Posted on 04/12/2010 8:05:57 AM PDT by throwback
If you want to drive something dependable and long-lasting, steer clear of these vehicles.
With a 22% improvement in sales last month, and despite the six-month, $4.3 billion loss it announced Wednesday, General Motors is likely to have its strongest spring and summer in years. Plus, the automaker had critically acclaimed new products at the recent New York Auto Show and the much-anticipated Chevrolet Volt is due out this fall.
More from Forbes.com:
• In Depth: Worst-Made Cars On The Road
• Navigating Your Way Through Traffic
• Cars With the Best Gas Mileage
Year-over-year sales of GM's Cadillac division alone are up almost 76%; sales in the Buick, Chevrolet and GMC divisions were each up more than 40% for March. The industry as a whole was up 24.3%.
Unfortunately just because GM's cars are selling well now doesn't mean they're the best bet for durability or value -- yet. It'll take awhile before GM's new direction shows up in tangible new products at the dealership.
Four of the seven vehicles on our list of the worst-made cars on the road come from GM brands.
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.yahoo.com ...
My ‘97 F150 has 258,000 miles and is still going strong. It’s been a workhorse.
I dunno, I've never driven either one of them. Just repeating what was said.
anything made by Land Rover since late 1980s...suck suck suck suck suck suck suck.
former owner 1995 Ranger Rover Classic, 1990 Ranger Rover Classic and 1995 land Rover Discovery
former owner 1970s Land Rover 110...that was a good off road vehicle
Best car I ever owned...2000 Toyota Land Cruiser...incredible and a 2005 Dodge MegaCab Diesel 3/4 tonne truck
No, I confess, it’s pre-Obama F-150, although it does have an anti-Obama bumper sticker on it. My truck and my dog are both right wingers. Well, I’m assuming. I haven’t heard my dog say anything good about Obama, so I assume we agree.
I agree with your asseessment of CR.
One problem with the Smart is how they introduced it in the US. In Europe it’s a 600cc turbo insted of a one-liter non-turbo here. There gas is about 50mpg, diesel about 80mpg. That’s combined mileage. Highway mileage is mostly about the aerodynamics of the car, and the smart isn’t the slipperiest mainly due to how short it is. In the city where the mass of the car matters most, the Smart gets a big help from being much lighter than almost every other car on the road.
It surprised me too that that is on the list.
All dogs are anti Obama because dogs have good sense about people. That BO dog, currently in the WH, is actually a prisoner. He would run away, if he had the chance. Remember Buddy, the Chocolate Lab? He committed suicide — just threw himself in front of a car — rather than be cooped up with Bill and all his babes.
For GM cars and trucks made before the 2009 model year, it’s a question of priorities, and I haven’t owned a GM car since my first lemon. Post-2009, it’s a question of patriotism, and I would not own a GM government motors car at any price, including for free. GM is on my permanent boycott list.
I have an 89 Chevy subdivision myself with over 300,000 miles on it. I bought it used with 148,000 miles on it over ten years ago and it is still running strong.
Back while I was still working, I had the rear springs rearched and an overload spring added. That came in handy a few years ago when I had it heavily loaded moving a complete bedroom set and some other things from Akron ohio down to Florida.
The only problem I really have with it is the poor quality sheet metal which is getting a bit rusty. The rust is what will eventually end the trucks useful life. The bolt-on parts can easily be replaced, but the sheet metal is harder to fix and after awhile becomes too expensive to bother with.
I might wind up buying another used Suburban with a good body and transplanting the good running gear from my current truck to that one just to get around the rust problem.
The Suburbans are just too good to get rid of because they really fill a niche for me in that they can carry both cargo and people in a way that no car can match.
I had a brand new Chevy one ton K30 Crew Cab pickup back when I lived in near Chicago and it started rusting out after it’s second year. That particular engine, a small block 350, was also known for bad tempering (hardening) on it’s cam shafts and was the object of a ‘consent decree’ as a resulf of a federal lawsuit. My cam shaft had to be replaced after only a few years also.
I only got about 69,000 miles on that truck before I got rid of it. On a trip to Arizona and back, it only averaged 6.8 miles per gallon while carrying a slide in camper.
As long as I’m still breathing I will never buy another vehicle from either GM or Chrysler.
From what I’ve ehard, the Hummer H2 and H3 models are built on Suburban frames and/or use Suburban running gear.
They may look noie, but they aren’t as good as the original military Hummers.
Ok, you drive one.
Let me know how those 18 wheelers feel when they pass you...
The H2 is based on the Tahoe frame (shorter than a Suburban), while the H3 uses the smaller TrailBlazer frame.
While I was sitting at a red light, My 89 Suburban was rear ended by a Saturn. The result was $298.00 in damage to the Suburban’s rear bumper and over $3,000.00 in damage to the Saturn’s front end.
I didn’t bother repairing the Suburban’s eear bumper, after all it was merely slightly bent.
I wish i had a brand new copy of my old 87 Toyota Supra Turbo.
That car was sweet, smooth and lasted forever.
Out of curiosity, why do you hold CR in contempt? I’ve never heard anything bad about them, but I may have missed something.
I leased a H2 for five years, 05 model. I have no complaints, turned in back in last June. Simply the best vehicle I’ve ever had, or ridden in. The only reason I didn’t buy it at the end of the lease was mpg.
H3 on a Suburban frame? I don’t see how thats remotely possible, having had my H3 parked next to one of my best friends Suburban. The difference in length and width seems to preclude it. But thats just ‘eyeballing’ it.
As for ‘not as good’ as the military hummers...they weren’t designed to do remotely near the same ‘job’ as the military specs called for, so I don’t see that as a drawback at all.
Us taxpayers will be subsidizing about 10 grand for each Volt customer.
Nice of us huh?
In Atlas Shrugged, Century motors went through the same transformation - from meaning the best to meaning the worst, from idol to laughingstock.
Sigh
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