Dear Customer, G.M. Says, We've Improved

By DANNY HAKIM, NY Times
May 29, 2003

DETROIT, May 28

 

OMG this is like adding insult to injury.

They're worse off than I thought, they're "gulp" worse off than Ford and that's bad.

WTF

Who buys GM's anyway? I guess previous GM (loyal) customers. It's like they're saying sorry we screwed you over the last 2 decades but we're better now "Wink wink".

WV was having it's problems 15 years ago. They were almost down and out in the US. Hyundai also. Nissan also. Audi also.

But they don't go around saying we sucked then but now we don't suck any more. They went out and changed their products made them better and grew stronger.

People don't think GM is making better cars now because of an ad campaign. The only way to change our perception of GM is for them to actually make better cars.

I've seen the reviews of the Ion and the VUE and let me tell you they aren't winning over any auto writers. Maybe they need a new ad campaign to tell people they are not as bad as auto writers think they are.

 

Yep, they need to put their cars where their mouth is. Tell me exactly what they've done to improve quality and then I'll consider it.

Just tell me "we were crap and now we're better"? That's like my government telling me we did illegal things years ago but we don't now. Yeah right.

 

Hysterical. However much they think they've improved quality, it's still the thing that they always get dinged for in the car mags -- "Corvette is a great performer, but interior is cheap and rattles"; or "Sure, the Honda and Toyota are better, but hey the Chevy is a lot cheaper!" If any of that had actually started to change *before* they started this campaign, that would be one thing, but they're just so obviously blowing this out their a$$! Makes me ...

 

Also most importantly ALL cars today are better than ever. A civic today is better than a civic 20 years ago. So if GM is saying their cars are better than GM's form the 80's I'm like so what? You think that's something to brag about. Build something better than Honda Civic today and then run an ad.

 

Well as a longtime import, specifically Honda fan, I had a lot of reservations about buying a C5 Corvette. Luckily, after over 32,000 miles, my car has been to the dealership ONCE. I kid you not. I was 23 years old when I picked up my car and now I'm 26. I have NOT been easy on this car. I've street raced, drag raced, road raced, autocrossed, basically abused this car while doing the normal maintenance items. Not one thing has gone wrong other than a faulty brake booster I got from the factory. A bad batch I've since learned. Other than that, I've been very, very happy with the vehicle.

Some people have niggling problems with their Corvette, but they truly are the vocal minority. Every single car on the planet has it's issues including the S2000, NSX, etc.

Regarding GM's line of trucks, I consider them the best overall in the industry hands-down. Period. If you don't believe go drive a few different models back to back with Ford, Dodge, Toyota and let me know what you think. My brother and dad have owned several GM trucks over the last 10 years and they've all been very, very reliable overall.

Finally, GM's cars do have a way to go, but look at the new Pontiac GTO, Cadillac CTS V, heck, even the new Grand Prix with the paddle shifters and 260hp supercharged 3.8L Series II motor is pretty cool. I rented an Impala that was nicely optioned this past week when I travelled to the Indy 500. It's not an autobahn stormer, but the thing felt solid and very easily cruised at 85-90 with the 3800 Series II V6 just humming along (actually you couldn't even hear it) at 2400rpm at 90mph. I was fairly impressed. The body roll and level of quietness was fairly impressive too. Not the best car as compared to a Camry or Accord, but still felt pretty good overall. Now, the rest of the GM lineup needs some work, the Cavalier/Sunfire has to go, the Malibu needs some fixing, the Grand Am always sucks and so on....

Oh, the person that says Corvettes rattle, please ride in my almost 3 year old ABUSED C5 and let me know if you hear any rattles. You won't.

 

32,000 miles is a far cry from determining the build quality of a vehicle... i suggest giving it another 70,000-100,000 miles before giving them the nod.

GM WAKE THE HELL UP...... Close your mouth and put all of that effort and trumpet blowing into building better cars. I don't want to read some bs mumbo jumbo the marketing dept came up with... I want friggin results.... tangible real results. If the products prove themselves to be better great but don't go blowing your own trumpet.
This is analogous to telling a girl you love her 2 weeks after you first met her... while it works sometimes (rarely) 9 out of ten times you just laid your wang out on the table... better hope it measures up!

 

Oh yeah... and my family has owned more GM vehicles than I can count... 3 times as many as import vehicles. We have a 2001 GMC right now that is around 40,000 miles. A buddy of mine has a toyota t100 with 225,000 miles on it and it rattles less, idles smoother, and has had NO MAJOR ENGINE WORK whatsoever. Driving it and another t100 with less milage (as i was looking for a used example at one time) back to back... you could not tell the difference.
IMHO Toyota trucks far eclipse the build quality of GM made trucks..

 

I'm not a big domestic car guy, but I hope GM turns around because if GM does well that will help the whole US economy.

I think Caddilac is really looking better the new XLR and the SUV (SRX) look as good as most of the compitition.

Maybe they need to get rid of the dead wood. Focus on the good stuff.

http://www.car-data.com/xpage.preview/pre....illac&model=srx

 

Growing up, my family had 4 GM cars, a 85 GMC S-15, 85 Chevy Celebrity, 93 Chevrolet Caprice and a 94 Chevy Corsica. All of them with the exception of the GMC which was a lemon were VERY reliable, reliability that would rival anything from Toyota or Honda. My parents still have their 93 Caprice and the Corsica serves as my daily driver. We got rid of the Celebrity only because it was involved in an accident. The fit and finish on all these cars leaves a lot to be desired but they never once left us stranded. Just my .02 .