Posted on 10/28/2015 1:12:42 AM PDT by kelly4c
You do as you wish. I don’t feel any allegiance to those anti-American blood-sucking a-holes.
If you do, that is your decision and none of my business.
Just so I am clear: I did not say I hate American companies. I hate unions, who have been responsible for the destruction of vast swaths of American industry, and like locusts, as soon as the wipe out one industry, they move on to the next.
I am also opposed to fascist control of elements of industry, which is what happened with GM. Government control, partial or whole. Government ownership, partial or whole. Government investment, partial or whole.
If you support GM because you like their cars, as I said, that is your business and you didn’t hear me denigrate your personal conservative credentials (whatever those might be) nor the conservative credentials of anyone who owns or buys GM.
I simply said I won’t do it. And I specifically didn’t attack you for it.
But I would appreciate it if you don’t denigrate me for what I (and many others) view as an embracement of conservatism by objecting to the overt fascist actions regarding the government involvement in GM’s affairs.
I did not respond to your other post. I figured that was fair enough. No further defense on either side is needed.
As I said, my desire to keep American is personal.
You have your opinion, I have mine. We agree to disagree.
I chose to do it agreeably.
Have a wonderful night. Its rainy and windy here. I am glad I have a roof over my head tonight.
Thanks, Vermont Lt.
I don’t have any beef with you (and haven’t that I recall) and would like to keep it that way.
We can both agree to disagree, and do it agreeably.
I am far from home tonight, but nothing makes one appreciate home more than being away from it!
You have a good night too.
A lot of transverse FWD I4s have a cat or pre-cat as part of or next to the exhaust manifold and have since before OBD2 came out, it’s just ubiquitous now.
I’m very surprised to see my thread actually posted. When I clicked submit it went to a red “malware” page so I quickly exited and thought it was lost. I appreciate all the replies, to an indecisive person it is truly a big help. Getting ready to read them all.
Was able to test drive a 2014 Altima my husband brought home and I took to work overnight. There are a few things I don’t care for: Tinted windows on sides make it very hard to see out of at night; outside noise carries into the vehicle and the engine “rattles” a bit, though I’m told it’s actually normal with a CVT trans; huge blind spot when looking over right shoulder to back up, it’s got much better pep than a Sentra but still doesn’t wow me. I’d love a Dodge Charger but can’t afford it. Don’t want a base model and higher insurance, gas costs.
What did you like about the Focus over the Cruze? I haven’t been in the former for many years. Owned a 2nd hand one long ago. I’m sure they’ve changed quite a bit:)
The main reason we’re looking at Chevrolet dealers is special incentives they’ve got going on right now.
LOL Ok thanks:)I think most cars are made pretty well these days, or so I hear. So I guess it factors down to budget and how much of an enthusiast one is.
When I had my Corvette in the Dealer for some Warranty work and they gave me a Brand New Chevy Cruze as a Loaner. (Yeah, I know, it’s all they had in their Courtesy Fleet). My Wife couldn’t believe it when I pulled in the driveway. LOL
Going from 460 HP in my Stingray to 150 HP in that Cruze is an interesting experience, but the Car felt like it couldn’t get out of its own way.
Anyway, it was a Base LS and it was the most Gutless Car I had ever driven, and I’ve driven a whole bunch of Cars in the last 45 Years, even Fiats. LOL
Two People I know have owned the V-6 Altima’s, and they both liked them. Don’t know much about the I-4 Engine.
My Wife has a 2013 Kia Optima and she loves it, except the cheap Factory Battery died after only two Years. The Dealer put in a new one Gratis, so no complaint.
I believe that even the most Domestically Sourced Vehicle, the 2015 Ford F150 (don’t know about the 2016), has 25% of it’s Content from outside “North America”.
Not the USA, “North America”, which includes Canada and Mexico. Remember the Clinton Trade Agreement that made that possible.
In other words, even an American Vehicle isn’t American. My All American 2015 Dodge Challenger is made in Canada.
I hear ya. My Dodge Stratus has performed pretty well over the years. I don’t remember what kind of engine it has but it was responsive and peppy + squealed tires with very little effort lol so in testing out these newer “fuel-efficient” cars has been quite a let down. They are boring and under-powered. The Cruze, at least the one I tested out, did seem to have get up and go. It did have the “turbocharged” engine. Maybe your loaner was the standard?
I understand that. But the MONEY ends up in the US.
I would love to see the jobs come back. I appreciate that foreign cars are being built here. But the biggest point is where does the money go? Is I put into US banks? Are US taxes paid with it? Is it reinvested here?
I laugh at the thoughts that people would stay away from Walmart for their Chinese Junk, but their second largest purchase sends thousands of dollars to Tokyo or Souel.
I'll defer to your knowledge on that. I grew up building V-8s, but have been stuck behind a desk crunching numbers for most of my adult life. I can still work my way around engines and most cars in general, but my knowledge of the configurations these days is lacking.
The few I-4 FWD cars I've had have had the cat farther down the pipe near where the passenger seat would be. All were pre-2010, and of what I have now, none are newer than 5-years old. The one AWD I-4 I have is much the same. Is this more on performance engines or pretty much taking over all of them?
It was a Base LS Cruze. A Gutless Wonder to say the least.
I figured but the Hamster under the Hood obviously hadn’t been fed.
Rattling is not normal for a CVT, window tint is aftermarket and does not come on the car. Blind spots like that are pretty typical for modern cars which explains why backup cameras are common now.
It’s pretty much on all of them these days. It’s not even ‘new’ - the Jaguar XJ6 (RWD) with the big inline six had a pre-cat next to the exhaust manifold way back in 1979. Increasingly tight emissions regs mean that this practice is common now and probably going to be across the board for everyone in not too much longer. The closer the cat is to the exhaust manifold, the hotter it is and the better it works.
Pretty much de rigeur now. The below link is a pic of the exhaust system from the newer 5.0L Mustangs - the cats are bolted directly to the exhaust manifolds on those.
I suggest you go look at who the shareholders are of each company. GM has many foreign investors, and quite a lot of American banks and pension plans own (say) Toyota stock.
The shareholders are the ‘owners’ of the company and are where the profit is going in the end. Not some building in Detroit or Tokyo.
Let me point something else out to you - the more percentage of parts that are gotten from domestic sources, the more money the company is putting into the US economy. Period. Car profits are a fairly small percentage whereas parts costs and labor to assemble are the majority of the price. Fact. And in the case of a “domestic” company that’s selling a car made elsewhere made out of foreign parts, the math gets interesting.
Let’s say that (to make the math easy) 80% of the price of a $20K truck is parts and labor cost to produce it (it’s actually more than that, usually, but let’s leave that for now) leaving 15% for overhead and 5% for profit. Just to make it simpler, let’s say that labor costs are combined with parts costs. Then consider the following.
Company A is “headquartered in America and was started by an American.” But their $20K truck is assembled in Mexico out of mostly Mexican parts by Mexican workers. Only 46% of the parts are from the US.
Here’s the breakdown - $20K truck, $16K parts/labor cost. $9200 stays in the US and gets distributed to the American working man and woman. $1000 goes off to the shareholders (simplified) and they’re often faceless multinational banks or foreigners.
Company B is from, oh, Japan. They have their $20K truck assembled in, oh, Texas, by American workers and they source 80% of their parts from the US.
Same $20K truck, same $16K parts/labor cost. $12800 stays in the US and keeps bread on the table for the working man and woman. Same $1000 profit, same people it goes to - sometimes Americans, sometimes not.
Are you seeing the problem here?
Cruze’s parts content window sticker: http://blog.truecar.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/chevrolet-cruze-eco-parts-content1.jpg
Altima’s parts content - 98% USA:
http://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2012/05/new-nissan-altima-is-an-all-american-car/
Whatever.
They pay US taxes on the profit. And then again on the dividends.
Defend it any which way you want.
Either you want as many jobs and corporate money in the US, or you do not.
But I am sure that goes into your purchasing decisions.
Thanks for the info. I’d love to get back into the hobby again, but it’s just not in the cards. I should still keep up on the tech, though.
And your 5% margin is a little light.
GM had a 13.9% gross margin in the last quarter.
I appreciate there is a lot of accounting gymnastics involved in an EPS, but 14% isn’t 5%.
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