PolarBear

'74 Chevy Vega [/thread]

Some of the cars involved are 6 years old. How long has Toyota actually known about this problem? I'm convinced they would have covered it up like any other problem they've had if people hadn't have been killed, and they hadn't have known the Feds weren't far behind.

Actually, Packard and Duesenberg remained profitable through the Depression. One of the Duesenberg brothers died, and it literally took the wind out of the surviving brother- he shut the operation down.

Depends who you ask. I had a '05 F150 and a '03 Expy with the 5.4, and I thought both were slugs off the line- although they were fine once they were rolling. I suspect this is transmission gearing, since the '08 Expy (6-spd) doesn't give this impression at all. I remember going to a Chevy ride-and-drive a few years ago, and they were running a then-new '07 Tahoe against a '07 Expedition. The Tahoe smoked it off the line, but the Expy quickly caught up. Factually, they were about equal, but the Expy sure didn't "feel" like it was.

Current: In-laws. '06 Ford E150 Club Wagon. 34K miles, zero issues. Replaced a: '97 Ford Crown Victoria. 89K miles, zero issues. Officially daughter's DD. Our Family: me: '01 Mercury Grand Marquis. 151,000 miles, nothing but routine maintenance and wear-out items. Had a '98 prior to this one that I sold with 130K on it- same story. wifey: '08 Ford Expedition EL. 31K miles. Too soon to tell on this one, but seems much more buttoned-down than our prior '03. This is turning into daughters de facto DD. (We don't really mind having a new driver with 6,000 lbs. of Ford wrapped around her). Son: '06 Ranger S/C 4X4. 94K miles. This truck has been to hell and back- multiple times. Wheelin' rig, tow rig, work rig- does it all without complaint. Has gone through 3 clutches, four sets of brakes, and three sets of tires, which should give an indication of the type of usage it gets. Honorable mention: my '93 F150 S/C 4X4. Put 232,000 miles on this truck with minimal issues. When sold, everything worked, original powertrain, drove great. Best anything I've ever owned- shouldn't have ever sold it.

I don't think Ford needs to be embarassed with #6. I'd like to see a model breakdown- I'd be willing to bet a beer the F150 scores higher than any of the German models.

Good review! Where I see Toyota's major challenges is in the SUV segments. They're offering... what... 8 different SUV models? Hell, they're filling niches that don't even exist. If you look at the sales numbers, only two of them actually are working on the showrooms (Rav4 and Highlander). The 4Runner slots between the (slightly) larger and more expensive Sequoia and the (slightly) smaller Highlander crossover. It's a truck- true- but based on Tacoma sales numbers, it appears that Toyota customers that want a truck actually buy one. Also of interest is the Taco sales numbers vs. the Tundra. It's pretty clear full-size truck buyers aren't shopping at the local Toyota store.

Does it come with zip-ties and duct tape for the floor mats? :shades:

Boxster buyers may not all be snobs, but the Boxster should be re-named the "Chickster." It's what you buy your wife or S/O when she sez she wants a Porsche. re: Genesis Coupe. Nice car. Who'd have believed Hyundai would build the successor to the Supra? BUT- I strongly suspect those buyers and Mustang buyers aren't the same crowd- or demographic. If Toyota's past experience still holds true, the real Supra market is when the cars are about 5 yrs old and can be bought used for a reasonable amount of money, then modded. Remember Toyota dropped the Supra because they couldn't give those mothertruckers away when they were new.

True- but that segment isn't where the volume is. My guess is Ford's trying to draw from two buyer pools: Honda/Toyota buyers moving up, and Euro-sled owners looking to move down (it's the economy stupid) but keep the sacrifices to a minimum. BTW- I saw my first '10 Taurus the other day on the road. It's got eyeball, and got the looks in our "oh-so-jaded" import market.

In all of the good posts, someone forgot one important point- Cadillac is still the top seller in the over $50,000 luxury car market in the US. Lexus, BMW, and even Mercedes are strongest at the lowest ends of their model ranges.

That is upscale pricing. I'll be interested, especially from a Left-Coast perspective, to see how the new Taurus sells, for two reasons. 1) This is import territory and 2) the majority of Camry's and Accord's are sold as base 4 cyl models. Be interesting to see how many of those owners "move up" to a Taurus.

sniff sniff. I smell a "more bailout money" play.

Exactly right. Back in the day, a $5,000 Corvette could kick the crap out of a $17,000 Ferarri 365GTB. Today, you have to spend many times the $100,000 sticker price of a ZR-1 to get something with comparable performance. And to answer the question- I can't imagine GM without Pontiac. Of course, I couldn't imagine them without Oldsmobile either- amazing how things slid downhill.

For looks, yes. but their reliability still sux bigtime. I'm soooo glad Ford got out of this mess (and Jaguar).

Anyone else old enough to remember Buick's Opel line in the 60's and 70's? It has been done before... didn't work any better that time either.

Actually, it's not unusual at all. Every major European manufacturer except Daimler Benz has been rescued at one point in time or other by their respective governments. Renault, VW, BMW... among others... would have been history long ago if they hadn't have been rescued. To this day, their manufacturers get preferential tax and loan treatment, not to mention government funded pensions and healthcare plans.

... even though GM will sell close to 250,000 of them this year, in this miserable market climate. You bet- real brain-trust there.

Or... GM joins the "too big to fail club" the .gov seems to be forming right now. GE and AIG are already in it, outside of the usual financial-related suspects. Why not a car company too? Serious.

Just bumping for any updates.

The report's correct, but we're talking medium-duty trucks (Kodiak's and Topkicks), not Silverado's.

Supposed to have a 1.4L direct-injection turbo. The Cobalt's already at 37 hwy EPA (better than the Aveo, actually), so 40 shouldn't be that hard a target to hit.

I don't see where you're getting "40% of GM sales are leases." The numbers I get internally are more like 15%. :shades: In any event, even BMW is writing down 100's of millions because of lease-loss reserve, so this problem isn't unique to the domestic brands.

Very interesting, eh?

Think regional here. Their market share on the West Coast is much higher than 4%, ditto the East Coast.