The Big 3 aren't the only ones that suffer from their own legacy of 'problem children'. Anyone remember Jaguar's infamous electrical problems that nearly put the the brand 6-feet under? Or more recently, now about Mitsubishi's oil-burner 3.0 V6 that looked like a mosquito smogger driving down the road? Neither of those brands suffer those problems today but people still remember them for it...and promise never to patronize them because of it.
Like some foreign brands, GM made the bed they currently lie in with the [censored] they built in the 80s, and to a lesser extent, the 90's. I saw some pretty amazing stuff working at a Pontiac/Olds/GMC service department in the late 80's and early 90's. The Fiero's overall failure in quality and workmanship. The Quad4's tendency to burn lots of oil early in its life. The 3.1's hunger for intake gaskets. The 2.5's recall for noisy plastic timing gears. The 1989 GMC Sierra's massive recall for DANGEROUS failing ball joints. I could go on, but you get the picture. None of those issues exist at GM anymore, but the memories remain. Jaguar still fights their demons too, even though Ford completely turned that company around.
Through the same time period, Honda was faithfully building the multi-award-winning Accord, continuing to build on its indisputable reputation for quality and reliability. But even they suffered their own set of problems with the last-generation Accord's auto transmissions and I suspect lost some customers over it. My mom had an Accord from 1985 - 1993, and it still stands as the best car she's ever owned. It was my parents' first foreign car purchase and it NEVER darkened the door of a service department for anything but oil changes. They can't say that about their 72 Monte Carlo, 82 Silverado, 88 Silverado, 93 Thunderbird, 96 Crown Vic, 01 F-150, or their current Dodge Charger . They all had wierd problems, the Silverado being so bad that for the first time since I was born, my parents traded it long before it was paid off.
I went my rounds with the domestics too, and came out of it never wanting to own another one. I'm on my 17th vehicle since I turned 16 (that's 22 years) and the Japanese cars of that bunch have far outshined the domestics in reliability. My '97 Ranger is my last memory of owning a domestic car because it was just that horrible and I swore them off at that point. Surely you can understand why people would be gun-shy? Who has the time or patience to deal with repeated problems?
The Big 3 may well have ironed out the problems of the past and due to lack of experience, I can't testify to the quality of anything they're producing now. I can say that some of the cars they're putting out don't measure up in fit/finish, and material quality, and that has pushed me further away.
I think they'll get their act together once they figure out what's wrong with their current business model. They're producing some cars now that actually catch my eye. (Saturn Sky, Saturn Astra, GMC Acadia, Corvette)...but I'm gun-shy.
Like some foreign brands, GM made the bed they currently lie in with the [censored] they built in the 80s, and to a lesser extent, the 90's. I saw some pretty amazing stuff working at a Pontiac/Olds/GMC service department in the late 80's and early 90's. The Fiero's overall failure in quality and workmanship. The Quad4's tendency to burn lots of oil early in its life. The 3.1's hunger for intake gaskets. The 2.5's recall for noisy plastic timing gears. The 1989 GMC Sierra's massive recall for DANGEROUS failing ball joints. I could go on, but you get the picture. None of those issues exist at GM anymore, but the memories remain. Jaguar still fights their demons too, even though Ford completely turned that company around.
Through the same time period, Honda was faithfully building the multi-award-winning Accord, continuing to build on its indisputable reputation for quality and reliability. But even they suffered their own set of problems with the last-generation Accord's auto transmissions and I suspect lost some customers over it. My mom had an Accord from 1985 - 1993, and it still stands as the best car she's ever owned. It was my parents' first foreign car purchase and it NEVER darkened the door of a service department for anything but oil changes. They can't say that about their 72 Monte Carlo, 82 Silverado, 88 Silverado, 93 Thunderbird, 96 Crown Vic, 01 F-150, or their current Dodge Charger . They all had wierd problems, the Silverado being so bad that for the first time since I was born, my parents traded it long before it was paid off.
I went my rounds with the domestics too, and came out of it never wanting to own another one. I'm on my 17th vehicle since I turned 16 (that's 22 years) and the Japanese cars of that bunch have far outshined the domestics in reliability. My '97 Ranger is my last memory of owning a domestic car because it was just that horrible and I swore them off at that point. Surely you can understand why people would be gun-shy? Who has the time or patience to deal with repeated problems?
The Big 3 may well have ironed out the problems of the past and due to lack of experience, I can't testify to the quality of anything they're producing now. I can say that some of the cars they're putting out don't measure up in fit/finish, and material quality, and that has pushed me further away.
I think they'll get their act together once they figure out what's wrong with their current business model. They're producing some cars now that actually catch my eye. (Saturn Sky, Saturn Astra, GMC Acadia, Corvette)...but I'm gun-shy.
