Hell's Getting Chilly: GM Links to TTAC
GM Car Czar Bob Lutz doesn't know who we are (which is a shame since RF gave him the "Maximum Bob" moniker and we've named an award in his honor). GM's jeffe of press releases, Christopher Barger, doesn't want to admit he does. However, we know through our "inside sources" (i.e. server stats) that quite a few people in GM read TTAC. In spite of that, you won't find TTAC on GM's Fastlane blog's list of "Auto Links" and especially not in their list of "Blogs We Like." And we have never, not ONCE had a post or email or interview with a single GM flack. However, no one seemed to let GM Europe know of our pariah status. Yesterday, I was searching the web and ended-up on GM Europe's " Social Media Newsroom" web site. I scanned down the page to their Blog Roll. The list was in alphabetical order (after the GM blogs listed at the top, of course). And there, fourth from the bottom was The Truth About Cars. Clerical error? Secret admirer? Glasnost? No matter how you slice it, the Euro-blog (not bog) roll is the only GM part of the GM Empire that acknowledges TTAC's existence. Regardless of the reason, we challenge GM to show some balls and put us in the listings on all their other blog sites. After all, we put stuff about GM on our front page all the time. And remember guys: 800 words, unedited, whenever you like.
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Wulv : The dealership experience is an entirely different issue. I totally understand if somebody wants a positive dealership experience, that was the one thing I liked most about my Lexus. netrun : If everybody avoided buying a car from a company that had burned thousands of people, nobody would buy any cars. Every car company has screwed over their customers one way or another. Even the aforementioned Lexus/Toyota has tons of dissatisfied customers. Ask 2nd Gen (1998-2004) GS owners how they like door actuators going out (at ~$250 a pop), ball joints failing (and when the ball joints on these cars break, the entire wheel comes off), starters not lasting past 100,000miles, etc. These are not isolated cases, they are very common in nearly every 2nd generation GS (I personally experienced all of them in mine), and the ball joint issue especially is dangerous. Toyota/Lexus has done nothing about the problem(s). Should everybody not consider buying a Lexus becuase of these examples? Or should people look at each car on a case by case basis and recognize that most Lexus products are extremely reliable?
thalter...times change? Really? GM for over 25 years, the 2003 (bought new) has a list of repaired-under-warranty defects like NONE of the earlier ones. Now that the warranty's over I'm paying out of pocket for the ongoing inherent design defects, no goodwill, no recalls. So what happened? They got better in the last 5 years maybe? I see a lot of cheap plastic and even thinner metal than ever (please don't quote the "high strength" trump card) and made in Mexico and made in China parts. Fit and finish are improved perhaps, but still subpar compared to Honda or Toyota or even Hyundai now. Yet the executive bonuses reach record levels. Memo to GM management: how about reinvesting a percentage of that money into the organization instead? (That would include fixing the design issues up front AND the existing ones after the fact).