I’ve owned or regularly driven a number of GM products from the '80s/early '90s and they were all problematic; poor handling, cheap interiors, rust like you wouldn’t believe, electrical problems, the famous “Clearcoat Cracking” problem endemic on all GMs of that era, et cetera, et cetera. I could tell more stories than would fit into a volume of Shakespeare’s Collected Works. And man, did I get tired of hearing the ex say “It’s cheaper than a car payment” every month when we dropped $200-$400 into either the Corsica or the Pontiac 6000. For as much as we put into those two cars, we could have bought the front end of a 911.
That being said, I’ve noticed from recent rentals that GM seems to be on an upswing in build quality and handling (compared to Ford, which is sliding right down in the gutter vacated by GM.) I still wouldn’t buy one, though. They just leave a bad taste in my mouth. From the little I’ve seen, they still aren’t designed for ease of maintainence (for the love of all that is good and holy, stop putting plastic covers under the oil filter!) and their handling, while much improved over the solid rear axle Corsica, is far inferior to similarly priced rice-burners.
I guess I’m in the minority. I have 2 Jeeps, a Grand and a Wrangler, and love 'em both. That Wrangler is the toughest vehicle I’ve ever owned by far. Ask me what happens when you hit a deer at 60 mph - answer: not much. It ripped the plastic end cap off the bumper and put a small dent in the front fender. And, if something does break on it, it usually costs less than a couple hundred dollars to fix. It’s got over 130,000 miles on it and… <checks to see if shoes are comfy for walking> nope, it’s never left me stranded.
The Grand is one of the new '05 models with a HEMI V8. I haven’t had any issues with it, and you can see where Mercedes is finally having some influence. There is definitely a Jeep “thing” though, and if you don’t like 'em, you probably never will. (Except that everyone I’ve let drive the Grand has loved it - even my mother who’s a BMW person.)
Funny story: Yesterday, March 22nd, I was driving home from work, in the Jeep (why I drove it instead of the Ford, I don’t quite understand) in a pretty big snowstorm. While coming down “the bad side of the mountain”, the one with the drifts, cliffs and no guard rail, I noticed the headlights doing some strange “fluxing”. Hummm…
Well, as I enter a tight right-hander, with cliff to the left and rock wall to the right, BLINK! No lights! Everything dead! Hey, this is fun! Head, tail, instrument all done for the night. Turn signals? Who cares! They are for pussies anyway!
But since “I know” the Jeep, I have Aux lights, connected straight to the battery, that I can turn on pretty quick (I mounted the switchs in the places left by the factory headlight, fan and wiper switchs that failed many years ago :rolleyes: ), thus avoiding any further trouble. I drive home the rest of the way with only the “offroad” lights and add to the list of shit to fix.
I understand Jeeps. They fail with depressing regularity and double or triple systems need to be in place to insure you don’t end up walking home.
Now, someone explain to me why I own two of these piles of crap.
I “understand” the Jeep so well, that I became quite skilled at removing the distributor, replacing the drive gear, re-installing it, hand timing and get the thing running again- while out on the mountain!
The timing gear was such shit, it would fail about every trip, anywhere from 2-50 miles from home. Hence, either learn to fix stuff on the fly (and carry lots of parts) or wear those comfy walking shoes.
And do you know why so many Jeeps carry Jerry cans on the tire rack? Easy! The gas guage never works! I have two Jeeps, three gas guages and none of them work!
You should also consider test-driving a Mada 3. You can get it in either 4-door or 5-door, and it’s basically built on an Audi chassis. Almost sportscar-like handling, and a punchy little variable-timing 160 HP engine.
I bought mine last July, and I’ve been nothing but impressed by it. I get about 30 mpg, there’s plenty of room for four adults (I have the 5-door model,) sunroof, 4-wheel disc brakes, fog lights, 6-disc changer, steering-wheel audio controls, standard 17-inch wheels, and a snappy short-throw shifter.
The fit and finish of the inside is spectacular. The cockpit was inspired by the Porsche Boxster.
My little car will get up and haul ass. Lots of low-end torque and high-end acceleration from the variable timing. Quick and precise on the handling as well. It’s a joy to drive.
And I’m not even paying $19,000.
I test-drove a lot of cars in my price range, and the value, performance, and features blew every other car away. I liked the Mini, but the Mazda was a better drive.
Not saying they don’t deliver the product they say; I just inherently distrust any company that 1) Entirely ignores its own R&D department and 2) Doesn’t manage its brands or try and exchange any knowledge between them.
Ford a whole slate of variegated makers with the idea of mixing and matching, to alleviate the weaknesses of each brand with the knowledge of the others (like fixing the wiring in Jaguars.) Unfortunately, it looks like they tried to rush this process.
Though my other problem with GMC is that everyone who specifically purchases the GMC brand is a tailgater (sic?). The sheer number of times I’d be in my WRX driving down the freeway to look in my rear-view mirror
GMC
Just sitting there four feet behind my rear window at 65mph (in the slow lane with a speed limit of 60)… Gah. I felt like I was reenacting some suspense thriller. *
If I may make a pitch from left field, have you considered Korean?
The Koreans are making leaps and bound in quality and reliability lately. In some senses they are where the Japanese were a few decades back. Making a quality product that has not yet achieved popular recognition and so continues to sell at a discount.
It’s by no means universal but believe it or not, there are good Korean cars. And money is money after all, especially when you are talking savings of thousands.
Hyundai and Kia both make some decent and comfortable-sized cars, including AWD/4WD. Can’t hurt to look, I would.
Sevastopol, the Koreans have never made a car that handled worth a damn. For all their strides, they’ve got the easy part of making a good, fun-to-drive car down - any bunch of fools can make a car that doesn’t break if they make it too heavy.
Look, there are good cars in this list. I for one like the Mini cooper and the WRX, preferring the former. Great, fun car and stylish to boot (snicker).
Why, all the H-cars must handle well then. No, in fact the Tiburon is on a shorterned chassis with trick suspension, it’s a stylish sporting car on par with the Mini. Beats it for price, beats everything for warranty.