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Are you impressed with late model domestic vehicles?

Back to the topic at hand. Anybody try out a new Challenger SRT8 with a six speed manual? Dam impressive and so what if it doesn't get 30 mpg. Fun to drive and looks way better than any new Hondas.
 
Ultra-Hog said:
Are you impressed with late model domestic vehicles?
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Well, for me "late model" = a 2000 Silverado pickup, 2001 GMC Savana, and a 1999 Cavalier.

From my experiences with those I say it's a mixed bag.

On the positive side. Fit, finish and comfort seem pretty decent on mine. Fuel economy exceeds my expectations on the Silverado and Cavalier. The Silverado, a 5.3 liter with 4wd averages 18.5mpg, and has gotten up to 21mpg highway. The Cavalier, a 2.2 automatic, averages 31mpg, and gets around 35 on the highway. (just verified on my last trip, going through WV and Western Md mountains, and some stretches driven at 70 to 80 mph..... came out to 34.7mpg!)

The downside. Weird problems. The Silverado and Cavalier have flaky fuel gauges ( or maybe fuel senders?) Neither is reliable. Troubling as the myraid of other GM products I owned in the past never had this problem. How do you "unlearn" this? Also, switch weirdness. The Silverado developed a problem with the 2wd/4wd switch.... which I eventually traced to being caused by cracked solder joints on the circuit board of that unit. Both vehicles seem to have "lost" the low fan setting for the heater. (more bad solder joints???)

I think in the major functional areas they're better. Bodies last longer, engines and drivetrains last lots more miles than they did before. And like a lot of other vehicles, the newer ones are safer.

Just my $0.02.
 
Carmine said:
1) Any vehicle last available in 2003 is no longer in production, not just "some".
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I think you're reading that wrong...... some of the cars are no longer in production..... for sure the Olds, but the Impala is still in production. If you mean that GM isn't making 2003 Impalas anymore.... yeah, you'd be correct, but that's not how most people would interpret what the article says.

So what this boils down to is that any engine that develops a valve-cover gasket leak could combust oil on the exhaust manifold. I don't know how the the government is justifying a safety recall based on fires that haven't occurred, but rather a theory that would apply to most any car with overhead valves (virtually all after 1960).
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Probably before 60..... and yeah I'm having a tough time figuring out the recall...... maybe it's more than valve cover gaskets. Most old cars are leakers and you don't hear about fires due to oil..... usually it's electrical or gas lines.
 
Carmine said:
rustytacoma.jpg
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Wow! My 81 Chevy Luv (100% Isuzu made) truck rusted in half twice, but it took 10 years to do it.

My 86.5 Toyota Supra was my first nice car, but the engine blew it's head gasket, like all of the 7M engine eventually do.
 
Nikko75 said:
That is something I do know, I'm an engineer and I worked for General Motors Saturn division for a short period. There is no battery shortage and they are cheaper to build and service than carbon fueled engined vehicles. So many companies bombard resellers with their lithium batteries that they have to turn them down.
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Well, I just heard on the news about new jobs here in Michigan..... apparently Johnson Controls is going to start building batteries here (Holland, I think). If the jobs are new, that means production is in the future.... not current.

A friend of my neighbor is a professor and one of his colleagues worked in developing Li-Polymer. Now with nanowire batteries and 8+ times the capacity of Lipo there is no excuse for shortages or low capacity. If anything its like fuel, companies working with car manufacturers will slow and control production to dictate a market. All these "shortages" haven't affected ZENN or Telsa and this would otherwise leave me wondering why the big companies have such trouble making electric cars.
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Developing How long ago? It takes time to turn technology into products and them to ramp up that production..... and if no auto manufacturer is quite ready with a vehicle, who would the battery company be producing for........ battery companies aren't going to start building lines/facilities without a good idea of what exactly to make, and sell to who.

I've never heard of Zenn, but I'm familiar with Tesla...... it s little sports car... a toy for rich people.... and low production compared to the numbers of vehicles GM produces.

Lithium Shortage Fallacy: http://gas2.org/2008/10/13/lithium-counterpoint-no-shortage-for-electric-cars/
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That's got nothing to do with batteries..... they're talking about Lithium the element! Even if it was the number one element on the planet, that doesn't make suitable batteries available.
 
Gotta give Toyota credit for taking care of their customers. They bought back many of these trucks under very favorable terms and now they're replacing frames. I see truck loads of new frame roll in at the dealer next door every couple weeks.
 
MOPAR3 said:
Gotta give Toyota credit for taking care of their customers. They bought back many of these trucks under very favorable terms and now they're replacing frames. I see truck loads of new frame roll in at the dealer next door every couple weeks.
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You think that was the policy before or after the problem became widespread and known on the internet? If it was handled like the sludged 3.0 engines, then the answer is "no".

My only point to expose this idea of "good" and "bad" auto companies as the asinine conspiracy theory it is. Nobody goes into this line of work thinking "Here's a way I can screw the customer." That's insulting to my profession and should be no more accepted than the idea that every cop is an authority-drunk pig.

Sometimes problems don't show themselves in testing, sometimes designs work on paper but not in the field. Sometimes bean-counters think they can save a nickel without causing a problem. Every cost-analysis doesn't work out (Even at Toyota) ... if they did, the guys who do them would just gamble in Vegas and win all day.

I see decisions made everyday that will effect somebody... Do we order camshafts pre-coated with an anti-wear film at a much higher cost, or do we trust the assembler to use the proper pre-lube on the lobes during the build? Do not just assume that pre-coating is the correct answer, cost be damned... It has to come out of a budget, which might jeopardize another operation that will have a larger effect on engine life, or the pre-coating could wear off in shipment if the dunnage (box) isn't correct. etc., etc. One thing I've never heard anyone say is, "Who cares, they've already paid for it!" Do you not think we aren't expected to buy what we build?

To think that one company functions different than another in this respect is naive. To think "all domestics" and "all foreign" companies function alike simply because they are HQ'ed in one country or another is bordering on racism. The truth is that all cars have gotten better in some ways (worse in others). When I see the obvious bias in the media, or the mayor of San Fransisco claiming that auto companies campaign against seat belts and air bags (that's a quote) it just reminds me how dumbed-down everything is getting, to the point any moron with a soapbox can be an "expert". Too bad they are taking their knowledge from pop-culture and urban legend rather than doing the hard work of research.
 
I work in the auto parts industry. We sell just as many parts for domestics as foreign. In fact, foreigns have domestic parts on them and domestics have foreign parts. So there isn't really much difference these days.

Quality is quality. It makes no difference where it is made.

Also, there is NO SUBSTITUTE for MAINTENANCE.
 
I have a 2008 Malibu which is the same as the 2009 with only minor changes. The styling sold me as did the test drive. I have mostly been a GM driver in my life as my Father worked there. I have had the 2008 for over a year. It has been a great car. I have never had to take it in for repair since day one.
When my lease is up I plan on getting another one.
 
zombie1210 said:
I work in the auto parts industry. We sell just as many parts for domestics as foreign. In fact, foreigns have domestic parts on them and domestics have foreign parts. So there isn't really much difference these days.
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There certainly IS a difference. The domestic companies buy mostly from other US and Canadian companies. That's simply not true of the foreign companies. They buy from other transplants like themselves. Traditionally, these companies pay less and being foreign owned the profits go back to the home country. Furthermore, the foreign car makers mostly ASSEMBLE vehicles here...... you don't have Toyota parts plants here in the US that I've ever heard of.
 
Emissions on a well tuned CRX were so low that they almost didn't show up on the emissions measurement equipment of the day. Of course, that's a very small engine, which worked because the car was so light.
 
tomrich22 said:
I have a 2008 Malibu which is the same as the 2009 with only minor changes. The styling sold me as did the test drive. I have mostly been a GM driver in my life as my Father worked there. I have had the 2008 for over a year. It has been a great car. I have never had to take it in for repair since day one.
When my lease is up I plan on getting another one.
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That is good to hear. :yes:
 
zombie1210 said:
Give me your list of domestic vehicles that have no offshore parts?
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I'm glad you asked...... I'm sure there are none. If you go to the store to buy something, and the total is $10, do you give the store $10, or do you say fine and give them your whole wallet?..... If they want $10, I guess they may as well have all of my money, I give up. I doubt it..... you'll give them $10.00 and that's it! I do the same with cars...... I'll buy the GM with some parts built by transplants and foreign parts, rather than buying a Toyota built from mostly imported parts and parts made by other transplant companies.
 
zombie1210 said:
Give me your list of domestic vehicles that have no offshore parts? Seriously.
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I can state this as fact - in 1994 the Saturn was the vehicle which contained the most American parts by that time. The only foreign made parts were the timing chain (Germany) and the radio (Asian country now forgotten.)

I'd sure like to know what the last 100% North American car was...
 
Frankly, I'm not too impressed with ANY cars, foreign OR domestic. Excepting, of course, those which are ridiculously out of my budget and who's basis for being has practicality at a very low priority.

I do have to say that my entirely unimpressive 02 Saturn now has 170,000+ miles on it. Apart from a broken air vent, dead CD player, broken trunk lock and floor release (you have to enter thru the back seats), broken seat belt, wear and tear and it's intrinsically inherent uncomfortableness, I have no complaints. Oil and filter changes, spark plugs and tires are all it's received since new.
 
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I still remember in college when a friend had his dad's E class Benz. You'd think for that money, the wood paneling would be real...
 
Look at it this way - in a crash would you rather bounce your head off a steel dash or a structural foam dash. Or your knees if you slide out of your seatbelt.
 
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