Hi everyone, first post!
I have owned quite a few GM vehicles, the first being a 72 Cutlass, the last being a 2000 Sierra pickup. Only the Cutlass had any really bad problems.
Right now, there are only a few GM vehicles that really get my attention:
The Solstice..not my kind of car, but looks good.
The big SUVs are something GM does better than anyone else. I really like the Tahoe/Yukon, but a truck is much cheaper, and does what I need to.
Corvette: I wish I could afford one. I didn't like the older ones from 74 until 98(?) too much, but they sure got faster as time went by.
HHR. not a huge fan of the drivetrain, but looks ok.
Avalanche: I would have bought one in 03, but they got too much more for it than a normal pickup, so I passed. Right over to the Dodge dealer and bought a 2003 Ram Quad Cab. I was going to buy another Sierra, but dealer games irritated me, along with the ABS problems GM trucks have, and I jumped. The Chevy frontend is truly bad, and GMC was the only option. I have to admit, I like the Ram better than ANY previous car/truck I have ever had. Had a rear end problem, fixed under warranty, and warped rotors (Can't anyone make stock rotors that don't warp?), that's about it.
The Caddies: In general, they are all pretty decently done. I could live with any of the rear drives if I had to.
Hummer. A friend has a H2. Too slow for me, but he loves it.
Buick: Well, They havent made anything I would want for almost 35 years, so I don't know what to say about them.
Pontiac has had nothing I care about since the T/A was killed.
As far as class leaders go:
In fullsized pickups the F150 looks great and I really like the interior, but the bed is too high for much use as a truck (I do use mine for hauling once in a while), it's slow, and judging from a neighbor and a friend, has a lot of tranny failures. How Ford can keep having transmission problems is something I don't understand.
The Titan has the best engine/trans combo, though I think the hemi would be even better with a similar transmission. The truck itself is not great, to put it mildly. My friend has one, leased it (Yay for him!) and it's falling apart. It makes noises when you go over a rough set of train tracks that are downright scary. Somthing is going on in the back of the cab, but the dealer and a few other people who have looked, cant find the cause. The Dana 44 Rear doesn't seem strong enough either, as he has had problems with it twice in 30K.
The Tacoma is about the only small truck worth looking at anymore. The GM twins are goofy looking, and seriously lack power. The Dakota is one ugly truck since it's latest redesign and the Ranger is so old it's ridiculous.
The mid sized SUV crown has to go to the 4Runner, mostly due to the Durango being one of the most insanely ugly things made since the Aztek. It's too bad, the Durango drives great, is built like a tank, but that "styling", yuck. The Trailblazer and clones are ok, but not great.
As far as cars go, there aren't a lot out there that I'm interested in, that are in my price range anyway, but if GM gets the Camaro right, I will probably be there. But, if they blow it, the Challenger (anyone really think it won't be built?) will be there at the local Doge dealer, and so will I. The Charger was a huge dissapointment. If they hadn't blown it, I might have one now.