Rant about options on new GM vehicles

I am loosely in the market for a new car.

Aside from the fact that there is not a lot og GM cars the excite me right now, I have still been shopping their websites.

As a consumer, when I see stuff like "Special Paint" as a $995.00 option on the Lucernce and it is a mandatory option for all models and colors, first I wonder why did they even show that then and what is so darn "special" about the paint?

Then, every Lucerne photo I have ever seen shows a navigation screen in the dash. However, that is not an available option yet. Frustrating.

Disk brakes as an option, Air conditiong as an option, on some cars, come on. ABS as an option. ummm, some of those things seem like they should really just be standard equipment.

On the Lucerne, you can't get Stabilitrak on the 6 cylinder. You are also stuck with the bench seat on the 6 cylinder, even though it appears on the website as a mandatory added cost option.

Being a GM buyer that is in the market and gets the A-plan, so I want to stick with GM is tough. Not much at all that excites me. Other than performance minded cars, what do they have that REALLY appeals to a guy in his late twenties for a DD? Nothing at Chevy is appealing. THe Monte Carlo? eh, my parents have one, not great. Pontiac? GXP doesn't do it for me, and the GTO? jellybean Saturn? Yeah right. Caddy? Have you checked out the price of a stripped CTS lately? That leaves Buick. THe Lacrosse is ok, the Lucerne is pretty good aside from that nose, but see the option rant above.

Anyway, rant off, and putting my flame shield on right about .........now.

You should put it on, because that crap is not unique to GM. :p As for the paint thing on the Lucerne, that sounds wrong to me. I just checked their site and went to build my own Lucerne. I see what you are talking about, but it looks like it is just a website error. Could be something used for manufacturing that should not be part of the build your own site at all, or it might be a glitch that is supposed to only be used for a special color (something MB, BMW, Porsche, et al have done forever) and mistakenly shows up for all colors.

Note that the MSRP doesn't change from the first page where you choose the model (CX, CXL V6, CXL V8, CXS) to the page where you choose color and then options. It is just part of the standard price, apparently, which makes me suspect it is a glitch like I described above. :)

Anyway, it is not uncommon to make some options only available as part of a bigger package, or for an uplevel model. It isn't just GM.

I know its not just GM, their just the only company that I am going to shop or end up buying from.

I could get a Chrysler car on employee discount, but Chrysler quality and longevity................

I've been a Chrysler technician. No thanks to purchasing one of their cars.

Also, talk about website, try to build a Charger on their website. Not the easiest or most intutive build your own feature to use. OH well, I'm not buying a website. I'm buying a car.