LexusNet Blog

In order to fight off the ever growing imports, in 1983 GM decided to establish a brand new brand out of its existing platform and sales channel -  Saturn was born.  In July 1990 GM Chairman Roger Smith and UAW President Owen Bieber drove the very first Saturn off the assembly line in Spring Hill, Tennessee. The brand was marketed as a “different kind of car company”. The first ever Saturn, the S series, was a decent alternative to its import competitors such as Honda Civic, Nissan Sentra and Toyota Corolla. Saturn hit its stride in 1994 when its annual sales reached 280,000 units, however they were never able to improve from that so it was inevitable for Saturn to get sucked into GM’s infamous platform-sharing/badge engineering, cost-cutting path of no return. Thus it was not a total surprise by any means in early 2009 when GM announced Saturn will be shutting down after 2011.

There was hope when Penske announced its intention to take over Saturn’s sales channel after GM’s announcement, however due to the lack of product Penske has recently stopped its plan to take over Saturn from GM. Due to that unfortunate development it is very likely  by 2011 at the latest, Saturn will end all operations and step into the history, becoming a brand that will only live in our memory after 20 years in business.

With that in mind, let’s take a trip down the Saturn memory lane…

Discuss about this blog entry in LexusNet Forums – Blog Discussion

[Source: Wikipedia]

Recently GM rolls out a new series of commercials called “May the best car win”, in those commercials pretty much GM is comparing their vehicles to their competitors and trying to convince the consumers that they are the better car. One particular commercial caught my eyes because it is just full of deception which will easily paint the wrong picture for those people who aren’t too “savvy” about the automotive industry.

Long story short, here are what GM claimed in the commercial:

• Camry – 32 MPG Hwy / Malibu – 33 MPG Hwy
• Corolla – 35 MPG Hwy / Cobalt – 37 MPG Hwy
• Tundra – 18 MPG Hwy / Silverado – 22 MPG Hwy
• RAV4 – 28 MPG Hwy / Equinox – 32 MPG Hwy

For the record, GM did not use any incorrect data when comparing to the competitors but they also didn’t paint the whole picture because they are trying to swing the advantage to their corner. In my opinion that is a very bad thing to do in commercials so please allow me to clear things up:

1. GM claimed that Camry returns 32 MPG on highway to Malibu’s 33 MPG

What GM failed to mention: The Camry has a combined city/highway cycle of 26 MPG which is the same as the Malibu. Also, the FE of the Camry hybrid is 33/34/34 which is much better than Malibu hybrid’s pathetic 26/34/29.

2. GM claimed that Camry returns 35 MPG on highway to Cobalt’s 37 MPG

What GM failed to mention: The Corolla has a combined city/highway cycle of 30 MPG which equals the Cobalt’s most fuel efficient XFE model. The Cobalt XFE is pretty much a stripper and an extra fuel efficient model in the Cobalt lineup but Toyota does not offer such a thing for the Corolla. The regular Cobalt returns 24/33/27, which is inferior in every way when comparing to Corolla’s 26/35/30.

2. GM claimed that Tundra returns 18 MPG on highway to Silverado’s 22 MPG

What GM failed to mention: GM did not state that only the Silverado HYBRID returns 22 MPG on highway, the regular gasoline versions return 14/19/16 for the 6.0L V8 and 15/20/17 for the 4.3L V6. The Silverado V6’s FE numbers is just down right pathetic when comparing to Tundra 4.6L V8’s EQUAL 15/20/17. The Tundra 5.7L V8 does return 1 less MPG in the city than the 6.0L V8 Silverado (18 vs. 19) but at the same time the Tundra also has 14 more HP and 26 more lb-ft of torque.

2. GM claimed that RAV4 returns 28 MPG on highway to Equinox’s 32 MPG

What GM failed to mention: GM actually has a case here because the 4-cylinder Equinox is hands down better than the 4-cylinder RAV4 is almost all aspects when comes to FE (22/28/24 for RAV4, 22/32/26 for Equinox). However, the V6 RAV4’s 19/27/22 has the Equinox V6’s 17/25/20 beat in city, highway AND combined cycle.

So GM… SHAME ON YOU.

Discuss about this blog entry in LexusNet Forums – Blog Discussion

Before I get myself into trouble or before some of you call me an elitist, send me a hate mail and/or anthrax, let me just say that I am neither a union historian nor an automotive industry expert. I am just regular guy who worked hard to be where I am now and have a passion about cars and the auto industry.

Now that the lawyers are happy, let’s get to it…

Those of you who follow the news, current events or haven’t been living in a cave in the last couple years understand that our economy is in a hole, and a pretty big one at that. Due to that reason, the already-fragile domestic automotive industry is now facing the biggest challenge ever since the car was invented over 100 years ago. Back in the days when Detroit was booming, the Big Three were able to offer attractive health benefit and retirement packages. Assembly lines were not as automated as today so they needed a lot of workers to do monkey-see, monkey do kind of jobs on the line. As a result, people without an advance diploma or a set of skills could easily get a job working for the Big Three and enjoy their so-called “middle-class life” or “American Dream”.

The situation was rosy back then, cars were sold in bunches so the auto companies were more than willing to pay the kind of wages that those workers probably didn’t deserve. Unfortunately, those assembly line workers took it for granted and their union, the UAW (United Auto Workers), has since has become a “voice for blue-collar brothers” in the auto industry and has literally held the companies up for ransom up until today.

Discuss about this blog entry in LexusNet Forums – Blog Discussion

Read the rest of this entry »

Wards has just announced the ten best engines award for 2008, and the winners are:

• Audi AG: 2.0L TFSI turbocharged DOHC I-4 (A4 Avant)
• BMW AG: 3.0L turbocharged DOHC I-6 (135i Coupe)
• BMW AG: 3.0L DOHC I-6 Turbodiesel (335d)
• Chrysler LLC: 5.7L Hemi OHV V-8 (Dodge Ram/Challenger R/T)
• Ford Motor Co.: 2.5L DOHC I-4 HEV (Escape Hybrid)
• General Motors Corp.: 3.6L DOHC V-6 (Cadillac CTS)
• Honda Motor Co. Ltd.: 3.5L SOHC V-6 (Accord Coupe)
• Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.: 4.6L DOHC V-8 (Genesis)
• Toyota Motor Corp.: 3.5L DOHC V-6 (Lexus IS 350)
• Volkswagen AG: 2.0L SOHC I-4 Turbodiesel (Jetta TDI)

Overall I think this is a good list, the only engine that I don’t think it’s deserved to make the list is Audi’s 2.0T I4. I had a previous generation Audi A4 for 2 weeks back in 2007 and came away very disappointed, the reason is due to the craptaculour turbo lag. I am the kind of guy who admires simplicity over complexity especially if both achieve the similar result; that’s why I was never a fan for any force induced engines. More components in the engine bay means higher probability on things to break and not to mention the legendary “lag” for turbo engines. However, after driven the BMW 335i with the 3.0 twin-turbo I6 my view has been changed a bit, even though there is still a slightest lag when step on the gas hard but this minor shortcoming does not out shadow the overall excellent performance. So when I got a chance to drive the A4 for 2 weeks initially I was really excited, but I learned quickly that not all turbo engines are created equal and now I am a firmer believer that natural aspirated is the way to go (especially with similar performance).

Another one that probably does not belong to be on the list is the Honda 3.5L V6. Although a capable engine and a good one in its own right it just does not measure up against the newer generation V6 from Toyota, Nissan and even GM. Last but not least, kudos to Hyundai for having the 4.6L Tau V8 made the list, based on all the articles it seems like that V8 is just as good as any in the auto industry today.

(Source: Wards)

Discuss about this blog entry in LexusNet Forums – Blog Discussion