CARBIZ

I love the National Post coverage of this today. Terence Corcoran rails against the stupidity. He quotes the Ontario Environment Minister as saying,"It's the equivalent of taking 200,000 cars off the road." Terence points out that Ontario adds 250k vehicles a year to the road. Isn't it funny that once one loony government (Australia) jumps on the band wagon, others are sure to follow? When I was in Brazil, nobody used incandescent bulbs, most buildings had motion detectors (in our hotel we would often walk into a darkened hallway), yet brown outs were common. Is this what our future holds? I am all for energy conservation, but why are governments in such a "banning mode" these days? Let the consumer decide where compact fluorescent bulbs are appropriate and where they are not. What a nutjob country Canada is becoming. It is legal to smoke grass in Toronto, but not spray your lawn with pesticides. It is legal for same sex couples to get married, but soon incandescent bulbs will be illegal. I can just see the throngs of gas guzzling cars crossing into Buffalo to smuggle bulbs, booze and cigarettes!

Point taken, but with respect to points I made on the Buick dealership thread earlier, Big 2.5 dealers tend to be older, in more expensive real estate areas and since their margins are being squeezed, frills are getting harder to offer. Anyone in business knows that labor costs are among the "cheapest" to cut, but often that isn't the smartest long term move.

As with all problems, the solutions generally are in the middle. Pure capitalism rewards greed and promotes selfishness; pure socialism encourages laziness. The trouble is that unbridled capitalism (Standard Oil, Bell 35 years ago, perhaps MS today) can get out of control, and what happens when the powerful become so powerful that they literally "railroad" (where do you think that term came from) their competition out of existence? C'mon, we are a social species. The government has to provide common roads, schools as well as police, military, etc. Do you expect a return to the ways of 300 years ago? Medical costs are another modern problem. One hundred years ago, you had your babies at home, if you had the flu you prayed, if you got an infection you probably died. Who could have invisioned the myriad of tests, equipment and medicines that we have today, to say nothing of the research behind it? I agree that social welfare APPEARS to reward the lazy, but $h! happens and not everyone is born lucky. I have seen people work very hard and do all the right things, but still have bad things happen to them. We live in a society where a single lawsuit can cost a person their house and life savings - is that necesarily right? I get just as angry as the next person when someone sucks the system dry, but the problem lays more with lazy civil servants, corrupt politicians, fat union leaders and others involved in a system of entitlement and distorted views of the world they live in. Frankly, the entire democratic process is corrupt and rotting on the vine. Do we blame the politicians? Do we blame the lazy middle class for not bothering to vote or get involved? Do we blame the media for creating news? Do we blame ourselves for our own narrow-mindedness and looking at the world only through our own eyes?

Hence, why it was free! Many dealers or even large shops that I am familiar with often use the apprentices/kids in the lube/oil bays. I've heard of lots of horror stories. The best is when the oil cap is not put back on! You're unlikely to find a guy with 20 years service who makes $60k a year doing oil changes and tire rotations.

Can I get Parents magazine in Canada? I am running low on cat litter and I need something to line my cat's box................................

I think the labels of "liberal" or "conservative" are old and outdated. I think it we broke down how people (real, on the street people) their feelings would be a mixed-bag of both. The real issue is that these honest, hard working Canadians and Americans don't vote. They feel like their issues are no longer being dealt with because the far right and the far left have hijacked the agenda. The trouble is, as soon as some van pulls up with a satellite dish on top and someone sticks a microphone in someone's face, they suddenly get brain rot. Hurricane Andrew? Blame the local politicians who allow people in a hurricane zone to build homes made from paper mache and balsa wood. Should we feel sorry for these people in their stick homes in the Carolinas that get blown into the ocean every 10 years? C'mon people! What about California? What do people expect of their governnment when that State slides into the ocean? We make decisions every day about our lives, and a lot of them are BAD decisions. Sadly, most people are lazy and selfish. They will continue buying Toyotas because their fat, lazy neighbor has one, not because they are better. And now America's economy is threatened because a bunch of fat, lazy people mortgaged their homes to the tits and those mortgage companies are going under? People need to take responsibility for their own actions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

I am bored already with this subject. My morning newspaper included 5 full pages to this idiotic rampage, including dragging up all the past ones and, of course, adding a Canadian angle to it. I ABSOLUTELY REFUSE TO READ ANYTHING ABOUT THIS RAMPAGE. That is the point, more losers with a gun figure they can make headlines and go down in a blaze of glory, be remembered forever. Sad, just sad. I will not participate in it. I blame the media. Again.

This guy is making too much sense....get him off this board right now! I would agree with a lot of what dwightlooi says, except that what is happening in the "emerging markets" and the debacle in the Middle East are two wild cards that no political pundits can call right now. The U.S. regaining its former glory is futile...and pointless, just like GM trying to hold onto 50%. However, future compeitition for resources (not just energy) between China and the U.S., is going to be scary. Europe has to some extent seen the light and realized that it has the most to lose and is scrambling to reduce its energy dependence. Right now, China is more interested in feathering the bed of its own emerging middle class, and it can fuel all its growth for the forseeable future on that new market, but wait until that gravy train ends for them. Then there is Iran and Iraq. What about the billiions the U.S. is spending there and how little return it is getting? I totally agree about nuclear. I would also add that fusion looks even more promising, so perhaps Bush should be spending some money there, too. "This IS a free country. The reason a lot of things are happening is because we let it happen" I had to repost that. Personally, I feel like I am surrounded by idiots in my city. People that are so blinded and so selfish that they can't see beyond their next paycheque about what Ottawa's policies are doing to destroy our future. About diluting our laws and our country to suit people who don't even like us as a people. About bone-headed decisions that are all about politics but nothing about what is actually good for this country. But if people are only going to whine, yet DO nothing about it, then all is lost.

...but then why did the previous generation Camaro/Firebird implode so spectacularly at the end? GM was selling around 10% of what they did in their heyday. We could not give away the Camaro in its last couple years - literally. We sold our last two UNDER cost. They handled and peformed great. They looked good. NObody up here wanted them. (Well, they were a little over-priced, IMO, but Canadians with $35k to spend would rather drive a FWD Infiniti.) I owned a '91 Caprice wagon that I factory ordered. Great car. Again, the sales numbers were dropping. If all this RWD hype is true, then the Caprice should have been a stellar seller. I will forgive GM the '80's because everone built crap. Where the wheels truly fell of the cart was when the trucks took off and GM/Ford lost interest in their FWD cars. Eleven years with the Cavalier, anyone? Toyota and Honda improved their small and mid-sized FWD cars, while GM and Ford counted their money with their Blazers and Explorers. There will never be a return to the '60s. Every time I see a re-run of Adam-12 or any of those old shows, I am more interested in watching the background so I can see all those big, beautiful American cars - without a Datsun or Toyota in sight. I feel the pain, boys and girls, but the reality is much different. But that was then. This wierd, sudden horsepower race that reared its ugly head in the past 5 years or so has annoyed me, frankly. When the marketing mandarins are mandating 250 hp minivans, someone has lost their marbles. GM needs to refocus on small and midized cars, pick ups and vans. Make those funto drive and "must have vehicles." GM has lost the PR war to Toyota, plain and simple. No amount of RWD vehicles is ever going to change that. Hell, Buzz Hargrove, the CAW leader, went on a tirade the other day about how many Canadian (read: union) jobs are going to be lost due to Washington's new rules, then guess what the CITY-TV Auto Shop opened with? That's right, the expert attacking GM and Ford for their adherance to gas guzzlers.

I had a good chuckle about the union-made remark. On Friday, I was up at my partner's union office doing some business. This entire building's sole purpose of existence is to provice services for union members. They have their own pharmacy, dentists, optomitrist, doctors - everything. I had to make two trips there on Friday, and the mascohist in me couldn't help but note that at least 3/4 of the vehicles in the lot both times were Toyotas, Hondas, etc. Anyone who would go to this building either works at the building (therefore, their clients are union members) or are union members using the services of this building, yet hardly any of the vehicles were union made, except, of course, the Pursuit that I am currently driving. So much for solidarity.

Well, the steering wheel is on the wrong side....guess they were really drunk that day. I sure hope those prices are in pesos or something...... :AH-HA_wink:

The safest thing is to only use XM in the car, then you don't have to listen to these butt-holes.

This business tends to be cyclical, and I think in terms of product and PERCEIVED quality, GM has gotten religion. The public in general is very fickle. There are enough cracks in Toyota's armour, that IMO Toyota's seemingly inexorable ascent in market share will halt. Athough I do agree there is an entire generation of people who hate Detroit for the '80s and a further generation growing up now on their parents Hondas, the pendulum can easily swing back, as long as GM doesn't seriously make any more screw ups! The obvious truth is that at 20-22% market share (where GM will settle out, IMO), there is no way GM needs this many brands. The lacklustre performance of the Aura is proving this. I know this is a HUGE can of worms on C&G, but GM really only needs Chevrolet, Buick and Cadillac. This entire Hummer, Saab and Saturn thing is only draining funds away from the brands that make sense. Chevrolet is sold around the world. GM has already committed Buick to China, which has the potential to become a more important market for GM than the U.S. itself and Cadillac is recognized around the world - so where do Saab, Hummer, Pontiac and Saturn fit into this new reality? The Torrent should have been a refreshed Equinox. Why would GM progress through the '04 Malibu to G6 to Aura, to '08 Malibu? Wouldn't 2 spectacular models have been better than 4 weaker attempts? The point has been made that Toyota spent $100 million on the launch of the new Camry. What is GM's budget for the Aura? Or Acadia?

There is a local show on Cable Pulse 24, a spin off of the Canadian City TV/Much Music phenomenon where they have viewers call in about car related matters. The permanent "expert", Mohammad something or other, absolutely hates GM and Ford. Even when callers phone in and tell him they have decided to buy a used Grand Prix or Windstar or whatever, he often tries to talk them out of it. Then they talk about "Car Care Canada," which sells subscriptions and you can pay to get invoice pricing. The entire show is just one big advertorial, but viewers don't realize it. We recently had a guy with a Saturn that had gone over 450k km - that we couldn't believe. I"ve had Caprice drivers with 700k km on the clock. Hell, in Brazil two or three taxis that we used (in smaller cities) had first generation Cavaliers with 500,000 miles on them, but then Brazlians don't have to contend with our salt and weather!

Just for the record, boys and girls: in case you are wondering why I just started using emoticons. I am so computer illiterate, that I thought there was something wrong with my computer because when I clicked on the emoticons it would just show text on my screen. I didn't realize that AFTER you "add" the reply it changes to the real thing.

I don't watch those shows at all, but Sanjay has become a bit of a racial flashpoint up here in the PC woods. I saw his picture and an article in the paper this week. Still, he is cute. Even if he is half (okay, nearly a third!) my age. If I was 25 :AH-HA_wink: years younger, his picture would be up on the wall, next to a '59 T-bird and Lief Garrett.

Well, speaking from personal experience, the three biggest vehicles that went away that are hurting my pocket book are: Alero, Tracker and Astro. There are a lot of Philipinos in the Toronto area, and for some strange reason they have BIG families (usually stuck with their in-laws!) and they loved the Astro because of its 8 passenger ability. A few of us guys were standing around yesterday (yeah, another Saturday where we are lucky to sell 8 new and used combined!) talking about how the Uplander seats are a giant leap BACKWARDS. The Venture seating configuration, with their fold and tumble arrangement were better and we can't keep 8 passenger used Ventures in stock when they come off lease Again people in Canada don't like the Tahoe. They would rather drive an Infiniti or Toyota for the same money, and they find it horrifically over-sized. Recently, I had a would-be client with an AWD Montana lease up in a couple months literally jump back when I opened the hatch on a Tahoe LTZ. He shook his head and said no way he would drive that. I haven't sold a Tahoe in a year, but sell 2 or 3 Uplanders a month. How sad is that?

'some JERKOFF wrote the 'letter of the month' to motor trend, ragging on the Lambdas as being heavy fuel suckers. Then ,he professed his undying love to the Honda Pilot as being so much better." It sounds like MT is proving their worth to Japan Inc. It also sounds like a jerk off (maybe even the same person?) who wrote into theToyota Star last year, saying that he had been passed by a Corolla on a hill while driving in a rental Impala LTZ. When someone writes letters to these so-called journalistic media outlets and the media outlet treat the obvious crap with any sort of credibility, it is clear where their agenda is. My favorite Lambda feature is that its emergence has forced me to brush up on my skills as a traffic cop, by directing people out of our dealership and to one of 3 P-B-GMC dealers within a couple miles of us. I also get to practice my ear-to-ear grin when they ask, "Gee, why doesn't Chevrolet have one?"

For the record, most of the world is paying $8-$10 a gallon. Other than the nutjob in Iran, the biggest wild card never before played is China. Their middle class is already bigger than the entire population of the U.S. They are already cozying up to West African countries, Indonesia, etc. All I am saying is that if Washington knows (or is actually looking 10-15 years ahead) something is up, let's get off this addiction to oil as quickly as we can - without going into a recession to do it.

There is no doubt that technology has greatly improved the fuel consumption and emissions of engines over the past 25 years. Anyone who ever drove the X-cars and K-cars of a generation ago will attest to this. However, whether there is a trillion barrels of oil sitting in tar sands or whether Iran nukes Isreal, there is absolutely no denying that the U.S. is going to run out of its own oil and gas, then it will have to import ALL of it - and much of it from not-so-friendly countries. Given to "natural" market forces, the auto industry in the U.S/Canada has bucked the world wide trend toward fuel efficiency and lower emissions. Witness the SUV/truck "craze" of the past 15 years. Is that a natural trend, or did MadisonAve/Detroit figure out a way to condemn the minivan/wagon and elevate the truck to circumvent CAFE ratings in the '80s? Trucks are more profitable and avoided CAFE. Bingo. Truck sales went from 25% to 50%. I'd hate to give Washington (or Ottawa) any credit, but perhaps someone has figured out that importing so much oil from places that hate us is NOT in our best interests. By using Global Warming as the bogeyman, perhaps the genie can be put back in the bottle and NOrth America can join the rest of the world in driving vehicles that are both fun and practical. The vehicles are out there, they just may not be RWD or V-8. Obviously, this is an "enthusiast" board, but I honestly don't understand the venom and level of anger that GM May be retracing its steps on RWD vehicles. It is not the end of the world. $10 a gallon gasoline would be the end of the world. A return to L.A. skyline of the '60s (or Mexico City now!) would be the end of the world. Flame away.

Does anybody in the "know" know if any of the big shots at the RenCen now were middle or senior management involved in the Saturn birth 20 years ago? Just wondering, because it seems that GM is stubbornly sticking to the Saturn brand when it seems that too many resources have been diverted toward what is, at best, a boutique brand. I just wonder if someone's early career was staked on the future success of Saturn and now that person or persons are too proud to admit defeat. I mean, if GM can write down more than $2 billion and walk away from Fiat, why did they not axe Saturn a few years ago and pour the money into Oldsmobile, rather than spendng more billions making Olds go away. Just wondering.

Firstly, no I wasn't kidding about the Hyundai...I like it a lot. It looks like the next generation Equinox - except that it is a 7 seater. That is something that Chevrolet is sorely lacking. I know most of you guys are American, but things are much different up here. Chevrolet is just another foreign nameplate. The Sierra outsells the Silverado (hell, even the Ram outsold the Silverado last year!), the Cobalt is not that far ahead of the G5, the Montana always outsold the Venture. The Vibe does remarkably well, considering how old it is. The strongest dealers in the Toronto area are P-B-GMC dealers. So the nameplate Chevrolet is getting squeezed between the Hyundai/Kia dealers below, and the P-B-GMC dealers above; the Saturn thing (although good for GM, IMO) is not good for Chevrolet. Part of the reason that GM is getting killed in the large urban markets is because there is some type of dealer on every corner. Sure, in some hick town there may NOT be a Jaguar or Kia dealer, but there are plenty in the big city. It doesn't matter if Chevrolet has twice as many dealers as Saturn when you only have to drive 2 or 3 miles to get to a Saturn dealer. I don't think with the Aura Saturn will be a threat to Chevrolet yet, but give the real Opel product to them and it will just be one more nail in the coffin - up here. Remember, this is Canada where the #1 selling vehicle for years was the Caravan, not the F-150.

That is an interesting point, and one that is often exploited. It is quite simple for a woman (even if she is already pregnant) to come here, say on a tourist visa, then have the baby here. This baby is automatically a citizen, given the nature of its birth certificate. The mother works here illegally for years, and then applies for legal status, on "humanitarian"grounds. It is a well worn loophole. The immigration industry (the lawyers, advocates, para-legals and organizations who feed off the immigration business) know how to use this well. The situation is further exacerbated in the Great White North due to our "free" medical. Recently, the Toyota Star did a bleeding heart piece, comparing Sweden's health care system to Canada's and the Star wondered why, oh why was Sweden's working better, with less spending. HELLO! Sweden doesn't have 350,000 "new Canadians" arriving every year, many of whom have never been to a doctor in their lives! Sometimes I get crazy when the obviousness of something jumps out at you, yet the "experts" all skirt the real issues and politcal correctness buries it.

I think some - shall we say, less than honest, mechanics resent DexCool because it cuts into their business. I have heard our service advisors telling people to flush out their rads every couple of years; even though, the manual states quite specifically 5 years or 160k km. GM technicians are emphatic about this. Anecdotal or not, a customer of mine just traded his '98 Malibu with 60,000 (miles, for you guys) on it because the original waterpump had a miniscule external wetness to it, not even a leak quite yet. He didnt' want to pay $400 or so on a 9 year old car. Even though his mileage was low, I would say that 9 Canadian damp winters are worth an extra 50,000 or more miles!

My partner has been studying for his Canadian citizenship test for about 3 months. I am proud of the fact that I am able to answer nearly all of his questions from memory. I have no problem with immigrants being tested this way. Firstly, the fact that they can answer the questions at all is a disguised English proficiency test. Secondly, those of us born here are taught this stuff all through school, it's just that it is taught at an age where most of us found it deathly boring. I was fascinated by world geography when I was a kid, but hated history, especially Canadian history. Modern Canadian history makes my blood boil, because it is all being re-written to paint the Europeans as a bunch of blood-thirsty conquerors who enslaved or wiped out peaceful, eco-friendly indigenous people. Hogwash and balderdash! I don't know about south of the border, but Canadian schools are being taught a different history than I was 35 years ago. More crap from the products of 40 years of liberal social arts programs. Just remember the tens of thousands of "Canadians" who had to be re-patriated from Beirut last summer (at the cost of some 40 million dollars, it is "estimated"), most of whom promptly went right back to their homes in the area once the fighting stopped.