My parents new Lexus has all that stuff, idk about the rear seats tho. It's really comfortable but it's really an old person car.

 

UAW contract is a noose around GM's neck.

They have kept making vehicles like the Astro, Blazer, and S-10 because it is cheaper to keep a plant running making unprofitable cars than it is to idle it and pay everyone to do nothing.

They have over a million vehicles overcapacity and can not shut down anything beyond Baltimore and Lindon because those were allowed in the last UAW contract.

GM asked the UAW to reopen the contract for healthcare relief, but the UAW refused. GM should have never signed the contract they have now, but last thing they could afford was a strike with how competive the market is.

Did you know GM spends $5.7 million on healthcare...roughly $1400 a vehicle? GM Union employees pay NO healthcare. In asking the union contract be reopened, GM wanted the union to agree for it's employees to pay the same percentage of their healthcare as GM salaries employees which is like 20% (still among the best in the private sector). The move would save GM something like 1-2 billion a year, but the union refused.

A question for Threxx and the other Toyotaites. How come Toyota has no where near the healthcare costs of GM? Is healthcare nationalized in Japan?

 

That's still assinine...inflation hasn't increased THAT much in the past decade.

 

I don't know why Toyota spends so little on healthcare, but both of my parents work for Toyota at the Indiana plant, and they have awesome health, life, dental, prescription, etc, etc insurance and benefits. I mean awesome! (Next to no cost to them at all). Lets face it, go look at a Toyota Tacoma TRD and an S-10 ZR2 side by side and tell me which one is better. For the small difference in price, there is NO comparison. And there is no bias because my parents work at Toyota, in our driveway sits 3 F-bodies, 2 Tacomas, and 1 S-10.

 

One reason is Toyota doesnt have near the retirees that GM has. That alone is a significant portion of their health care problems. GM is basically paying health care on the group most likely to need expensive health care services and getting absolutely 0 production out of them. I dont fault the retirees though to a point, I find more fault with the skyrocketing health care costs in this country. The costs go up double or triple the the rate of inflation every year.

 

If Toyota made a full size truck (Tundra doesn't count, it is more like a 7/8's full size) and a RWD V8, I would buy only Toyota's for the forseeable future.

 

Well...I think you would want to look at a Colorado before an S-10.

 

Why?

What facts are there that shows Toyota has a better vehicle in every segment. The new Impala SS has a 303HP V8 and gets better/same gas milage than the V6 Camry. Also the Impala has a great quality rep and a decent new interior and is cheaper. It may not be a looker, but neither is the Camry IMO.

I am not saying some Toyota's are not better, but I also think saying "just cause it has a T on the front it is the greatest thing known to man".


It is all perception....which is GM's problem more than quality at this point.

 

Best quote so far.

 

I wouldn't be caught dead in a foreign truck.

 

Obviously the S-10 ZR2 wins handsdown to the tacoma trd; was this a trick question or something?

 

Lexus/toyota also have the lowest reported problems per 100 vehicles of all the manufacture's.
So it's not perception. It's the truth.

 

Lexus props Toyota up on that. If you break it down by brand, and not whole company....there are a few GM brands that rank higher than Toyota brand (don't know them off the top of my head). Lexus on the other hand owns all in quality I guess .

 

I predict by 2008 , instead of GM going under .....CamaroZ28.com is gonna have to change their name to Importsrule.com .

What the hell is up with all the import nuthuggers on this site now . Its getting so farkin annoying I gotta sift thru all the Anti-GM crap on a GM enthusist site . Outside of the tech area's this site has really grown into a joke .

 

it's not just the worker pay and benefits. it's efficiency

efficiency , efficiency , build quality, bad judgement, like investing in Saab, Suzuki, etc,

oh yeah, and efficiency

and building cars in Mexico

now for the nightmare