I'm looking at the following cars for my next purchase. It's about 2
years away, but you can never be too prepared. Hell, my car might up and die tomorrow. Prices are retail, not what I'd pay with the GM Employee discount (which is why I'm only looking at GM cars)
Pontiac G6 GTP - ~$26K, available late 2005, replaces the Grand Am in
Pontiac's model line. This has a lot of pluses. I've yet to see or drive one, so that may change.
Pontiac Grand Prix GTP Comp G - ~30K. Sis-in-law had a 98 GTP. It was pretty awesome. This is one ballsy car.
I'd have the GTO in here, but a concession to my fatherhood was a sedan. Which kinda sucks, because I don't think there is a car in the 30K range that I'd rather have. Maybe a 3.2TL, but I'd like to remain on speaking terms with my father-in-law.
Chevy Imapala SS ~30K. Not so much, but it's worth a look.
Buick Regal GS ~30K. Again, not so much. S-i-L just bought one, so I'll
check her's out next time I see her.
Saturn L300-3 ~25K Remarkably, only car of this group with DVD package as
an option. If money is at all in issue (like if we would have two car
payments) this one is the leader. Short on balls, but long on amenities.
While looking at the otions for all these cars, I was struck by something that really pissed me off about GM. They have one car, the Saturn ION (maybe the Vibe, too) for which an MP3-CD player is an option. Now, I'm 30, and have a decent career with a fairly well-paying job, and a possible need for multiple car-seats when I purchase in a few years. But GM seems to think that only 19 year olds have a need/desire to play MP3s. WTF?
Screw the GM discount and get a Honda. While I did like our Saturn, it was in way too often for recalls and other little crap. My Honda has had exactly one recall and the biggest expense I've put into it was to get new brakes after 80k miles.
Let me ask you the next dumb question, why are you buying a new car? Seriously, have you looked at used car prices lately? There's a guy who buys off-lease vehicles from GM up here and sells them for about $9k for Regals, etc. They have a bit of warranty left on them, and for an extra $800 you can get another three years added on.
Posted by: Brian on February 18, 2004 02:41 PMWhy is Honda a dirty word? They are made sixty someodd miles SE of your old stomping grounds. They are great cars which get fantastic mileage and hardly ever break down. I've got a long line of cars in my family which will easily prove that point (also the fact they retain their value longer, my 1999 Honda that I paid $16,000 for is worth more than my $25,000 new 2000 Ford Windstar. And yes, I bought that used.).
Now if your dad works for GM, then I understand. It's funny/scary how much crap my neighbors give me for owning that car, but it's amazing how much less time mine spends in the shop.
Posted by: Brian on February 18, 2004 10:16 PMHmm.
Is "african american" a dirty word in "the family" too?
Posted by: Jeremy Zawodny on February 18, 2004 11:40 PMNo, Z. He's not a racist, by any means. Unless he's a racist that calls a black man his best friend. :)
Brian nailed it. There is intense hostility towards foreign (ie. non-union) carmakers. The competition they provide, playing by "unfair" rules, costs Union jobs. Now, if they were Union shops and were assembled here, he wouldn't care so much. But buying one that isn't is an affront to his livelihood.
Posted by: Diversity Dan on February 19, 2004 12:50 PMHeh. Dan grew up in town where half the people worked for Jeep. Where birhtday parties were held at the Union hall. My generations is the first in my family to not be in a Union. At least, my UFCW membership is probably expired by now.
It's not about being liberal. It's about knowing the history of Industry in this country, and realizing that without Unions, this Country would not be a pretty place.
Posted by: Diversity Dan on February 20, 2004 10:00 AMBeing a former "union" guy (IBEW Local 723, GTE) I can safely say that most of the unions in telecom cause more problems than they resolve. The few unions I have seen do any good take a complementary position within the company and not an adversarial one. IBEW finally figured that out a while ago and started working with GTE. Now that the Verizon group is in charge (along with CWA), any usefulness has been thrown out the door.
I guess my distaste comes from what happened with my wife and a union steward and some troule she almost got into. Someone had made a 911 call complaining of a "foul smell" in the building which caused it to be evacuated costing the company thousands of dollars. Because of the voice on the tape and a blurry security camera, the company was convinced it was my wife. We had to go through the process to prove her innocence in which the union and the steward representing her were telling her to "take what the company was offering" which was a week off without pay.
We didn't let up on our fight and finally proved she wasn't the culprit when we pulled the call logs and proved she was at her desk on a call. Who was the real culprit? The union steward who was representing her...and no, she didn't have to take a single day off. She didn't say a word until the company had completely cleared her and the had started searching for the next suspect.
Posted by: Brian on February 20, 2004 10:39 AMIn that case the Union helped, even if the individuals representing her intersts sucked. Without the Union, they just would have fired her, no questions asked.
Posted by: Laborously Dan on February 20, 2004 11:24 AMThey generally do. However, it's not unusual for conflicts of intersts to pop up. Or for a rep to decide they don't want to expend the capital to fight for someone they may not like, or may think is guilty. Ultimately, we are talking about people. They tend to be less than honorable from time to time.
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