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Fact Check: Yes, GM employs 266,000 people, but there is such thing called the ripple effect. GM, Ford, and Chrysler go bye bye. Since they are the big customers for suppliers, they lose money and they go bye bye, etc. While 3 million maybe wrong, the job losses due to the ripple effect will be huge.

Fact Check: The Cobalt XFE gets 25/37 which is one of the best in its class if not the best( I believe the Civic does 36 and Corolla does 35).

Fact Check: The Pontiac G8 is a pretty damn good car. Just not for the times. Although the best selling trim is the GT which is the V8 equipped model. The V6 is the slow mover.

Fact Check: Capitalism. Companies that stink should go under in a free-market society... :rolleyes:
 
Anything is possible, but I have purchased a wide array of vehicles and can attest that Honda has proven superior. I'm not saying all American vehicles are crap, just most of them. I owned a 1995 Camaro Z28 which I loved (though the transmission went out at 65K); next I bought a 2000 VW Jetta which was abysmal and in the shop every other week; then the 2005 Colorado which as I said was by far the worst in terms of quality; Now I finally bought a Honda Civic and have NO complaints. My best friend liked it so much he just bought an '09 Civic. My mother recognized the superior quality and is in the process of purchasing a Honda Pilot (My brother currently owns a Pilot too).

And this is NOT normal for us. Currently my mother drives a GMC Envoy and my father a GMC Sierra. Our family has always bought American vehicles in large part due to family members working for Chevrolet, but the lack of a quality product (and the past 10 years of crap products) has led us all to jump ship.

So you could be right, perhaps I am the exception to the rule. All I know is that we basically vote with our dollars and the world is resoundingly saying no to inferior American vehicles. They're going out of business because we don't want what they have to offer.

I am all for American made cars/trucks and I desperately hope they can turn their business model around, but I am against bailing them out. It's survival of the fittest and if our companies are too slow or out of touch to keep up with what we want then we'll find someone who will. In any case I don't want my money bailing out Wall Street or GM/Ford.

I agree. My family also have owned American made cars, such as Ford or Chevy and while they are good cars, their quality just sucks comparing to japanese automakers. We have no complaints what-so-ever on our Hondas while our Ford had a bad transmission 3 times in less then 15k miles, our chevy broke down every other week for problems such as engine mount, oil leak, exhaust leak, etc.

Survival of the fittest is in play here. American car makers creates one car but rebrands them to many different ones. It doesn't work especially when that model has issues and now you have 5 different vehicles having the same issue cause you just rebranded one car into 5. Look at Honda and Acura, they have virtually no similarities between the two brand of cars made. Sure they share parts and structure, but they are not the same, not even close.
 
I agree. My family also have owned American made cars, such as Ford or Chevy and while they are good cars, their quality just sucks comparing to japanese automakers. We have no complaints what-so-ever on our Hondas while our Ford had a bad transmission 3 times in less then 15k miles, our chevy broke down every other week for problems such as engine mount, oil leak, exhaust leak, etc.

Survival of the fittest is in play here. American car makers creates one car but rebrands them to many different ones. It doesn't work especially when that model has issues and now you have 5 different vehicles having the same issue cause you just rebranded one car into 5. Look at Honda and Acura, they have virtually no similarities between the two brand of cars made. Sure they share parts and structure, but they are not the same, not even close.

What MY were your American cars?

As to the Acura thing, you're half wrong. Acura's here are Honda's in Europe except for the CUV's which are based on the Pilot.
 
What MY were your American cars?

As to the Acura thing, you're half wrong. Acura's here are Honda's in Europe except for the CUV's which are based on the Pilot.

Acuras here in the US/Canada are just Hondas in the rest of the world.

For the model/years, one was a 89 ford taurus, 91 chevy caliver, 92 chevy lumina, 01 escape, 06 focus. All of them had major problems (problem w/ Engine and/or Transmission)
 
Acuras here in the US/Canada are just Hondas in the rest of the world.

For the model/years, one was a 89 ford taurus, 91 chevy caliver, 92 chevy lumina, 01 escape, 06 focus. All of them had major problems (problem w/ Engine and/or Transmission)

Damn that is bad luck especially on the '06 Focus as I have heard while incredibly outdated and uncompetitive it was due to Ford neglecting it, it was at least reliable.
 
As others have said, Acuras are Hondas to the rest of the world, and Acuras and Hondas share plenty between them.

The Acura TL is based on the Accord platform, while the MDX is based on the Honda Pilot.


The US auto makers are dinosaurs. I say out with the old, in with the new.
 
Take the money and consider your soul forfeited. You are now owned by Congresswoman Pelosi. Yep... don't do this Ford, GM. Ford should move its headquarters and all factories south. South to right to work states.
 
So we have the CEOs on Capitol Hill yesterday before the Senate Committee. Nardelli seemed to be the only one who didn't evade questions. Probably because he's not a career car guy. After watching for like 2 hours, I'm of the opinion that a management change is needed. These guys don't get it.

2 things that bother me. When asked if they would accept a $1 salary, Nardelli said yes while Mulally and Wagoner avoided the question.

Was also thrilled to see a report on ABC this morning that Wagoner and Mulally are flying to the hearings in private jets.
 
I haven't read the whole discussion here, but has the loan option been brought to the table? ALA Chrysler in the 80's. Instead of just giving them the money?

It is a loan, but the media is painting it as a bailout.
 
It is a loan, but the media is painting it as a bailout.
It's a low interest loan that, to date, has no restrictions, conditions and/or equity stake similar to what Chrysler had in '78 or '79 or the airlines had after 9/11. So it's basically taxpayers footing the bill for inept corporate management. These companies are lining up for a sweetheart deal where they get all the profits and we, the taxpayers, get all the debt.


Lethal
 
I was initially feeling sympathetic to them as far as the job losses are concerned.. Then I read about How they got to Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate.. Then hear that their financial woes are not based on their business model, but based on the economic crisis going on around the world.. And want their failed models bailed out by somebody else.

Let 'em cook. They need a lesson in humility.

BL.
 
rant

first off i want them to go under. The uaw contract is unbelievable. If the cars are not selling and they close the factory the companies have to pay the employees 95% of their pay for 6 months. that is real ensentive to build quality cars. next is the gas milage i had a 79 civic that got 43 mpg. why are the new cars estimates only 29-35mpg? next if i am going to spend $20000+ on a car i want one that is actually built in the usa. so that eliminates every car ford gm and chrystler makes all built in canada or mexico. So i will be buying a camry that is actually made in the usa.
 
Ford makes some great and truly groundbreaking vehicles.

agreed ;)

965303.jpg
 
first off i want them to go under. The uaw contract is unbelievable. If the cars are not selling and they close the factory the companies have to pay the employees 95% of their pay for 6 months. that is real ensentive to build quality cars. next is the gas milage i had a 79 civic that got 43 mpg. why are the new cars estimates only 29-35mpg? next if i am going to spend $20000+ on a car i want one that is actually built in the usa. so that eliminates every car ford gm and chrystler makes all built in canada or mexico. So i will be buying a camry that is actually made in the usa.
Cars are bigger and heavier (and arguably safer) now than they were in 1979, partly due to more safety systems such as airbags. The Honda Civic may have gotten 43mpg in 79, but the 2009 Civic is rated at 26/34mpg. So it is not just the American car companies that don't get great mileage, because the Japanese don't do much better.
 
Even if the fall of the company brings down the economy even further?

GM and Ford going away won't bring down the ENTIRE economy. Nissan, Toyota, and others that assemble cars in the USA will pick up some of the slack...

I was initially feeling sympathetic to them as far as the job losses are concerned.. Then I read about How they got to Capitol Hill to testify before the Senate.. Then hear that their financial woes are not based on their business model, but based on the economic crisis going on around the world.. And want their failed models bailed out by somebody else.

Let 'em cook. They need a lesson in humility.

BL.


We all saw this coming. When the Government bailed out Wall St., the execs of the Big 3 Automakers now want some of that too...
 
Have you seen cars from the 70's? Generally speaking they are bigger, heavier, and not as safe as modern cars.


Lethal
Yes of course, I grew up in the 60s so I now all about those land yachts. I should have been more specific in that I was referring to economy compacts such as the Civic, a VERY small car when it came out. The new Civic is both larger and heavier, and gets nowhere near the mileage. Of course it is also far safer and more comfortable.
 
first off i want them to go under. The uaw contract is unbelievable. If the cars are not selling and they close the factory the companies have to pay the employees 95% of their pay for 6 months. that is real ensentive to build quality cars. next is the gas milage i had a 79 civic that got 43 mpg. why are the new cars estimates only 29-35mpg? next if i am going to spend $20000+ on a car i want one that is actually built in the usa. so that eliminates every car ford gm and chrystler makes all built in canada or mexico. So i will be buying a camry that is actually made in the usa.

My Aura was built in the US and our Suburbans were American made. The only vehicles in my families garage that was built out of the US is the Equinox(Canada) and the BMW(Germany). I recommend to actually look up the information you are going to post next time before you actually post as 95% of that was all BS and lies.
 
GM and Ford going away won't bring down the ENTIRE economy. Nissan, Toyota, and others that assemble cars in the USA will pick up some of the slack...

While that is nice in theory you need to remember GM alone is 22% of the US market. The other companies do not have the production to meet demand. Mix that with the fact that those other companies are going to have huge problems getting supplies from their suppliers because a lot will go under with GM.

You can not remember that much of the market and not exect a huge domino effect. If GM left you could easily expect a 10-15% increase in the price of cars, Fewer discounts, and replacement parts jumping up a lot in price.

GM going under screws over the consumers pretty badly as well.

Yes they will pick up some of the slack but they can not pick up that much of it.
 
I own a Ford but the reliability of most models is poor except the trucks. Would I buy a Ford again, Nope, not unless it was an F-150.
 
I can't stand american cars, except for the top of the line ones.. but i don't want gm or ford to go down taht would leave less choices..options are good...
 
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