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Toyota now overtakes GM
croxis
I am the walrus
in Zocalo v2.0
[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6586679.stm[/url]
Comments
Toyota make great cars, very reliable. I just don't find their line up that appealing really. I drove a Corrolla a few years ago and it had a beautiful spring loaded gearbox, changing gear was effortless really, could almost do it with a finger. Just didn't like the styling of it. If I was back on the farm I'd have a Landcruiser though, superb jeep, great work horse and a proper off roader unlike most wannabe 4x4's out there today.
I will have to say that GM's build quality as of late is on par with many of the Toyotas I've driven. The Impala I drove as a rental a couple months ago was very nice...
Jake
Cars are just like hard drives. :)
So eat that GM cars.
It's got about 150,000 miles on it, and should be good for another 100-150 thousand miles.
Another issue is the [B]perceived[/B] quality of GM cars. While their cars were not all that unreliable and (generally speaking) would last as long as any Toyota, Honda, or other import brand, the fit and finish of the overall machine was fairly poor in comparison. The interiors were always cheap and used substandard materials or were simply designed by someone with no concern for the anatomy of the modern human being. Levers made of plastic that just felt cheap, switches that had poor tactile feedback. Every little bit adds up, and each is a less than obvious point off the perception of quality (even if it never breaks). When it comes to cars, excluding the outright poorly designed models (which do exist in all brands) or those occasional bad powertrains (GM's diesels in the 80's, the old four cylinders)
And one last issue (not GM specific): Overpricing cars with the intention of offering incentives. It's apparently an American tradition, but offering incentives on a car destroys its resale value and makes it much less appealing overall.
There's a lot wrong with GM. Pension is just one part of it.
Oh, one last addition: Now GM is playing the consumer for its own poor management by indefinitely holding its numerous rear wheel drive projects on the grounds of unjust and unfair EPA requirements. This is just ludicrous and only serves to lower their reputation in the eyes of those who actually see the problems. It's just another cheap move in a long line of stupid decisions that undermines what remains of the consumer's confidence and throws away their chance to offer products people actually want. the Pontiac G8 was revealed to the American public only recently and received nothing but praise! It is exactly what is wanted and would revitalize the brand, and make it unique as would a RWD Chevrolet Caprice and Chevrolet Impala. Gah.
You forgot to add Holden, Opel and Vauxhaul to the product lines....
I will say the the [URL="http://www.gmc.com/acadia/acadia/index.jsp"]Acadia[/URL] is one of the best looking crossovers I've seen yet.
Jake
For now my Subaru Impreza is 4 1/2 years old and I've already managed to rack up 120,000 miles on it with no problems other than expected wear itmes such as one worn out clutch and axle bearings. Never left me on the side of the road. My next car will very likely be another Subaru.
I think its sad in a way that badge means nothing these days. Especially the way different brand engines end up in cars. Doesn't really matter if its a VAG group engine being shared in an Audi S3/Seat Cupra/Golf R32. But when lets say your buying a Mini Cooper and it has a GM engine in, I would not like that. If I was buying one I'd like a BMW engine thank you very much.
What I don't get about american car designers is why their designs seem so half assed. The exteriors on some are ok but why do they drop the ball with the interior? Top Gear had that crap pile the Cadillac Escalade when it came out. Inside it was like a cheap plastic toy car. And they expected people to fork out £40-50k on it, despite it costing $25k in the US. They also had what I think was similar to the new CTS-V and it had shocking breaks and suspension. Richard Hammond basically said after spending £25k one would need to spend another £2k to make it drive properly. But it had a big engine. And that was about it. The only American cars I'd buy today if I had the cash would be a 60's Dodge Charger and a Ford Mustang. Something with a bit of soul and breeding.
I also find it amusing Ford are in trouble. Despite that almost every second car on the roads here is a dull Focus or a Mondeo, they are still bleeding money. And despite owning Jaguar they couldn't do anything with them. Hmm lets take some bits from a Mondeo and stick em in an XJ. Wow that won't effect sales and no one will notice. Makes you wonder how Audi can buy Lamborghini and do wonders and VW take Bentley and make them even better. I suppose since Ford are like Dell in a way and live on razor tight margins, then any ups or downs will hurt them.
Cars eh :)
My 2.0 Golf GTi is a 95, just done 70k miles and averages 35mpg. Nowhere near as impressive performance wise of the new Mk5 GTi's but I don't have £19k spare for one... yet :D
Hows the VW been for you? My previous cars were actually a 93 VW Corrado and a 96 Jetta, both with the 2.8L V6 but those turned out to be maintenance nightmares. Towards the end they spent about one day in the shop for every day on the road, and thats not a joke.
Touch wood my Golf has been great! Its only the 8v 115bhp model but it pulls really well. Its not quick off the line but the top end is good. I've had it 3 years now, got it with 64k on the clock and as I said its just done 70k. It had one lady owner before me and she kept it spotless. Shines up superbly as well. Thats a shame yours were sick alot. It depends I suppose, sometimes you get a lemon and everything goes wrong. I would love a Corrado VR6 Storm 2.9lt along with a Golf VR6 2.8lt. Put an induction kit on them and listen to the roar... :P Something else :) I do know some of the early VR6 engines had issues (around the 93 year) but these were sorted in later models.
Before the GTi I had my parents old MK3 1.9 diesel Golf. Was a real work horse, slow but good. It did up to 119k miles before the syncromesh started wearing on the gearbox so I shifted it before it required a new one. Apart from that it was trouble free. Never even had its original clutch replaced! :)
And the Hamster is weird at times.
Anyway, the problem with ford is that they seem to be just *slightly* behind the curve. They're doing better than GM, though, and potentially superior product portfolio. They just need to stop fucking around with Lincoln and Mercury and make something out of the two brands (Say...Mercury the Eurokiller and Lincoln, the pinnacle of American Luxury?). Mazda is fucking fantastic and is owning the competition. Jaguar is an enormous burden on their end, though. It needs a major shock to get it on track and it's probably not something that can be done in a reasonable amount of time. Volvo is doing amazingly well and is looking up in every single sector. The rest of the PAG is iffy, but still decent. It's much better differentiated than GM's product portfolio. What Ford needs more than anything else is a good line of modern compacts. The focus is too little car for too much money, and that's all they've got.
Freejack, I agree...the Acadia is beautiful. But the outlook is also fairly nice. But when it comes to crossovers, I've always been partial to the Freestyle/Taurus X. But hoo man, they won my oldschool Volvo cred back with the Flex :D Too bad the third row is not removable :(
Also, freejack...GM is finally doing something right with Saturn. They're becoming the new US brand for Opel's products, and it is looking great. The craptacular Saturn Ion is being phased out and replaced with a much more interesting Astra. The Vue is now mechanically identical to the Antara, with the Aura being another great model. The Relay sucks, but it is being replaced by the much better Outlook. And the Sky (mmm...Redline) is glorious in every possible way.
Anyway, I foresee GM continuing to struggle, with Ford potentially picking up the slack. DCX is looking to be very confused right now, too. Jeep was just abruptly watered down this last year and infused with completely useless products, and Chrysler/Dodge are risking the sharing of unnecessary vehicles (Chrysler Aspen, for example). Hopefully they can see their error before it gets too far. the LX cars are just so damned near perfect.
And Falcon, don't consider the Escalade an actual product. It's just a way of GM raking in a pile of money before it blows away.
As far as the WRX goes, my roommate loves his 2004 wagon. mmm...go-juice. Now that it is out of warranty, he's looking into tuning it just a wee bit. You know, a couple digits here and there. And also there...mmm.
Hamster rules! Hes funny and he survived that horrific crash! And he did not get his teeth whitened :p
The Escalade is popular with premiership footballers over here. Says it all really.
The Mazda RX-8 is a cool car. Also the Mazda 6 MPS is interesting, nice styling and pretty quick too! I just hate their adverts... ZOOM ZOOM!! AAAAAAH STOP IT!!! :D
Jaguar needs cash to come up with new engines and a whole new strategy. And Ford can't deliver there.
Now there is one car that the GM makes which kicks major ass. And thats the Vauxhall/Holden Monaro! A proper muscle care with proper performance. I loved it on Top Gear when they had it on the beach... it had so much power going to the rear wheels it dug itself into the sand! :D If I had the cash I'd get one for sure!
Sensors do seem to bit twitchy on VW's. Seen lots of comments on various forums/user groups about em. Some are so bad, you take the car to a VW dealership, they plug in their magic box laptops and report no faults. Because the sensors report back as normal! WTF??!! I would agree they were not designed for hot climates. My old golf used to heat up something terrible on a real hot day (thats 25 degress c here), even worse stuck in traffic.
Not to say I don't love Top Gear. It's the best damned car program on the tube.
VWs and Audis. Two cars I will likely never own, which sucks for me. They're beautifully designed, have fun engines, and typically handle like go-karts. Plus, I've got a liking for the oil burners of the world. More brands need those torquey little diesels in their lineup.
I now have a 1995 metallic green VW Passat, the one with the 2.8 litre VR6 engine.
To whoever said Ford was doing better, I think your wrong. Last I read Ford was in a worse financial position that GM. They have been up and down on projects desperately trying to find a profit somewhere. The short lived GT40 is now no longer being produced. They finally figured out people were laughing at their 500 as a blatant rip of the Chrysler 300, so they are rebadging it the Taurus and bringing back the failed Freestyle as the TaurusX.
The F series pickups have been losing ground in the public sector for years, if not for their base offering and their huge commercial contracts the F series would no longer be the #1 pickup in America.
All that being said, my wife wants a Ford Edge as her next vehicle. Its a crossover SUV that shares its platform with that Mazda SUV. Its kind of pitiful in the power department, but its roomy inside and more comfortable than I expected (we test drove one a week or so a go).
GM is just a mish mash of the same vehicle with a different front end. Nothing spectacular going on over there. Everyone else has pretty much hit the nail on the head with them.
As far as Toyota's go, I don't really like them. Some of them look like decent cars, but they can be quite expensive compared to another manufacturer. No built in rebates keeps the value up, but WTF? To buy their new Tundra with comparable specs as my Titan would cost upwards of $45k. Thats almost 15k more than what I paid for my truck. No way. I had an annoying experience in a Toyota Camry too once, I got it as a rental in El Paso. I was leaving the airport and it started beeping at me, a loud repeating ping that would not go away. I'm looking all over the dash trying to figure out what the problem is. I undo my seatbelt and reconnect it to check that sensor. It wont go away, solid beeping. Just as I am about to take it back I lean over and see a light pointed at the passenger seat blinking wildly. I set my laptop bag in the damn passenger seat. I am the driver. I tell the car what to do and how to do it. I don't like cars that think otherwise.