Locate an Auto Repair Shop in China Grove, North Carolina

China Grove, NC Car Consumer Discussions

Re: Accountability [fintail]

by gagrice on Mon Apr 20 06:52:17 PDT 2009

We get it. You smarmy one-worlders don't like to admit to any kind of collusion or united ideal to make a dumbed down standard for the masses of the planet, at the expense of the future of what was the western world. Point taken. I just don't see the difference from 100 years ago or two hundred years ago. We have generally bought from the lowest bidder nation. The focus has been recently on cheap goods from China. How about all the fruit and veggies from Chile. The fish from Vietnam and the Philippines. I live in the middle of avocado groves and the stores never have local avocados. They are from either Chile or Mexico. Same with melons. Salinas CA is the Garlic capitol of the World. I cannot find any garlic that is not a product of China in our supermarkets. Not to mention the fact that lumber subsidized by the Queen devastated the US lumber industry a LONG TIME ago. We can lament our position in the global economy. I do not see any movement away from expanding the trend. I would rather be here than any other place I can think of. And I am far below that top tier. I am right in the middle of the middle class. After decades of being behind the UAW. We finally passed them in the late 1990s. Financially my best years were post 9/11 till I retired in 2006. PS I get $250 from Obama. Just got the letter in the mail. Think I will buy a new car with that.

Re: Chevy Colorado brakes [rukus2]

by poncho167 on Sat Aug 23 05:46:32 PDT 2008

First off Toyota's Tundra was the first to start the big rebates going back to last year with their slow selling truck. It is not meeting expectations in quality or sales. How recalls did it have in its first year. Lets see I seem to recall the crankshaft issue, tailgate welds, and something else that is escaping me. It's another light duty Toyota truck with a cartoonish interior and a weak frame design. To say that American brand companies quality is not comparable leaves me to believe that you don't follow automotive news very much. They have been comparable for 10-years or more now. No brand has a full line of best in class cars. GM has several model lines with what's considered best in class but like other auto makers there are some excellent cars and there are some average cars across the board. No one makes a bad car anymore and there hasn't been one for years from any company that I know of. Toyota's domestic content here in the U.S. is only about 50% overall, while GM as a whole is over 70%. Because of Toyota's outsourcing of parts from Japan, China, etc., that forced the domestic automakers to outsource to to stay in business. In doing this thousands of small companies who produce parts, mostly in Detroit, were forced out of business with tens of thousands of people losing jobs. Toyota is known for picking states with no unions and for hiring part-time workers to avoid paying benefits. Without unions and pensions to worry about they have a huge bottom line and as mentioned their money is invested back in Japan institutions not here other than building assembly plants and reaping the benefits of a weak dollar when converting the yen. It's not a good picture with what these Japanese companies are doing. Sure they forced the American companies to build their cars/truck with better fit and finish, but they also forced them to abandon local resources to stay in business. I don't know of a car/truck from any brand that can't go 200,000 miles if maintained. This is another false perception. Only a small percentage of people keep a car for 100,000 miles anyways. Who wants a 200,000 mile car/truck? People still change vehicles every 3-5 years on average. I am happy with my rusted but reliable 1992 S10.

Re: Disagreement of philosophy with Poncho... [busiris]

by poncho167 on Mon Jun 02 05:20:34 PDT 2008

Well Isuzu and Toyota's Dahatsu reduced their investment here to the point of no longer selling cars. These foreign companies are leaching off our economy and it usually doesn't lead to exports other than their own money leaving. Short-term building of an assembly plant leads to quick profits that could lead to long term but again they are just enriching themselves at our expense. As far as blocks being put in place for American companies to do business over there you can research that on your own. I am not here to give links to stories regarding that because it is somewhat known that Japan doesn't like companies other than Japanese doing business in its country and there are political and financial road blocks to go through. And as far as how it hurts the U.S. economy when a foreign car builder builds here. Again I will go back to what I said before. Its no fair trade off because a foreign car builder employee takes a job from an employee from Ford, Chrysler, etc., so that person loses his/her job. They already have places (usually outside the U.S.) were they are going to get their parts thus forcing U.S. companies to look for less inexpensive parts outside of the U.S. therebye the closure of local suppliers and union issues (strikes, contract extensions). To stay competitive because of the increased costs caused by the foreign invasion American cars company employees lose out to Mexico, China, Indonesia, etc, to those parts that were previously created here. Then there are companies like Toyota who make it a practice of hiring part-timers to avoid benefits. I can say this that Japanese cars did help American companies get off their butts and pay attention to detail in build quality. I have worked in the auto industry in the past as a porter/detailer, and salesman so I have seen and driven many cars. The auto dealers I worked for were; 2 Nissan dealers, 1 Mazda dealer, 2 Chevrolet dealers, 1 Toyota dealer. Other than fit and finish there wasn't really any other noticible difference. The American vehicles tended to be heavier (doors, hoods, etc) but they both had similar service issues.

Re: Update to domestic content in vehicles... [busiris]

by poncho167 on Sat May 31 10:43:30 PDT 2008

"Ok, what Chevy models are you talking about, please name them. Here is another area you need to research because the only one with a small domestic content is the Aveo at 8% which most people recognize as foreign just like the previous Geo division. All other vehicles are around 75% or higher." I said Chevy models. I knew the HHR was less than 50% but I didn't post it initially but I knew you would bring it up because its made in Mexico, and the Equinox is more the same. Where are these many cars that you talked about? They don't exist. You would have been better off with that statement should you have been talking about Chrysler, but GM is as American as it gets. The Pontiac Torrent is an Equinox with different front and rear styling. The Pontiac Vibe is a shared platform with the Toyota Matrix. Most people know that its mostly Toyota. As far as building in America goes these are temporary small investments that will rake in billions of dollars back to their country to their banking structures. How long does it take to make billions, not much when you sell a few hundred thousand vehicles. BMW is also taking advantage of the Euro vs. dollar and doing more of the same. This is one of the reasons why this country is losing money and has such a big trade deficette. When the money doesn't stay it hurts our economy. Our banks need that big money to survive and offer services to our citizens at reasonable rates/interest. Are you aware that even if Ford or GM wanted to start building auto plants in Japan we couldn't. There are laws in place that prevent foreign companies from coming into Japan and taking a piece of the pie (economy). China and India are making multi-billion dollar buyouts of banking institutions here and its worrying many economists with some wanting regulations to be put in place before its too late. What does that mean I can't really say, but I thought the same way when I heard about it and then the uproar after that by people who follow economic and financial transactions for a living. This is not good for America.

Re: Discounts for XM Satellite and traffic for Acura Owners [stu13257]

by laurasdada on Fri Apr 04 18:46:02 PDT 2008

Man, how I envy you rich TL owners who can afford XM... Oh, well. Time to pop in another mix tape from the late '70s... "Oh, oh China Grove!"

Re: Lemon Aveo [busiris]

by poncho167 on Mon Feb 04 05:38:45 PST 2008

One thing the Japanese companies did good was force the American companies to put better products on the road. I am talking about craftsmanship-fit and finish. The truck thing really hurt the American manufactures. Sure they have always had the best trucks but at the expense of mostly average cars with a few being very good as well. No manufacture domestic or import has a model in every catagory that is best in class, thats what makes it such a competitive market nowadays. I agreed with the Japanese prime minister some 15-20 years ago when he toured the auto plants and said the UAW workers were lazy. It was about time someone said something to get them to wake up and realize it is not fun and games anymore. I know what you mean by a union contractors having to plug a cord in and how much they overcharge for their services. A friends neighbor is a union window installer and he makes six figures doing that. I can also see why Toyota goes out-of-their-way to avoid states that have unions and to seek part-time employees to save on benefits. That may morally wrong, but it is a smart business decision no matter how bad it appears. American manufactures have been forced to seek parts from China, Japan, and Mexico because everyone else is doing it to stay competitive price wise. Have you seen the domestic content of a Camry recently, I haven't but read in an article that it has dipped below 60%. Toyota as a whole including their other devisions brings their domestic content to below 60% as well while GM is still floating at 75% overall but who knows how long that will last.