Support an industry that uses thuggish unions and is driving itself into the ground, or stand back and watch the show?

It is a price worth paying if the environmentalists have a stranglehold on everyone else. You presume that the unionbusters act virtuously in finding legal loopholes that obliterate the “secret ballot” unless you vote no.

I cannot wait to buy our next VW. Great cars.

I look forward to buying another UAW car to replace my CAW built Buick. Of course, I won’t be able to say that for the size of a Civic, I get a lot more car(long-lasting 3.8L V6 over the I-4 of yore, with only the complaints of a badly designed door-handle). I’ll have to settle for 200k miles of expensive transplants in the rear-view.

I cannot wait to buy our next VW. Great cars.

Living here in western PA, I seen the full effect of “union labor”. Thug Teamsters knocking each off like Godfather wanta be’s, steelworkers demanding food from entire neighborhoods while on a wildcat strike, Teamsters trying to blow up an overpass on the PA turnpike. No thanks UAW, I’ve had enough of mafia type unions. Good bye and good riddance

Well, consider that the thuggery went the opposite direction for quite a while before the UAW. Look up “Battle of the Overpass” for the introduction and notice the continued adversarial attitude (on both sides) that has built up since.

If you want the UAW to go, then I want to see the unionbusters(of in-company, consultant or any other) be barred from their profession for at least 30 years. It’s only a fair trade for giving up the UAW. Folks like Mr. Lotito of Jackson Lewis would finally be held accountable a bit earlier than Judgment Day.

Until the Big Three can build a decent 4 cylinder car, my family is staying with the Toyota’s and Honda’s.

The transplants are hoping that they force the hand of loyal purchasers of Detroit metal to underpowered, cheap gadget laden compacts. Not everyone is fooled by a car that is merely “fuel efficient” with just a few distracting gadgets.

Until the transplants can build 6/8 cylinder cars outside of the luxury segment (think of an equivalent to the Mustang), I’ll keep on running Detroit metal into the ground. That means things like 6-cylinder Civics well under $22000 and 8-cylinder Avalons for well under $30000. Show those who are unrepentantly buyers of Detroit metal that transplants also do affordable muscle.

Until then, I’ll be looking forward to unusually affordable and long lasting domestic muscle. If it offends the activist(versus the practical) environmentalists, I’ve found the right car. If it has more than 4 cylinders and low-rpm/high-torque, I’ve found the right car. If it’s no problem for it to last 200k miles, I’ve found the right car. If it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to get all of that, I’ve found the right car. Transplants have yet to meet all of that.

Consider the above when the Detroit-based “Secretary Specials” have more power for the dollar than your Lexus, Acura, Nissan, or Hyundai. Then watch as they go to 200k+ miles without breaking a sweat. Then find out that was their affordable section that just outperformed your high-end. No navigation system. No flashy electronics. Just pure affordable and reliable performance, courtesy of the Big Three.

I just bought a new 2008 chevy and I am already regretting it from a reliability viewpoint. The sound keeps cutting out from a bad connection. I brought it in for a diagnostic, and they did nothing.

keep the change on December 5, 2008 at 6:40 PM

I feel your pain change! I have been a “Chevy Man” all of my life, I have never bought anything but American Made Chevy’s, including a Chevy Colorado I bought new in 2004.

However, that’s where my “love affair” with American made cars (and Chevy) ended! Within the first two years the air conditioning adjustment knob (to increase/decrease airflow) stopped working in all positions but “high” the CD player stopped working and ate one of my CD’s, the entire tread belt delaminated on the rear right Continental tire while I was driving on the highway (at 65 mph) and it caused $2000 in damage.

When I took my truck back to the dealer after the tire failed and damaged my truck I was told there was nothing they (the dealer that sold me the car) could do and I had to deal with the tire manufacturer directly because the tire was a “normal wear” item.

I had to get two estimates, take several photos, fill out 10 pages of paper work and send it to Continental directly, in all it took me a lot of work and 6 months to get my money from them!

While Continental paid for the damage to my truck they would only pay for the one tire that failed and wouldn’t pay for the other three tires I had purchased because the tires I purchased were not Continental’s to which I replied “did you expect me to put Continental tires back on my truck considering what happened andd and how dangerous that type of failure was, do you think I’m suicidal?” but they wouldn’t budge and so I got stuck shelling out $300 for tires that I shouldn’t have needed for a truck that was only two years old! But again there was no way I was putting Continental tires back on my truck!

Bottom line is while the drive train on the Chevy Colorado I bought was fine and I’m sure would have lasted many years it was the rest of the vehicle that worried me, in fact I don’t think I would of had much of a car left around me after 10 years the way it was already falling apart within the first two years!

It was bad enough I could have been killed had that tire failed while I was driving on a windy mountain road, but the fact I had to deal directly with Continental despite my truck still being under warranty was unforgiveable and I should have not had to do anything, Chevy should have repaired the damage to my truck, replaced all of the tires, and dealt with Continental directly to get their money back. I decided at that moment to never buy a Chevy or an American car ever again!

The “Big 3″ obviously don’t stand behing their cars nor do they stand behind the customers that buy their cars, so why should I stand behind the Big 3 by giving them my hard earned tax dollars to bail their sorry arses out?!?!?!

I say no way to a bailout and good riddance to the Big 3!

Gatsu on December 6, 2008 at 8:50 AM\

we have a winner in the ‘perfect post’ contest!
nailed…

They learned what every business owner knows; it’s far easier to demand things than to pay for them.

Why should my hard-earned (and rapidly spent) money go to bail out somebody who makes more than twice my before tax wage AFTER their own taxes are deducted?!

SgtSVJones on December 7, 2008 at 5:39 AM

In this country, unlike some others, money does not grow out of the barrel of a gun — it grows out of Very Large Political Funds.

You and your friend may have guns, but you aren’t in a union, and since the unions (and their Very Large Political Funds) are certainly in favor, they will get what they want out of your (and my) cold dead pockets.

I’d like to hear one of our esteemed business geniuses in Congress run an inquiry along these lines.

When my 2000 Honda Civic with almost 185,000 miles reaches 200,000 miles next year, I am buying another Civic!

MsGail61 on December 7, 2008 at 10:00 AM

Why would you want to trade in the Civic with only 200,000 miles on it and get a new one? My son’s 1998 Civic just died last year with a grand total of 369,000 miles on it. The way I look at it MsGail, your Civic is just getting broke in.

Until the Big Three can build a decent 4 cylinder car, my family is staying with the Toyota’s and Honda’s.

Let Detroit go into bankruptcy; we’ll be just fine.

but I am of the opinion government interference, in the car and oil business,has resulted in lower preformance and inefficiency and if the government bails out the auto makers it will only get worse for the consumer.
.

philly_PA on December 6, 2008 at 8:35 AM

you are absolutely correct. Government mandates are part of the formula driving the Big 3 into insolvency, Unions with blaoted contracts being another.

The exec started piling the Company books on the table
and said, “This is a public Company you can look at the
books yourself, with benefits, the average cost to us is
$68 per hour.”

1985! I can’t guess what it is now!

That crap!

His first instinct – get in the soup line! Just like the union workers in Chicago who are occupying their factory after being laid off – he exhibited no thought to getting another job at all. These union workers would apparently rather bitch and moan about their lot in life…and do absolutely nothing. Bum. What a lazy frickin’ bum.

Nobody’s job is guaranteed. Nobody’s. These whiny ass union workers need to man up and get another job.

You people aren’t going to put us out of work, are you?

Hey union whore! Can you say “Welcome to Wal-Mart”?

I writing Jeep/Chrysler to ask for a “bailout” from the Liberty that I bought a few years ago…. What A piece. I won’t list the reasons by recall/breakdown/WTF here, but they are about to get it all!

With 80,000 miles on that vehicle, which was my once in my life buy what I want, load it up, damn the price auto, it has been a painfully long ownership of potential disasters, major inconveniences, and after warranty expensive repairs.
When I tried to sell it 2 years ago, I found that I would have had to all but give it away…

Feel the pain Chrysler… If you survive that, maybe you’ll be better for it. If not, good riddance.

RalphyBoy on December 6, 2008 at 10:41 AM

First car I ever owned was a 1980 trans am. It developed a leaking seal in the transmission and ran dry of fluid one day. I pulled off on the side of the road, and walked to the nearest gas station and bought a couple of quarts of transmission fluid. I filled it up and away she went. I loved the TH350 transmission. The big three didn’t always do things badly.