>>>>>And for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would pay a premium price for a 'Burb just to get the Caddy badge on the grille.<<<<<

Owners can't see badges on the grilles of their cars / trucks.

But their neighbors can.

 

Bragging rights......and then you spank one off the lights..........

 

I love most of my neighbors, but if they are not impressed with me as a person, they can just go straight to Hell. No way I'd spend an extra dime to impress anyone.

But this does explain why people buy those smaller Benz's, which to my eye look like a Toyota Corolla.

 

All GM really needs is Chevy, Buick, and Cadillac...and maybe not even Buick. GMC is redundant. While I like the fact that alot of GM parts are interchangeable, which is a good thing all around, having different part numbering systems is inefficient and confusing. I guess they are like any giant company out there, they start out great, but they eventually become bloated, and inefficient, focusing on what makes them money, rather than what helped them become a good company to begin with.

 

They were smart enough to have killed Pontiac. Buick and GMC are total clones of the Chevrolet platforms and should have been dispensed with years ago. I am not certain that the decision to kill off Saturn was wise, though. With that brand, they had negotiated a brand-new UAW contract that did not have nearly as much of the "fat" as their other contracts. If it had been my call to make, I would have instantly stopped Pontiac, Buick and GMC, and kept Saturn.

The part numbering and inventory redundancies could be readily enough cured, and I suspect that there are plenty of cross-references to platform-common parts. The real unnecessary expense is the competing advertising and separate dealerships.

 

I would have kept Saturn too because the lineup of cars were smaller and more fuel efficient (which is what everyone is shifting over to), but I guess GMC and Buick were the money makers in the short term.

 

I agree....other than Saturn cars are UGLY...That is why they flunked....there aren't enough different kind of people out there

 

Don't be, threads concerning quality and depenability always end up like this. It's a passionate subject that starts out with a lot of upset posters and then morphs into all that is bad or good in the auto industry.

 

Scrivs, I'm not sure I agree that the ugliness of Saturn cars was a problem. I have not seen too many vehicles from any maker that are pleasing to the eye. Maybe my age is showing here, but since the retirement/death of car designers like Harley Earl most of what's on the road looks pretty much alike. When the PT Loser was first released, I thought it was interesting. (I have the distinction of having driven the first one that appeared here in Maryland. It was a press pool car.) But that look got boring, fast. Chevy's SSR looked great, but they were SO expensive. When the HHR arived on the market, it was the first car in a long time whose looks really caught my eye. So when I totaled my '99 Suburban, HHR was the first thing I looked at as a replacement. My research showed that it is a good value, and about as reliable as any vehicle I'm willing to spend money to buy, so the choice kinda made itself.

The biggest inconvenience for me with the HHR is that I am used to more interior space, because I more or less work out of my car. But I'm steadily solving the problems it presented me. I got the HHR in November, and if I had to choose again, I'd make the same choice.

 

I'm past the point of being an upset poster. Every week or so it's something different. Once spring is here I'm hoping to be able to rid myself of the POS car.

Sadly, I doubt it will be another GM. Just to many problems with it. Then again, if it's not made in Mexico.......