Comments on: How about another GM survey?

By: jerry larson

jerry larson — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 18:39:48 +0000

Sir;
I’v driven front wheel and rear wheel drive. and don’t under stand why all the mfg. co. had to switch to front drive. I’v lived most of my life in Nebraska and the winters can be bad! But I never had any trouble getting around in the snow or ice.
And I don’t like front wheel drive. I did buy a 1998 and then 2006 monte carlo, Both are nice car’s but they are front drive.
That’s what I hate about them. The only rear drive car is the ford mustang which is to compact for 4 people. AS far as the gas mpg my 1986 couger and 1972 nova got as good or better mpg then both monte carlo’s. The 1998 I still
have gets 32 to 34 mpg the 2006 gets 30 to 32 mpg,
My couger got 36 to 38 mpg
as did the 1972 nova.
The couger had a 3.8 V6,
the nova had 350 V8. 1998 monte carlo 3.1 v6,2006 monte carlo 3.5 v6.
I don’t like that there isn’t any choice on wheather you can have a front or rear drive. there almost all front drive….
And some people wonder why auto mfg. arn’t selling cars.
Nothing but front drive 4 door homely sedans.
Love 2 door rear drive hardtops/sedans.
Jerry

By: Ben Wells

Ben Wells — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 21:38:04 +0000

I’m not an FWD hater by any stretch (my C900 Aero is one of the best handling cars I’ve driven) but I think the time of being able to sell the idea in upmarket sports/luxury Euro vehicles is well and truly up. AWD is the new FWD, for use of a better term, and through some electronic control, one can make an AWD system err towards understeer for safety or oversteer for drift/spirited driving/hooliganism as much as the engineers want or drivers desire. Best of both worlds, worth sacrificing a bit of added weight, complexity and ultimately cost. Why would you bother with anything else?

I know FWD is in Saab’s history but that history also states that Saab chose it because at the time (late 1940s) it was the more stable and surefooted option. Engineering has since changed and it is time for GM to let Saab do the same (without rebadging Superloos or American junk).

By: 1985 Gripen

1985 Gripen — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 22:31:42 +0000

Reading the first 20 responses, they seem VERY biased toward RWD. Seems to me that most of the comments are from Americans who don’t live in cold-weather states.

I’m guessing most of the responses so far have come from Americans who like high-displacement big cars, NASCAR/Drag Racing, and muscle cars. I’ll bet if the responses were to come from markets outside the U.S. the responses would be a lot different. GM seems to forget they’re a global player.

I wish there was some requirement each person had to include which country they are from and which part of that country.

By: 1985 Gripen

1985 Gripen — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 21:34:05 +0000

That’s the way GM works. They engineer by committee. That’s why you typically get the lowest common denominator in terms of design.

Relax though. I’m sure our responses mean VERY little to GM. I’m guessing this is a subversive way to advertise to core SAAB afficianados.

They act like we have some sort of say in the matter to make an emotional connection. They already know what our answer is going to be and they don’t care.

By: Ted Y

Ted Y — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 20:16:17 +0000

Gripen,
I read on their blog site that comments don’t appear for a while. They are all reviewed for appropriateness.
I wonder though, is this the correct way for GM to be making this decision? Didn’t Saab used to decide such things based on technical merit and what was best? I know they didn’t make decisions in a vacuum and wanted to sell cars, but I don’t like the idea of engineering by popularity polls.

By: 1985 Gripen

1985 Gripen — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 19:16:44 +0000

I don’t get it. Where do you click to take the survey? Do they just want you to put your preference in “comments”? Because as of now I see 0 comments… TIA.

By: allan

allan — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 19:06:34 +0000

Swade,

Right on the money. FWD should be standard, with an AWD option. I also added that I would like to see an AWD crossover.

Let’s see how long it takes them to “moderate” our comments .

Good catch!!

By: Ted Y

Ted Y — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 15:50:23 +0000

I just cast my vote, same preference as yours.