They still make a lot of turds. I just bought a Pontiac G8 GXP, and spending any time in a Pontiac store shows you that their lineup is mostly crap, to wit: G3 (an even uglier Chevy Aveo), G5 (rebadged Cobalt), and G6 (OK, but still not a standout in any way). And Pontiac is supposed to be their "excitement" division??? Anything Buick, other than the Enclave, is crap. Chevy's cars, other than the Malibu, Corvette, and Camaro, are for the most part crap, to wit: Aveo (rebadged Daewoo, I believe), Cobalt (supposedly drives OK, particularly the SS, but as appealing as cardboard), and Impala (still rides on the ancient W platform, I believe). Caddy's STS is pretty uninspired, and the DTS needs a complete overhaul. But, everything that has been released since the Malibu has been pretty spot-on. I even think I may be becoming a domestic fan boy. Nothing released by Honda or Toyota in at least 7 years, give or take, has interested me in the slightest.

It is unfortunate that the domestics are so burdened by their past mistakes. Granted, it has taken them WAY too long to get their shit together (Chrysler still hasn't). But, Audi made an awfully quick resurgence with just the A4. The key for GM will be to not make just capable and reliable cars but to make desirable cars that tickle people's buying bones (like the G8 GXP). People need a compelling reason to buy domestic over Honda or Toyota, given the brand equity those companies have built over the past 2+ decades. So, just being good enough won't be enough for GM, but I think they are finally beginning to meet the challenge head on.

 

[QUOTE=ElTianti,Apr 2 2009, 06:31 AM]The plain fact is GM has burned customers for decades. Here they come again with

 

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drive...otopanel..1.*#2

Looks darn good. I'd most likely buy this over a Corolla or Civic.

 

Another thing that definitely comes into consideration for me when I buy a car is resale value. American cars are absolutely awful in this area so hopefully if they can stop whoring out to the car rental companies and keep their quality up, this issue will become less of a problem.

 

Resale is important when you're looking to sell/trade in 3 years. Not so much if you keep the car longer term, 5-7 years.

American cars typically depreciate a full $1/mi, versus Japanese cars at 60

 

[QUOTE=mitsu13gman,Apr 2 2009, 10:38 AM]As an example, I've had 3 different Hondas in my life.

 

You guys have to buy more Malibus!

I engineer a part that goes into that car...

 

Resale can be misleading if it's calculated based on msrp. I've seen several resale reports that used msrp. If I get $4000 off a $20000 car then sell it for $15000 a year later my percent resale is 93%, not the 75% that some poorly writen articles would report. So if we are really going to claim resale is worse vs just preceived to be worse, we need to calculate numbers based on average transaction price, not msrp.

 

[QUOTE=Saki GT,Apr 2 2009, 10:11 AM] Resale is important when you're looking to sell/trade in 3 years. Not so much if you keep the car longer term, 5-7 years.

American cars typically depreciate a full $1/mi, versus Japanese cars at 60

 

It has the Corvette steering wheel