same amount for all 3.

 

[pr5owner]

malibu is on par with the quality of a cavalier, both are total s***, my family had a cavalier and it died after 3 months, the cpu somehow fried itself LMAO, they replaced it under warrenty of course but WTF, how does that happen? chrysler... don't even get me started on that, ford, yuck, had an areostar was total s***, replaced it with a sienna, omg what a diffrence, replaced our bad plymouth with a toyota, and AGAIN holy s*** what a diffrence, we've had quite a few american cars and they have ALL been total crap, nothing but bad quality and s*** falling apart, the first import we got was a rav4 (my moms) it got rear ended 6 times, and still has not had a mechnical problem of any kind, we don't even get regular maintainence for it and it runs like its brand new, it has 2.0L AWD and it somehow gets better gas millage than our pro's

 

[jonlong]

Ford trucks are nice. Other than that, American cars = POS

 

[Stealth5]

check out chevy trucks and stuff on edmunds...

escalade: Cons: Poor fuel mileage, a few noticeable instances of cost-cutting, steep price tag.

avalanche: Cons: Some cheap interior pieces, lifeless steering, limited drivetrain choices

all the chevy pickups: Cons: Cheap interior materials, questionable build quality

blazer: <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=stripe-four width=101>Cons

</TD><TD class=stripe-four width="100%">Aged platform, spotty build quality, low-grade interior parts, uncomfortable rear seats, poor resale value

impala: <TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=stripe-four width=101>Cons</TD><TD class=stripe-four width="100%">Vague steering, soggy suspension on base and LS models, low-buck interior</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>


</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
monte carlo: cons: Mediocre performance on non-supercharged models, bland interior with cheap materials, no passenger side-impact airbag.

tahoe: Spotty build quality, interior materials could use improvement.

 

[Stealth5]

oh the exteriors are terrible too
who designed this garbage? a 12 year old with a t-square and a pencil?!?!

 

[pr5owner]

cavaliers old and new even the 2004/5 models are still using a solid rear axel, like WTF come on, even the focus has independent suspention and the focus is a pile with like 12 recalls or something

 

[Stealth5]

the totally-new-from-the-ground-up mustang...... SOLID REAR AXLE

 

[LinuxRacr]

One of the ugliest interiors EVAR!!!

(notcool)

 

[mp5jeff]

yea that interior sux, although i guess if its a "work" related truck it wouldnt be too bad, but as a daily driver, etc.. that would suck.

 

[garretts77]

I used to work for the Administrative branch of Enterprise Rent-A-Car. My boss, the VP of sales for the SoCal Region at the time told me that 80% of all Geo/Chevy Metros made were made for ERAC. That means that even if nobody in the general public ever bought a Metro, that Gm was still guaranteed to sell 80% of the production. Where is the incentive for them to produce a quality car that the general public is going to desire. I know that the Metro is not a good example of a quality car, but it gets the point across. I know for a fact that when manufacturers entered a slump a couple of years ago, and they were producing more cars than they could sell, that rather than slow down production, they just started shipping them off to ERAC, and probably the other big renters too. We were taking delivery of cars that we weren't supposed to get for months. The point is that if the American manufacturers have a guaranteed sale of their product, why spend more money?

I would be all for supporting domestic manufacturers if they get their act together. And in fact I think that they are making big improvements. But not enough yet to bring me back from stylish, affordable, quality products just for the sake of buying domestic.

 

[pr5owner]

you know your buying quality when you can get a cavalier for $12,000CDN brand new LOL(pro5's are $24,000CDN for reference), aren't the new Aveo's, metros replacement made by daewoo? another quality product? indeed!

one question, WTF do chics think cavaliers and sunfires are "tyte and teh Shyt"? i sware a girls dream car is a cavalier or a mustang, both of which have horrible reviews, mustangs make my laugh, i was skeptical at first but me and my friend decided to take a closer look (this is when i was looking for a car which i eventually ended up getting the pro) first i noticed the car looks like a 4x4, redneck style, the shifter looks like a toy, the side scoupes are plastic and don't even look real, they are i believe double sided taped on since there is a big gap and i could move them, point them up and down lol, the hood scoupe is plastic and also is so fake i started laughing at it in the dealership, people call honda rice? WTF is this? fake side and hood scoupes? handles like s***, ricer "racing" pedals, and why is the gauges so damn small? the echo's gauges are bigger and more readable, the engine is crap, a 3.8L V6 that only puts out 193HP/225TQ and gets 20MPG lol, nissans 3.5L while being smaller puts out 250HP/245TQ @ 26MPG. you would HOPE that ford got it right by now since the mustang has been out for how many years? well no.. the drag coef is still 0.33 and with the cobra its fukin 0.38!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!!! even chrysler while being s*** all together can do 225HP/229TQ out of a 3.2L SOHC V6

 

[MisterT]

My dad has a black 4X4 Chevrolet Tahoe, the last year they made it with 2 door(I think a 2001), and he has had no problems whatsoever. I know their "cars" seem to have problems. They sell a lot though, so the more on the road, the more likely a problem. The Pontiac Vibe is probably pretty reliable if it utilizes Toyota parts). Not sure if it does because I never researched it.

 

[FunkyBuddha]

One thing I also don't get is why are a lot of domestic cars so big? It's like driving boats. Suspension is always lacking. Sure there's lots of trunk space and head room, but making emergency lane changes and stopping quick is out of the question. Only decent domestic car is the Grand Prix GTP from pontiac. The older models between 96-99.
Cavs...oh god. Worst cars I've ever been in. Small windshield. Apillar gets in the way. The seats are uncomfortable. The cheap plastic feel is there as well. Our interiors are plastic but the assembly is so much more nicer and the final finishing touches are there to complement the whole car. The cav just feels like it was thrown together and glued together in 5 min. Handling sux. Power is ok, but engine problems. I feel like domestic cars are more high maintenance then imports. There's a lady I work with and she never changed her oil in her 2000 Jetta for 2 years. Ran perfectly fine. If that was a domestic, it would be falling apart already.