GM / General Motors: Why should Buicks be more reliable than other GMs?

Cars that cost more money are usually built with better materials or
more emphasis goes into those materials.For Example, we will compare the
trunk compartment of three cars from my family.

1989 Chevy Cavalier Z - 24 Convertible
1991 Cadillac Brougham De Elegance
1991 Pontiac Bonneville

The 89 Chevy had a black " Felt like " material covering the steel trunk
floor and a portion of the inner wheel wells. The piece covering the
trunk floor slid all over the place and would end up balled up in the
corner from heavy items sliding around in the trunk. A piece of carboard
was pressed in behind the backseat. There was nothing covering the rear
quarter panels to protect them. A black piece of fibreboard covers the
spare tire well.

The 91 Bonneville has thick sound deadning material on top of the trunk
floor and is topped by a grey, slightly heavier weight felt like
material. A piece of cardboard is pressed in behind the backseat. The
wheel wells, tail panel and quarter panels are covered by a form-
fitting carpet like material.

A formed plastic cover covers the spare tire well. The inside of the
trunk lid has a carpet - lined fiberglass trunk lid liner.

The 91 Cadillac has thick sound deadning material on the floor of the
trunk and is topped by a heavy weight carpet. There is a full width
two-sided matt, one side is rubberized, the other side is carpeted. and
that sits on top of the carpet. The quarter panels and wheel wells are
covered with a heavy weight carpeted carboard with sound deadning
material attatched to the back side to block out road noise. The spare
tire ( exposed ) sits up on a slight ledge and has a carpeted covering.
and behind the tire is a small piece of heavy weight carb board behind
the rear seat. There is also an automoatic power pull down for the trunk
lid.

More sound deadning materials are used behind the Cadillac door panels,
in the roof, under the dash. etc where a less expensive car wouldn't
have such materials

The Bonneville and Cadillac also have a plastic sheet glued to the inner
door to act as a water barrier, whereas the Cavalier had a piece of
heavy black paper glued to the inner door.

This is just one example of how different materials can be applied to
different models. Other manufacturers do the same thing with their
different models.

=========
Harryface
=========

1991 Pontiac Bonneville LE
~_~_~270,000 miles_~_~_

Primarily because Consumer Reports, Sucks. If you go through about half
of their reporting and then compare the items rated you find a Lot of
OOPS. For instance they were rating Domestic Trucks in one issue. Ford,
Dodge GMC and Chevy were all in there. The two GM rigs were rated almost
as different from each other as they were from the Ford and Dodge. Real
good job considering they are the EXACT same truck built on the same
line. Or the time I read how great the Suzuki Swift was compared to a
Geo, which were also the same car. They do it all the time and it seems
that anything with a foreign name gets rated higher than domestic items.

--
Steve

"Jason Hsu" <com> wrote in message
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I subscribed to CR for 15 years and finally realized that they didn't
know what they were talking about. I bought some of the items that they
had listed as "best buy" and was never more dissapointed. One item (an
electric mixer) failed wthin 6 months of purchase. Their love of
everything imported puzzles me and BTW have you noticed that most of
their staff speak with foreign accents? Makes you wonder.

I've noticed that in other, more neutral, reports as well. My theory
is that perhaps the typical Buick buyer doesn't put too many miles on
them...

Jason Hsu wrote:
 

Chevrolet and Pontiac lack the larger engines in general and have
fewer features. The Cadillacs are overpriced and full of electronics
that cna break. Oldsmobile was merged into Buick(finally!).

CR's criteria is based upon the needs for a typical surburbanite
midwestern family. Every other need or type of person - the magazine is
nearly worthles.
 

GM, otoh, makes no good, affordable SUVs.

Harry Face wrote:
 

My old LeSabre has this same deal. Vacuums up real nice.

Buicks are good because they get most of the features of the Cadillacs
but none of the frills and extra cost. The sound deadening and carpets
and such are identical in both lines from what I can tell - at least in
the LeSabre and Park Avenue.

The LeSabre Limited is a superb car because it sells for about $27K
after rebates. Maybe $2K more for options, but it's pretty nice in its
base form.

That's a 205hp 6 passenger car with leather, ABS, and so on. The only
other car that competes for the power/space/price is the Avalon. You either
have to go smaller like an Accord V6 or jump to luxury cars if you want
a full-sized V6 other than these two.

Well, the Ford Crown Vic(in various labels) also competes, but isn't
nearly as reliable.

The Custom is $22.5K after rebates. That's amazingly inexpensive considering
the engine is identical to the more expensive model. I don't think you
can get Camry V6 for instance, for that little money. Me? I'd get the Custom
and option it out as On-Star and alloy wheels and such aren't really important.

The OP that was interested in a Buick - he should look at the Avalon as
well. It's basically a Lexus minus the plushness. More reliable than
the Buick or Mercedes, actually - a fine car and under $30K out the door.

Steve W. wrote:
 

The reason the Swift was rated higher, IIRC, was because it had a few
more available features as well as optional ABS.

On Mon, 20 Oct 2003 08:57:51 -0400, Steve W. wrote:
 


There is a great discussion about CR and their biased reports going on
over in rec.autos.makers.chrysler.

See the "minvan comparison" thread.

psycho