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CARBIZ

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Everything posted by CARBIZ

  1. You guys cannot afford to be the world's cop anymore. Your total debt and current account deficits are unsustainable. As a taxed-to-death-Canadian (we pay until sometime in July before we hit 'tax freedom day'), it seems strange that every election Americans strike DOWN tax hikes (like, who in their right mind is every going to vote FOR a tax hike?), but somebody has to tell you that the cupboards are bare! I have an ugly feeling the fat lady has not sung yet. I know the real estate market around here is hanging by threads; held together only by the myth of globialization and the addition of 350k immigrants per year, most of whom end up in Toronto.
  2. No list would be complete without Micheline Maynard Steve Rattner Kirk Kerkorian Roger Smith Emma Lowenstramm (perhaps a little too obscure for most) Arthur Chamberlain Tammy Fay Baker... ... wait a minute, sorry, I think I misread the list. Never mind....
  3. Well, setting aside $56B to 're-value' the yen probably doesn't help. Or the cozy relationship MITI (and its successors) have had with Japanese corporations for decades. Or the banks loaning money to Toyota and others at 0% to finance their overseas conquests, while the hapless Japanese consumers tolerated moribund returns on their investments. A negative birthrate doesn't bode well, either. (Although they could import a ton of cheap laborers from West Africa for giggles - see how that's working for Germany, France and others.) Not gonna get a lot of sympathy from the Carbiz corner. Japan Inc's relenteless pursuit of world domination finally ran aground on the shoals of Western ingenuity. Or maybe some people are finally waking up to the fact that not everything imported is good for us? Oh, who am I kidding? Japan Inc simply stole what they needed from the West, but Western companies are tripping over themselves to hand technology to the Chinese. Worrying about 100 million Japanese who salivated over our markets will seem like the 'good old days' once Beijing gets into high gear.
  4. Although many good points have been mentioned in this thread, one major one has been overlooked: that is that Toyota's boring cars mainly appeal to the (large) minority of people who can't think for themselves and believe everything that they read. That type of consumer is VERY susceptible to media 'piling on.' What is happening to Toyota now is nothing more than media 'piling on,' and although I am loving every minute of it, I believe this has the potential to hurt Toyota very, very deeply. Consumer's Reports already threw up the first warning shot 2 years ago when they apologised for automatically giving Toyota the benefit of the doubt on their launches of new vehicles, but only after so many troubles plagued the Camry and Avalon that they had to say something! If Toyota loses CR, they are finished. That is the bible for the brain dead. Will it bankrupt them? Certainly not, but then if you'd told GM executives in '95 that they'd be bankrupt in 14 years, you'd have been laughed out of Detroit. The internet and electronic media were in their infancy in '95. Toyota's foibles are going to be circulated farther and wider than GM's were and in an area that is truly Toyota's Achilles heal. For what else do they have, other than the myth of their durability? At just the time when GM and Ford have their mojo back, Toyota cannot afford this groundswell of truth.
  5. Looks like they can't follow their own editorials: what about the mea culpa they printed 2 years ago where they virtually apologized for giving Toyota free reign on their new model releases? (But only after the 'new' Avalon had so many serious defects - far beyond shiny chrome pieces, that they had to acknowledge SOMETHING.) It's a rag, and I wouldn't let my cat crap on it.
  6. And this is why Detroit will die: so-called fanboys who shoot a model down BEFORE IT'S EVEN LAUNCHED. And your opinion is based on what facts, exactly? Have you test driven the last Ford Fiesta offered on these shores (how many years ago was that, exactly?), and compared it to the latest Aveo? Hell, have YOU even been to Europe and driven the new Fiesta? The Spark is more than a year away from launch and yet the naysayers line up to throw fuel on the fire to watch it burn. Just like the Volt. The biggest reason I stopped reading C&G, after 5 years on this site was the mewling of people who sounded more like spoiled babies (My brand has been killed/why don't they bring back hard tops/minivans are for sissies/why doesn't GM have a 5spd/6spd/20spd transmission yet/the Cobalt is a POS because [insert favorite pev peeve here]) - and this comes from people who, what, see one on a dealer lot? Oh, I know - they test drove one for 20 minutes!!! Yay, I'm an expert..... I need a drink.....
  7. No less than Wards Auto did an article on Apr 26, 2006, entitled "Tyranny of the Enthusiasts." John McElroy penned the article. It's the downright derogatory tone of self-appointed flabby, middle-class writers who turn their noses up at an Aveo or Taurus because of its 'mundane' steering or ride, while lavishing heaps of praise on a 300+ horsepower sedan. WTF? Why? Unless you live in Montana, where the hell can you drive these vehicles to their full potential anyway? Are men's penises getting smaller these days? Let me tell you 2 stories from my hundreds of anecdotes: 1) Friend buys an Acura TL, leasing it for $650/month. He bitches to me that it takes premium gas and the insurance is killing him. I laugh at him and say I could have leased him an Intrigue GLS for $150 a month LESS. How many horspower does the TL have, I ask. He shrugs. Is it a 6 or an 8 I ask him ( I know the answer, but I want to see if he does!) Another shrug. Why did you lease it, then? Oh, because he read in a car magazine that it was a fun car to drive. Story 2: My manager of 5 years, who worked for GM for over 30, died of cancer (this was back in '04). His widow dropped off their leased Alero and was off to a BMW store to pick up a new 3-series. The lady is nearly 65. Would she not have been better suited by a LaCrosse? Ah, but I see her 30-something year old son, sitting in his 5-series waiting to escort her. I choke back remarks about his gold-plated education being paid for by GM, while I remove the license plates from her Alero. I know this lady well: she wouldn't know a key fob from her broach if someone didnt't show it to her: an ideal BMW/Honda buyer if I ever saw one. So, yes, enthusiasts have killed the auto industry. Maybe not all by themselves, but they surely have led the way. When they bitch and moan about 'soft plastics' and 'overhangs' to justify their existence (and big paychecks), it gets silly and plain boring to read their rants.
  8. Well, it IS a Detroit newspaper........... If any media has the right to be biased, I'd say it was by those in a city built by the Big Three.
  9. The Toyota Star, er Toronto Star, buries this in their business section.... Six years ago when GM (and some Nissan and Fords) were experiencing gas tank sending unit troubles, resulting in motorists running out of gas even when the needle showed a quarter full(I would know, the '03 Malibu demo I was driving at the time left me stranded on the side of the road), the Star put it on the FRONT PAGE of their Saturday section (over 1 million readers) and then dedicated 1 1/2 pages inside to the incident of a dumb blonde who ran out of gas on a busy highway in her Cavalier. Oh, but did the Star print a retraction when it was later admitted that PetroCanada had had a problem with one of their refineries and a 'bad batch' of gasoline went through their outlets in southern Ontario that Spring? No. GM's pickup truck liftgate cables rusting out (8 reports of over 4 million vehicles) was on the top 1/2 banner of the Toyota Star, so that every paperbox in the Province prominently showed the recall GM had to do, but later when wheels were falling off the Sequoias and other Toyota SUVs, well, again that was buried. We are the product of 35 years of liberal media brainwashing...........
  10. I would have expected a more intelligent, less visceral response coming from ocnblu... I've driven the Aveo as a demo more than once, and it is far from a horrible car. It may not measure up to YOUR standards of 'fun to drive' (whatever the hell that is!), but people looking to spend $10k or so on a new car to go from A to B, want a good warranty, a reliable vehicle that is easily serviced would happily buy an Aveo, or the upcoming Spark. Sure the Cruze is a better car, even the TDI - but not everyone has that kind of cash to dole out. VW's quality numbers have been in the $h!ter for a very long time. German engineering? Good God! Not everyone wants to spend $20k+ to drive around an econobox. If I had to drive a car that small, I'd rather spend sub-$15k, thanks! Otherwise, give me a 1 or 2 year old Malibu, thanks! The trouble is, the 'enthusiasts' are killing this business. They have pulled the auto companies in 10 different directions. Hell, we'd have cars that get 100 mpg by now if the horsepower wars of the the past 10 years hadn't hijacked the agenda - again! Whether posters around here like it or not (and I know this is an unpopular opinion), the days of drag racing and weekend warrior are coming to an end. Sandwiched between skyrocketing insurance rates, overzealous officers ticketing everything in sight, and CAFE ratings, we are destined to drive golf carts in the near future - probably electric ones at that. I just can't believe Americans time and time again vote for V8s when they are sending buckets of cash to Venezuela, the Middle East and other places that are using that money to incite hatred and violence against the U.S. It makes no sense to me at all!
  11. It looks no more overwrought than the latest iterations from the Mazda and Honda school of design. I wouldn't want a car that small, but then we aren't paying $2.36 a litre (about $8 a gallon)like they are in Brazil and most of Europe. I've said this before and I'll say it again, the world begins to look a whole lot different at $5 a gallon - especially if you're a commuter. To me, the Spark doesn't look that much different than the current Aveo, more evolutionar, IMO. But a car like this never going to light up the posters on C&G, that much is a given.
  12. There are very few cars of the '70s that stand out today. Detroit got hit with 2 oil shocks, bumper crash ratings, unleaded fuel, pollution control regulations, virtually all at once. One of the solutions to reduce a vehicle's weight (and save gas) was to lower the carbon rating of steel, which resulted in most vehicles of the '70s rusting out pretty quickly. The only Ford my father owned, a '76 LTD had rust on nearly every square inch of that car within 3-4 years. His '69 Chrysler 300 had not fared much better. I will say this again, for the umpteenth time: critics like to harp on Detroit because while GM and Ford sold millions of cars each year in the '70s throughout North America, Datsun, Honda, Toyota and Mazda combined didn't come close to even what Ford would sell in a single year. Undoubtedly, rusting Fords, Dodges and Chevys would be found far easier than the Japanese crap of the day. Of course, the critics conveniently forget the rotting Civics and harp about the rusty Fords and Chevys of the day.
  13. Cars like this are a hedge that future gas prices WILL hit $5+ a gallon in the not too distant future. The Aveo/G3, Smart, etc have all done well in urban areas of Canada BECAUSE we are used to $4 a gallon gas. When the world economy rebounds in late '10 or '11, you can bet the price of oil will start climbing and all those V8 Camaros, the new CTS coupe, etc. won't be the vehicles people are lining up for, WHETHER 'ENTHUSIASTS' LIKE IT OR NOT.
  14. Advertising is all about picking the best qualities of a product and shouting it from the rooftops - or are you new to the concept? You think Toyota and Honda's advertising is any better? And if you believe Ford's numbers, I have a bridge (in Quebec) to sell you....
  15. Out of curiousity, OC, are those figures from the Caddy's own trip computer, or did you (or your GM) take the time to calculate the mpg numbers yourself? The reason I am asking is that I have found from personal experience that the trip computers are not very accurate. It's better to do the mpg numbers the old fashioned way: drive till the tank is empty, fill it up, take the odometer reading and figure it yourself. But you've raised a valid point about any of the 'electric' systems: their Achilles heal will be the use of a/c or loss of battery power due to cold weather use (like up here in the hinterland!) None of these systems are going to be perfect, and unless gasoline rises back up to $5, they won't be terribly cost effective either. But I do have great faith in our Arab friends, or the next hurricane in the gulf, to raise those prices back up and I, for one, will be glad to be driving a 4 cylinder that gets 30+ mpg rather than a V-8 hog!
  16. Except the boneheads that bought the Priuses in the first place most likeliy would have bought a POS Camry 4 cylinder anyway. NOW how much fuel have the saved? I wish people would stop smoking crack at least an hour before posting. If you want REAL fuel savings, the hybrid Tahoe gets the same mileage as the 4 cylinder Camry and for those people who need to tow their 5,000 lb boat and have a family, there are no other options. There are some real potential fuel savings to be had! Buying a Prius has NEVER been about saving money, saving the environment or saving America: it's about white, middle-class losers trying to make themselves feel good at night, after they beat their wives and go to bed drunk. Since we won't know the true economics of the Volt until many months after it hits the market, all speculation borders on maniacal, theatrical 'piling on' hatred toward GM. I, for one, would buy a Volt in a flash: I'd love to drive to work every day and NEVER give PetroCanada another dime. I've put 27k km on my car in 27 months and my round trip to work is about 10 km in stop and go traffic in downtown Toronto: I AM the target market for the Volt.
  17. It's about time Toyota started to pay back for the billions in all the free help GM's dealers have given it over the past 3 decades. For those of you who don't know, many of the Toyota dealers set up in North America were built by GM and Ford franchisees back when Datsun, Honda and Toyopet franchises were dirt cheap, and GM and Ford franchisees were awash in cash. I've never understood why this sort of conflict of interest was tolerated, but I guess 30-35 years ago wealthy North American franchise owners viewed their Japanese acquisitions as boutique operations.
  18. C'mon guys, lighten up. I laughed my ass off. "They want a car to drive from their mother-in-law's house to the unemployment office.." I nearly spit my coffee out laughing! (And, hey, I was unemployed for six months, albeit most of it spent in Brazil, but unemployed nonetheless!) Ford should be flattered that the Taurus was used in this ad. Although Onion probably expected it to be a dig at Detroit, the fact is a '93 Accord or Camry, with their over-priced parts, are not economical for a trailer park family -the Taurus is. As would the Lumina or Intrepid. Only the ass-clowns that read Consumer's Reports would nurse a 16 year old Camry or Accord this long... Oh, that's right, a '93 Accord would probably fetch $850! (And, btw, Onion, the '93 Taurus could not be had with a stick shift. These must be the same car guys that write in Consumer's Reports.)
  19. Another birthday??? Oh, well Have a good one anyway!
  20. CARBIZ

    hey guys!

    Can't help you there, Stace, but whenever I need a few good laughs, I visit www.despair.com. Their 'demotivational posters' section is a hoot. My personal favorite is CUSTOMER SERVICE IF WE REALLY CARED ABOUT OUR CUSTOMERS, WE'D SEND THEM SOMEWHERE ELSE.
  21. This whole thing smacked of a farce from the get-go. If GM had jettisoned Opel, it would have kissed good bye the European market, which would nuke any plans of it remaining in the #2 position of world sales - let alone dethroning Toyota. It's not like Fritz picked up the phone last night and said, "Bob, get packin', you're moving to Germany." This thing has been in the works for weeks, if not months. I have to hand it to GM, though - this has been one masterful stroke of genius. It's about time it start getting crafty. It's going to take a lot of guile to win over the jaded American public.
  22. Sorry, Req, the Terrain looks overwrought to me. GMC looks like it tried too hard to make it look 'trucky.'
  23. Go get 'em, Tiger! My partner always owned Fiats in Brazil. Fortunately (as of yet) they do not sell them here; otherwise, I would have a helluva fight on my hands. We are thinking about getting a second vehicle next year, and unless our financial fortunes change drastically, I would give him the Opta 5 and look for a very good '90/'91 LeSabre or 88 to drive. I have always loved those cars: they are bullet proof, kept in great shape by the oldsters that still drive them, have all the creature comforts and are great highway cruisers. I had the opportunity to buy 1 two years ago that only had about 40,000 miles on it, but never jumped at the chance. (The BF hated the looks of it.) Fine, he can have the Optra, and I'll take the battlecruiser! When I finish my courses next Spring and if I do land a management job by then, well, the new Equinox would probably be on the menu. Four cylinder, thanks. Gas has already crept up to $1
  24. There are 3 main problems with the media, vis-a-vis Detroit today: 1) Revisionist history, especially for the just out of college kids writing for the major newspapers, magazines. They look at a vehicle through the lens of hindsight and don't have enough knowledge or respect (except some rather badly written books) about how or why Detroit got to where it is. They probably remember their mother's Citation and hated it. (Well, my mother's '67 Newport was a rustbucket, too when I was forced to drive it to school in '77 - that doesn't mean I hated Chrysler in the '80s just because....!) 2) Social liberals in general hate themselves, the West and especially the United States. Europeans (especially the Brits) are the evil of all and should be punished. That includes General Motors, which being the #1 corporation in the world for 70 some-odd years AND making those nasty pollution spewing contraptions makes it an easy target for the so-called green movement. The fact that General Motors is very good at making large trucks incenses the green movement even more! 3) Tyranny of the enthusiasts. When Toyota had to come out with a 240hp minivan and showed it on the salt flats skidding sideways in their ads, you just knew something was out of whack. I remember the media was generally optimistic about the original Equinox, which came into production 5 1/2 years ago. How does it stack up against the small utes of today? It doesn't, but then it shouldn't. Each generation should be better than the last. The original Rav4 was a joke, but I don't recall seeing any recent media pieces trashing that initial offering by Toyota when they drive Toyota's new Rav4.
  25. No, I worked at a P-B-GMC dealer in '82 and the X-cars were POS, plain and simple. But then, so was everything else. The K-car was probably the best all around affordable car on the road at the time: roomy, decent on gas, didn't rot out, reasonably dependable and cheap as hell to fix when they did break down. The Chevettes of their day were more dependable than the X-cars. I had the misfortune of driving a Fairmont wagon fairly frequently, and they stalled all the time. I also happened into a garage when a 240 ZX Datsun was put up on a hoist and the wheels stayed on the ground - a fairly common experience at the time the mechanic told. The early Tercels had serious rust problems: the liftgates literally dissolved in 4 or 5 years. Resale on those was zero! The '80s are best forgotten by all manufacturers: it was a time of great upheaval in the industry and nobody knew quite how to handle the triple whammy of government controls, oil shocks and emerging technologies( ABS, 4 spd autos, fuel injection, etc.) Fortunately, by the early '90s, most of the kinks were worked out and cars began to get better again. But the jaded media only remembers the Citation and Cimaron..... And this leads us to the mess we are in today: GM pissed off 5 milion people a year in the '80s, while Honda only pissed off 800,000. Besides, how many things were there to go wrong in a '88 Civic, typically sold with a 5 spd manual and no a/c? Even then automatic transmission and a/c was pretty common on the J-cars, Escorts and K-cars of their day. Here's a common scenario: punk in waiting gets his drivers license in 1985, is forced at gunpoint to drive his mother's 5 year old 1980 Citation. Hates it. It's a rust bucket, gutless and embarassing to drive. The power windows keep quitting (early door seals were bad on all cars), the a/c never worked and he hates the automatic. Finally out of college, he gets a full time job bagging groceries, springs for a brand new '90 Civic, 5 spd no a/c. Hey, the car is kind of fun to drive, never gives him any troubles. (Well, it is 10 years newer, newer technology and there is very little to break on it!) He drives the car for five years, lands a job working for R&T, copy writing. He gets a bit more money, buys a new '96 Beemer 3-series, because isn't that what all the sheeple are buying these days? Gosh, that's a nice car - much better than that POS Citation. Gets the chance to drive a '87 Lumina: hates the auto, hates the linear dash, hates the 'mushy' ride. Presto, GM builds $h! and he writes accordingly. Sound familiar?
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