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From: mikey@trsvax
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: How bad are the GM X-cars ?
Message-ID: <55200192@trsvax>
Date: Wed, 10-Jul-85 10:20:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: trsvax.55200192
Posted: Wed Jul 10 10:20:00 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 13-Jul-85 08:40:08 EDT
References: <8871@ucbvax.ARPA>
Lines: 57
Nf-ID: #R:ucbvax.ARPA:-887100:trsvax:55200192:000:3394
Nf-From: trsvax!mikey    Jul 10 09:20:00 1985




I'll post my response here.  I had a 1980 Phoenix X-body car that over-all
I was pleased with.  But I still think GM should buy every one of those
deathtraps back from their owners!!!!  The car was smooth, comfortable,
fairly responsive, and handled reasonably well, but NEVER EVER EVER try
to drive one in the rain until you are SURE you can handle the brakes.
Mine would spin around 180 degrees at 55 if I jabbed the brakes.  I must
have talked to the dealer about it until I knew exactly what he would say.
"Yours isn't covered by the GM recall, sorry"  I called the GM district 
office and they would take my name and number and never return my call. 
I suspect that if you said X-body your call was flagged and they wouldn't talk
to you.  The problem was intermittent. I replaced the brake linings on the
rear and it helped some.  New FAT radials all around helped some too, 
but when you least expect it, even on the dry, it could get away from you 
and leave you facing traffic after a spin on the freeway!  I ended up taking
just over $1000 for it on trade for a new Chrysler Omni GLH Turbo.  How
do you like a car depreciating from $10,000 to just over 10% of its value.

I heard that Car and Diver knew about the problem when they reviewed the 
Citation when it came out and they agreed to downplay the braking problem 
after promisses from GM that it would be fixed in production.  GM still 
claims that they fixed the problem in cars that exhibited the symptoms, but
if your VIN number doesn't match their tables, you gotta pay a couple hundred
bucks for a part that still doesn't guarantee a fix.  To be fair, a friend 
has an 81 Phoenix V6 with the manual tranny and the GM recall fixed his
problem right away.  Mine had automatic with the V6 so the dealer said it
wasn't covered.  

It's not so much the car I'm upset about as the way I was treated at the 
Pontiac shop.  I was never bullied so much in my life.  Then after that
I had a power steering hose leak cause a minor fire.  This Pontiac dealer
couldn't get ANYTHING right, except "it will cost you".  I was sick of going 
back and forth between "add ons" from the dealer for the repair and to the 
insurance company.  At one point Ipicked up the car thursday night before
labor day weekend and the car wouldn't start friday morning.  I called
and they said they would get right to it.  At 5:00 pm, it was still 
sitting.  I raised hell and they came and got it, but told me they couldn't
work on it till tuesday.  I was furious!  Ihad just given a loaner car 
(a 280 Z) back to a friend and he went out of town.  I would have to PAY
for a rental from the dealer for his screwup!  I took the rental and told
the manager I'd see him in court as I left.  On tuesday, the shop manager
told me I'd have to pay cash for my car as he wouldn't take my check.  
At that point working for a corporation that buys hundreds of cars from
GM came into play, I had our leasing office call their fleet manager
and had him inquire as to what was the problem.  The main manager called 
me and appologized.  They still wanted me to pay for the rental but I held
firm.  They finally gave in after I had the rental almost a week.

GM??  Never again!

Of course, these are my personal opinions and may or may not reflect
those of my employer.  They may or may not even be representative of
GM in the rest of the country.

mikey at trsvax