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18895. Jenerator - 3/15/2006 12:03:26 AM How often does Uzzmakk come around? I am curious what his latest book acquistion was/is. 18896. anomie - 3/15/2006 12:05:08 AM My car has two very irritating "features". The stereo raises the volume all by itself as I accelerate. This bugs the hell out of me, especially if I'm trying to talk with someone. And I get an alarm buzz anytime the outdoor temp reaches 37 degrees. Makes me jump. One of these days I'm gonna hit something when that damn buzzer goes off.
Auto climate control is pretty useless too. 18897. anomie - 3/15/2006 12:06:56 AM Google on Robin Reliant and see if you recognize it, Jen. At some angles it looks like both front wheels are missing. 18898. alistairConnor - 3/15/2006 12:15:56 AM Mac, dissing French cars for the electrics is like criticizing Japanese cars for rust... so nineties. They got over those problems.
And parts? any decent garage will get them from the factory in 24 hours, for any Renault or Peugeot/Citroen...
... oh.
So, drive an Irish car then! 18899. alistairConnor - 3/15/2006 12:19:01 AM My Citroen van is far too big for me. Especially for commuting and parking in town. I really should have a little car for that, preferably a hybrid, but I'll have to wait till the van is about 5 years old so I can afford it. Then I'll keep the van, 20 years or so, for its real purpose : holidays. 18900. anomie - 3/15/2006 12:34:06 AM Jeremy Clarkson is a car critic and writer for the UK times. Funny guy and always a fun read in the weekend edition.
Speaking of the times. Check the Food and Drink section for A.A. Gill's pieces. Another very funny restaurant critic who gets around to the food in gthe last few sentences.
Both these guys only recently accessable online. For free, anyway. 18901. wonkers2 - 3/15/2006 12:55:47 AM Anomie, what you said was true in the 60s and 70s, but quite a while back GM got the message and has been playing catch-up ball with Toyota, even to the point of forming a joint venture (NUMMI) in order to have a first hand learning opportunity. Robust engineering for durability has been a watchword in GM for 15 years or so. They aren't quite there yet, but the improvement has been spectacular. You mention replacing suspensions--I'm driving a 2001 Oldsmobile Intrigue with 150,000 miles on it with the original shock absorbers, and exhaust system. The only thing I've had to replace was the alternator and of course brakes and one set of tires at around 100,000 miles. (A majority of the miles were on an Interstate highway between Detroit and Lansing, Michigan.) 18902. Jenerator - 3/15/2006 1:25:20 AM Anomie,
I don't doubt that they (the Reliant) were in England, I just don't recall seeing them. I think I was more fascinated by how well kept the cars were overall. My husband and I never saw dinged up cars when we there last time. Plus, we would count how many Range Rovers would drive by in a minute in London! 18903. anomie - 3/15/2006 1:29:07 AM Wonks, I believe what you're saying is true, but they lost a lot of customers back then. I actually bought an AMC Hornet, trying to be a good buy-American consumer. Last (new) American car I ever bought. I know that's not a GM product, but my brother had a Vega.
But it's also a matter of style. I think Honda and Toyota keep getting that part right and GM plays catch-up. The Cadillac looks good, but that's about it, unless you like the retro look. 18904. anomie - 3/15/2006 1:34:47 AM Jen, there's a whole "street-cred" thing going on with cars in England, and part of that is the license plate. Up till just a year or so ago, the plate showed the year of the car and people payed a premium to be the first with that year's registration letter..."Yeah I'm cool, I drive a J-reg)"... that kind of thing. This was true for all ages too. AND it was job-related kind of perk to have the most recent reg number.
My GF at the time was very frustrated in the States. She kept asking me how I knew the year of everyone's car. Of course I didn't give a rat's ass and she was baffled by that. 18905. wonkers2 - 3/15/2006 1:56:57 AM Toyota, in my opinion, is not a style leader. That distinction, at the moment, goes to Nissan, whose chief designer started out at GM, BTW. The new Ford Fusion/ Mercury Milan is a nice clean design, in my opinion. So is the Buick Lacrosse. If you like Toyota but want to buy American and help conserve gasoline, get a Pontiac Vibe which is built by NUMMI in Fremont, California, on the same assembly line and with the same components as the Corolla. The two are essentially the same car with a different badge. 18906. anomie - 3/15/2006 2:18:04 AM Toyota may not be the style leader. You have a good point about Nissan. Honda is out front too.
Made in America hardly matters anymore. Toyotas, Hondas and BMWs are assembled here, and many American brand cars import parts. The companies are pretty much global, aren't they? So it's mainly a job thing, and it mainly doesn't matter anymore. 18907. wonkers2 - 3/15/2006 3:28:09 AM The job thing matters a lot to GM and Ford and Chrysler workers, shareholders, engineers, managers and retirees whose pensions and health care are insecure or eliminated entirely and many of whom have been laid off. Not to mention the employees and stockholders of components companies in bankruptcy. 18908. Magoseph - 3/15/2006 10:31:07 AM Hello, everyone! 18909. alistairconnor - 3/15/2006 11:28:12 AM Hi Mago.
Might I just say that the French are leaders in car styling? I know, the world revolves around me and my perceptions...
Citroën in particular maintains its brand image with subtle references to classic past models.
The French car companies are still French -- there is an anachronistic economic nationalism in the air. By contrast, the British let it all go, and have nothing to show for it but a couple of Toyota factories. 18910. PelleNilsson - 3/15/2006 2:15:31 PM I agree about the French industry being the leader in car design. 18911. thoughtful - 3/15/2006 3:42:58 PM Yes, gm has made some moves to improve the quality of esp their buick line, but I'm not old enough to buy a buick.
And regardless of your desire to support all those workers, and granted they are only partially at fault for the mismanagement of the company assets, the fact remains that the organization was and still is entrenched in an arrogance that says it knows better what americans should drive than they do and it's going to continue to tell them.
The nature of business is those who don't serve the needs of their market are doomed to fail.
I kept a quote on my desk for years from Marshall Field as the key to customer satisfaction: "Give the lady what she wants." 18912. wonkers2 - 3/15/2006 3:58:33 PM Misjudgments yes. Arrogance no (current management).
Cars are much like wine or cheese. People like variety. One of GM's big mistakes was to think it could retain it's market share in the face of a flood of cars from all over the world. Free trade benefits most Americans, but it visits hardships on a significant number. They shouldn't be rewarded with broken promises, under-funded pensions, unfunded health care and union contracts torn up in bankruptcy proceedings while managements or take-over artists like "Fast Eddy" Lampert walk away with millions.
Moreover, I'm not sure that American workers should be expected to compete with workers in other countries who aren't paid a living wage, who work in unsafe plants which spew pollutants into the world's air and water. 18913. wonkers2 - 3/15/2006 4:02:07 PM A case can be made that the American companies gave the American customers the SUVs, trucks and muscle cars they wanted. They erred in not counting on $60 a gallon oil. I hope thoughtful buys a car that gives at least 30 miles/gallon and not a GMC Yukon or Ford Navigator or a Porsche SUV at $100,000 a copy. 18914. thoughtful - 3/15/2006 4:30:36 PM Yes, yes wonks, but you're forgetting that the auto workers have been paid excessively for years with promised benefits packages that far exceeded those of most workers and work rules that have stifled productivity and streamlined management processes. (It took Saturn skunkworks to create GM's first auto that embodied quality and customer focus, and didn't corporate try to kill them off for years by absorbing them.) Now that culture is coming back to haunt them. The mgmt took those wage increases and trotted off to washington looking for protection like the voluntary restraint agreements and fighting the very regulations that could've saved them at this point...the CAFE stds. And I disagree, as from folks i've talked to on the inside, the arrogance of gm has never left them and it's been a key driver of their corp culture still.
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