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GM News, New Models and Market Share - READ ONLY

32000 messages,  Last post on Feb 14, 2013 at 7:24 PM

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Messages Page 3026 of 3200

#30251 of 32000 Re: Opinions [uplanderguy] by andre1969

Jan 07, 2013 (8:16 am)

Replying to: uplanderguy (Jan 07, 2013 7:57 am)
Ugh...yeah, that does look kinda bad. Still, I have to profess an odd sort of attraction to these things. It's a shame you couldn't get a 302 in them, although you could easily swap one in. I think the best these cars had was the 4.2 V-8 with around 112 hp. But, when you figure that GM pretty much quit putting their ~5 liter engines in their competing cars, unless you got the wagon, so about the best you could get was a 260, 265, or 267 V-8, or 252 V-6, I guess that was all Ford really needed in these cars.
 
I think they still let you get the 302 in the T-bird/XR-7 in '81-82, but I think most of them were just the 4.2 or worse, the 200 6-cyl, which I think was a credit option.
 
Chrysler still let you get a 318 in their competing cars, but it was choked down to 130 hp, stuck with a tall 2.26:1 axle, and their cars were considerably heavier, so I doubt they gave you much, if any, performance advantage.

#30252 of 32000 Re: Opinions [andre1969] by uplanderguy

Jan 07, 2013 (8:48 am)

Replying to: andre1969 (Jan 07, 2013 8:16 am)
When the GM intermediates came out in '78, they were the smallest car available that was body-on-frame. As a result, IMHO, they were a comfortable, pretty quiet car, and were roomy inside too as you've noted before. The Fords seemed cheap by comparison IMHO--however, IIRC, they were a good bit less expensive. An Olds or Buick intermediate in '78 could cross the $7K sticker mark--a Monte Carlo could do, now that I think about it--and that was pretty high back then for a car that size.
 
The only rental car I ever had that died alongside the road was probably an '80 Fairmont 4-door, white with pumpkin-colored vinyl interior. I once had a beautiful '80 Grand Prix rental, light blue with blue velour interior, but the only interior light that worked (besides the instrument lights) was the courtesy light on the right front floor (dome light and driver's side courtesy light burned out), and it ticked and I had to put three quarts of oil in it! When I complained about it, I got the royal brush-off by the disinterested chick at the rental car counter.

#30253 of 32000 Re: Dec sales [uplanderguy] by ateixeira

Jan 07, 2013 (11:51 am)

Replying to: uplanderguy (Jan 06, 2013 3:27 pm)
The Nissan Juke was much worse than average for the 2011 model and much better than average for the 2012 model! LOL
 
Wasn't 2011 their v1.0?
 
It's very common to iron out the smaller issues after the first model year.
 
I would always expect the first model year to be the worst, and then the last model year to be the best, as all the issues are fully ironed out.
 
Your Malibu is the best of that generation, because the kinks were worked out.

#30254 of 32000 Re: Dec sales [ateixeira] by ateixeira

Jan 07, 2013 (11:56 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Jan 07, 2013 11:51 am)
Either that or the first year owners were SHOCKED at how ugly it is.
 
Then by year two people had gotten used to the look, so it rated better.

#30255 of 32000 Re: Dec sales [ateixeira] by uplanderguy

Jan 07, 2013 (11:57 am)

Replying to: ateixeira (Jan 07, 2013 11:51 am)
I think the ratings change from '11 to '12 is dramatic to say the least, and one wonders if there were really that many changes to the car...or if the '11 started to disintegrate after a year!
 
I wonder what the '11's rating was after one year?
 
The car looks like a deformed animal to me.

#30256 of 32000 Re: Dec sales [uplanderguy] by ateixeira

Jan 07, 2013 (12:04 pm)

Replying to: uplanderguy (Jan 07, 2013 11:57 am)
It is a deformed animal. LOL
 
Blame "le cost cutter" Ghosn if they don't hold up after 1 year.

#30257 of 32000 Re: Dec sales [ateixeira] by busiris

Jan 07, 2013 (2:38 pm)

Replying to: ateixeira (Jan 07, 2013 12:04 pm)
Looks like a bug waiting to be squashed under Paul Bunyan's boot at some point.
 
It's definitely a "love it or hate it " design.
 
One could make the argument that its sporty and nimble, but the are lots of other models that offer the same, but look much better.

#30258 of 32000 Re: Dec sales [busiris] by ateixeira

Jan 07, 2013 (5:05 pm)

Replying to: busiris (Jan 07, 2013 2:38 pm)
They are tiny inside too.

#30259 of 32000 Re: year end rehash [steve_] by circlew

Jan 08, 2013 (5:55 am)

Replying to: steve_ (Jan 06, 2013 7:10 pm)
One note: Why doesn't GM have a car in the Top 10 2012 sales list? Should'nt they by now?
 
Regards,
OW

#30260 of 32000 Re: year end rehash [circlew] by uplanderguy

Jan 08, 2013 (6:40 am)

Replying to: circlew (Jan 08, 2013 5:55 am)
As said, reality lags perception, and maybe with 'darling' CR rating GM cars better and foreign makers (some, anyway), lesser than in past years, word will get around. Again, the Malibu rated a higher total score than Altima, Optima, Passat, and similar-sized Subaru product.

Messages Page 3026 of 3200

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