> Well, this might be the simplistic view, but GM's and Ford's
> products suck. It has been this way for so long that it has
> become an article of faith among consumers. Except for
> SUVs and fleet sales, they can hardly give the things away.
And except for the labor movement, of course. I long ago lost count of how many times driving a Chevy has saved me from embarrassment in front of the labor guys I sometimes deal with in my job. (It's less of an issue in SEIU, as you might expect, but there are other unions around and this is, after all, Pittsburgh. Just the other day I parked at the Carpenters hall for a meeting, and double-checked with a guy to make sure that it was OK for me to park there. He said sure, but that "If that was a Honda, it would be a different story.") The rest of you can talk about how I should be fighting backward protectionism and maybe even driving a union-made Toyota (apparently there is one, I just forget which model), but contrary to what some on this list seem to think, there is such a thing as picking your battles, and this is not one I'm going to fight. So it's "domestic" (that is, probably mostly made in Mexico) autos for me.
All of that said, I have a 1997 Cavalier, and I think it actually runs pretty well.
- - - - - - - - - - John Lacny http://www.johnlacny.com
Tell no lies, claim no easy victories