Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site dartvax.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!ucbvax!decvax!dartvax!markv
From: markv@dartvax.UUCP (Mark F. Vita)
Newsgroups: net.auto
Subject: Re: How bad are the GM X-cars ?
Message-ID: <3345@dartvax.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 13-Jul-85 15:52:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: dartvax.3345
Posted: Sat Jul 13 15:52:24 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 17-Jul-85 04:14:04 EDT
References: <8871@ucbvax.ARPA> <55200192@trsvax>
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Lines: 51

> 
> 
> 
> 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.  

    Hmm.  How many of the X-cars have this problem, and how can I tell whether
mine has had the problem solved?   I've owned a 1980 Pontiac Phoenix for
about 2 months, and a couple weeks ago, I made a 150-mile trip home
through *extremely* torrential rain, partially on I-93 in NH/Mass, and 
encountered no problems whatsoever with the brakes.  True, I did have
the rear brake shoes replaced about a month ago, but for a totally
different reason (the previous owner had driven with the parking brake
engaged.)  Could this be why I didn't encounter the problem?  Or did
the previous owner perhaps have it fixed?

> mikey at trsvax


-- 

                                Mark Vita
                                Dartmouth College

                       USENET:  {decvax,cornell,linus,astrovax}!dartvax!markv
                       ARPA:    markv%dartmouth@csnet-relay
                       CSNET:   markv@dartmouth