GM offers up wannabe green while Toyota and Honda delivery

Chevy Vega, they couldn't kill it so they stopped making them

GM, our auto giant in death throes, has decided glitzy ads will save it one more time. Get a load of the new Chevy Volt ads that are popping up everywhere. Looks cool but try to find out more and the page disappears. We are whisked to the world that’s going away – more half tons, the Impala and the two little pieces of automotive junk the Aveo and the Cobalt. The Impala prior to its rework was a tank – great gas mileage and built for fleets. The new one is …well disappointing. It had two of the pre-reworked models. Other than a head gasket issue on the 3.3 l engine, you couldn’t kill the beast.

Chevy Cavalier - 23 years of cheap basic transportation, too good to keep for GM

The Aveo is a piece of automotive history with an expensive timing belt replacement at 60,000 miles. A warning sign in a local dealership’s service department said you need about $900 to get through the first maintenance on this 1960’s piece of automotive garbage. No wonder they can’t make enough Hyundai, Honda’s and Toyota’s.

Remember the Chevy Vega? $6.000 and you couldn’t kill them at 200,000 miles. My brother-n-law was driving them 30 years later. How about the Chevy Cavalier  (Skyhawk, Sunbird)? They weren’t fancy but I got several of them up to 95 miles an hour without killing myself. You need to be going down the steep hills in Glenwilliam and nerves of steel since it shook violently at 85 mph. Basic transportation that lasted and lasted. I owned 5 over the decades and they took mucho abuse. My ex-wife ignored all maintenance and I would take them in once a year whether they needed an oil change or not. They still held up.

Chevy Cobalt, try to get to the end of your lease before it falls apart

Those days are gone with the Cobalt which is the worse piece of automotive junk I’ve ever seen. It’s unstable at 70 miles an hour (just testing) and falls apart inside and out. Driving more buyers to the cheap imports who at least know how to make small cars. I hope it makes it to 4 years for the lease expiry.

I thought I’d get a GM Hybrid last year. They had a Malibu in the show room. Two salesman told me not to buy it. Needs a couple of years they said, all for 1 mpg better gas mileage.

Volt? I’ll pass. GM, if they are still around, are not to be trusted in small cars. You have to admit I hung in with GM for almost 4 decades. Either stupid or stubborn. Actually, those cars were great. It’s the past 4 years that have been disappointing.