Thinking Of Buying A Chevy Cruze

[sciphi]

Originally Posted By: blackman777
Originally Posted By: Oil Changer
Any owners out there? What is the consensus on these cars? Should I avoid buying one? It's easy to find good stuff; tell me about the bad.

High maintenance costs according to cars.com and Edmunds (see other thread about cost to own).




In my experience and the experiences of many other Cruze owners, this car, even with the 1.4T, is not a high-maintenance car. Change the oil with full synthetic every 7500 miles or when the OLM tells you to and rotate the tires at the same time. The only required maintenance occurs later, such as changing the air filter at 45k miles and transmission fluid at 47k miles. Those are pretty easy maintenance.

Another thing to consider is that everything in the Cruze engine bay is pretty much out in the open, especially with the 1.4T engine in that bay. No contorting hands to change headlight bulbs, no removing a layer of parts to change the battery, and no scraping knuckles to change spark plugs at 100k miles.

 

[whip]

Originally Posted By: blackman777
Not really. My employer might be Boeing, but that doesn't mean I forbid my self from flying on Airbus to fly crosscountry for Thanksgiving. That's because I know my trivial $180 ticket won't make any difference to Boeing's billion-dollar bottom line.

If you worked for Apple, would you use an Android phone?

It's your choice to not be loyal, but like I said, don't complain when they lay you off.

 

[blackman777]

Apple's laid-off people even when they were loyal iPhone and Mac users, so what's the difference? You act as if the corporation cares about such stuff. They don't... they only care about the bottom line & making 1 dollar/hour Chinese slap together phones/computers 24 hours a day (until they climb to the roof & jump to escape the torture).

 

[Spazdog]

I see many different brands at the GM plant here.

Virtually all UAW built cars and the majority are probably GM but you do see some other brands.

 

[blackman777]

Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Working at Ford and driving a GM wouldn't be a great career move for example.

I thought we were discussing Coca-Cola workers choosing to drink Pepsi at home (and thereby driving Coke corporation into bankruptcy). At least, that's the message *I* was replying too. I was making the point that Coke makes billions of dollars a year, and will not go bankrupt if they lose a few hundred dollars, because their workers don't buy the product.

BTW I bet if you could sit in the corporate high-level meetings, Coke is already plotting to close some factories (or maybe portions of them) and ship the work to India, and their workers' loyalty means nothing. That was true at my previous company, which shipped all the work to India, except for a few "oversight" engineers who reviewed & approved the product as the Indian engineers designed it.

My loyalty certainly didn't save my job (or my friends' jobs). Pretty soon I wouldn't be surprised if most U.S. airplanes are, like cars and clothes and ______, not U.S. at all, but instead Indian or Chinese.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: ram_man
Originally Posted By: whip
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

True in general, but you're oversimplifying things. Many employers are very adamant about their employees' use of competitor's product. My wife used to work for Pepsico. Unless you were in R&D, if you were seen drinking Coke at work, you'd be fired. So, yes, it's a free country, meaning, if you want to drive a Civic, you're free to quit your job at GM.

I don't understand why this is so complicated to some people? Besides, if one company pays my bills, why would I support the competition?


well he didn't say who he worked for so if he works for GM why is a focus on his mind

He did not say he works for GM. I was just giving you an example. Likely he works for a parts supplier that caters to the US auto makers, whatever that means these days.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: blackman777
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Working at Ford and driving a GM wouldn't be a great career move for example.

I thought we were discussing Coca-Cola workers choosing to drink Pepsi at home (and thereby driving Coke corporation into bankruptcy). At least, that's the message *I* was replying too.


That's the direction the thread went, yes. Though it was originally about buying a Ford or GM, I was hoping to take it back in that direction

However, you are demonstrating the point I was making which is that the Boeing analogy you made is not the same as the Coke one because you aren't buying an airliner, but rather simply partaking in a service offered by a company who owns one and therefore the purchasing decision is not yours. You are buying a SERVICE, not a PRODUCT. When you work at Coke or Pepsi and choose to purchase for consumption the competing product, that is a direct purchasing decision made by you, the employee.

Do you see the distinction?

Quote:
I was making the point that Coke makes billions of dollars a year, and will not go bankrupt if they lose a few hundred dollars, because their workers don't buy the product.


Of course not. It isn't about profit as much as it is about loyalty. In a situation where you work for a company that manufactures a product, it is oft in the best interest of the employee to purchase said brand of product rather than its direct competition lest somebody in management observe this and begin to question one's loyalty which isn't great for upward mobility. This is pretty much common sense.

Quote:
BTW I bet if you could sit in the corporate high-level meetings, Coke is already plotting to close some factories (or maybe portions of them) and ship the work to India, and their workers' loyalty means nothing. That was true at my previous company, which shipped all the work to India, except for a few "oversight" engineers who reviewed & approved the product as the Indian engineers designed it.


Yes, that may be the case. Or it may not be. While I understand your situation has bittered you to this it doesn't mean that it will play out that way for others. As a general rule of thumb, spiting your place of employment by intentionally purchasing products from their competition isn't a wise career move.

Quote:
My loyalty certainly didn't save my job (or my friends' jobs). Pretty soon I wouldn't be surprised if most U.S. airplanes are, like cars and clothes and ______, not U.S. at all, but instead Indian or Chinese.


If you worked at an airliner manufacturer, how could you have demonstrated the type of purchasing loyalty we are speaking of here? I'm a bit confused. As far as I know, nobody in the manufacturing portion of airliner assembly would have the funds to purchase and operate the products that represent their brand in the market. Its not like if you worked at Boeing you could go out and buy a 747

We must be careful with the parallels we draw between different industries. The realm of large airplane manufacture is vastly different from that of automotive manufacture. In general, everybody working at Ford or GM can afford a new Ford or GM. Nobody except for maybe a few guys in the top brass would have the cash on hand to buy a new airliner. And even if we ignore the immense cost of the initial purchase, owning one makes no sense. The product isn't designed to be affordable by the people who make it, the complete opposite of the auto sector.

 

[lovcom]

Originally Posted By: EricF
Next friday my Mom & I are going to get a 2014 Cruze, 1.6L gas no turbo.
She has a 2003 Saturn Ion quad coupe with the CVT tranny that is working itself out of functionality.
So GM ok'd a $5000 rebate on a new GM. So the dealer made it happen and now they're pulling the trickery out.
the latest one is, since she's getting the $5k, she doesn't qualify for ANY incentive or rebate. Well, I want to see that in writing.
They're pulling all the sales tactics on her and she's called me & I told her to keep them in the dark, sign NOTHING and just tell them they'll see her Friday. They aren't aware I'm going to go with her and make them suffer for the unprofessionalism they've shown towards her and the waste of everybody's time pushy sales tactics that aren't working.

I don't like negotiating with car dealers/sales because while I put up a good front, I usually find myself wondering what they have in store that I might miss, or they'll tweak a number and I won't catch it.

I plan on talking price and getting that locked in, my strategy is to start at 1 1/2% above dealer cost, then go up to 2% and then walk. 2% is fair IMHO. Especially when I know they're making a lot more off the car than they let you believe.
We'll start with price first, get it locked in with tax & licensing, then we'll talk how to pay for it. My Mom has a check ready to fill out. I know dealers hate cash. But I don't want them to have an upper hand, although I know they already will.
The Cruze will go about 5000 miles a year, on the high side, it will never be on the freeway (unless I drive it) and it'll never go over 45mph, (unless I drive it).
So once a year oil changes would be sufficient I assume!


Eric, you don't have a very good stragety for buying the new car. You look at dealer invoice but you ignore the fact that the factory gives dealerships internal rebates, so if I were you, I would start at 10% BELOW dealer invoice. They often still make a profit even there. They want you to be fixated on dealer invoice cost. It's an industry joke that they have...they see customers thinking that paying dealer invoice is a great deal, and they laugh as the dummies drive away their new car. hahahahahahahahahahaha like that!