Save Olds!

[88 CuttyClassic]

this may be a long shot asking buick guys but you may soon suffer the same thing. Sign the pettition to save Olds. tell those a-holes at GM what you think. www.petitiononline.com/GMolds/
Even thou you are buick guys you can still appriacte some of the cars Oldsmobile had. Saturn hasn't turned a profit yet!!!

 

[Little6pack]

Amen Brother!

I love the 3 OLDS I owned.
75 omega
92 ciera S
& current 88

All 3 have been a joy to own.
So has my GN

 

[buickman69]

Why?????

They should have killed Buick a long time ago! I still wished they would. Olds doesn't even have their own engine like Buick does.
Olds is like Pontiac, a auto line without a motor.

 

[Red Regal T]

DO THE WORLD A FAVOR AND GET RID OF chevy.

 

[Micah]

Isn't this like a year or 2 too late? Besides, I have serious doubts an online petition isn't gonna save an entire branch of automobiles. Maybe if we had all bought an Olds instead...

 

[MeanBuicks]

Bring back the Rocket 88, a real 442 and the Vista Cruiser!

 

[Micah]

Originally posted by stevemon
GM wouldn't have existed without Buick starting the company so I'm sure if there's another car line cut it will be Cadillac.

no no no no no. That will not happen for a very long time. The caddy is probably the most popular line. Back in the 70s-mid90s I'd have thought the same thing. In fact I'm pretty sure there was talk about ending it. But a recent boom in popularity as all but sealed it's existance. That's where all of the popular things from GM are coming from.

 

[TwoLaneBlackTop]

At this point I really dont even care any more, yes I want olds back but after I think about it I dont want olds back if it means a buch of FWD POS cars with an olds badge.

Personaly I think I will not buy another GM car untill they

A. Up quality control.
B. Make another good car that is RWD or AWD and afordable (read under 30K) with decent power. (read a Turbo V6)

I mean look at Buick at how they look at there past, they don't even want to say our cars even existed, search the buick website about the history and they never mention buicks turbo cars. If GM is just going to keep producing FWD land barges with a Buick logo and 1/2 breed SUV's with some golf player as a sponser i would allmost rather see Buick die. Be better to kill it now then to drag the Buick name through the mud any more then it allready has.

GM has turned there back on all of us by not giving us another good RWD turbo car after 1989 and it also turned there back on us by stoping production of so many parts we need.

What does GM even have that is worth driving? The vette, and they mark them up SO MUCH considering what it cost to build them. Other then the vette NOTHING.

GM can keep building rental and fleet cars and trucks as that seems to be all they are good for these days

 

[88 CuttyClassic]

well if you saw some of the cars that olds could have made, that were at the nationals. you may think different about bringing them back. Some very realistic concept cars. I wish they could have done something to go out with a bang rather than fade into the shadows. GM more stands for Giant Morons. Keep making saturns, eventually there may be enough lesbians to turn a profit. I hate to say it but the Ford coporation has a better head on their shoulders.

P.S. i know its way too late to save Olds, there were just some good coments on that petition.

 

[Weazel]

Thanks for the link, I signed it. I'd be sad to see them go, I have an '01 Alero right now and love it. I got a great deal, it has been a good, economical car with enough power to keep me from going crazy. IMHO they're the best looking midrange cars GM builds.

GM seems to be "getting it" and offering some level of brand distinction now. Instead of 5 different Cavaliers in the late 80s (Chevy Cav, Pontiac Sunbird, Olds Ciera, Buick Skyhawk, Cadillac Cimmaron) they're actually billing Caddy as luxo, Pontiac as performance, and Buick is starting to become entry level luxo (with the demise of the lowly Century).

It does seem as if Olds is a brand without a home right now, but I'm sure GM could do something to keep them around. I don't see what they're gonna gain by killing them off, except for P'ing off some loyal customers.

 

[Black Box]

Gotta say I wish they weren't killing Olds. Always had Oldsmobiles in my family, and I have one right now. My Olds 88 has 169K on it and it has only been in the shop once for an electrical short. Other than that, only basic maintenance required.

My Dad just bough a brand new Alero and I can't figure out for the life of me why people bitch about the quality of American cars. I couldn't find one flaw or misaligned panel. It rides excellent and has good power.

IMO, the latest Olds's were the best looking new cars around. The Intrigue was unique, with it's 3.5L DOHC engine, the Alero is waaaay better looking than the boy-racer Grand Am, and the Aurora is pretty cool too, especially with the 4.0 V8.

Granted, I had a new Olds Cutlass in '96 that I had to make the dealer buy back, but mostly because of the incompentence of the service department. Seems they couldn't fix something without screwing something else up. And it did have that 3.4L DOHC V6 that everyone claims is a catastrophe waiting to happen, but I never had a problem with it. It's too bad too, I loved that car....would probably still have it today. But instead, it ruined the new car buying experience for me.

Steve

 

[Micah]

Originally posted by 88 CuttyClassic
GM more stands for Giant Morons. Keep making saturns, eventually there may be enough lesbians to turn a profit. I hate to say it but the Ford coporation has a better head on their shoulders.

Not to pick on you specifically, because i hear people say things like this all the time, but where does that come from? Is it becuase they're not making the cars that you want to see and Ford is? I hear that all the time so I decided to look it up. I found (on Ford's 10-k annual report) this little chart:

Year 2002 U.S. Car (not truck) market shares-

Ford...................... 16.4%
GM........................ 25.5
DaimlerChrysler.... 8.6
Toyota.................. 12.2
Honda.................. 10.3
Nissan.................. 6.1
All Others............. 20.9

Total........................100%

Now granted this percentage has dropped 4% since 1998 but Ford's has dropped exactly 4% as well. The truck market is very similar.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is GM knows exactly what they are doing, making money. Even if it doesnt fulfill our desire for cool cars. I don't know if anybody cares. Maybe I'm just thinking outloud

Edit: Right after I posted this I found the Combined car and truck market percentages for the last 4 years and in that time GM has fluctuated but is back to 28% while Ford has dropped from 25% to 21%.

 

[2quiktocare]

Everyone had the opportunity to save Olds when it came time to purchase a car. Most voted not to keep the brand alive. That is what caused it's death. No number of petitions will help now. We all chose not to sign the petition when we bought other cars. Long live the free market. Mark
P.s. Just think how the world would look if we still had Studebaker's and Hudson's free roaming the roads.

 

[tjthorson]

GM has suffered from an identity crisis with all the different makes not staying true to what made them great. In the early days, each maker had a particular niche. The thought instead of sticking to that and making great cars, it was better to dilute the pool. Then you end up with cars like the rendevoux (the modern day Pacer, IMHO)

Chevrolet - blue collar car, working mans car, good value, basic options, etc

Buick - Poor man's cadillac. Luxury cars with luxury feel.

Cadillac - self explanitory

GMC Truck - duh!

Oldsmobile - the experimental division. All the testing, new age stuff, ran through Olds before it became common place on most cars. The GN SHOULD have been an Olds. The corvair should have been an Olds, etc. Olds was running alchohol injected (turbo rocket fluid) wayyyy before Buicks had turbos. Olds had awesome turbine cars what would run on anything flammable. They just couldn't keep the cars from melting their exhaust systems.

Pontiac - the sporty division - sporty looks, rounded gauges, flashy colors, etc.

When GM started diluting the pot and crossing TOO many platforms, they shot themselves in the foot. Cadillac is not going anywhere - they brought their prices down to compete and are probably going to be OK.

Buick's 3800 saved them. The regal SC helped lock them in. Pontiac is getting some money for research with that new GP that came out.

So, GM will stay the same for a long time. If push came to shove, Chevy would probably be the last one standing.

 

[PNYKLR]

My girlfriend has a 2003 Bravada its pretty nice actually I think it was in the 35,000 range but they got a deal since they bought the truck and a new 2002 Caddy Cash . No problems yet, but the Caddy likes oil - Her dad babies the Caddy to the extreme and it still burns a qt of oil every (I think its 1,000 or 3,000 miles I forget) all maintenance up to date everything I dunno its not my car, so I dont know the full details .

 

[buickman69]

Originally posted by PNYKLR
My girlfriend has a 2003 Bravada its pretty nice actually I think it was in the 35,000 range but they got a deal since they bought the truck and a new 2002 Caddy Cash . No problems yet, but the Caddy likes oil - Her dad babies the Caddy to the extreme and it still burns a qt of oil every (I think its 1,000 or 3,000 miles I forget) all maintenance up to date everything I dunno its not my car, so I dont know the full details .

I bought a STS brand new in '01, it's my dd and I can tell ya no PROMISE you it's my last Caddy. They definitely AREN'T quality vehicles. But what would you expect from a company like GM. Cookie cutter cars for cookie cutter people who live in cookie cutter houses.

Eastern vehicles is where it's at. They have quality, RESALE VALUE, etc. BMW, Lexus, Mercedes, Honda, Toyota, Nissan.

As far as burning oil, i've NEVER had a dd that didn't burn a quart every 3,000 miles. My STS burns a quart every 3,000 miles religiously but that's not my complaint with the car. Besides it's my driving style that causes it anyway. If ya run anything hard it's gonna burn some oil.

 

[PNYKLR]

I rented a 2003 deville for my sisters wedding a few months back it was sooo uncomfortable ! Had good pick up though - The Caddy DTS they have I think is more comfortable but I dont know if thats possible