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Automotive News & Views Can GM make Cadillac the standard of the world Again?
6098 messages, Last post on Aug 14, 2009 at 4:43 PM
You are in the Automotive News & Views Forum. Your Hosts are steve_ & claires
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Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 24, 2008 8:00 am) I will certainly agree that the big three's quality before 1990 was not as good as the Japanese imports. However, quality and reliability are two different things. The big three really started to improve quality after the 80's, and J. D. Power helped them to understand the problems that they had. GM has had a number of V6 engines. If your dad was an engineer and really qualified to design engines, why was he working in an auto parts store? On the other hand, the Buick V6 (or 3800) was a quick and dirt solution to an engine need in the early 60's. It was not a particularly well engineered V6, and was sold off to Jeep when Buick was able to replace it with better engines. In the late 70's some idiot decided that it was a quick way again to get a more fuel efficient engine into production. They did re-engineer the design a number of times to get it to the present day. Your Dad could have been talking about one of the truck engines too... You did say some posts back that "most of GM's vehicles were junk". If most were junk in the 70's and 80's, then by the mid 90's most of GM's customers would have been gone, leaving the company in bankruptcy. Since GM is not in bankruptcy, and is still selling more cars in the US than anyone else, I think your perception of how bad GM has been in the past is completely overblown. I think that a lot of the problems people have with their cars is a result of poor mantinence which is entirely due to the owner.
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Replying to: sls002 (Jul 24, 2008 10:25 am) Not my experience. Ford and Chevy rushed the Pinto and Vega to market. The Pintos were exploding and the Vegas looked nice, drove nice, rusted fast, and engines died very early. If those cars had been competitive then perhaps the reputation for junk would not have been as pronounced. I will certainly agree that the big three's quality before 1990 was not as good as the Japanese imports. So it wasn't the big 3's quality problems, yet the Japanese imports had better quality before 1990? Which side of the argument are you trying to promote? If your dad was an engineer and really qualified to design engines, why was he working in an auto parts store? If we all have to be working at the manufacturers' to be qualified to have knowledge, then perhaps we don't need these forums, as we don't all work for GM and Ford?!!!!! 
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If I implied that my Dad was an engineer, I must have been typing too fast...dad was not an engineer, just an auto parts man, mechanic, and a machinist, who knew his cars cold...I never meant to imply that he was an engineer, so if I said that, I apologize...but he was an expert on his cars, and we saw the junk soon after it was sold, as they only had 12 month, 12,000 mile warrantys...plus, selling parts meant we worked with a lot of local car dealers, GM/Ford/Chrysler, and they would often call us with the warranty work they had to perform, and it was amazing just how much junk was out there...can I give you numbers???...no...but it was there, as we were often seeing the stuff once out of warranty, only a year after it was sold new...
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Replying to: tlong (Jul 24, 2008 9:20 pm)
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Replying to: marsha7 (Jul 25, 2008 8:57 am)
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Replying to: sls002 (Jul 25, 2008 12:29 pm) Let's put it this way, nothing exciting. Regards, OW
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Replying to: sls002 (Jul 25, 2008 12:29 pm) |
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Replying to: circlew (Jul 25, 2008 12:44 pm) I know from long term experience that GM truly makes fine automobiles. You let others make a prejudiced opinion for you. I just had my new Cadillac DTS Performance on a long driving vacation and the car performed admirably. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. I was also surprised at the great fuel economy! I guess it's getting better as the cars getting broke-in. Heck, my girlfriend speaks of her Buick LaCrosse as if it were some high-end luxury car like an E-Class Mercedes or a Lexus LS. Here's one young girl who will make a Buick her next car. The imports also aren't all that. I hear a lot of people complain that their newer Hondas and Toyotas aren't as good as previous ones both in appearance and quality. I have a co-worker who likes Hondas so much that he should write copy for their ads, yet he is turned-off at their new direction and actually told me he was considering a Buick as his next car! I certainly don't care for Lexus' new styling direction. I liked it a lot better when they aped the last generation S-Class Mercedes. The LS new look is blandness personified.
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Replying to: lemko (Jul 25, 2008 3:40 pm) I appreciate your preferences and respect your choices. I can not get excited about the current choice GM produces. The ones I referenced not included but the CTS has competition that will limit it's success unless expectations are exceeded each year. Corvette has no competition either in the price range except GT-R. I still am put back by the sedan but the coupe concept widened my eyes. Now, that's what I'm talking about. No GM has that persona outside of the Corvette. Since this is a Caddy blog, I can tell you that none of their current cars strike me as a must have. Period. When the coupe becomes reality, I show up early at the dealer! I applaud your exuberance in every case. You need to keep the pressure on GM to improve and stay cautious of complete commitment, IMHO. If you truly know more, you know that. Regards, OW |
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Replying to: sls002 (Jul 25, 2008 12:28 pm) We were talking about the American cars and their reputations established before the 1990's, I don't think Toyota had sludge problems in those days. And it's not like GM had - "well, the Vega was a lemon with sludge, but every other car of theirs is high quality, highly reliable, and people are just flocking to GM for the past 30 years because of such excellent engineering." People cite Toyota sludge or Honda transmissions, but frankly, those are the only significant two problems people have heard of with Honda/Toyota, the problems weren't that bad, and those Japanese companies quickly rectified the problems. Not true with Ford/GM/Chrysler. It's a pretty weak argument.
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