GXT

A job? Sure, if you have to pay those kinds of rates. But if you don't then it isn't as much of an issue. And what if I make my profits by selling services to Americans? By your logic shouldn't I buy from the US? Of course I would rather buy in Canada, but I am not going to support these business practices (which are pretty much extortion). Besides, I really don't understand how, when given the choice between auto companies charging too much and me expecting a fair price, you can say that I am the one in the wrong. It will take some effort, but for 10-20K I can easily justify a number of days of effort... especially if I get a trip out of it as well. Record numbers of people are doing it (I believe imports reached 100,000 last year... and I think that was up 50%). Luckily I know a number of people who have done it so they will be able to help me. I know the inspection and changes are minor. The 6.1% duty doesn't apply to a lot of vehicles (and even when it does it is worth it). The GST and PST are actually LESS on a US car because the cost of the vehicle is lower. And believe me, I'm not buying a Denali. I suggest that instead of complaining about consumers who are doing their dutyby buying at a fair price even in the face of the near-extortion of auto companies, you encourage GM Canada (or whoever) to adjust their prices.

I understand that Subaru, Toyota, and BMW will honour the warranty. As for buying from a US dealership, I understand that all you need to convince Toyota dealer is an address from a US Time Share... or just head south another state or two. I'm good until 2010, so hopefully things will be adjusted by then. If not, I guess I will find out at that time how much trouble I am willing to go through. Yes, I'd even consider a Corvette for $45K. And according to gg22, the Canadian dealership I bought my last two cars from doesn't even want to see me.

If a "jackass" or "dumb ass" is someone who expects to pay fair price, then I guess I am one. Why would I buy a vehicle today that SHOULD and COULD and MAY be 20-30% less expensive tomorrow? That is stupid. Here is an alternate way to view this. Be glad that the "jackass" gave you the chance to even match the price. I routinely buy items off ebay from the states and Home Depot or Rona never even has the chance to match. I really don't care who is making the extra profit. I'm not going to pay it. As our American friends have pointed out, the market sets the price. It is the consumer's responsibility to be a "jackass" at your dealership. Then, when you are a dick to them for wanting fair value, they have an obligation to go buy from the states and deny you and everyone at your dealership their share of the sale. FYI, it isn't a fact that Canadians pay 20-30% more for ANY consumer product. I buy computer parts from a Canadian site that is now often less expensive than US sites like Newegg. The difference is that there are some businesses that are better able to take advantage of the situation. The auto industry is at the top of that list.

I'm not sure what you are talking about. Examples? I'll do my best to answer any questions of whcih I am aware. Usually I say my part and move on. Even though I did respond to you in this thead, I don't have the time or the energy to respond to all the baseless posts. I see nothing wrong with being a fan of a car that gets 45 MPG city. What exactly is your problem with that? Because it is a product that exists (and has for many years)?

Well GM has been saying an awful lot. If they were really interested in keeping their cards close to their chest they would have said a lot less than they have. Their actions seem to show that they are at the same place as anyone else when it comes to batteries. www.gm-volt.com is a great source of information. I don't recall which battery exec said it, but apparently 2 years from prototype to mass production is about right for a battery like this. GM should get an A123 prototype early 2008, so provided all goes well they could start production in 2010. There was never really any doubt that there would be a battery to go in the volt... but one of the questions was what the price would be and would it allow GM to hit <$30,000 for the volt with a 40 mile electric range. No matter how many shots smallchevy takes at me, it appears that this battery will not.

Yeah, take that all you people who were dumb enough to buy the old Malibu.

Here's some more info "according to GXT". GM isn't using these batteries. They aren't good enough. Here are the specs: http://www.gm-volt.com/2007/10/11/enerdel-...ery-pack-specs/ .6 KWh for $1500. Volt battery pack: 16 KWh. Estimated Enerdel battery pack cost for Volt: ~$40,000 As best I can tell those are estimated prices for some time in the future. However it isn't clear. It sounds like the density isn't very good either. So if you think these batteries are good enough, please direct your insults at GM. If you feel a little sheepish because you bought into the PR and decided to insult me rather than do some research, please direct your insults at yourself.

Yet more evidence that CR is the most reliable source for this kind of information. We have seen Toyota's quality slipping and the CR results reflect that. I'm not going to fault CR for assuming that a new model from Toyota was going to be reliable. It probably wasn't the best methodology, but if it was right nearly 100% of the time (which it was based on the number of Toyota's that offered above average reliability) then it was a safe bet. It sounds like they have moved away from this practice even at a time when it might still be warranted.

You can't compare percentages like that. For example, 62% of 100 is 62 and 15% of 1,000,000 is 150,000. So in that case, the 15% is actually ~2420% greater than the 62%. Interestingly enough, in order for -62% fleet and -15% retail to account for the 204,070 to 155,037 slide, the number of fleet and retails sales lost are about equal. In ford's last annual statement the said they expected sales to be down this year due to lower fleet sales. However they expected that an increase in retail sales would offset some of the loses. I guess they were half right.

I think taxes are a red herring. Here is what happened: About 30 years ago a Canadian dollar was worth more than a US one. Over the next 30 years the Canadian dollar steadily dropped against the US dollar. During that time the price of Canadian cars increased to cover the exchange rate difference (or at least enough of it). As recently as 2002, the Canadian dollar was worth ~.625 US dollars. I recall that in 2004 a 27,000 USD TSX was going for 37,000 in Canada (no taxes included in either price). Since that time the Canadian dollar has appreciated ~60% VS the US Over the past 5 years. Today? A 2008 TSX in the US is 28,905USD and 37,855 Canadian in Canada. ~37% more in 2004 and 31% today. Or, to look at it another way, Canadians are paying 4,364,174 yen for a TSX (the TSX is made in Japan) and the US is paying 3,320,028 yen. How long should Canadian consumers wait? To put it Cheers and Gears terms, if the US suffered from the Candian pricing issues, you would be stuck paying CTS money just to buy an Impala. Don't tell me that wouldn't piss you off to drive around in an Impala knowing that you should have had a CTS for the same money. Last year I was talking to the Denon rep in my area of Canada. I was complaining about the price difference north and south of the border on Denon's products. I asked when they were going to adjust for the value of the dollar. His response was something to the effect of: 1) Canadian consumers are used to paying this much. 2) He was under the impression that the natural state was for the US dollar to be worth significantly more than the Canadian, and Denon was just waiting for that to be the case again. He may be waiting a long time. As long as manufacturers use artificial warranty barriers to segment markets they should be subject to these lawsuits.

I'm not sure why Canadians should pay more for a car because an automaker no longer makes as much when they build a car in Canada and sell it in the US. It isn't their responsibility to subsidize the US consumer.

This is excellent. The fact is that the CDN dollar has been appreciating VS the US dollar for some time, yet each year (for the most part) the cost of Canadian vehicles continues to go up. The auto makers have had chances to hold the line or even drop the prices a little, but they have continued to increase them. They obviously need this kind of encouragement. As for the difference in models, daytime running lights cost what? A few dollars? And the bumper issue is a problem on VERY few cars. The next car I buy I will ask a Canadian dealership for price-parity (or, by that time, perhaps a 10% discount) VS the US price. If they don't do it then I will have to buy a Lexus or a BMW from the US (as they both offer NA-wide warranties and I can't afford a 911 Turbo).

It probably won't be widely covered because the uniqueness of the acheivement is more in the word games of the PR than in the actual safety. It is a good result, but truth (if there is such a thing in advertising) would result in GM advertising that they offer equivalent safety to their competitors. Pickups do very well in the NHTSA test. http://www.safercar.gov/Index2.cfm?myClass...n=View+2008+PUs

I thought it was pretty impressive as well. But it sounds like it is relatively easy for pickups to do. The 2008 Dodge Dakota Extended Cab, 2008 Dodge Dakota 4DR, and 2008 Ford Ranger all get 5 stars side impact without side air bags. http://www.safercar.gov/Index2.cfm?myClass...n=View+2008+PUs

Before blasting the evil Toyota any further, I would encourage you to read this: http://www.usatoday.com/money/autos/2004-0...eleration_x.htm

Gotcha. So what you are saying is that I should go buy a Camry or an Accord so that on my next vehicle I might buy a GM and get $5,000 off. The problem is (as GM has found out with their idiotic Aura campaign) is that the Camry and Accord are still better cars than what GM makes. My wife and I test drove the Malibu. She bought an Accord. 2+ years later she's had a couple of oil changes and good residual value (which is much more than we could say for the olds she bought new back in 2001). Why oh why would we risk going back to giving up our Saturdays to take our car to the GM dealership on the chance that GM cars "are possibly nearly as good"? She's basically stated that she won't even bother test driving anything other than a Honda. I think that is a bit extreme, but based on her (and my) experiences I can't blame her. There is certainly no way she would ever buy a GM again (I had to convince her to drive the Malibu and Cobalt). This battle was lost many years ago. GM/Ford/Chrylser have to offer SUPERIOR products for YEARS for this to turn around. And they aren't even yet at the stage of matching. And contrary to what this article says, GM's reliability is still poor enough on many of their most popular models that they are still creating import buyers with each sale. Good for Buick, but they have been reliable for quite some time and make up only a fraction of GM's sales. Any author who states that this somehow translates to other domestic/import cars or even affects a significant portion of domestic sales is clearly wrong.

Using the internet for this kind of information does not yield consistent results. As the author himself points out in the Venture review, "However, the lack of an enthusiast following for these vans (does any minivan inspire enthusiasm?) means that the Internet doesn't have a lot to offer in terms of really useful reliability information about these vans.". But he was still able to find a couple of issues like the head gasket failure causing potential catastrophic engine damage that is common to a number of GMs. That he claimed an ABS self-check and rusty rotors as "issues" in the Accord review shows how he was scraping the bottom of the barrel to try to find problems. So before you assume that this is a lot of issues, you should at least have a point of reference. For comparison, check out their CTS review. He lists out the following issues: "a fragile differential that's prone to failure" "an analog clock in the gauge cluster won't keep time with a digital clock in the dash" "The steering sensor, which is apparently tied into the Stabilitrak traction and stability control system used in the CTS, is known to go bad" "crankshaft position sensors might be a weak point, too" "Many owners report having to replace items like batteries, water pumps and air conditioning compressors at relatively low mileage" He then links to two web pages with the following issues: “The a/c squeels when it was turned on” “the bose stereo was not holding memory and it would change cds by it self” “I'm in florida and I'm on the 3rd battery after only 51K” “crank position sensor issues” “reflash for the rough idle as well” “So far, I had to replace the battery, steering sensor, a/c compressor, and air bag module and harness.” “Only a small number have rear end problems. If the rear chatters when you back car up, you have a problem.” “check for a clunk in the rear end when slowing to a stop” “I had to bring it to dealer for many issues... Hey, it may be a caddy, but it's still a GM! LOL! Usually after three visits, they fix the problem.” Finally he links to an FAQ that contains the following issues: Why did my car make a HUGE banging noise when I drop through a puddle? How to get a replacement guage cluster (2003 CTS) WheelHop/AxleTramp explained Help, my headlamp washers are ALWAYS on or dont work right Why did the trip A odometer show more miles than the Odometer when I bought the car? Rear door latch issue during extremely cold weather Service Vehicle Soon Light comes on after 05 Alarm Activation Help! My audible alarm does not work on the 2005 V! Cadillac's response to various "common" issues (including: Rear Axle Hop, Critical Tire Pressure Monitor, Rough Idle , Brake Lining Bind After Setting, Driveline Clunk on Declutch in Parade Type Driving, etc.) I have a "singing" noise coming from my dash, what is it? Oil Temp Gauge Issue Fuel Gauge Issue Why does my driveline make a clunking noise?

I'm right here. I just finished reading another pseudo-PR piece. Short on details, full of hype, and really nothing new to report. Except, perhaps, a reporter who doesn't understand the possible literary uses of "You" (but there is not enough context to tell for certain). On the other hand, I would expect GM to let people outside of GM to drive the Volt... you gotta keep the PR a flowin'. I guess it just bothers me that he used that particular quote as if it were support of the preceding statement.

It was obvious from the very beginning that actually executing this gimmick was a bad idea. I knew it was. GM HAD to have known it as well. If not, I want a the job as GM VP of Advertising. And I'll do it for only $1,000,000/year. We saw from the stats trickling out that this comparison didn't work in practice. I wish the stats had gone beyond the "GM isn't winning Camry/Accord buyers" and also looked at how many buyers GM had handed to Toyota/Honda. It also forced GM to make questionable comparisons (to the point of lying) to make the Aura look favourable. Did GM actually buy Accords and Camrys? If so, they are surprisingly dumb. I suspect they didn't (or not as many as they would need). Instead they got to the point where they actually would have had to buy thousands of Accords and Camrys and decided the gimmick was up. Sure, it was nice to pretend (Volt, anyone?). But GM isn't going to put their money where their mouth is. Not on this one.

Yeah, but they managed to make the 3 stereo not look like the cheap piece of crap it is. It looks like it has a baby-grand gloss to it in those pictures. (Unless they upgraded it since the last time I had the unfortunate experience of being disappointed by it.) Interior looks to be the usual Mazda so-so. The exterior looks excellent. I hope GM has learnt a lesson here. Pre-announcing product is a nice little trick in that you get to compare your future product to competitors' existing product. And while the effect is even more exaggerated if much of that existing product is so old it will be replaced BEFORE your future product is available, you look all the more foolish if the competitors' replacement product bests your future product... especially if your competitors beat you to market. You also have the affect of hurting the sales of your not yet replaced model. Although, that probably wasn't much of an issue for current Bu buyers as they likely aren't the most informed buyers.

I'm just going to assume that you are doing some sort of marketing for Kia. Mostly because I can't see why anyone would go out of their way to be excited about this vehicle... and that includes if it wasn't made by Kia and wasn't on a GM-enthusiast site. If not, sorry if this hurts your feelings. But I'll bite. What looks good about it? Not even the camo can hind the fact that it is already set to be an also-ran. Mix in Kia's poor interiors, reliability and depreciation, and you've got a bottom feeder existing for the "soul" purpose of showing which people think that the sticker price is the cost of a vehicle.

More power, fuel economy, and size. Seems like it should do even better than the car it is replacing. I hope they offer stability control and the 4WD models in NA.

Is it more than a little ironic to read an article that uses misrepresentation to try to make a case against an organization for misrepresentation.

I bet you never read the article... or the rebuttal. CR rates fuel economy more highly than towing. For this reason GM might have done worse with their bigger engine.

I don't think it would be fair to blame GM if they didn't hit these leaked numbers from un-named sources. But I think we can blame those people who preach them as fact. (It also says something about the people who can't differentiate between fantastic "leaks", PR, and actual progress.) Well I've never been very good at being quiet. But will I get any credit if I am right? People still talk about GM's hybrid busses as if they were more than the dismal failures they are. Do I get any credit for my predictions on that? Not really. Not that I expect it.