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Forbes, ND Car Consumer Discussions

Quality

by ruking1 on Thu Jul 02 07:36:03 PDT 2009

I noticed this Forbes article on a www.tdiclub.com web site VW Tops Quality Survey

Re: 07 CORVETTE FOR 06 CTS - A GOOD EVEN TRADE? [robh3]

by xtranaut on Wed Jun 03 10:58:12 PDT 2009

Wow. 8k miles! What a find. I live in Houston which is the biggest city of mediocre cars I have ever lived in...and all wholesale prices are determined by the auction market - which means you get bottom dollar for your car no matter how great a shape and low miles it has. It's never a good feeling having to contemplate trading in your car to a dealer but when you are trading something you know to be pampered and in excellent shape for something unknown, it's an unsettling feeling. Yes, this CTS looks great and has all the equipment you can get on one but all that I am reading about reliability isn't good. FORBES and consume reports gave every year but 04, a lower than average reliability rating. AND BEWARE. There are recalls on the rear end seals and an issue with fuel distribution to the engine. Both are MAJOR issues that could be very dangerous while you are driving. I am still contemplating this trade but still on the hesitant side especially when I saw an "expert" say, A Toyota Camry would be well on to it's second and third lives when a CTS was done for good. Other than these expectations, I like the car and thee way the 3.6 performs.however, the reason for my trade dictates that I make the best choice for longevity and low maintenance in the life of a car. I guess I have always been fortunate to have had cars that didn't give me much trouble, were pleasing to look at and fun to drive. I just don't care for many other cars right now. They all look pretty much the same or are much to pricey for what the are.thus, my dilemma with the CTS

This makes me crazy....

by graphicguy on Wed May 27 10:09:47 PDT 2009

Just got this blurb from Forbes. You would think the big oil companies would learn. But, here they are, with their commodities people manipulating prices again for no good reason. This run up doesn't help the recovery on the auto industry either. Demand is down....way down...and will continue to sink, worldwide. Inventories are overflowing. Yet, gas and oil prices are up 60% since the beginning of the year. Unbelievable. This helps no one but the oil companies....and hurts everyone else. "Much like in the stock market, oil traders seem to be grasping for potential recovery in the future rather than looking at the reality on the ground. IHS Global Insight analyst Simon Wardell said on Wednesday that oil was currently overvalued, with no demand growth in sight. He noted that inventories tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development were at an 11-year high of 2.7 billion barrels. "The inventories are getting very, very high," said Wardell. "We're producing too much oil, and we're running out of places to put it." The United States Energy Information Administration said as much earlier this month, when it said that expectations of a price rise in the coming year would "need to be tempered with the current market reality of this supply overhang." The government department slashed its projections for 2009 world oil consumption to 1.8 million barrels per day, from 2.2 million."

Re: Toyota/Lexus vs. VW/Audi (and even Porsche) [ateixeira]

by steve_ on Fri May 15 08:17:15 PDT 2009

It's funny to me that when people say a Lexus is a glorified Toyota Guilty. It is sort of fun to razz someone about their Ford (Volvo), Audi (VW) or Nissan (Infiniti). Fun, depending on how well you know the person anyway. Ok, I'm gonna reform. Meanwhile, Hyundai denies reported approach by GM on brand (Forbes) The article doesn't say which brand, but the Hyundai HUMMER has a nice ring to it.

Re: Hybrids ARE profitable - which some of us already knew [lzc]

by kdhspyder on Mon May 04 11:26:23 PDT 2009

That's the article to which I was referring. Honda's system is very elegant in that it's a low cost effective system that does a great job for small light vehicles. It has a smaller battery and a low-powered e-motor. It's a very good engineering design. It is limited until further notice to vehicles about the size of the Civic. The Toyota system is larger, more powerful and more effective for a wider range of vehicles. It also costs more with a larger battery pack and two more powerful e-motors. But the revenue is significantly higher for an HSD vehicle than for an IMA vehicle. The key question is 'What about the amortization of the development costs?' This depends solely on ... VOLUME. The direct variable costs are well covered in the selling prices. These are well known from comparable vehicles. Regarding Gross Margins, here is the latest info as reported by Forbes from 12/08. TM Margins and Ratios

rocky

by marsha7 on Tue Apr 28 20:14:19 PDT 2009

"Weak door hinges which gagrice was talking about on his vehicle had a history of sagging down. The UAW worker didn't design those door hinges. They were crap which I agree. I owned a GMT-800 Chevy Silverado Sidestep and I can say as a owner I wasn'tsuper impressed with the fit and finish of those trucks"...that is simply the point...how many people, over the years since the 80s, have bought GM vehicles and were not "superimpressed" to use your words???...can you not see that your Big 3 basically drove (no pun intended) buyers into the arms of Toyota and Honda???...you talk about a little flaw here and a little flaw there...you have NOT paid attention at all...apparently many (millions?) of buyers will no longer consider a Big 3 car...why do you think that is???...does the concept of quality, or the lack of it, enter your mind???...don't you think they deserted the Big 3 for a reason???...have you any idea what it is??? You posted GM is #1...have you noticed that means absolute NOTHING since they have lost 40 Billion in the last 5-8 years???...do you understand what it means to lose money and how meaningless being #1 really is???...think of a baseball team that lost every game in a season but had the #1 home run hitter with 100 home runs...so what???...they have to win games and GM has really won nothing except Chapter 11... Just read in current Forbes that Buick sales have dropped 81% in the last few years...someone tell me why keep Buick as a separate division...aside from one model, 2010 LaCrosse, and we don't know how good it is yet (except rocky, who states that every GM model is the best in the world as they file for bankruptcy), one model cannot keep a division going...the crossover SUV (Acadia???) is another rebadged car from Chevy, what else is there for Buick (Forbes also said that Lucerne sales were quite low)??? Saab, Saturn and Hummer either sold or simply shut down...I maintain my prediction, Chevy, caddy and a truck division, pick your name of either Chevy Truck or GMC... In 90 days, GM will be the automotive equivalent of Pets.com, and they brouhgt it all on themselves...and anyone who thinks that the electric car will save them is on drugs...no one will buy them except Tom Hanks, Warren Beatty and Bill Gates...oh, and Al Gore...