haypops

Report: Honda Will Not Produce Hybrid Version of New Accord

That is very true. Most people make most decisions in life to pick the safest choice, not the best. I think that this is particularly important for some of the younger posters to realize when they go on a job interview. The HR guy is more likely to be impressed with your perfect attendance certificate from the fifth grade than your dean's list accomplishment.

Just this morning I got an "informational" email from Toyota. Especially notice the Prius rental fleet inclusion.

True. The one saving grace might be packaging advantages as the rotary is compact.

speaking of mazda and fuel economy rest of article here plus short mention of rotary engine at end of article

click here BMW to Apply Start-Stop and Brake Regen to MINIs; Up to 60 MPG US

this is one of the most negative car reviews that I have ever read.

I think that you make a good point there. It seems to have worked wonders for Hyundai too. Latest update: We had a 9:00 AM appointment but the service writer called to say the service manger had no idea how this was actually going to be paid for. He asked if we were going to be reimbursed by GM. We canceled the appointment pending further clarification. My wife called customer service and left a voice message. An hour later the service manager called and said it was all covered and just bring the car in. The car is being repaired as I type!

My wife's car (99 Pontiac Grand Am GT with 67000miles) has been enjoyable, but troublesome. Recently her 7th power window lifter failed. My wife decided to complain to GM customer service about this car. I told her that she was nuts. Manufacturers give warranties to limit there liability/responsibility. Not too surprisingly they were polite to her. I figured a sympathetic ear was all she would get. The young lady on the phone started gathering information!! She contacted the independent garage where we had the last two windows replaced. Then she moved on to the servicing dealer gathering more documentation. At each step she would call my wife and assure her that she was still working on it. Last week's call included the information that the case was going to her supervisor. Today she called and said that the repair would be covered 100%!!! Color me surprised and impressed. The customer service agent also said if anything else goes wrong with the car we should give her a call. During this same time period my son in law's Toyota Corolla check engine light went on. It was determined that the idle control valve was at fault, that that device was part of the extended warranty dealing with the emissions control system, etc. Although the car was under the mileage limit, it was past the time part of the warranty. "Please pay the cashier."

That was fun! I was looking at the Studebaker pickup and wondered if a retro design such as that one would help rejuvenate the mini pickup segment?

TCC TICKER Name Symbol Last Change Autobytel, Inc. ABTL 4.49 +0.02 (+0.34%) Autoliv Inc. ALV 57.89 +0.76 (+1.33%) AutoNation Inc. AN 21.57 +0.21 (+0.98%) ArvinMeritor Inc. ARM 20.65 -0.15 (-0.72%) American Axle & Mfr. Holdings Inc. AXL 29.49 +0.17 (+0.58%) <snip> Toyota Motor Corporation (ADR) TM 119.31 -1.07 (-0.89%) TRW Automotive Holdings TRW 41.46 +0.14 (+0.34%) <sni> Also the the Toyota "campus" in Torrance, CA is huge. I think Toyota is not the same as a domestic producer, but neither is it the foreign subversive endeavor that assembles cars here from kits that they just add water to, to make them grow into cars. Toyota makes pretty good cars here and in Japan, but nothing that special. My wife recently became furious at her '99 Grand AM. It really has been troublesome. She insisted next time she would buy Toyota. She called customer service at GM to complain. I told her "you got to kidding; the car is 7 years old". Customer service calls her regularly to tell her that they are waiting on the report from the servicing dealer but that my wife has every reason not to expect this much trouble from the car. In the meantime Toyota refused to replace the idle control valve on my son in law's Corolla claiming that although it was under the mileage limit of the warranty, it was just over the time limit. Hmm!

Boy was that fun! I liked a lot of 30's Pontiacs too. I looked over several other makes too (Studebaker, etc.). Some of what they referred to a business coupes are quite nice. I wonder if something like that would make a go of it today. It's funny how station wagons through the years never really did compare. Now it's about as good as it gets.

How does this workout with the refusal to ship engines and legal bickering over the diesel engine fiascoes with the superduty pickups?

web site for International's workhorse brand International already sells several aspects of the medium duty truck business through it workhorse brand that relies on many GM powertrain componets.

For an old fart like me, chrylser was more competative then than now.

Let's not blame California and the life style of its citizens. Let's instead blame it on the people who blame California. Turn around is fair play. Los Angeles is the largest market for both Chevrolet and GMC. However you people in Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, etc. are the economic engine that feeds Toyota. That is where Toyota makes it's most profits. In practicality California hasn't had special emission regulation since the 70's. California is joined by many states in the north east who don't like it when the rust belt states flush their toilet and the northeast gets &#036;h&#33; on (figuratively). Together California and these states probably represent at least a third of the population. Why the concern for the citizens of Michigan alone. Did the citizens of Michigan buy U.S. made shoes exclusively. I doubt it. They told the citizens of Brockton Massachusetts to go f@#k themselves. Do you Midwest patriots buy American made coustome jewelry or did you tell the citizens of Providence Rhode Island to go f@#k themselves. It has been 200 years since the colonies decided to unite and promote commerce between each other. It isn't helpful to go backward and it isn't helpful to declare special dispensations for yourself because your grandparents came from somewhere else. We are better than that.

Perhaps it's too many Niacin supplements?

Wouldn't the sale of parts or all of every Japanese car manufacturer except Honda and Toyota say otherwise(Nissan, Suzuki, Isuzu, Subaru, Mitsubishi, Mazda)

Saturn sold cars in Japan for several years. I assume GM choose Saturn because of the availability of right hand drive and although the cars were small by American standards they were more than generous for Japan where many families own at least one car of less than 600 cc engine displacement. I don't think Corollas made in California are the problem as much as increased CAFE or the imposition of a decreased national speed limit is the solution (imported oil is the a major part of our balance of trade deficit). While it wasn't you (CARBIZ) a couple of posters have put forward the idea that it is OK for them to buy a BMW because of their German heritage. Other posters express particular disdain for Asian Americans that drive a Camry or Civic. Poor me I never drove a Tribant. :AH-HA_wink:

The present manual transmission VUE gets just 1 mpg more than does the automatic VUE in city driving and 2 mpg in freeway driving.

If that were true, wouldn't Toyota stop buying parts from Delphi (largest customers of Delphi save for GM) and thus put more pressure on that end? Likewise wouldn't they give back the Fremont CA factory to GM with its reputation for the worst labor relations in all of GM's plants? In so doing wouldn't GM need to pay more UAW retirement costs and more UAW medical costs that are now being paid for by Toyota? Wouldn't GM have more surplus production capacity? By the way I have never bought a Toyota. We just all need to take a deep breath. GM makes great cars with a great warranty. GM has more engineering potential (Kettering Institute, etc. ). This bitching and moaning and making up bizarre comparisons like the number of employees for Toyota verses all of those for GM+ Ford + Chrysler isn't helpful.

Camry production is shortly coming to the U.S. Subaru factory.

Saturn has that test drive at your home thing going on. Just tell them what you want and they will show up at your mom's home with the car! look for the "at home test drive" box at the bottom of Saturn.com can also be arranged for her work place if that is more convenient.

I think that they are working on a new dog food that controls the pet population to just one working kidney per family.

Body-side moldings? We don't need no f@#king body-side moldings.