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WCCPSGM

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About WCCPSGM

  • Birthday 03/29/1972

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  • Location
    Weber City VA
  • Interests
    Cars, Camping, and Computers

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  1. I assume there is a screen between those pods ala Cruze?
  2. A Caliber top trim with all options comes to 23,275, no rebates. But I got a Civic EX-L with Navigation up to 32,696. My Cruze was 26,780. On KBB, a 2010 Cobalt loaded was Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) rated at 15,815 while a loaded Civic is rated at 22,600. Both would represent a 10K depreciation in 1 year. I doubt the Cruze will avoid similar depreciation. However, I would like to point out that all of these vehicles represent a tiny amount of small car sales from any brand. These are customers who either want nothing but a small car, or consider interior appointments the most important factor in buying a car (my wife is a great example of this). For every one car like this, they sell hundreds of mid-priced models. A nice 1LT popularly equipped is 19,915, a Civic LX-S 20,417. A Caliber "Mainstreet" is 19,895. So in the trim where sales are going to be very high, Cruze appears to be very competitive.
  3. A better example would be the Charger, which looks great, but has a super cheap interior. The point he was making was that the 500 appeas to be a great car, until you get in and realize its cost cutting measures ruin it. Look, for the most part, he's right. American cars are about as good as the Japanese. Definatly as good or better than Nissan and Mitsubishi, and closing on Tolyota and Honda. However, there is a part for several groups to play, the union is just the biggest offender. It was Detriot cooperate culture, not the UAW, that declared SUV's the new sedans in 1990, in otherwords, you had to buy one. This continued a 50 year old habit of Detriot telling America what it wanted. SUV's sold well and made a lot of profit, I'm not knocking that at all, but SEDAN buyers got tired of being ignored or "encouraged" on the lot to buy an SUV, and went to the JApanese and Koreans. Now that SUV drivers are dumping their gas guzzlers in favor of sedans, and ask there sedan driving friends aht they recomend, of course its a Japanese car. I go to church with a guy who swears by Honda and Toyota. But the last American car he owned was an 88 Caravan, adn he has had exactly 2 Toyota trucks, and a Honda Pilot SUV, so why would a thinking person believe he has a good grasp on the quality of the Toyota and Honda lineup? But we often don't think when we ask a freind's opinion. I would trust anything GM puts on the road over an equivilant Nissan right now, but who has the rep for quality? Years of crappy quality have RUINED Detriot's image. Who would've thought Hyundai would be considered higher quality than GM? Finally the bean counters are still at work. Japanese cars get stability control and side airbags standard. Detriot had to be forced by the Japanese and Koreans into beginig to offer these types of things. It's stupid. If people want it, put it on the freaking car already! Saving a few bucks on construction don't mean Jack if the cars never leave the dealers lots! That means the dealer doesn't order any cars and you stop shipping them. Idel factories have never made money.
  4. SO who do you blame? I've seen the type of places they build these plants. Factories shutting down (sewing factories where a HUGE source of income in rural America), farming lost to corperate farms, Young people moving away. Then this comapny shows up, Hyundai, Toyota, Nissan, and offerws to build a plant that will employ hundreds of people. Good paying jobs that will in turn bring McDonalds and Walmart calling, get contractors to work building housing for these newly affluant workers, A few car lots, maybe a mobile home dealer. What is your incentive to turn them down? Definatly not so some (As you precieve them) fat lazy union workers, rich corupt politicians, or mega-rich domestic CEO. Not to mention GM could have done the same thing. As for politicians, they can smell a winner. They have made sure all the laws were worded to allow loopholes so the biggest trucks and SUV's are not hurt in sales, largely due to money from the big three and UAW, only to get blasted as corrupt when gas shot up and Americans couldn't afford to fill up the 10 MPG VEHICLE THEY BOUGHT!!!!!! Now they are saying, "Hey, the big three have had a decade to compete and are still losing, people in my district LIKE Toyota, and they are building cars that more people want to buy, maybe I need to take money from them."
  5. I can't tell if it looks like the Caliber, or the Aztek! What's with the stupid hatches on wagonettes these days!!!! They don't look cool, but they sure as heck sacrafice several cubic feet of space!
  6. But how long can it last. The have to figure out how to make money on cars, not other stuff. The are a car company.
  7. And so ends the last of the PLC's (Personal Luxury Coupes). I would like to see it go, and be replacced by a RWD model anyway. The Camaro targets extroverted drivers, a new Monte could offer a slightly tamer platform, more conservative (but not boring!) styling and plenty of power on tap! I watch NASCAR, but hold no brand loyalty since they are running tube frames with NASCAR designed bodies and non-stock, carburated V-8's. If you want to see great racing, check out the Grand Am series. Colbalt and CTS compete in it and the action is GREAT!
  8. The numbers are bogus anyhow. If GM started producing cars in America in the last 2 decades in this country and could cherry pick "right to work" states offering incentives to build plants, they would easily be doing as well as any Japanese automaker. Likewise, had Japanese makers built their factories in this country in the 50's, and had years of union committments to uphold, they would have trouble doing better tham GM. Gm's in a deep hole. They are behind Chrysler in turnaround, because Chrysler basically could fall no lower in the mid-nineties. Even though Ford looks better in this article, we all know that Ford is in deep kaka from which it may never emerge. But the way out is to focus on product that sells and get more customers.
  9. You oughtta check out the Citroen lineup. I love their cars! Still, this smells. GM is just getting things turned around in 3 of seven divisions, they don't need to be drug down by another company. Look at Chrysler, they finally had to wise up and dump Mitsubishi.
  10. I can't believe the outrage. If I wanted to piss people off, I'd say cut everything that is not Chevrolet and Cadillac. If you can turn Pontiac into an all RWD BMW-style performace company, keep it, otherwise, axe. After the initial cost of closing dealers, its hard to see how this wouldn't be profitable for GM. They'd have a mainline brand, a luxury division, and a RWD performace car division. That would be what I'd suggest if I wanted to piss people off. I actually like the Buick brand historically, and the Lucern is, in fact, a nice peice of work. Saturn has done nothing to move me, 30 years ago, it was called Oldsmobile, and GMC has always sruck me as redundant to a fault, even though it has its fans.My point, for those of you who haven't had a stroke reading the first paragraphs, is I've seen little in the way of actual arguments against Buickman. Mostly its been the "Buickman must die!" vein. And some people seem to have rose colored glasses about the state of GM. I'm for turning GM around. I think every aspect of the company must be looked at for possibilities of returning to profitability. But I think the bottom line must be, we gotta get people to buy our cars. If people buy the cars, you don't have change your brands at all. Right now, not enough people want to buy the cars, and its hard to see the resources needed to build 8 distinct products that people will want to buy.
  11. Man, I didn't realize Ford was so far in the crapper. GM's doing well, but they need to do much beter to stay ahead. Don't rest on your laurels at a few successes. Colbalt's good, not groundbreaking. G6 is great, but is practically a lone star in Pontiac's lineup, and it doesn't fit their "All RWD" direction. Saturn has the new Aura, great piece of work, but they are still hamstrung by ION and an image problem. Buick is having trouble with Lacrosse and is between crossovers. Oh, and the minivans still suck. I'm proud of what I've seen from GM, but I'm not ready to start declaring victory.
  12. #1 should be a tie between Camry and Accord. They are very good, but not anywhere near as good as everyone claims. BMW belongs on the list for the same reason. Durango isn't good enought o be overated.
  13. 1. Impala 2. Accord 3. Legacy 4. Sebring 5. Fusion/Milan (I prefer Mercury's look) 6. Galant 7. Malibu/G6 8. Passat 9. Lucern 10. 2007 Altima 11. Five Hundred/Montego (Yeah, technically they're big) 12. Camry (the previous gen would be MUCH higher, but I don't like the new schnoz) 13. Mazda6 14. Sonata/Optima 15. Verona 16. Stratus Small Cars 1. 2007 Sentra 2. Rabbit 3. Jetta 4. Civic 5. Focus 6. Caliber 7. Corolla 8. Mazda3 9. Elantra/Spectra 10. Colbalt 11. Forenza 12. Lancer I drive a Neon now and reluctantly acknowlage I have to move up for the growing kids. Impala tops my list for affordability, safety, size and power. I didn't include Charger/300 because it semed to be a front drive thing, but I would have to spend a lot of seat time in them to chose them over front drive. I would LOVE to have an excuse tobuy a new 07 Sentra.
  14. Malibu gets a new horizontal split grill????? How is that new? The current car is the only Malibu that HASN'T had a split grill since it was relaunched. Chevy has some good looking product now, why go back to ugly?
  15. When they say more for your money they usually mean resale value. Okay, so the Honda loses $10,000 in a couple years and competitors may loose $12,000. Big whoop. You still lost $10 grand genius. And, oh by the way, the RAV will do as well as, or better, I guess it isn't actually a competitor for the CRV. I didn't realize Dodge's Caliber was so popular. First, it slow and there are no excuses. Honda's CARS are usually very quick with a V-6. What's the problem? All these things are getting fat. They are supposed to be COMPACT SUV's! Chevy didn't accidentally make the Equinox too big, they forsaw the future. I don't understand the market for these things. They are basically tall outback wagons. They can't tow, aren't really usefull off-road, and still aren't as roomy as their prices are big. Honestly, few of them can outdo a mid-size sedan, especially one that costs the same.
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