# Theres a new name atop the big 3 manufacturers

**URL:** <https://forums.speedlife.net/t/theres-a-new-name-atop-the-big-3-manufacturers/197678>\
**Category:** PittSpeed Off Topic\
**Created:** [May 27, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/theres-a-new-name-atop-the-big-3-manufacturers/197678 "2008-05-27T13:41:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 56

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**Author:** ![OLDS\_ROCKETMAN](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forums.speedlife.net/olds_rocketman/32/5942_2.png) [@OLDS\_ROCKETMAN](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/OLDS_ROCKETMAN)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2008, 10:04am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/theres-a-new-name-atop-the-big-3-manufacturers/197678/56 "2008-06-02T10:04:11Z")

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> [@Online Poker for $$$?](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/online-poker-for/36260/25):
>
> I hate to jump right into a fire, but this is messed up. I see a variety of cars in my shop every day. The most common problems: GM, and Ford, plain and simple. Can GM make a fuel pump that won’t fail before 100k. Can Ford make a transmission that won’t need a rebuild before 60k? I deal with this “buy American” notion everyday and it’s crap. Open the hood of your Chrysler. It WILL say Mitsubishi somewhere. If it doesn’t, it says BOSCH. Hmm Japan or Germany. NOT America. Why? Because the UAW is too greedy and screwed the American automaker. Thus it stunted the evolution of technolgy in America. I have owned 5 American 80’s cars and they all pale to my GERMAN 1986 Jetta with 215k on the clock and is STILL up and running with most of the ORIGINAL parts. My '87 Pontiac died at 154k, my '85 Ford rotted apart @ 143k, and my '88 Chevy had no power left at 152k. Though to be fair the '88 Chevy was totalled. I could rant about this forever, but the fact is that Germany and Japan build superior cars. Yes, they cost more to fix, but they aren’t going to need it as often. They do require some more maintainance in some cases, but with proper care will outlast their American counterparts. Why do you think Toyota can add Scion to it’s linup, but GM had to drop Oldsmobile and Chysler had to drop Plymouth. A shrinking American car market. My 1986 Jetta gets 36 mpg highway. A 2008 Cobalt gets 32 mpg highway. Twenty-two years later, we get 4 mpg less? What’s wrong with this picture?

all my GM’s are still going strong 25 years later… my dads Grand Merq still looks and rides brand new with 135K. its all relative. I totally disagree with them outlasting american cars. i’m not sayin the likewise, i’m saying its all relative on how the car was cared for from the start. low end cars are mostly bought by people who dont take care of their shit and it will fail.

Assuming ur theory of cost more to fix and breaks less often…wouldn’t that still leave you about even in the long run?

GM got a way from its bread and butter and made the market buy what it was selling. Had they stuck with what they did well and developed that we would have a have a nice RWD fuel injected V8 or v6 all through the 90’s. they totally abandoned their best product to try and compete in the same field. It cost them dearly. they also had no car to get traffic into the showroom… in the 80’s they had people come in to look at camaro z28 but couldnt afford it so they left with a caprice…in the 90’s and now there was nothing to draw people in… who was gonna go down to the dealer just to check out that lumina z34?

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