Obama’s GM ‘Success Story’ Headed for Bankruptcy

[RedDog]

The six year old Caravan with no air bought new came with a five year warranty. Why not get it repaired for free as opposed to having no AC for three years? Same goes for the transmission, although that particular failure was world famous in everything from Caravans to the Dynasty in combination with that V6 engine.

Even without warranty, things have to be kept in perspective. $2,600. won't put tires on a Corvette or a Porsche 911. A "B" service on a Smart car is a thousand dollars at a Mercedes dealer ($960. actually). Perhaps a bus pass is an option.

[Edward Kennedy]

I'm far from a fan of Chrysler products. I owned one p/u truck, it was alright but our Caravan, bought new for $32,000 lasted 6 years, had no air for three of those years, miscellaneous small issues throughout the time we owned it, needed a new tranny 3 weeks before X-mas at a cost of 2600.00 when the van had barely over 140k on it and when we traded it with around 260K we got $600.00 for it. Many lots wouldn't even take it on trade because of the busted air, the "high" kilometers and the glut of Caravans on the market because of the "off lease" infusion of vehicles that abound every year.

Chrysler products are junk in my opinion and experience.

I would not buy a "shitty" van of any make.

When we had a young family and their friends to haul around to sports etc we needed a van. They stopped making full size station wagons any more. We had Chevy Caprice Estate Wagon that i Bought when it was 8 years old with almost 250k on it and it was a great machine. I would still like to have that car now if it were a freshly minted brand new vehicle.

We had a Pontiac Catalini 1981 and it had over 300,000 when the floor fell out of it. Bought it second hand from first owner. It had a 305 engine, and that plus the tranny is stored in the back. Recently had the manifold removed and installed on our 1977 Blazer to accommodate 4 barrel carb replacing the 2 barrel.

[Fairwarning]

GM are fools. My forbears and family to present were ALL GM customers. When I went to purchase a new 3/4 ton in 08, I went to Gm and all was hunkey dory until I told them I was not interested in buying total insurance ocverage and paying $1300. to the insurance criminals a year. They told me I could not do that, as I was using their low interest financing and had to cover their investment in the event of theft/fire etc.

I told them I would still pay for the item, but they refused so I offered to place in trust liquid assets until it was paid. Their reply was that this would create a big can of worms situation. To me, that translated that they did not care at me being stiffed $700.00 a year for insurance over the minimum PLPD or that they had stock in the crooked insurance industry.

I went to Dodge and they did not even look at my assets, they approved it within 24 hours and told me, "WHATEVER IT TAKES". GM lost a loyal client and untold piles of $$$ as others are influenced by me.

Fools. Any more purchases and it will be Dodge.

I do not care for Ford trucks.

If i bought a car it would also be Dodge, probably a Challenger.

Ed, I gave up on GM much longer ago. I bought myself a brand new 2 door Cavalier in 1991(wow, thought I was something then in my sporty car... )

About 2 months after buying it, I was washing it one day and noticed the floor was wet in the corner of the front passenger side. Uh oh, leak somewhere I thought. Discovered on my own that the windshield was not straight...windshield was crooked and a small gap was between the windshield and the pillar. Water was able to run down the pillar and into the floor.

Took it to my GM dealer. They actually tried to blame me. I was furious..."you guys think I did something to the car? The ferakin' car is new, the windshield is original you dumb $#$***". They refused again....so I took my car keys and rammed them into the shirt pocket of the short fat weasal service manager. Told him "the car is yours now, you pay for it" and started to walk away. After more arguing they finally agreed to remove the windshield and place it in correctly.

I didn't find the windhsheild itself to be annoying. Yes, the workers in the plant and quality control should have seen this but mistakes happen. The unbelievable part was them trying to blame me....how bad can you treat a customer and how ridiculous to blame me since the car was new etc..

I paid that car off in a few yrs. and have never gone back to GM since.

[Red Green]

I've personally never bought a GM, nor would I. Ever since I have been old enough to consider buying a car I realized GM was putting out total crap. Personally, Toyota has always done me right. My Honda has been decent enough, but not as bullet proof as my Toyotas.

[Julian]

The six year old Caravan with no air bought new came with a five year warranty. Why not get it repaired for free as opposed to having no AC for three years? Same goes for the transmission, although that particular failure was world famous in everything from Caravans to the Dynasty in combination with that V6 engine.

Even without warranty, things have to be kept in perspective. $2,600. won't put tires on a Corvette or a Porsche 911. A "B" service on a Smart car is a thousand dollars at a Mercedes dealer ($960. actually). Perhaps a bus pass is an option.

The warranty expired at 80k or something like that. We had it back to the dealer who sold it to us and they were correct about the lack of warranty that is the facts of doing business with Chrysler. Dodge is well known for a/c problems. That extends to their Jeep,products as well. Their tranny's are junk, they have been for years, they know it, they have never rectified it. Maybe when I was buying the van I could have been told that the a/c and tranny were junk by the salesman.....

As for the value of the transmission, that is irrelevant to your cited examples. I wasn't a wealthy single who spent 80 grand on a sports car for the fun of it, I was raising a young family and every dollar mattered.

Chrysler is a garbage company that never should have received one cent of bail out money. They make garbage and they know it.

[DA_Champion]

These companies blame the united auto workers for their problems, but actually American auto workers are paid less than auto workers in Germany and Japan.

What it comes down to is that these companies were poorly managed for decades. Too many idiots like Bob Lutz and Rick Wagoner at the helm.

[Edward Kennedy]

The six year old Caravan with no air bought new came with a five year warranty. Why not get it repaired for free as opposed to having no AC for three years? Same goes for the transmission, although that particular failure was world famous in everything from Caravans to the Dynasty in combination with that V6 engine.

Even without warranty, things have to be kept in perspective. $2,600. won't put tires on a Corvette or a Porsche 911. A "B" service on a Smart car is a thousand dollars at a Mercedes dealer ($960. actually). Perhaps a bus pass is an option.

The warranty expired at 80k or something like that. We had it back to the dealer who sold it to us and they were correct about the lack of warranty that is the facts of doing business with Chrysler. Dodge is well known for a/c problems. That extends to their Jeep,products as well. Their tranny's are junk, they have been for years, they know it, they have never rectified it. Maybe when I was buying the van I could have been told that the a/c and tranny were junk by the salesman.....

As for the value of the transmission, that is irrelevant to your cited examples. I wasn't a wealthy single who spent 80 grand on a sports car for the fun of it, I was raising a young family and every dollar mattered.

Chrysler is a garbage company that never should have received one cent of bail out money. They make garbage and they know it.

I ordered a six speed standard and we will see about the a/c unit. I have 135 000 k on the vehicle now and it has performed well so far. I have no faith in autmoatic transmissions, and would not buy a vehicle with one. Our 1976 3/4 Chev had two transmission failures so we went STANDARD.

[Red Green]

I ordered a six speed standard and we will see about the a/c unit. I have 135 000 k on the vehicle now and it has performed well so far. I have no faith in autmoatic transmissions, and would not buy a vehicle with one. Our 1976 3/4 Chev had two transmission failures so we went STANDARD.

Not to mention standard transmissions are easier to diagnose and fix. There's not a whole lot that can go wrong with them.

[RedDog]

Julian - fair enough on the mileage. I was going by year but yes there are mileage limits as well. As a person putting 8,000 km a year on a vehicle I tend to let that rather important factor skip and yes, many people max out before the time frame.

I got gas yesterday in the little Smart for the second time in two months. I wasn't anywhere near empty. $24.00 and it requires premium 91 octane. Not bad. I'm good until autumn now and maybe later. I start my new job next week and can walk downtown to it. I could go to October now before needing fuel again.