The Truth about GM

[roachjuice]

I like gm products. They have never treated me bad. I daily drive a ford. Why? Because it was cheap. I like it though. Its not bad. My wife has an 02 trailblazer 4x4. I like it also. Has plenty of power out of the 4.2 inline 6. 275hp. More power than my 4.6 thunderbird. Its been Reliable as hell. The thunderbird is a 94. Everything still works except the odometer. Im really not for or against any manufacture. Im more bias toward american cars. They all have their faults. The gm ls series engines are some of the best engines made. People love to hate them. I love em. They are cheap reliable and powerful. I'm not a ford modular fan. Mine runs smooth and its reliable. But it's nutless.
You cant say anything about gm outsourcing parts. Ford does it. The new 5.0 mustang manual trans is a joke. Sure it's fast but the trans likes to take a dump with low mileage. Why? BECAUSE IT'S MADE IN CHINA!!!
As far as diesels. The cummins is better out of the three. I don't like the new vgt holset turbos they put on them though. They blow all the time. Nothing wrong with the old design holset. The duramax is getting better. They had problems in the beginning. The new powerstroke sucks penis. Unreliable pos. they should have stuck with the old design. So what it was loud. No ****. Its a diesel.

 

[Vamoose]

Any body want to blame the auto union?
I will. They demand higher wages and benefits than the job they are doing should pay. I have known guys that worked at the Oklahoma GM plant that had jobs that payed 25+ per hour and it was a $9 an hour job at most, plus the crazy benefits and 3ish months of paid time off a year. How would any company survive that? And no. I don't work for GM or even drive one. I work or a foreign car company. I'm not saying that's where to but all the blame, but it is a large factor.

I dunno. But it works in Germany, the strongest economy in Europe, and their worker benefits are twice as liberal as GMs were. In the end, what screwed it up for GM was that they made crap automobiles that people stopped buying.

 

[elwoodtrix]

Just admit it Pumpkin... You love rods!!!!
We all love the rod, some just don't know it yet.

that's a BIT out of context right there...

 

[littlefoot]

Ford and Toyota make pushrod motors which allow them to compete in NASCAR and other sanction races that require a pushrod motor. Next the NASCAR bashing thread.

 

[11b1776]

Ford and Toyota make pushrod motors which allow them to compete in NASCAR and other sanction races that require a pushrod motor. Next the NASCAR bashing thread.

Ford hasn't made a production pushrod engine in several several years

 

[AllOut]

Ford hasn't made a production pushrod engine in several several years

And they've done a craptastic job with their over head motors as well LOL

 

[DD10]

Well, I've work for the state for 14 years now and see all of the merrit protected, classified workers that don't do sh*t but can't get fired because of their protection. Makes me sick. Yet there are those of us that are not merrit protected and could be fired tomorrow for looking at someone wrong. Thats just messed up.

 

[TerryMiller]

Well, since the original post was about Obama saying that GM was roaring back, I'll get back onto the original intent of this thread. GM is still "in debt" to the taxpayers for about $25 Billion dollars, and unless their stock really goes up, they will likely never pay it back. With the Chrysler bailout, there is about $2 Billion to $3 Billion that the taxpayers (excuse me....the treasury) will never get back.

I won't lay all the blame on companies and their "negotiating" skills because the unions have the ability to picket at the end of every contract and ask for more and more. And what other union will cross that picket line? So, the companies are at a disadvantage there and then tend to give in to union demands. After all, the stock and bondholders of the companies tend to want the companies to be working and building.

Lastly, if the unions are so great, how do you all feel about them donating millions of dollars into political campaign coffers (mostly for Democrats) instead of using those millions of dollars as benefits for the workers? Wouldn't those dollars be better spent into pension plans?

Oh, just for the record, the wife and I drive Ford trucks. We have an F150 daily driver and a F450 to tow our home/RV.

 

[11b1776]

It's like any large organized group of people, they lobby for there interests, just like the NRA, just like health care companies, human rights groups, animal rights groups, etc, etc. Not to mention MOST unions do not manage member pensions, the company does, but I do believe the UAW does mange there members pensions. UAW is not the union to measure all other unions by, most of the time they are the exception, not the rule.

 

[11b1776]

And they've done a craptastic job with their over head motors as well LOL

Well Ford has stayed the best selling truck even with there mod motors, they continue to be at the top of the truck market in power and fuel economy. Fords mustang was the only pony/muscle car to survive even with there mod motors. Dodge and GM both gave up. Fords GT500 with its mod motor will crush any offering from Dodge or GM with the lone exception being the corvette, so it sounds to me they are doing pretty good compared to the others. Not to mention Ford never took any bailout money...