The difference is not the engineering...we all know gm has some great engineers. The difference is quality control (which is not the easiest thing in the world); and if you have a problem, in an ideal world, your problem will be recorded and become a part of the quality control statistics, and the manufacturer will make this area better based on the statistical data. When making thousands and thousands of cars a year, and only a fraction have noticeable problems...evey car company expects this...but it is just more frequent with the "big three" - Even in knowing this, I'm still just as pissed as you are. The fact is that many people will posts reponses which (in the way I've read them) may portray those with problems like this to be ranting or raving without just cause, when if they were put in the same situation, their reactions would be much like yours.

the fact is, If you are like me (in not having money to throw away) and you pay this much for an automobile...regardless of where it came from you expect very close to perfection; and when you don't get that - you're pissed because there is more at stake than if you bought a $12k disposable car. and you're even more pissed when you get the run-around from the staff which is paid to deal with and fix these kinds of problems.

Problems which should be covered under warranty, and which may cause a car's re-sale value to diminish (like my car flooding, and my inability to shift without grinding every gear regardless of how I drive it, and the fact that you're burning oil at the rate rivaling that which you burn gas) it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to fix the problem when it is not a problem which you have created through misuse...I can't loose several thousands of dollars on a re-sale just because the manufacturer won't fix a problem that they are responsible for!

go pay for your next meal at any given restaurant where they screw up your order...only to be told by everyone from the server to the manager that they won't fix it, and I guarandamntee you're going to be pissed...but you like the food and you go to the same restauant in a different location and get the same treatment...at that point I doubt that you'll go back to a restaurant with that same name...now translate that into a $50k+ automobile.

The problem, as I see it, is not so much with the product it's with the service.

 

Europeans also... look at a Porsche forum.. been complaining about using 1litre/800 miles for YEARS Doesn't make the car any slower and definately does not lowe the opinion of the magazine writer guys who test the cars and never bother to check the oil.

Oil consumption is a tough one. Is the car no good because it uses more oil than the fleet average? Really oil is cheap so who cares. Driving habits make a huge difference.

I broke my vette in hard... never bothered with the crap from the owners manual. Added one quart prior to first change. Then since I've been driving pretty sedately... its an auto and I just cruise around 1800 rpm and boot it once in a while. Burn a very very small amount.

You do not have to drive these things at 4500 rpm to have a good time.... at the track ok but on the street these engines are torque monsters and the power is all there waiting to be let out... at relatively modest rpm and probably very little oil consumption...

try a change in driving habits just for a tank or two and see what happens ... i'd be interested

my 2c