GM in history: The American streetcar

Every time I am walking into a GM showroom I am being bombarded with outmost superiority of GM products over any other car maker. To me it is a put off. Haven't experienced it with other car manufacturers dealers. Maybe to some extend, but never to a level of my lack of patience. Having said that, all GM cars I have ever owned had some problems. Granted it's to be expected. When I take my problematic issue with the GM dealership (my personal experience) on those experiences alone I will not deal with GM for the rest of my life. I have never been so much disrespected, lied and coned. In other words when I walk to any other dealership with any problem, my experience is like from a different planet. First, whenever there is accountability for a defect I do get sincere apology (my case). The issue is addressed in a timely and satisfactory manner to me. When GM was only able to give me repeated sorry and nothing else.
I am sorry but the quality of the product and quality of the SERVICE speaks for itself. GM is far from fulfilling both. They might spend hundreds of $$ on advertisement, it means nothing to me. This is my personal opinion without including experiences of my relatives or friends. I don't consider Prius to be the ultimate vehicle ever build and it might not suit all.
If GM was the ultimate carmaker, its reputation would be recognized globally, sadly it isn't.

 

I've had 2 GM cars in the past. A '87 Cavalier and a '97 Achieva. Both of which had issues, because no car is perfect. Neither one ever died on me once, let alone twice. To me, if Toyota SERVICE spoke for itself, it would have caught the sudden death bug the first time. To me, Toyota quality isn't what I had hoped.

 

Yes, I do. GM promises a 20% improvement with their mild hybrid for a 2K premium (system + content upgrades).

Let's look at the only model Toyota offers that has a non-hybrid version. The Highlander. Base price is 24, 530. Mileage is 24/27 (25.5). The hybrid starts at 33,030! And for slightly over 8K more, you get 33/28 (30.5 combined). So you're getting a bit over 20% more, for a bit over 8K more. And they wonder why the things haven't sold...

 

And how is the HH less expensive? And less worthy of ridicule?

 

Toyota's quality has exceeded what I had always hoped GM's could be. There are too many people out there in America who have been seriously burned by GM's lackings. You sound like one of the lucky ones who didn't have to live the hell of buying a lemon from GM. Most Toyota buyers probably don't want GM to fail, I know that I don't, but we're not going back to GM and give them another chance to f**k us over. Perhaps the reason why we seem so obsessed with Toyota is because it's everything that GM is not. Try to understand that you haven't been burned by GM as we have been.

 

Most of you say that Gm has been run by fools for decades, but on the other hand blame them for the "supersizing" of American tastes. So if GM did not change public trans in the 20's and 30's you are saying that most folks would use electic trains and trolleys to travel? What exactly are you saying that GM changed?

 

Why do you keep walking into GM showrooms then? :lol:

and, 2. How is this different from any other car manufacturer, or most other products? Ever hear of someone selling their product like something amongst these lines: "Well, our tensegrity unit isn't that great, so, I suggest you go across the street and visit our competitors..."

Kind of like the way every DVD has a great review written on the back cover...

 

She just likes to tease i guess.

 

They're all out to make money. Money is all that counts.

American car makers' strategy is to maximize profits by scrimping on quality control, appealing to Americans' patriotism while outsourcing parts to overseas manufacturers, begging/bribing lawmakers into giving them handouts and pressuring Japan to limit its exports to the U.S., and focusing on vehicles with high profit margin, like gas-guzzling SUV's, with misleading commercials touting safety, when those monstrosities are actually less safe overall. And of course sabotaging mass transit.

Japanese carmakers' strategy is to capture market share by producing better-quality product.

My first two cars were American-made because I wanted to support local companies and local workers. But those two cars were such total junk, that my next two cars were purchased based on quality, and Japan is where the quality is. My next car is likely to be Japanese also, but I'll read CU before buying, and see if the American companies have done a 180 and decided to give the patriotic American public a car that's worth buying, or whether they're still shafting poor Joe American. (I fully expect it to be the latter, though. I think it's a corporate culture that won't change overnight. And right now, the Prius is so far above anything else you can buy for under $200,000 that for the time being, it's Toyota for me.) (I wish Honda had developed the Prius, though. I was treated a LOT better by Honda than by Toyota, though both have treated me a lot better than American Motors. Yep, it was a long time ago I made the switch to Japan!)

 

Yeah, those devious Japanese. Building quality cars that last forever and get good mileage. They KNEW that the American companies could never do that. Curses. :lol:

 

What are you refering to?

 

You can quit crowing about Toyota dealer's superior service anytime now, Carmen.

It took six trips to two different dealers to finally get them to replace the auto headlight level sensor on my Prius.

How many threads and posts have we read about dealer oil changes and over fills?

Nobody's perfect. It's just a *little* too disturbing to read of the glee from certain Prius owners over GM and the other US automaker's current situation.

 

...and I got shafted by my Toyota dealership on a spare tire...

...and had to wait for about 90 minutes for a "special" inspection process...

Only once (out of maybe 50) have I been to what I consider almost the perfect dealership, it was one of these HUGE shops outside of Boston: Boch. I think they're one of those guys that have a branch for each manufacturer...

 

It is fact that, toyota dealers leave a lot to be desired when it comes to servicing what they sell.

[Broken External Image]:http://www.jdpa.com/presspass/pr/images/2005092a.gif

 

Ooooh good one Mal...

Seems like they even tracked it for 3 years, as opposed to some data sets I've seen people sling around, where only one 'perspective' was offered to support a point...