So an 2001 Olds Intrigue came into the shop today… None of the power windows worked… No, not electrical, it was mechanical. All 4 had unlatched from the scissor-track mechanism. The tracks went up and down, but the windows didn’t…
Not hating on GM, but all of the GM’s I’ve worked on in my shop have had nothing but trouble.
Tried doing an oil change on a 98-ish Sunfire/Cavvy with the 2.2L? The oil filter is IMPOSSIBLE to get to unless you’ve got tiny hands and arms… After that, they switched it to the top-mount cartridge filter where you need a 32mm socket to take the cover off… What are the chances that a home-mechanic or home-DIY’er has a 32mm socket… Honestly…
On the other hand, I worked on an 09 Ford Flex a few weeks ago. Beautiful car! Very good build quality on the interior, engine bay was set up simply, everything is easy access.
GM has come a long way, just hope it’s awesome success back when it was fresh will revamp and come back for this millenium…never will forget the cars of the 50’s and 60’s! quality wise, I was noticing their new cars out from 07’ and on, they were drastically catching up and improving, hopefully they learn or else they’ll burn…
honestly i think out of the big 3, Ford is impressing me the most right now…they’ve come full circle from where they used to be, and you hear lots lately about Chrysler and GM having all this trouble right now…and yet Ford seems to be doing alright.
i’m not a fan of the design of the Flex, but in terms of build quality, it does look very impressive for a Ford. and i really like the new Fusion (i know i know…it’s just a re-packaged 6).
i can agree that GM has come a loooong way since the early '90s, where they were basically using the same engine in every single one of their cars and had 6 different brand-name models based on the exact same platform. but i had a 2009 G5 4-door rental for 2 weeks in February while i was putting new brakes on the Jetta…thing had 8500km on it and already had problems. noisy brakes, humming from one of the front wheels at speed, and something in the front end was loose; rattled when making left turns or whenever i went over a bump. not to mention it was BORING AS HELL to drive. the biggest thing that pissed me off, though, was their lack of R&D when it came to the interior…the corners of the centre console stack are almost fucking 90 degree angles…and i’m 6’5, so after anything more than a 5 minute drive, my right knee was throbbing in pain…and no matter how far back or forward i put my seat, unless i put the cruise on, it didn’t make a difference.
i just hope, upon killing Pontiac, that they rebadge the G8 GT as a Chevy and turn it into the new Impala SS…that’s probably the only car in their entire current scope of brands and models that i would consider buying for even a second.