20th Sep 2010, 12:45

So, those who don't drive Vettes drive beaters huh? Yeah okay. I have a 2010 and a 2009 in my driveway and neither of them, thankfully, are GM junk anymore! And if you have one child that is fine, but how safe are they in the front seat of your Vette?

As far as living close to work. That is a hardly a reality in this country in many places. Where I live near NYC it is best to live farther away from the city and then commute closer to get the better paying jobs. You can surely be house poor and have nothing but your house and maybe an average car but not much else. I've met many people that live that way with empty houses they can't even afford to fill with furniture. That's not for me. I'd rather drive an economical car and go 30 miles from home to a better job and actually have a life.

Yeah, domestics lose value fast this is true. However, I am not sure what you mean by "luxury import" repairs. Any import I have ever had has needed nothing outside of routine maintenance. Saving excessive GM repairs has already been addressed by me. I now drive an import!

20th Sep 2010, 22:01

GM wasn't bankrupted by "global" competition. It was bankrupted by southern states that had "right to work" laws. Non-union American workers at Toyota and Honda made cars cheaper than union labor in northern states.

21st Sep 2010, 01:23

I drive a Camry, a car proudly made in the US.

Still people on sites like this are trash talking people buying Toyotas for robbing US auto workers of their livelihood. It's just a joke considering those 'domestic' cars usually are foreign made.

Consider the high selling Chev Aveo. Designed in Germany/Korea and ENTIRELY made in Korea by Daewoo with some very few international part. To my knowledge, there isn't a single bolt in this car made in the US, not a single one! How can this be good for the US worker?

This argument is just a joke. Buying a 'domestic' make doesn't help the US worker whatsoever. It's just a lot of people trying to obscure the facts that GM and Ford are shipping jobs abroad and importing cars that are foreign made, labeling them as 'domestics'.

21st Sep 2010, 10:07

That's the same story for me as well. I live in the San Francisco bay area and most of the jobs seem to be concentrated in just a few select areas, meaning the neighborhoods surrounding these areas are incredibly costly. We rent, but rent is 50% more closer to work, thus we commute 40 miles each way.

We, like most people here, have long commutes and thus require solid, dependable cars that will reliably get us to work day in, day out without a fuss. With commutes like this we rack up the miles on our cars fast. My brother has the same situation. We previously had a 1990 Honda Civic. It had 245,000 miles on it when we sold it after inheriting a 2002 Prius from my wife's father. The Civic was still in nearly perfect original condition, down to the paint. What's more, you see tons of these cars from that era still on the roads around here. We've already put 100,000 miles on the Prius and it's getting close to 200,000 miles already. The car has never given us an issue. Neither has my brother's 98' Avalon with 275,000 miles.

We have little to no reason to switch to a brand like GM or Ford that has had questionable reliability for the past 3 decades. While recent reports give a lot of GM and Ford products high marks, I'll wait and let others drive them and see what the real story is. High marks were also given to the original 1985 Taurus when it hit the market and it wound up being a dud. If I start hearing consistent stories from people who own Fords and Chevys where they drive them for 10-15 years with little to no problem then maybe I'll consider one.

All I can say is that we rented a brand new Chevy Aveo this summer on a week long trip. It was about the most miserable, poorly made car I've driven, new or old. If this is a product that was deemed acceptable by GM, then I have a hard time trusting their overall judgment.

21st Sep 2010, 12:08

As the truth comes out, more and more people will know these facts, unless they choose not to believe and continue arguing based on their opinions rather than facts.

21st Sep 2010, 12:57

You're right, and that is why companies like Toyota and Honda can afford their workforce, unlike the domestic companies that nearly tanked from too much overhead. You simply cannot survive overpaying your employees.

21st Sep 2010, 12:59

Absolutely right! I wish people would just be happy with the car they want to buy and leave the politics at the door, because none of the posters on here have any idea how the world economy works anyhow. You're not changing peoples opinions on this site by ranting, so why waste the time?

21st Sep 2010, 15:47

I am glad I can drive what I want after paying off my home and educating my children in a strong economy. I supported small local businesses and am proud I am not going to be around at my age much longer to be seeing the quality of life continue to diminish. Low pay and minimal benefits; how great for future retirees.

21st Sep 2010, 23:44

"thus we commute 40 miles each way."

I've been thinking about this comment all day. My brother lives in the Bay area, doing the same thing. My wife and I feel so sorry for him. My daily commute is eight minutes one way. My wife's is ten minutes. Some days I come home for lunch just to play with my dog.

My biggest concern thinking about buying a new car is justifying it to my wife, when after four or five years I just would like a new car, but typically it only has about 25,000 miles on it. (I usually justify the car, saying the new cars have better safety features, and we can't have too much safety with the children.)

22nd Sep 2010, 07:30

I couldn't agree more.

The debate here seems to have subsided I see. The ranters have stopped as they know they are not winning the argument here, as facts are stronger than opinion.

22nd Sep 2010, 12:02

Proud to be dying soon? Wow! Really this has little to do with which car you buy. The auto industry has long been a global industry that is supported by multiple countries. There has to be a balance or the world economy will fail. People that think becoming a closed border country that supports only its own products and does not import anything really, have no idea what is going on out there.

Our domestic car companies got themselves into a really bad situation by continuing to let unions dictate how they handled their employees. They got to a point where they were overpaying their people. You can't survive like this. Simple economics will show that you can't spend as much or more than you make on your product on overhead. This was proven by the meltdown of the auto industry.

To continue to support businesses that run so inefficiently, it just doesn't make sense. I am glad you lived a good life in the glory days of the fat America but that irresponsible past of overblown retirement packages and overpaid executives is quickly coming to an end. We've borrowed so much money from foreign countries to continue the facade you call the glory days it is ridiculous. It is time for everyone to wake up and see the truth as it is. This recession is anything but over as foreclosures are still on the rise as is unemployment. Our government is still trying to throw more money at the problem even though the first 100's of $billions did little to help. More of the same irresponsibility.

Now let's get back to rating cars shall we?