Something is seriously wrong at GM. They're the only car company out that still insists on using 4 speed autos (well, they do have a 5 speed but its for 3 Cadillacs and 1 for Saturn), Ford is using 5 and 6 speed autos and CVTs on Fords..not just certain a brand in the company. They have no cars that I see myself in besides the CTS, SRX and the Corvette (the CTS was decided against in favor of the Mustang).
Don't get me wrong, we've had GMs here for as long as I can remember (which isn't that long but nonetheless). 1987 Caprice and 2 Silverados. 1991 Blazer. 1992 Lumina, Silverado and Caprice. 1993 Grand Prix and Camaro. 1997 Silverado. 1999 Blazer and Camaro. 2001 LeSabre. 2004 Sierra. (also throw in the 2001 Dodge Stratus and the 2005 Mustang and the 1988 Bronco). From the
1987 Silverado, the new Sierra has the same transmission, just updated. From the 92 Lumina to the 01 LeSabre, same transmission again just updated a bit.I want to see GM succeed, but they really have to step up the base here. The Mustang can get a 5 speed auto, the cheapest GM that can is the Cadillac CTS. Something is also wrong when a cheap car from Ford has bounceback windows but a not so cheap truck from GMC doesn't (which are a nice thing to have when you have people that like to roll up the windows when your fingers are sticking out). The Sierra has no light in the glovebox, as I found 2 years ago going up for deer hunting when I had to find something in it, in a cheaper vehicle that would have been fine, not when you're paying close to
40k for it.The Sierra has a recall for the tailgate cables. How long have they been making those? How do they manage to screw that up now? The LeSabre needed the windshield wiper motors replaced, the light switch replaced (it got stuck in place, you could not turn the lights off). The 91 Blazer had to be lemon lawwed. It would just die on the highway. They replaced the engine and transmission 4 times each. The 92 Caprice had a major ABS problem that they fixed and it came back. The 99 Blazers door fell off the other day, literally. The bushings rusted through on the driver side door and the pin fell out. The 01 Stratus had an electrical problem where the lights and dash would die. The only problem that I have with the Mustang is that when I'm putting gas in it the pump'll shut off a couple times.
Really, I see no incentive to keep buying GM products right now. I'm a car guy, I go for whatever is best for me at the moment. What really irks me though is that GM has the brainpower to catch up and pass up the other guys. But they CHOOSE not to. One part disagrees with the other and someone has to make a decision. Would it really hurt them to spend maybe a couple hundred dollars more on a car to get them up to the quality expectations of the public? It may cost a little bit more to build the car, but GM would lose less money because they wouldn't have the incentives on them or as much of an incentive. Would it really hurt to brag about how much they've gone up in reliability and say that they're still working to get up to the top? Would it really hurt to use newer technology (they're getting somewhat better with this right now)? Would it really hurt to give people what they want?