Oh, I have problems, lots of them, but I cannot fight the good fight if the US manufacturers do not make the auto I want and need.

Blame the influx of Asian cars on everyone BUT me. I have remained loyal to domestic 'till now. I went to buy another GMC but they stopped making my van! What can I do. Then I realized that a LOT of this car talk and patriotism stuff is kinda misleading and trite. Corporations rule the world and we are their fodder. Not much different than the old "company store "days in some respects.
GM makes their stuff where ever they can exploit the labor pool the cheapest. It is their duty to their stockholders. They have a disappearing allegiance to their employees, so it seems..


I have had over forty US made cars, so please take it else where. I have lived and breathed Chevy and Buick most of my life. Went Ford once. It served me fine, but even it was half Japanese. Look it up. Ford Taurus SHO 1989.

Steel? We export our steel to Japan so they can do what they do. Corporations make these decisions. We are essentially powerless. Japan has little steel. They import it.
It made its ways back to the US to build a plant in Alabama? I would guess Americans made some money moving all that stuff and getting paid and permitted. Anyway, it is a global economy now, and corporations tell the politicians what they need to maximize their profits for the investor class. Just the way it is. Capitalism works this way .

Buick is making huge inroads in China. They produce models for the Chines that we WISH we had. Look it up. It's on the internets. Really, people in other countries DO drive and desire US cars. Now granted I believe the Buicks are totally MADE in China, but that is a corporate decision, not mine or yours.

Anyway, I like My Mexican HHR and My Alabaman Honda. No choice buying the latter since the domestics have essentially left the building on the minivan front. They are betting that niche on the famed Crossover cars. Heck I like the Arcadia and Enclave, but cannot go $45K for a loaded car again.

Too late to for Saturn to make it right by me. GM killed Olds and made Saturn cross platform finally? Sad about Olds, but it does put Saturn in a better position.
If I could get a Saturn repaired without having to drive an hour each way, I would consider them....maybe. But the screwed me on the last one. And I will remember. I'm more upset about that than of buying a foreign job.

 

Harpo, I'm in the same boat as you for the Saturn. There used to be a dealership nearby, but then they packed up and took off to Kanata (a pretty good drive for a broken car to make.) That, and the service that I received at that dealership was less than satisfactory. GM is actually giving me a $1500 voucher towards my HHR for that reason.

 

Every new vehicle I've ever bought was a Chevrolet. I've been completely satisfied with all of them. I never had a major problem with any of them, and not many minor problems for that matter.

CHEVY TO THE DEATH!

 

Good work on the voucher. I applaud thee!
The HHR is such a cool and great car!

Yeah, the Saturn kool Aid.............
If indeed we can now get Saturns serviced at the Chevy dealer then they have made a good decision. They had proprietary diagnostic harness's and stupid rules when I owned mine just a few years back. It made no sense since they already shared a lot of parts with conventional GM cars.

And To Heritage07, Most of my fortyish cars have been Chevy's! Mostly Corvairs. but hey, I like those air cooled orphaned Chevys!

 

Well said Harpo...my wife has an 04 Saturn Vue that has the same Honda engine in it that your Odessey has...world class engine. She is just about to turn 100k with zero issues..the 3.1 what I believe was an Opel engine in the pre 2004 Vues was pure junk(I may be off on the model of engine)

Should we boycott Vibes because they have Toyota engines? (Bad example with you Harpo lol) Boycott Vues because of the Honda engines?


You have a fine quality van there Harpo...nothing the big 3 makes in that segment can even touch either a Sienna or an Odessey as far as quality and workmanship

My Matrix was a far cry from being a super car...but I will say that the fit and finish of it was a lot better than the HHR..that is for sure. That being said I still prefer the HHR due to it's styling and fun factor..but am I a blind HHR/Toyota owner? No..I'll make note of what is good and what isn't in any vehicle regardless of the make or model.


Goose


PS....HB, I saw the size of that Hyundai plant in AL a few years back and was amazed at the size of it!!!

 

Let me add that I have zero doubts that my 2.2 will last....I think it is just as well made as the 1.8L that my Matrix had.

Time will tell as I had 64K on the 1.8 in just under 2 years. I should match or go higher than that in the same time frame with the Ecotec.


Zero issues with the 1.8 with just 5K oil changes. Am really hoping for the same with the 2.2 following the same OIC schedule


Goose

 

Thanks Goose You understand
Brand loyalty should not be what it once was considering the amalgom of soucing and finishing products in our world these days. Companies do what they can to maximize their profits. It is their job. A large part of that job is the melding of ideas and parts from different international market segements.

Like My Ford Sho with the Yamaha Marine division motor or the Pontoyota Vibe that taunted me for that brief stint
Like we say im Masachusetts, " Good cahz is good cahz!
( Yeah, I'm really still a M******* at heart ).
Be visiting NH in Mid July too, goin' to Ashland and Mini Squm lake. Relaxing there with lotsa mosquitoes though Be taking the Oddity because I can fit the family, the vacation stuff in AND a couple of guitars. Guitar cases just don't fit well with people in the HHR as I have to fold the seats down for the cases I own.

 

The car I bought was not the ION, it was the SL1.
But if you check the original Ecotec engine was designed by Lotus

 

Sorry about the mis info, you are right, don't know were i saw the info, but it was originally designed by Opel and an internation team. But then them Gemans know thier engines, and autos. But I do remember seeing something about, and it maybe the LT5, the Lotus having something to do with the design for the Ecotec

 

Same here but I escaped to the land of the free 5 years ago this July


Goose